Peter echoes the other New Testament letter-writers in suggesting a progression in qualities of character that stem from faith. In 2 Peter 1:5 onwards he traverses all the way from faith to love. While Paul stops at hope in Romans 5:4, he puts love at the very top in the well known 1 Cor 13 passage. It is no surprise that love forms the pinnacle, because God is Love as per John's letters.
The emergence of these qualities correlates to our effectiveness, according to Peter (v8). Our knowledge of Jesus is not simply academic, to be privately kept in a box marked 'faith' in our minds, but has a purpose that will produce things.
Yet what is Peter's diagnosis for those lacking these qualities? It is not 'try harder', or 'get your religious or spiritual act together'. No - it is blindness, not being able to see Christ. Not seeing Christ straight-forwardly means that we no longer appreciate what he has done for us, the rescuing, the cleansing from our wrong.
Remember Jesus at the end of Luke 7 chides the Pharisee who could not appreciate the extravagant out-working of being forgiven with the phrase 'whoever has been forgiven little loves little'. Maybe with Peter he means 'whoever appreciates little (of Christ and his work achieved) loves little'.
We love not by trying harder ... but by seeing Christ, and realising to ever greater magnitude just how much he has already done for us. That adds to our faith, resulting in a greater quality of love in our lives.
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