And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue;
and to virtue knowledge; And to
knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience
godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness
charity.
Everything that goes into a
life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know,
personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation
we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to
others; the good news — our tickets to participate in the life of God after we've turned our backs on a world corrupted by the pride of life, the lust of the eye
and the flesh.
Ø Virtue {Moral
Excellence}.
Of all the attributes
listed by Peter in the above text, this one is by far the most difficult one to grasp. It
is defined as behavior showing high moral standards; the quality of being
morally good. In light of the bible, it
is defined as an habitual and firm disposition to do good. The meaning begins
to come into focus more clearly through these scriptures:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any
virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Philippians 4:8).
Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything
pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called
us by His own glory and excellence (2 Peter 1:3 )
The bible version of 'virtue' most often refers to a characteristic or quality of
God. In the book of Isaiah, it’s referred to as that for which God is praised
or praiseworthy. For example, in Isaiah 42:8 and 12, It’s an expression poetically paralleled with the glory of God.
God’s glory is His virtue; His excellencies, for which He is worthy of praise.
No wonder Apostle Paul
instructs the Philippians to set
their minds on that which is both “excellent” and “worthy of
praise” (Philippians
4:8).
If His excellencies are a
part of God’s nature – and they
are, and His glory for which men should praise Him, then we must understand that the
condition of mankind is exactly the opposite:
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
Man, in our sinful state, refuses to give glory to God, deifying our self instead:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them;
for God made it evident to them. For
since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and
divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been
made, so that they are without excuse. For
even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but
they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools,
and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of
corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of
their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among
them. For they exchanged the truth of
God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,
who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading
passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is
unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of
the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men
committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of
their error. And just as they did not
see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind,
to do those things which are not proper
(Romans 1:18-28).
God revealed His nature,
His divine power and glory to sinful men, but they refused to give glory to
Him. Instead of worshipping God the Creator, they worshipped created things.
Instead of believing the truth, they believed a lie. As a consequence of their
sin, God gave them over to a depraved mind so they could no longer grasp the
truth. If not for God's divine grace and intervention, we would be; just as they were,
hopelessly lost.
The good news: God did act. He sought out sinful men and gave them faith in His
Son. He enabled them to become partakers of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Since a part of this nature is His “own glory and excellence” (vs 3), It’s little wonder this should become a part
of our character as well. The “moral excellence” we are to “add” to our faith is the excellence of
God’s nature, which He makes available to us in Christ. We are to “add”
it to our faith by acknowledging it as good, as desirable, as worthy of praise,
and as that which we wish to emulate (in this case, follow or imitate) in our
own lives.
But why does excellence
precede knowledge? We can understand this in light of Romans 1. Sinful men
rejected the glory of God and established their own glory. As a result, they
were darkened in their minds, unable to grasp divine revelation and truth.
As a result of our
salvation, we are now able to recognize the excellences of our Lord and regard
His excellences as worthy of praise, embracing them as qualities we desire in
our own life. When we embrace the excellence of God’s nature, we’re then able
to grasp the knowledge which comes next in the list of characteristics. The
apostle Paul puts it this way:
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye
henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being
past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all
uncleanness with greediness. But ye have
not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by
him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye
put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24) (also see Ephesians 1:13-23).
To embrace the excellences
of God [virtue] is to strive after it and then to express it in our lives to
the glory and praise of God. Remember
this:
We are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A
PEOPLE FOR [God’s] OWN POSSESSION, that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him
who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9)
Embracing and pursuing the
excellences of God means having the spirit of mind which exalts the Word of God
and explores the Word for the knowledge of Him who saved us.
In this way, we can see how
“virtue” or “excellence” precedes “knowledge.”
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. (John 7:17)
In summation, the
excellence or virtue of God is His glorious nature, which is our ultimate good, and
we should pursue as the goal of our character to the praise and glory of God.
Doing so produces a mindset receptive to the knowledge of God revealed through
the Scriptures.
So, we are told to our
faith, add virtue and to virtue, add knowledge.
