“For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ
We will know the Lord Jesus Christ better if we develop our faith’s substructure or the seven faith building blocks for the Christian life (vv. 5-7).
“Knowledge” is full knowledge and carries the idea of discernment. “Knowledge” occurs seven times in Second Peter and is a keyword of the epistle. This knowledge is rich insight into the person of Christ (Jn 17:3; Php 3:10; Ho 6:3). We can know the Lord better through anything we face or experience. Second Peter closes on this same note (2 Pe 3:18).
PRINCIPLE:
Knowledge of the Lord is one thing, insight-knowledge of Him is something more; it is an intimate knowledge of Him.
APPLICATION:
When people first get married, they think that they know one another. After all, they courted for six months! They face quite a shock a few weeks into their marriage when they discover things they did not know about each other. Few people fully reveal themselves before the wedding. “He is a tad meaner than he showed before marriage. He was always so polite and nice before marriage.” “She never showed her selfishness and pride during the courting period. She always put her best foot forward.” They discover that they are married to alligators. “Mama never told me that marriage could be difficult.”
We expect that we will get to know each other better after marriage. It should be no surprise that we learn more about each other after marriage. The longer we live with each other, the better we know each other. If we have any wit, we learn what pleases our mate and do those things to enhance the marriage. We also know what bugs our wives, what irks them, what irritates them, and what exasperates them. We try to refrain from those things. Everyone has marriage problems that they need to resolve.
When we first come to Christ as Savior, we are only initially introduced to the Lord. We do not fully know Him until we grow to know Him better. None of us ever knew a person like the Lord Jesus. There is no dark side to His character. He is not proud or selfish. He is always faithful to His character.
He 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
The more we read the Word of God, the more we will understand the wonder of the Lord’s character. Jesus Christ becomes more and more precious to us (1 Pe 1:8; 2:7). Eternity is too short for us to plumb the depths of His magnificent person. He is the incomparable Son of God. The longer we fellowship with Him, the more we love Him. We will meet Him face-to-face one day. What a glorious day that will be! In the meantime, we get to know Him better and better.
2 Co 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to make the child of God like the Son of God.
The carnal Christian does not know the Lord very well. They are “unfruitful” in the “knowledge” of the Lord. They bear marks of spiritual birth defects. They are Christians but handicapped to the extent that they know the Lord. Jesus can change that retardation. He can salvage our Christian lives so that we can bear fruit.
