The apostle Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3 verse 18 to: "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

To grow in grace is to find favor with God. Grace is a blessing from God that we do not deserve.

The first place we find the word ‘grace’ in the Bible is in Genesis 6 verse 8, "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."

The Hebrew word for ‘grace’ is "chen, khane; (#H2580) and is defined as; graciousness, kindness, pleasant, precious, and [well-] favoured."

God found favor with Noah by giving him the honor of a covenant with the rainbow to remind man that He would not ever again destroy the earth by flooding (Genesis 9:8-17).

In the New Testament the first place we find the word ‘grace’ is in Luke 2 verse 40, "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him."

The child here in Luke 2 is Jesus Christ when He was a young child.

The grace of God is exemplified in Jesus’ life through His many healings, casting out of demons and finally being crucified for the sins of all mankind.

Let’s take a brief look at knowledge. Knowledge is defined as ‘The state or fact of knowing. Understanding gained through experience or study. Well informed."

What does the Bible say about knowledge? Let’s look at a couple of verses from the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 1 verse 7 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." Proverbs 9:10 says, " The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding."

We must have the fear of the LORD to find the right knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Along with knowledge must come understanding and wisdom.

Proverbs 2 verse 6 says, "The LORD gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. {7} He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly".

It is interesting how this all ties together referring to Jesus Christ ruling in the millennial Kingdom Age as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Isaiah the prophet says in chapter 11 verse 2, "And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD."

There is one other element that I need to mention in this process of knowledge, understanding and wisdom and that is character.

We gain knowledge and I am talking about righteous knowledge since this article is about growing in grace and knowledge, then we must have the understanding of that knowledge. Once we understand God’s truth then we must apply it in our lives and that is the process of wisdom in how we deal with our trials and tests in life, our problems, conflicts and triumphs. Through this process we develop righteous character. In developing righteous character we must do as Jesus told us, we must repent (Mark 1:14) and overcome (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26).

Repentance is the overcoming process of asking God to forgive you of your sins of breaking His Ten Commandments, statutes and laws. In this process we build righteous character.

Now lets take the element of grace one step further.

The apostle Paul gives us our major doctrine on grace when he states the following in Ephesians 2 verse 8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, {9} not of works, lest anyone should boast. {10} For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Grace is an unmerited gift from God.

Let’s notice what James says about grace, James 4 verse 6, "But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."" This is a key point in the doctrine of grace, in that we must be humble.

To grow in grace is to grow in our knowledge and understanding of what Jesus did for us and to grow in appreciation of the grace that God has given us. The more we learn about Jesus, the more we will love Him and all He has done for us, and the more we will be thankful for His sacrifice and love for us.

We grow in grace and knowledge by reading and studying God’s word and letting it "dwell in us richly" (Colossians 3:16). We must maintain our Bible study and prayer to have a good relationship with God and Jesus Christ along with meditation and occasional fasting.

Lets read that scripture again in 2 Peter 3 verse 18, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

In order to grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ we must be reading and studying the Bible about Jesus, reading His words, the red letters in your Bible (if you have a red letter edition), the first chapter of the book of Acts and the book of Revelation. Actually the whole Bible is about Jesus Christ, because He is the LORD of the Old Testament. (Request our free article "Who is the LORD of the Old Testament?" which proves this fact.)

When we read about Jesus we are going to learn new knowledge about Him.

Did you know that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath? (Mark 2:27-28). Did you know that Jesus kept the Passover (Luke 22) and that He is our Passover sacrificed for us? (1Corinthians 5:7-8). Did you know that He kept the Feast of Tabernacles? (John 7). Did you know that you are justified by His blood and saved by His life? (Romans 5:9-10).

We need to follow the apostle Peter’s admonition where he said, "Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow in his steps." (1 Peter 2:21).

In Conclusion: Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.