9 Steps of Progression in Our Salvation

By: John Spellman

2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

From verses 1 to 3, Peter tells us that we have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. In verse 4 he tells us that we are given precious promises that will allow us to be partakers of the divine nature and escape corruption that is in the world. Then Paul says that beside these promises there is more that allows us to ensure that we will not be barren or unfruitful in knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It starts at verse 5 and goes to about 8:

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When we break these down one by one and examine what the words mean they say a lot about our Christian walk. We see 9 important words that express characteristics we need as Christians: diligence, faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. The question then becomes how do we obtain these things?

“Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue”.

When you look up the word “diligence” we find that it means persistence. It is when you keep at something and you don’t give up. Your diligence leads to the strengthening of your faith. The more you refuse to give up the stronger your faith is when your prayers are answered. This is why it’s a good thing that God doesn’t always answer our prayers when we want him to. He answers them on his time. By doing this it strengthens our faith because we know that his hand is not shortened that it cannot save regardless of the situation. Therefore the more we pray and we don’t give up the more it builds our faith when our prayers are answered. The more persistent you are at something, when it succeeds, you will build your trust in it.

When a baby learns to walk at first they have little trust and confidence in their ability to walk. But when they keep at it and keep trying (giving all diligence) they make progress. This progress leads to faith. “I’ve walked before; I know I can walk again”. In our case, “God has answered me before; I know he can answer me again.” This is why the longer it seems that it takes for a prayer to be answered, the more diligently we should pray about it. God wants to strengthen our faith and this can only be done when we are persistent. If we got everything we wanted all the time right away our faith would never be strengthened. We would not rely on God, rather, we would take for granted what God has done for us.

So the first step in your Christian walk must be diligence. No matter what, we don’t give up and we don’t stop asking and sending God our prayers. No matter how bad the trial, we don’t give up on what God has put forth for us to do. Now this doesn’t mean we don’t get concerned. Obviously when you go through persecution and/or any type of trial you get concerned about the outcome. This is normal and what needs to take place.

For example, if someone is sick and you are afraid you’re going to lose them its ok to cry, worry, and be concerned. Its not ok to give up and stop praying for the person. Being concerned is exactly what God wants because that concern is what strengthens our faith when God answers the prayer. We worry about outcomes when someone is sick. We worry what’s going to happen when we know we need to work and we want God to get us that great job. We reason that if God does not answer the prayer we’re in trouble! Because we are in a tight situation, we then pray, and the more persistent we are with that prayer and the more diligent we become in relying on God and asking for his help… when God answers the prayer it strengthens our faith. It is only through repeated effort and consistent prayer that faith can be strengthened and God is not taken for granted. If you have a parent that says yes to everything that you ask for, its easy to become spoiled and unappreciative. But when you have to put in some effort and diligence you appreciate what that parent has done. You realize that the parent doesn’t owe you anything but is giving you what you asked for out of the kindness of their heart.

Likewise, God doesn’t owe us anything but he’s more than willing to provide for us. Through diligence we learn to appreciate what he’s doing for us.

Isaiah 49:15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

~ If a mom is more willing to give up on her child than God is, what does that say about how often God gives up? The Spirit of Prophecy tells us that God still has a plan to convert Jews in the end time and that they will play a huge role in Jesus’ coming. If God doesn’t give up on them (and if you read the Old Testament he’s been patient with them for a REALLY long time) what makes us think he’d give up on us?
 

So though it’s sometimes hard for us, it’s actually a good thing that God answers prayers in his time. If we got them answered on our terms we would be tempted to think that we had something to do with it and not give God the credit. God answers prayers in such a way that it forces us to recognize that it’s Him answering and not our perceived imagination, or anything/effort we’ve done ourselves. If every time someone poured water into a cup it became wine the person might think they have the power to turn water into wine. But when you consistently have to pray and pray hard before the water turns to wine, (and it doesn’t happen right away) it forces you to recognize that there is a power above you and above everything you know, that is answering the prayer for you. God is above us and thinks/acts on a higher level (the highest level). For us to see that, prayer must always be answered on His terms.

