Christian Character Development Part 4

Now we reach the last, but not least, of the character traits Peter listed dear friends and readers,

Love.  What differentiates this love from the brotherly love we looked at in the last post on Christian character development?  Is it the fact that one would be willing to die for another?  Hardly, men die for romantic love, ερος, they die for love of family, στοργη, and we’ve already seen they’ll die for love of a best friend, especially in a military context, φιλος.  But will somebody die for a stranger, or even a bitter enemy?  That is what the last character trait, or αγαπη, is all about.

Agape love, which is how that last kind of love is pronounced and known, is best defined as pure and unselfish love.  Every other love we’ve seen has an element of selfishness behind it.  Romantic love has the end of sexual relations as its motivation.  Familial love has an element of possession in it.  And love of a best friend is motivated by a mutual return in loyalty and deed.  But agape love seeks nothing in return.  In the case of such love for God it is motivated by an appreciation for the things we learn about God, his character.  In the case of man the fact that man was created “in the image” of God is enough for us to love those around us and even those who would harm us.

We have two examples from scripture of agape love which stick out beyond all others.  The first is Jesus’ sacrificial death for us.  But while he was on that cross he showed the extent to which he loved even those who drove the nails into his flesh and hung him up naked and bleeding for all to see.  It is recorded for us in Luke 23: 34, where he prayed “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.”  The second is from the experiences of the early Church where Stephen was put on trial and then stoned.  As he was dying we are told in Acts 7:60 that his last words were a loud prayer to God, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.”  That his prayer had a favorable hearing is indicated for us by the selection of one of their number, the man who watched over their cloaks so that they wouldn’t be stolen Saul of Tarsus, to become the Apostle to the Gentiles and the twelfth foundational stone of the Christian church.

Agape love ties everything else together.  That was probably why it came last in Peter’s list.  We know that Peter knew of Paul’s letters to the congregations and probably read them (2 Pet. 3:15, 16).  So he may well have been familiar with Paul’s words in the thirteenth chapter of first Corinthians, where Paul used both the first and last verses of that chapter to show that love ties everything together (1 Cor. 13: 1-3, 13).  In the first verses Paul shows how important agape love is when he informs his readers, and that includes us, that if he did not have that pure and unselfish love all his impressive works would be for naught.

So the question then becomes do we have this kind of love so intensely for others that we would pray for our persecutors even as they pull tight the rope around our necks as they murder us for being followers of Christ?  I guess you probably realize why I can say those who contend that agape love is a cold, unemotional, exercise of the will are wrong.  Still, if we haven’t yet reached that point in our character development we may well want to work on it to the best of our abilities.

So there we have it, eight character traits.  We’re told that if we “diligently” cultivate faith, moral character, knowledge, self-control, endurance, brotherly kindness and love that it will “keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in attaining a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.” (2 Pet. 4:8).

Christian Character Development Part 3

So far in our study on Character Development we’ve considered four Character traits the apostle Peter told his fellow Christians to work on in his second letter (1:4-8).  Let us now consider some more.

Endurance is the “quality… of withstanding hardship or stress” (The American Heritage Dictionary).  The Greek word is υπομενω (G5278) which is a strengthened form of μενω (G3306) which means to be placed or rooted; to endure.  Υπομενω, then, means to “endure, bear bravely and calmly” (Thayer’s, pg. 674, meaning 2b.)  The implication in the word is to endure, or bear up, under tribulation.  Tribulation comes in many forms and from many directions.  In the United State of America, where I live it comes primarily through being disowned by family or friends and the consequent killing of one’s reputation.

The world does not like that which is not its own and persecuted our Lord first of all. (John 1:9-11).  As his slaves we are no better than our Master and can expect no better than what he got (Matt. 10:25, 25).  So family may cut us off, as some of mine have, and one can expect to be slandered, often behind their backs by both family and friends.  They may lose jobs, as one Christian fellow I know did when the ministers of his town banded together to get him fired because of his beliefs.

In some lands, though, true Christians are subject to arrest, prosecution and imprisonment and even execution.  They may also be subject to mob attacks and beaten or even killed.  And lest we think we are secure from that kind of persecution here in the Western nations there are historical precedents as recent as the twentieth century for such harsh persecution.

So endurance is an important quality to cultivate right now if we find ourselves in lands where persecution does not extend beyond social disapprobation.  And in lands where it is worse it behooves Christians to cultivate that quality all the faster.  Although no persecution is pleasant, our Lord told us to rejoice over it in his sermon on the mount (Matt. 5:11, 12).  The last verse tells us why “for great is your reward in heaven.”  That is the bottom line for true Christians and keeping our focus on that is what helps us to have the proper attitude in the face of persecution.

