Peter ends his second letter with a charge that might surprise you: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). After warning about false teachers and reminding us how to wait well, his final word isn’t about trying harder or doing better – it’s about growing in grace.
Why does this matter? Because Peter says we’ll only remain vigilant against false teaching if we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. If we stop growing, we might be carried away by the lawlessness of these false teachers.
Grace Isn’t Static
From the very beginning of this letter, grace has been primary to Peter. God’s grace is expressed in his saving righteousness that granted faith to believers. Peter prays that grace will be multiplied in believers’ lives. He says God’s grace has granted believers everything they need to live a godly life.
But here’s what’s crucial: grace isn’t some static reality where you either have it or you don’t. As believers, we’re called to grow in it until the day we die. Grace is the foundation of our lives and is entirely God’s gift to us – but we’re also called to nurture it and be strengthened by it.
Why? Because when we stop leaning into the grace of God and seeing our salvation as a gift, we might foolishly start thinking it’s about what we do or don’t do instead of trusting in the gift that was given to us.
Growing in Knowledge Too
Peter also calls us to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. This has been a theme throughout his letter – everything needed for life and godliness is available by knowing God. Growing in knowledge is necessary for living the Christian life.
But this isn’t just head knowledge. The more we grow in our knowledge of God, the more it will be reflected in how we treat the people around us. Do we love them? Do we serve them? Do we live like Jesus, who said, “I didn’t come to be served, but to serve“?
This is how you can see that grace has taken root and is growing in someone’s life – by their actions, by their fruit.
The Gospel Pattern
Here’s what I’ve learned about growing in grace: it happens through the same pattern that brought us to salvation in the first place – confession and repentance.
Every time you confess, every time you repent, guess what? You receive grace. I want you to grow in that. The way you grow in grace isn’t by living perfect lives. The way you grow in grace is when you don’t live a perfect life, you confess and repent and receive something you didn’t deserve.
You’re going to have to get up every morning and pray a very similar prayer if you’re going to grow in sanctification. Because every morning the old man wakes up and says, “Not today. I’m in control today.” And you have to mortify your flesh. How do you do that? You take up your cross. How do we do that? We confess and repent and follow him.
God’s Patience in Our Growth
God has been so patient with us. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been hit over and over again in studying Second Peter with just how gracious and patient God is. Personally, that’s been very convicting because I realize there are lots of areas in my life where I am very impatient.
I want to see things change quickly. I want to see things happen now. I want years of mistakes to just be erased overnight. But it’s not that way.
And yet God, through all of our mess-ups, is patiently loving us, allowing us another opportunity to turn to him. I don’t know how many more opportunities you’re going to have, but he gave you one more today to turn to him.
Simple but Not Easy
Confession is very simple. It’s not “I’m sorry” – that’s worldly sorrow. Biblical confession is “I did this.” When you confess to a crime, you’re saying “I stole the stuff,” not “I’m sorry about that stuff.”
For some of you who don’t know Jesus Christ, the first thing you need to confess is that you are a sinner and need a savior. That’s it.
Then repentance is asking God, “Would you give me the grace to stop, to turn from that life and pursue a new life?”
And when we do this – when we confess and repent – we live at such peace because we know the maker of heaven and earth is in right relationship with us. Not because we’re perfect (we’re far from it), but because we live lives of regular confession and repentance, continually learning more of the grace of God.
It’s the Gospel
Some people get tired of hearing about confession and repentance. They say, “Dale, stop talking about that. That’s all you talk about.” But it is the gospel. It’s the only thing that’s going to help you grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord.
Because every time you confess, every time you repent, you receive grace. Every time you follow him through confession and repentance, you experience more of his goodness, more of his patience, more of his love.
Today whether for the first time or the millionth time, my prayer is that you would grow in that grace and knowledge of your Lord.
In what areas of your life do you need to grow in grace? What would it look like for you to approach God’s patience the way he approaches yours? How might regular confession and repentance become a pathway to experiencing more of God’s grace rather than just a religious duty?
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