So the key in building your faith and doing anything with your Christian walk is simply not to give up. EVER! If you struggle with a sin keep praying for forgiveness and getting right back on your feet. God never gives up on us and will take us back no matter how many times we mess up. So I look at it like… if he doesn’t quit, why should I be the first to quit? If neither one of us quit, the only outcome can be success. So literally the first step in dealing with any problem you have even the sin problem itself, is not to give up no matter how many times you fail or it doesn’t work out the way you want it to. If you are praying for something and it doesn’t come, make a covenant with yourself and God and say that you will not leave your knees or you will not stop the prayer until you get an answer. See what happens. Watch the salvation of the Lord!

The problem is usually that we give up before God does. If a prayer isn’t answered, we stop praying. If a situation doesn’t work out we stop trying. If we struggle with a sin we give up praying for forgiveness thinking that God must be so angry and frustrated with us that he isn’t willing to forgive anymore and change us. Sometimes we give up on ourselves and we get tired of trying to change and get to the next level. We think to ourselves, “I just can’t do it. I tried but I can’t do it.” Its that type of attitude that prevents us from progressing. The attitude should be more like, “I messed up again! But I’m not giving up I know God can still fix me!!!” This doesn’t mean we sin presumptuously and pray for forgiveness, but it does mean that we pray for a spirit of repentance and we keep struggling with making changes until we meet success. Man has a tendency to just give in, but God wants us to have an attitude of diligence.

In short the first step is to keep the following quote in mind that a close friend once told me: “Quitters never win!” If God doesn’t get tired of hearing our prayers, why should we get tired of sending them? If God doesn’t get tired of being merciful and forgiving us, why should we stop repenting when we know we’ve done wrong? If God doesn’t get tired of telling us the same thing over and over, why should we get tired of coming back to church or reading the Spirit of Prophecy to find conviction and reproof?

Therefore the first step of progress in our spiritual walk is diligence. If we set in our hearts an attitude of refusal to give up on progressing in our spiritual life, we can only go forward. Now this doesn’t mean we just say the words “I’m not gonna give up!” This means we actually have to mean it and act on it.

Good questions to ask one’s self:

• What kinds of things can I do that would show that I still want to move forward?
• What is preventing me from moving forward?
• Have I really decided that failure is not an option?
• What is preventing me?
• How much more of an effort could I really put into this?
• How can I find time to pray more frequently?
• Have I really approached this situation with an attitude of not giving up before God does?

From this diligence our faith is strengthened and built on. The more we see and recognize God’s work, the stronger our faith becomes because we realize how real He is and what His existence means to us. Faith is the second step of progression brought about by increase in diligence.

Faith is something that becomes stronger when we become more active in it. Faith isn’t just saying you believe but acting on that belief. Because you know there’s a God, you believe it by faith, you keep praying for what ever it is that you need because the only way that your prayer can’t be answered is if there is no God to connect to (assuming you haven’t asked amiss). Since we know that there is a God we can connect to, why should we give up on praying before He gives up on answering? When we keep praying and we keep connecting with God we have an active faith. When we know God wants us to do something and it goes against everything we think we know, but following God’s directive we display an active faith. The more faith we have the more virtue we build. Our diligence causes us to have an active faith. The more we exercise our faith and take “risks” in relying on God, the more our virtue is built up. This is how diligence adds to our faith virtue. The more we refuse to give up, the more we exercise our faith in God and this creates virtue within us. When you look up the word virtue it means one’s “righteousness”. If we don’t exercise our faith we can’t reach higher levels of righteousness. Literally, we need trials because without them our faith can’t be strengthened and without our faith being strengthened we can’t build virtue through our persistent exercise of faith. Virtue is thus the third step of progression brought about by increase and show of our active faith.

We want to be righteous because that is a quality of God. As Christians we need righteousness. Others should be able to look at us and tell we’ve spent time with the Lord. This can only be done when they see us taking an active role in our faith. Not just saying we believe, but acting on it. The more actively faithful we are the more virtuous we become.