Godliness is the next trait.  Godliness is translated from the Greek word ευσεβεια (G2150).  Vine’s says that this word “denotes that piety, which characterized by a Godward attitude, does that which is well-pleasing to Him,” that is, God.  So the true Christian wants to please the Almighty God, Jehovah, and seeks the already covered knowledge of what pleases him, as the person portrayed by the psalmist in the first psalm, and then does his or her best to do it.

The truly godly Christian is not one who does things for show, rather, he or she is motivated from the heart to please the God whose character they have come to appreciate.  Thus they become like a lamp themselves, shinning forth in this world darkened by Satan’s influence.  Although it can be cultivated true Godliness is not a forced trait since it comes from the heart and is motivated by God’s Holy Spirit.

Brotherly Kindness is the last trait we will consider today.  The Greek word here is φιλαδελφια (G5360).  We know the word from the city name Philadelphia, or the City or Brotherly Love as it is often called.  This word is a combination of two words, one which means brother and the other which is one of the five words in Greek which mean love.  This love was the sort of love one feels for their best friend, or a soldier feels for a fellow soldier.  It is a deep love, one which will move a person to stand and fight beside a bother in arms, and even die for him.  It is also the same love which will move us to stand up for our best friend and help them no matter what the trouble or risk.

So by adding brother to loving as a best friend we get a combination telling us in addition to the traits already discussed to cultivate love for our Christian brethren, such as we would die for them if need be.  This is consistent with a command Jesus gave specifically to his followers to follow after his death.  On the night before his crucifixion Jesus commanded his disciples, not once, but twice for emphasis, that they were to “love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:31-35; 15:12-17).  Jesus did everything he could for his disciples, spending himself right through to death.  He sacrificed his life for them and us, that we might have life immortal in the heavens should we prove worthy.  Thus he left us the command to love our Christian brethren, even unto death if necessary.

That means we will always want the best for our brethren.  We will watch out for their reputations and not add to any burden they might already have to bear due to the hatred of this world by passing on unkind words.  Should we see them take a misstep, we would want to help them adjust their way in a spirit of mildness (Gal. 6:1).  Should we see them in need we would fill that need, even if it meant materially, pulling money out of our own pockets if God has given us enough surplus we can fill that need (James 2:14-17).  We would give freely and willingly and not seek excuses to justify otherwise, thus be in danger of becoming judges over our own godly brethren (Matt. 7:1-3).  The aim is to be perfect in our love toward all, but especially our Christian brethren as our father in heaven is perfect in his (Matt 5: 48). 

By doing this towards each other we become a true brotherhood, and our strength becomes more than the sum.  That helps us to be Godly and have more endurance.  It is not without reason the Bible often applies military metaphors to the brotherhood of Christians.  We are not alone in our race, never forget that dear reader.

Christian Character Development Part 2

Greetings again my friends and readers:

In the last post we started a series on Christian character development.  We considered two qualities listed in 2 Peter 1:4-8, faith and moral character.  In this post we continue starting with knowledge.

Knowledge is an essential component for our walk in the Christian way.  Without it faith is impossible in the first place since one has to know what one is having faith in.  It is so important that Jesus referred to it in rebuking Satan when he said that one must live “by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4; Luke 4:4).  Of course Jesus was referring to the inspired word of God, the source of truth our creator has given us and against which all teaching must be measured (Acts 17:10-11, where we have recorded for us the Bereans checking the Holy Scriptures to confirm Paul’s testimony).

Divinely inspired knowledge isn’t secret.  It is as open to all as the Bible.  It doesn’t require training in some seminary or university to know and understand being simple enough that many throughout the Gospel age have figured it out in its essentials often with little more than the right scraps of God’s word available to them, such as the book of Romans, which is an exposition on basic truth.  There are bible helps today, books and other literature written by mature Christians, but one should always check what is written against the Bible itself to make sure such writings really do teach the truth, just as the Bereans mentioned earlier did.

Correct knowledge of the truth enables us to keep our steps straight and serves as a light to guide us in this darkness (Ps. 119:105).  Without knowledge of what God wants of us we wouldn’t know how to build the kind of character he wants.  And he has not left us without that knowledge as we are considering the list of character traits he wants us to have he left us right now.  Because of its importance it is indeed that Peter included it in his list to the brethren in the first century.  That is why Bible reading goes before Bible study by means of Bible helps.  By reading it daily using a good translation we will have the requisite grounding in the word to recognize what is truth and what is not.  Thus the child of God makes time to daily read the word (Ps. 1).

