Title: 13
Author: JOEG
Last saved by: Auth User
Company: Auth Co

© 2001 Joe Griffin	▼	02-04-10-B.SBC02-4/

Desperate Assurance: The Magnificent Seven: Members of the Chorus, 2 Peter 1:5b-7; Divine Good, v. 8; The Carnal Believer, v. 9
		¢ret», aretē -	“virtue” or “humility”; “to know what is good and what is evil.”
Virtue results when the believer develops biblical standards in the soul.  He makes decisions, solves problems, and evaluates circumstances by means of these standards.  As a person of virtue his thoughts, decisions, and actions correspond with divine integrity.  This is virtue.  Spiritual growth is virtue dependent and cannot occur when a person is arrogant.  Thus virtue begins with teachability, i.e., enforced and then genuine humility.
Virtue includes the concepts of (1) loyalty, (2) fulfillment of obligations, (3) personal integrity, (4) an organized life, and (5) perseverance under pressure.  To one’s virtue doctrine must also supply knowledge:
			gnîsij, gnōsis -	“perception of doctrine in the mind or noàj, nous.  Why not epignosis?  Because academic understanding is a challenge to faith perception.  This is the first place the believer uses his volition.  The believer is thus challenged to believe what doctrine communicates.
2 Peter 1:5 -	(ETL) Now for this very reason, having made every effort, furnish or supply by means of your faith (1) humility, and with your humility (2) knowledge,
			The concerto continues in:
v. 6 - and with knowledge (3) self-discipline, and with self-discipline (4) stability, and with stability (5) piety [ motivation from reciprocity in the double column advance ];
v. 7 - and with piety (6) unconditional love toward your fellow believer and with unconditional love toward your fellow believer (7) virtue love [ unconditional love for all mankind, personal love for God, and occupation with Christ ].
The Magnificent Seven constitutes a series of doctrinal attitudes that develop systematically in the soul of the teachable believer.  The choral director for this chorus of spiritual attributes is faith.  None of these attitudes are developed without faith in the teachings of the Word of God.
These are not emotions but divine policies that can only be developed by the mentorship of the Holy Spirit and the personal faith acceptance of these concepts by the believer who is filled by the Holy Spirit.
These “Magnificent Seven” attributes produce momentum in the spiritual life.  Momentum pursued consistently leads to the fulfillment of the escrow agreement.  The motivation is the subject of:
2 Peter 1:8 -	(KJV) 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. 
This verse is a conditional sentence.  It has a protasis followed by an apodosis.  The Holy Spirit does not specify the class of the conditional statement that makes up the premise of the protasis.  We know it is conditional because the two verbs in the protasis are conditional participles.  The first is the present active participle of the verb:
 			Øp£rcw, huparchō -	“to exist; to be present” 
This verb is part of an idiom that is best translated, “For if these attributes, the Magnificent Seven, are yours …”
		present:	Customary; what habitually occurs when the believer advances by means of the four spiritual mechanics.
	active:	Believers produce the action of the verb by means of the faith mentioned back in verse 5.  They believed the revelations of the Holy Spirit while under His mentorship and experienced spiritual growth to the point that the Magnificent Seven became habitual: behavior patterns, character traits, and a lifestyle that has been facilitated into wheel-tracks of righteousness.
	participle:	Conditional; indicates that the premise challenges the volition of the believer.
The second verb of the protasis is the present active participle of:
			pleon£zw,  pleonazō -	“and they keep on increasing”
	present:	Perfective; continuation of existing results, i.e., the believer continues his advance by facilitating these attributes while his advance in the double column is motivated by reciprocal love for God.
	active:	The chorus of the Magnificent Seven produces the action by increasing to a full crescendo at spiritual maturity.
	participle:	Conditional; a challenge to the believer’s volition.
Again, the class of the condition stated in the protasis is not specified.  The Holy Spirit simply indicates that it is the premise of a protasis by the use of two conditional participles.  The habitual presence of the Magnificent Seven is the subject of the conditional sentence but its actual existence in your soul must be determined by you.  Consequently, every believer is challenged by this protasis under one of four conditions:
			1^st Class Condition:	“Yes, these attributes are present in my soul.”
			2^nd Class Condition:	“No, the attributes are not present in my soul.”
			3^rd Class Condition:	“I am motivated to have these attributes in my soul but they are not there now.”
			4^th Class Condition:	“I wish I had these attributes in my soul but they aren’t there now and it is unlikely that they ever will be.”
Note the conundrum of the hyper-Calvinist.  He wants to produce fruit in order to acquire assurance that he is among the elect and therefore saved.  However, this passage has set up a condition based on the inculcation of Bible doctrine that is an absolute requirement before production may occur.  Only the believer filled with the Holy Spirit is equipped to make this advance.
Consequently, while the hyper-Calvinist busies himself in the search for piety, he ignores the development of the spiritual skills that would enable him to execute production skills.  The verse reads so far:
2 Peter 1:8a -	(ETL) For if these attributes in the chorus [ the Magnificent Seven ] are habitually yours and they keep on increasing through momentum …
Next comes the apodosis, which is the main clause of the conditional sentence.  It is introduced by two negatives plus the present active indicative of the verb:
		kaq…sthmi,  kathistēmi -	“to be put in place; to lead or bring to.”
			present:	Futuristic; employed to denote future action.
		active:	The Magnificent Seven produce the action by preventing the production of dead works: human good and evil.
		indicative:	Declarative; a statement of fact for the sophisticated believer.
What he is prevented from doing is brought out by the two negative concepts, the double accusative:
¢rgÒj, argos -	“useless or inefficient”  Such a believer cannot possess spiritual autonomy and therefore be spiritually self-sustaining.  Being useless and inefficient is not sophisticated.
			¢k£rpoj, akarpos -	“unproductive”
2 Peter 1:8 -	(ETL) [ protasis ] For if these attributes in the chorus [ the Magnificent Seven ] are habitually yours and they keep on increasing through momentum, [ apodosis ] they will prevent you from being useless and inefficient or unproductive.
The spiritual attributes that accrue through Bible study become the source for a natural production of fruit.   Right thinking produces right decisions and right decisions produce right actions.  All classify as the production of divine good.
Those believers who do not utilize the four spiritual mechanics are the subject of the next verse:
2 Peter 2:9 -	For he who does not have these attributes is blind and nearsighted, furthermore he has forgotten the cleansing from his former sins.
Please note that verse 9 precedes verse 10.  This verse addresses the very same believers to whom Peter addresses his epistle in verse 1.  Everyone in context is a believer: “brethren.”  Verse 9 is a warning to the believer who may have chosen to ignore or abandon the four spiritual mechanics and thus has not acquired the Magnificent Seven.  Consequently, he is unqualified to serve God, produce fruit, or receive the conveyance of his escrow.
How can we be certain this person is among the elect?  Because of the masculine singular of the noun:
			kaqarismÒj, katharismos -	“cleansing” or “purifying”
			This is the noun form of the verb found in:
1 John 1:9 -	If we name our sins He is faithful and righteous to forgive us and to purify [ kaqar…zw, katharizo ] us from all wrongdoing.
When a believer becomes involved in cosmic living it does not indicate that at gospel hearing he had an “ineffectual calling,” expressed “temporary faith,” and thus is not among the “elect,” is therefore not “saved,” and consequently a “reprobate.”  Quite the contrary.  He has, as is clearly stated, “forgotten the cleansing from his former sins.”  He has failed to rebound and has become a loser believer.

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