Character qualities which every Christian should strive for - Part Two
He leads me …
In the last blog we read of a progression in 2 Peter 1:5-7, which the New King James Version puts this way -
Fruitful Growth in the Faith
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
We then looked at a little background.
1. Peter is writing to Christians about their spiritual development to become more like Jesus.
2. The list contains character qualities of God which others should be able to see in our lives.
3. These character qualities are the attributes of God, so they will be in powerful contrast to the character of any false teachers and their followers.
4. Each quality builds upon the previous qualities.[1]
Characteristics of a Growing Christian
Basically the way it works is, God does His part, and we do ours. Of course, we are assisted by the Holy Spirit, but we are expected to make a serious effort.[2]
In this Part Two we will look at the remaining four character qualities - perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love.
5. Perseverance
Perseverance is difficult to translate from the Greek–it means to remain strong under the pressure of an unwelcome, painful, grievous hardship, but always with a hope in the future. Often the person who gives in to pleasures is not disciplined enough to handle the pressures or problems either, so they give up. Are we developing perseverance? If we are a Christian, we should be.[3]
If self-control has to do with physical pleasures, perseverance has to do with pain. Without the Holy Spirit we would pursue pleasure and avoid pain. The gospel calls for us to relate with Christ, which includes associating with Him in His suffering (1 Peter 2:21-25).[4]
6. Godliness.
Godliness means living with respect and reverence for Christ in every part of our life. This means sorting out our priorities, viewpoint, and integrity to line up with God's.[5]
Godliness is the belief we put into practise in our day-to-day walk with the Lord.[6]
The Christian’s life is much more than a trivial existence. Their aim is to do God’s will in everything and do the best for others. The godly Christian makes biblically based decisions. They do not take the easy path to avoid pain or testing, because they are committed to God’s ways, and always following His Word.[7]
7. Brotherly kindness
Sin not only separates people from God, it also isolates them from others. When people come to faith in Christ, they are united with Him and also with their fellow believers. This bond amongst believers should cross every barrier - racial or social (Ephesians 2:11-16).[8]
Brotherly kindness is called phileo love which is the kind of love that family members share together. It is more than just friendship. It means that we are to show family love toward our brothers and sisters in Christ. A group of Christians should have the feel of family, with all its love and care.[9]
8. Love.
As we have just seen phileo love is directed toward fellow-believers. We then have agape love which is meant to extend to all people. Agape love is not stirred by what other people do or are, but it is demonstrated by God’s example. It is His love which flows through us to the people around us. (1 John 4:19).[10]
This agape love acts regardless of how we feel. It willingly seeks the wellbeing of others without any regard to our personal viewpoints. This is how we can love our enemies. This is how we can love anyone.[11]
The Lord created us in His image so that we can rise above our selfish, basic attitudes and become like Him. To think like Him, and to love like Him. We are called to something higher than that which just benefits us. We are called to love. As Paul put it, ‘Love never fails…. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’ (1 Corinthians 13:13).[12]
It should not be too difficult to love other Christians with phileo love, but it takes a truly gracious nature to manifest agape love to everyone. Whenever we read about the love of God, the word agape is used, indicating why this character quality is at the top of Peter’s list.
Agape love should bring sensitivity to courage, modesty to knowledge, appeal to self-control, understanding to patience, and thoughtfulness to godliness. It would bring the Lord genuine pleasure to see each of these wonderful qualities that we have looked at functioning in all of His children.
Many Christians have made little progress in their Christian lives. They do not seem to appreciate their salvation and seem to have lost their joy in Christ. Perhaps when they were first saved spiritual things appeared important, but the busyness of life restricted their development.[13]
With a bit of effort and the support of the Holy Spirit this could change and become an exciting experience.
Dear Reader – If you have found some value in this blog, please feel free to send a copy on to your family and friends. Kind regards, John
[1] The Pursuit of Christian Character (2 Peter 1:5-7), Bob Deffinbaugh, Bible.org
https://bible.org/seriespage/3-pursuit-christian-character-2-peter-15-7
[2] Our Faithful Growth in Christ!" Dr. Richard J. Krejcir, Into Thy Word Ministries;
http://www.intothyword.org/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=36066
[3] Growth Is Evidence of Life (2 Peter 1:5-7), Chris Mueller, Faith Bible Church - Murrieta. California;
https://media.faith-bible.net/scripture/2-peter/growth-is-evidence-of-life
[4] The Pursuit of Christian Character (2 Peter 1:5-7), Bob Deffinbaugh, Bible.org;
https://bible.org/seriespage/3-pursuit-christian-character-2-peter-15-7
[5] Our Faithful Growth in Christ!" Dr. Richard J. Krejcir, Into Thy Word Ministries;
http://www.intothyword.org/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=36066
[6] The Pursuit of Christian Character (2 Peter 1:5-7), Bob Deffinbaugh, Bible.org;
https://bible.org/seriespage/3-pursuit-christian-character-2-peter-15-7
[7] Growth Is Evidence of Life (2 Peter 1:5-7), Chris Mueller, Faith Bible Church - Murrieta. California;
https://media.faith-bible.net/scripture/2-peter/growth-is-evidence-of-life
[8] The Pursuit of Christian Character (2 Peter 1:5-7), Bob Deffinbaugh, Bible.org;
https://bible.org/seriespage/3-pursuit-christian-character-2-peter-15-7
[9] 2 Peter 1:5-11, Make Your Calling and Election Sure, Brent Kercheville, Church of Christ - West Palm Beach, Florida;
https://westpalmbeachchurchofchrist.com/new-testament/2peter/2peter_1_5-11.html
[10] The Pursuit of Christian Character (2 Peter 1:5-7), Bob Deffinbaugh, Bible.org;
https://bible.org/seriespage/3-pursuit-christian-character-2-peter-15-7
[11] 2 Peter 1:5-11, Make Your Calling and Election Sure, Brent Kercheville, Church of Christ - West Palm Beach, Florida;
https://westpalmbeachchurchofchrist.com/new-testament/2peter/2peter_1_5-11.html
[12] Add to Your Faith Goodness (2 Peter 1:5-11), Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, JesusWalk.com
http://www.jesuswalk.com/2peter/2_adding.htm
[13] Second Epistle of Peter - Brotherly Kindness and Love, StudyJesus.com