Faith is the foundation; to that we must supply moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. This list raises some questions. Why did Peter pick these qualities and not others? Why does he put them in this order? Does he mean that we must work on them in this order, so that we become proficient in the first one before we start working on number two, etc.?

As for the order in which Peter arranges these seven qualities, some see no logical order, whereas others do. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Expository Sermons on 2 Peter [Banner of Truth], p.26) sees three headings: (1) the character of our faith (virtue, knowledge); (2) our inward dispositions (self-control, perseverance); and, (3) our relationships to others (godliness, brotherly kindness, love).

I propose that there is a sensible flow of thought that goes as follows: “Faith” is the bedrock foundation. Without faith we are not Christians. “Moral excellence” (virtue) is necessary next, because without that, we cannot have a clear conscience. If we live in known disobedience to God, He will not reveal spiritual truth to us. Thus, virtue precedes “knowledge.” “Knowledge” follows closely, because we must know the Word of God to inform our conscience and guide us in all our thinking and behavior.

But knowing the truth does not help if we do not exercise “self-control” to practice the truth. Thus self-control is next. But self-control on a few occasions will not help if we then yield and ruin our testimony. So we need “perseverance” when trials and temptations come. As we persevere, we develop “godliness,” which refers to living in reverence to God in every situation. But true godliness is not just a private matter between the individual and God. It manifests itself in godly relationships. Thus we need “brotherly kindness” and self-sacrificing “love.”

This is a logical order, not a chronological order. In other words, it would be wrong to think that you must perfect virtue before you go on to knowledge, or gain vast amounts of knowledge before you develop self-control. Rather, they are all interrelated in the manner that I just mentioned. With that as a background, let’s look briefly at the seven qualities.

Sources:https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-3-growing-godliness-2-peter-15-7