The Destination Is Love

Read 2 Peter 1:2–15

Peter, or more likely a later writer using Peter’s name, believes his readers need to “escape from the corruption that is in the world” so that they “may become participants of the divine nature” (v. 4) The recipe he gives to help them accomplish this twin purpose is this: “Make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge,  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love” (vv. 5–6).

This list reminds me of Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit in his letter to the Galatians: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22–23). But the list in 2 Peter makes a conscious effort to show that these virtues build upon one another. The readers are to support their faith with goodness, then add knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, mutual affection, and love. The writer seems to say that there is a steady progression in the life of discipleship. It may start with faith, but faith on its own is not enough (Martin Luther may not have agreed, but James the Just undoubtedly did). Where James simply suggests that “works” be added to faith, this writer spells out the works as goodness, knowledge, self-control, and so on. Where the writer of 2 Peter, Paul, James, and Luther would all likely agree is the claim that the final destination of this progression must be love.

No matter how we arrive at it, love is the culmination of all that we do as disciples of Jesus. If we end at any other point, it’s safe to say that we’ve done something wrong. If you see a person who claims to be a disciple who lives a selfish life, or who expresses a hateful attitude, or who rejects compassion in favor of retribution or judgment, you are looking at someone whose train has left the rails at some point along the way. If your destination is not love, you need to get your spiritual GPS recalibrated.

Advent also suggests a progression that ends in love. Traditionally, the four candles of Advent represent hope, peace, joy, and love. I recently read an author who suggests a different order, but for my money love has to be the endpoint. In Paul’s famous formula, the three virtues that will remain when all else has burned to the ground are faith, hope, and love, “and the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13).

What can you do this Advent season to reach the destination of love? What practical steps can you take to follow the recipe—in other words, how can you support your endurance with godliness? How can you go from mutual affection to genuine self-giving love—both for individuals in your life and for the world at large, including your human and non-human neighbors? What course corrections do you need to make to stay on the route that will end in a spirit and practice of love?

Grace and peace,
bob