Ø Knowledge
In our former state as
unbelievers, we were not knowledgeable; we were ignorant:
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the
former lusts in your ignorance:
(1 Peter 1:14)
This I say
therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart:
Ephesians 4:17-18
The solution to our
ignorance is having our minds transformed with the true knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ, knowledge which comes from the Scriptures:
Sanctify
them through thy truth: thy word is truth. John 17:17
I beseech
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:1-2; (also see Ephesians 4:17-24; Colossians 1:9-11)
– and is communicated
through the Holy Spirit
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the
spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to
us of God. (1 Corinthians 2:12)
That the God
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Ephesians 1:17)
This is a doctrinal
knowledge, a knowledge revealed in Scripture with clear biblical support. While
it must be a doctrinal knowledge revealed in Scripture, it is also an
experiential knowledge of God. This experience is not divorced from Scripture;
rather, it is the experiencing of Scripture. The writer to the Hebrews puts it
this way:
For though by this time you ought to be teachers [because of the
time you have had to learn these truths], you actually need someone to teach
you again the elementary principles of God’s word [from the beginning], and you
have come to be continually in need of milk, not solid food. For everyone who
lives on milk is [doctrinally inexperienced and] unskilled in the word of
righteousness, since he is a spiritual infant. 14 But solid food is for the
[spiritually] mature, whose senses are trained by practice to distinguish
between what is morally good and what is evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14)
We need knowledge to walk
worthily of the vocation of which we have been called. Apostle Paul writes:
For this reason also, since the day we heard [of it], we have
not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge
of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of
the Lord, to please [Him] in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God;
strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the
attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has
qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Colossians 1:9-12)
This “knowledge” must also be understood as contrasting and
contradicting the false knowledge of the false teachers who would undermine
both the truth and the faith of the saints if they could. The bible tells us:
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there
will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive
heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction
upon themselves. And many will follow
their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from
long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep…
. . . These are springs without water, and mists driven by a
storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity
they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the
ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves
of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. (2
Peter 2:1-3 & 17-19).
Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent
to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience
of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according
to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in
them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the
untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to
their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on
your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall
from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of
eternity. Amen (2 Peter 3:14-18).
The knowledge of God is
essential to our growth in kingdom character and our ability to recognize and
avoid those who teach what is false.
Ø Temperance
Another word for temperance
is self-control. The term rendered “self-control” means literally “to take a grip
of oneself.” Self-control is the opposite of
self-indulgence. As unbelievers, we are dominated by our physical appetites,
enslaved as we are to them:
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you
formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of
disobedience. Among them we too all
formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh
and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest (Ephesians
2:1-3)
But we have been delivered
from our bondage to the flesh:
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under
grace? May it never be! Do you not know
that when you present yourselves to someone [as] slaves for obedience, you are
slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of
obedience resulting in righteousness?
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became
obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became
slaves of righteousness. Romans
6:15-18 (also see Romans 8:12-13)
Living a godly life
requires us to master the flesh and make it our servant, rather than our
master:
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but [only]
one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes in the games
exercises self-control in all things. They then [do it] to receive a perishable
wreath, but we an imperishable.
Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way,
as not beating the air; but I buffet my
body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I
myself should be disqualified
(1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Sin uses the flesh to keep
us in bondage (Romans 7:14-21). Satan and the world
encourage us to live according to the flesh. But being a child of God requires
that we live no longer for the flesh or in the power of the flesh. Our flesh
still has a strong attraction, as Paul’s words in Romans 7 and our own experience make painfully clear. Only by God’s
grace can we overrule fleshly lusts, and because of His provisions, we must
diligently strive to do so. The prompting of the flesh must be brought under
control, and we are to heed the prompting of the Spirit of God, as He speaks
through the Word of God (also see Romans 8:1-8; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16;
3:16-17; 4:6).
False teachers appeal to
fleshly lusts. They gather a following by proclaiming a gospel which indulges
the flesh rather than crucifying it:
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there
will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive
heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction
upon themselves. And many will follow
their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be
maligned; and in their greed they will
exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and
their destruction is not asleep. . . 2 Peter 2:1-3,
then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and
to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and
especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise
authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic
majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a
reviling judgment against them before the Lord.
But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be
captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the
destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages
of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are
stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you,
having eyes full of adultery and that never cease from sin, enticing unstable
souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; . . . 2 Peter 2:9-14,
For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly
desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in
error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption;
for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 2 Peter 2:18-19
Such false teaching is not
uncommon in the pulpit today. The “good-life gospeleers” offer a different
gospel than the apostles. Rather than proclaim a gospel which involves
suffering and self-denial, they proclaim a “better” gospel of self-indulgence
and success in life. They promise that those who possess enough faith can
escape suffering and adversity and be guaranteed peace and prosperity. They
promise that when one gives a little, one may be assured of receiving much more
in return. These rewards are not looked for in heaven as much as on earth, now. The gospel of the apostles was very
different:
But some days later, Felix arrived with Drusilla, his wife who
was a Jewess, and sent for Paul, and heard him [speak] about faith in Christ
Jesus. And as he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment to
come, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for the present, and when I
find time, I will summon you”
(Acts 24:24-25)
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality,
impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy,
outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, Envying, drunkenness,
carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have
forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the
kingdom of God. (Galatians
5:19-21)
Let us not dilute the
gospel to make it attractive to men by appealing to their fleshly lusts.
We must be able through our
faith, virtue, knowledge and self-control over all ungodliness to proclaim the
message of the gospel in its fullness and its simplicity; knowing that only
through the Spirit of God are men enabled to grasp the truth of the gospel and
quickened to do so. Scriptural
reference:
Sermonette