Self-control is next.  The word Peter used was ἐγκράτεια (G1466), which Thayer’s defines as “self-control (the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites).”  The true Christian doesn’t live primarily to satisfy his or her desires as the world does.  He or she has given up all earthly hopes for a greater gain, to be partakers of the divine nature as Christ is (2 Peter 1:4).  So the ones called out of this world are under trial right now as to their fitness to join their fellows as kings and priests in the coming kingdom of the Christ so they must develop this quality in order to be fit for their role in that kingdom (Rev. 20: 4-6; 1 Cor. 9:24-27).

So self-control is a mark of Christians.  They don’t vent anger, over drink, overeat, watch pornography, or indulge in many other ways those in the world do.  Although they may marry, sexual relations are characterized by love with the Christian not letting selfishness take over and causing harm to his or her partner physically or emotionally as far as possible.  That means they will not insist that their spouse engage in distasteful and dangerous acts many in the world do, nor will they insist on their way when their spouse finds something distasteful or legitimately aren’t up to it.  “Everything goes” just isn’t the way of the Christ dear readers, and it shouldn’t be ours.

To be self-controlled also means the true Christian is honest in their relations with others.  The Christian employer gives his workers an honest living wage and Christian workers give an honest day’s work for their wages, whether their employer is a Christian or not.  True Christians are honest in their business practices, not seeking the advantage over others with sharp or dishonest business practices.  And those with self-control are honest even when it hurts their reputation…or even their pocketbooks.

Self-control includes controlling one’s tongue.  There is so much damage the unguarded tongue can cause.  Gossip destroys reputations and causes resentment, especially when untrue.  Thoughtless words cause anger and resentment as well.  It is not without good reason that James wrote of how such a little “member” of our body can cause such great fires (James 3).

And the preceding paragraphs are by no means exhaustive on the subject of self-control.

We’ve now considered four of the character traits we want to cultivate in order to develop our characters as God wants of us dear readers.  We’ll continue on with the next in the series.

Have a blessed day.

Christian Character Developement Part 1

So, having blogged about how it is possible for one who has answered the call to heaven to lose out in the last topic we looked at the logical question becomes how do we avoid such an end?  Since God loves us and wants us to succeed and gain the crown offered (James. 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:6-7; Rev. 2:10; 20:4-6) he leaves us in no doubt as to how to be successful.  It is through character development.

Peter wrote to the Christian Church in his day on the subject and gave them a simple plan for Character development and success.  His words are found in 2 Peter 1:4-8:

Through these he has given us his precious and wonderful promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, seeing that you have escaped the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, you must make every effort to supplement your faith with moral character, your moral character with knowledge, your knowledge with self-control, your self-control with endurance, your endurance with godliness, your godliness with brotherly kindness, and your brotherly kindness with love. For if you possess these qualities, and if they continue to increase among you, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in attaining a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. (ASV)

Let’s have a look at each of the character traits Peter mentions:

Faith:  Faith is the first virtue mentioned.  Fortunately for us we have a definition of faith in the bible itself.  That definition is found at Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists.”  Biblical faith isn’t really blind.  It has a foundation on which it is build.  That foundation is two-fold, creation and God’s word.  More and more as technology makes it possible for scientists to peer into creation the more it is being discovered that the universe isn’t as haphazard as it as first seemed.  There is evidence of order and design.  Thus we find scientists from at least two disciplines, astronomy and microbiology embracing the theory of intelligent design and risking damage to their careers in the process.  Such evidence of design forms a foundation for belief in a creator, one who has some care for his creation given all the things which have to be just right for us to have this home we call earth in the first place.

The second layer for the foundation for faith is God’s word.  Since the creator went to all the trouble it took to make this earth and make it just right for our habitation it only makes sense that he would also care enough to communicate with the intelligent part of his creation.  The Christian Bible, which is made up of the Jewish Torah in its entirety and the Christian writings, purports to be that message.  When compared to all other such works it is by far superior.  Its accounts match with what both ancient historical sources recount and archeological discoveries.  More and more the latter are revealing the Bible to be a book with a sound footing in the realities of the time.  The candor of its writers also reveals it to be a book which we can place our confidence in.  Thus it completes the foundation for Christian faith.

In the rest of the eleventh chapter Paul emphasizes for us the difference between belief and faith, though the same Greek work is used for both.  Faith is active.  It is belief applied.  Time and time again Paul drives the point home with numerous examples making the entire chapter one every Christian should read regularly.  So the footstep follower of the Master doesn’t just sit on his or her call, she or she acts on it, first through character development.  We’ll see why later on.

