One of the great challenges I’ve found in ministry is helping people to understand the tension between grace and effort in the Christian life. And the tension is real! When we lean too far toward grace without effort, we can drift into what theologians call antinomianism—the belief that how we live no longer matters because it’s all grace. German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously described this as “cheap grace,” a gospel that offers forgiveness without transformation.
But if we swing too far in the other direction of effort without grace, then we fall into legalism. We begin to believe that our discipline, resolve, or wisdom can somehow produce spiritual growth. And this is where many Christians live: stuck somewhere in between. Unsure of how grace and effort actually work together. The result is often spiritual stagnation rather than spiritual transformation.
Peter addresses this tension in 2 Peter 1.5-7, when he writes:
“Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” (ESV)
Notice that Peter doesn’t shy away from the language of effort. He uses the phrase “make every effort” to describe a sustained and purposeful diligence in the pursuit of godliness. He then explains why this matters in verse 8:
“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
What Peter is saying is that if we do not make a deliberate effort to grow spiritually, our faith risks becoming ineffective and unfruitful. He goes on in verse 9 to warn that those who fail to develop these virtuous qualities are spiritually short-sighted and blind, forgetting the great price Jesus paid for their salvation.
For some, this passage can feel uncomfortable. Words like “make every effort” and “add to your faith” may sound like works-based religion. Isn’t the Christian life about what Christ has done for us, not what we do?
Absolutely! Peter is not describing how we are saved, but how we grow after we have been saved. Our effort is not the cause of our salvation; it is the evidence of it (v.10). This is why Peter can call us to “make every effort” without contradicting the gospel because our ability to grow does not depend on ourselves, but on the grace and power of God.
He makes this clear earlier in verse 3, reminding us that “God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.” Spiritual growth is possible for every believer because God, in His kindness, has already provided everything we need to grow. In other words, God is committed to your spiritual growth!
So let’s resist the temptation to live in the polarising tension of grace versus effort, as though we must choose one or the other. When it comes to growth in godliness, trusting does not put an end to trying. Instead, let’s be disciplined and purposeful in our spiritual growth, pursuing it with grace-fueled effort, so that our faith will not be stagnant or ineffective, but increasingly fruitful for the glory of God.