Good questions:

• What have I done that shows that I have an active role in my faith in the situation I’m in?
• What directive have I received from God and how have I displayed my trust in God’s directive?
• Have I done a lot of murmuring and complaining?
• Do my actions show others that I have a strong trust in my God?
• What should I do to show that I’m taking an active role in my faith? (as pertaining to the situation/trial I’m going through)

“and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance”

The fourth step of progression is knowledge. The more virtue or righteousness we have the more knowledgeable we become. When we are diligent in our faith and we are persistent in becoming virtuous (through the exercising of our faith) we gain knowledge. This is because the more righteous we are God reveals things to us. The Holy Spirit receives the things of Jesus and shows them to us. But, spiritual things are spiritually discerned. If we are not spiritual we can’t understand heavenly things. Right now we can’t handle heavenly things. Even the heavenly concepts we know, we don’t fully understand. We say them, but we don’t grasp, in depth, their meaning. It is only through righteousness being imparted to us that God can begin to reveal to us the things that we don’t know.

Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

We need to be persistent in asking God to show us things. When we display an active faith and we are persistent in being righteous, we can be shown things from on High. Then we not only gain knowledge, but we understand it. Knowledge thus is the fourth step which is brought about by our increase in virtuosity.

The more knowledge we have the more temperance we gain. Temperance is what gives us the ability to control our actions, thoughts, and our spiritual life. First God may reveal to us the knowledge that he wants us to live long healthy happy lives. Then he reveals to us the knowledge that he takes offense when we ruin our bodies. Next God reveals to us that he wants us to have a healthy diet. Finally God reveals to us that pork does not fit in to the healthy diet. You have acquired all this knowledge through the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Now with that knowledge you need temperance to know what to do with it. Temperance shows you how to apply the knowledge that you’ve gained. You realize that there are so many other great things you can eat that you no longer need to eat pork. You make changes in yourself and in your diet and you learn to live your life and please God. Temperance is what allows us to apply what God has made known to us. Because we have knowledge of the Sabbath, we gain temperance in preparing for the Sabbath each week so that when it comes we can enjoy it and it becomes a part of our lives. It is a hard thing for us to make any change to follow God without temperance. Temperance is understanding and application. Thus, Temperance is the 5th step of progression which is brought about through the increase of knowledge.

“temperance patience; and to patience godliness”

We must be diligent in acquiring knowledge so that we can learn how to apply God’s precepts to our lives. When we are diligent in how we apply things to our lives the changes come and we become new people. Through our temperance we gain patience. The more Temperate we are the more tolerant of others, ourselves, and of change we become. This makes a lot of sense because it takes a lot of self control to be patient. We need to be patient with the things God wants us to do. God operates on His time, and so we need to watch and wait and be diligent with our prayers. Patience is the 6th step of progression brought about by an increase in temperance because the more well rounded, self controlled, and organized we are in our Christian lives/practices the more patience we will develop.

Temperance allows you to organize your time so that you can pray and be faithful (exercising diligence) and learn patience without neglecting other responsibilities. Patience is knowing that things take time and they won’t happen when you want them to all the time. It’s being willing to pray without ceasing because you know eventually God will answer. It applies to other things as well. Patience is when someone gets on your last nerve and you keep forgiving them and working with them just as God is patient with you. It is being slow to get angry and waiting for a better outcome even when it seems far distant.

From patience godliness develops. Patience is a chief characteristic of God. If he is so patient with us, who are we not to be patient with others. How can we not wait for the answers to our prayers? The more patient we are our prayers get answered and as our faith builds a long with the growing of our virtue, knowledge, temperance and patience: we become more and more like God. God is long suffering, merciful, and gracious; it takes patience to be like that and God is very patient though we are not! This is why we are so unlike him. Thus we have the 7th step: godliness which is brought about by exercising patience. “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they which keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” Rev. 14:12.

We are created in the image of God. Therefore we must display his character. When others look at us they should see God in us. We can only do this by progressing in the development of his character. Our patience builds tolerance for others, and through that patience, and persistence with it, we become godly people. In order to know what it is to be “godly” we must know the characteristics of God that are supposed to be in us. When God passed by Moses this is what he proclaimed:

Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

If this is what it means to be godly than how can we be godly unless we first develop patience? This is patience not just for others but for ourselves and for the promises God has made to us. When we are godly we will be gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness, and truth.

“And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity”

From godliness brotherly kindness develops. The more like God we are, the more we want to be kind to others. We want to share what we have come to know, we want to extend God’s grace to other people even if we don’t get something in return. We will find that we are nicer to people even when they make mistakes. Others will notice a huge difference in how we treat people when we are persistent with godliness. Thus, brotherly kindness, brought about by becoming more and more godly, is the 8th step. We begin to care for one another. We treat everyone, without bias, with the same kindness we would treat a brother.