Moral Character:  The word used here is aretē (ἀρέτη G703).  As I gleaned my way through the lexicons I have the meaning which really stuck out was virtue in every sense of the word.  The word manliness was also attached to it in one lexicon showing that this is virtue built on courage and moral fiber.  Thus moral character is the quality of doing what is right, even when everybody around one doesn’t.  The Christian doesn’t seek the easy way out or to conform to the notions of the day as to morality.  The genuine Child of God sticks to his moral requirements no matter the pressures brought on him or her to compromise.  So courage is an essential part of Christian virtue, especially when exercising faith in God and his precious promises.  It is easy to see why Peter would say to add to one’s faith virtue.

We’ll see you again dear friends and readers for our next post in the series.

The Tragedy In Denver

A few things about yesterday's tragedy:

There is no way any gun legislation either way would've done a bit of good.  Experience has shown that if a crazy like that wants to get an automatic weapon and blow away a bunch of folks he'll get it.  Consider the mess they had in France some months back with the Muslim fanatic killing Jews and soldiers with real military weaponry in a country where possession of said weaponry is illegal.  From what we've been told so far about this fellow's apartment it sounds like he was also in possession of illegal explosives, whether they were homemade or not, so all those laws did not work.

On the other hand had those with valid CCW permits been allowed in the theater it still wouldn't have made any real difference in the end unless one had an armor piercing load, which is illegal to all but military and police personnel.  Mr. Holmes went in suited up in full tactical gear and armor, so the loads most people who carry would've been pretty much useless.

I don't often watch TV these days.  But last night my wife and I were and she switched the TV to the O'Reilly factor when it came on unasked.  I've watched him many times in the past and there are times I both agree and disagree with him.  But last night when he pointed out that there was no way any political policy would've made a difference he was dead on, pardon the pun.

Yesterday we had a family tragedy when an uncle died.  But the nation had a tragedy when somebody mentally ill equipped to handle the pressure of a PhD. program went into melt-down and decided to vent his anger by taking as many lives as he could.  That it was a theater packed with children and that they figure prominently among the victims makes the tragedy doubly hard for all.  Unfortunately as man continues his fall such tragedies have become like the weather, something which one hopes they won't be struck with but which all know can happen anywhere or at anytime.

Our hearts go out to those who lost loved ones in Colorado yesterday.

Can one who has tasted of salvation be lost?

I am going to lay out two points for this discussion.  One, I’m going to assume that by “salvation” we are talking about heavenly salvation.  Two, only God really knows who would fall in that category for sure because he is the only judge of it.  That being stated:

While Jesus was on the earth he made a comment which is appropriate to the subject when his miracles were attributed to Beelzebub:

“So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the one to come."

(Mat 12:31-32; ISV)

So it is possible to fall away and commit acts for which there is no forgiveness.  Becoming and enemy of the Way and speaking against it can bring one perilously close to what Jesus was talking about since the True Church has God’s Holy Spirit and the works they perform are through its influence.  We find confirmation of that thought in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews where he states:

“For if we choose to go on sinning after we have learned the full truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but only a terrifying prospect of judgment and a raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who violates the Law of Moses dies without mercy ‘on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ How much more severe a punishment do you think that person deserves who tramples on God's Son, treats as common the blood of the covenant by which it was sanctified, and insults the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, ‘Vengeance belongs to me; I will pay them back,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!”

(Heb 10:26-31; ISV)

Paul states clearly that once one has “learned the full truth” and presumably joined the true church in their calling then chooses to sin, then there is no sacrifice left for them and such sin is no longer covered.  Since he included the thought of “tramples on God’s Son, treats as common the blood of the covenant by which it was sanctified,” it would seem that such sin would not only be deliberate but of a similar nature as that which Jesus warned against.  Basically, one can’t accidentally fall into this sin; they have to go out of their way to enter that category.

To sum it up, the belief of some that once one is “saved” they cannot be lost doesn’t really hold up.  Jesus himself warned that there was a sin which could earn one eternal unforgiveness, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.  Paul enlarged upon the idea and his words make it clear he wrote about those who were “saved,” that is part of the true Church called to heaven.  Paul makes it clear in no uncertain terms that those who willfully fall away and sin will fall into God’s hand of judgment and be lost.

My Apologies

To my dear friends and readers:


There is  reason for my silence at the moment.  My computer is in the shop to be rebuilt.  Hopefully what I get back will be better and I'll be back to offering up more essays.  I wish the best for those who read my posts.


Stanley Loper