Finally the 9th step is Charity. Charity develops from brotherly kindness. The more persistent we are in being kind to others and progressing we develop Charity. This means we can love. God is love and he is self-sacrificing in his love. Love is the most important thing we need.

The reason we are so unlike God is because we don’t know how to love. We don’t know how to love because we give up to easily (on one another, on God, on everything). We need to be persistent. God’s attitude toward us shows His refusal to quit. He never gives up on us. If we had the same characteristics and kept up with trying to do his will, we would go through this process and learn to love.

God is a God of love and he doesn’t give up. If we are to be like him, we must learn no to give up either, but rather, be persistent. This will lead us through the 9 step process to developing Charity (loving like God loves). God’s persistence is what makes his love so self sacrificing. He keeps on giving!!!

1 Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
 

Synopsis:

Each of the 9 steps builds on each other. From diligence you gain faith, from faith you gain virtue, from virtue you gain knowledge, from knowledge you gain temperance, from temperance you gain patience, from patience you gain godliness, from godliness you gain brotherly kindness, and from brotherly kindness you develop Charity (love).

It all starts with diligence. The more diligence you have the more it builds your faith. The more you take an active role and you exercise an active faith, it builds your virtue. You become more righteous. The more righteous you become the more knowledge you gain. The Holy Spirit will begin to show you things from on High. The more Knowledge you gain the more temperance you gain. You need this temperance to apply the knowledge you have. You also need to make changes and learn how to live your life in accordance with God’s will. Temperance is knowing there is a time and place for everything. We know we should keep the Sabbath Holy but it takes temperance to discipline yourself not to gossip in Church. This Temperance is built through acquiring knowledge. From building up temperance we gain patience. The more patient we become the more godliness we develop. The more godliness we develop (which is something we strive to do) the more we start to become like God. We then develop brotherly kindness and we treat each other the way God would have us to treat each other. Finally the more we show brotherly kindness the more Charity or love we develop. When we love we become like God and God has fixed us. When we have love we will never fall.

2 Peter1 is an outline of how God develops his character within us. The first step is diligence. We just need to keep at it and not give up. The sooner we fall the sooner we should get back up. Why should we give up on ourselves and give up on improving when God has not given up on us? If He’s willing to take us, we should be willing to go! Not giving up is not about just saying you don’t give up, rather, it is about getting back on your feet and putting in more effort. We need to actively display that we have not given up! So no matter what you go through, or where you are in your progression, the first thing you have to do is recognize you are struggling and not give up.

We are constantly in the process of progressing in these steps. We actually go through the whole process a number of times. As we become more diligent we increase a little bit in our faith and then a little bit in virtue and so on. As we improve in one area we progress more in others. Somewhere along the line of progress you can find what stage you are at and where you need more work. The first thing we need to do is make a commitment to what we want and keep at it! We will gain victory and notice our progress as God moves us forward on that line of progression.

2 Peter 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you notice that you struggle in an area look to the step before it and see what you need to work on. The most important thing we need to do as Christians is surrender our lives to God daily. Through this constant surrender we will develop each of the aforementioned characteristics. We need to have the same attitude Jesus had when he said, “Not my will but as thou will”. The more we spend time in the Word of God we will see areas that we need to surrender to God. The more persistent we are at this, the more we will progress. There are so many ways to be diligent. Prayer, reading the Bible, making changes, surrendering, turning away from sin, etc. Each of these are things we need to not give up on so that we can move forward. So the best way to begin being diligent is to surrender yourself in some way, everyday. Put aside something you’d like to do, to do something God wants you to do. Keep at it and don’t give up. Accomplish what you’ve intended to surrender. Even if you make a mistake and you feel depressed or defeated, keep trying and keep at it!!! If you need more virtue surrender something that’s holding back your faith. If you need more knowledge surrender something that’s holding back your virtue. If you need more temperance, surrender something that is holding back your knowledge. Remember these promises:

John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

Deuteronomy 31:8 And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

Quitters never win! If God will not cast us out or forsake us, why give up before He does? If, as long as we are sincere, he will keep taking us back, why shouldn’t we keep coming!? Through these 9 steps of progression the Holy Spirit works on in us, we complete the process of salvation (it only begins at Baptism) and we’re reconciled to God!