Christian Virtuousness

[emekrus]

“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue”—2Peter 1:3

The word ‘virtue’ as used in the opening text above, is translated from the Greek word, ‘arete’; properly meaning, manliness or valour. That is excellence or exploits. The opening text tells us that God has called us to glory and virtue. I had already dealt with the call to glory part, in my article; “Walking in Divine Glory”.

In this particular article, we will be expounding on the call to virtue part.

This particular topic is very important to the body of Christ worldwide; as many believers are deluded concerning salvation. Many believe the saving call of Jesus is only but a ticket to heaven and nothing else…

Especially as it concerns this topic, many Christians wrongly believe that mediocrity and failure in life, is the same thing as godliness. And as such, they settle with mediocrity and failure in every area of life. They settle for mediocrity and defeat in their spiritual, marital, academic, career or business lives… and virtually every area of life.

They wrongly believe that the super-excelling believers, making exploits in every area of life are missing it. And consequently, they look out for one fault or the other to slander or lambaste them; with the wrong notion that they are doing God a service.

But the word of God tells us that “They that do know their God, shall be strong and do exploits”—Daniel 11:32. Then again, the word of God tells us that we shall be the head and not the tail. That we shall be above only, and not beneath (Deuteronomy 28:13).

Hence, mediocrity and defeatedness in life can never be attributed to godliness. Instead from scriptures, virtuousness or exploits or excellence is actually what God sees as godliness…

Because that is exactly what God has called us to according to our opening text. Our exploits or excellence in life, glorifies God. Thus, a pursuit of excellence or exploits by the grace of God in us is definitely a pursuit of godliness from scriptural authority.

Our God is a God of exploits and excellence. While the Lord Jesus was on earth, he did exploits in his ministry, which is still speaking till date. And if we are to follow the footsteps of our God and Lord, exploits and excellence in every area of life must be our pursuit. So we want to see the biblical ways or keys for the pursuit of excellence or virtuousness in every area of our lives as Christians.

The Biblical Keys to Christian Virtuousness

The list below constitutes the biblical keys for accessing a virtuous life in Christ Jesus:

• Faith: “Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my father”—John 14:12.
  
  From the above scripture, the Lord says anyone who believes in him shall do the exact same works that he did. The works being referred to here are majorly his ministerial and miraculous exploits. And he added; “And greater works than these shall he do”. Here he is referring to individual Christians, not Christians collectively—Hence the use of the word ‘he’. It doesn’t read; “And greater works than these shall they do”.
  
  Absolute and holistic faith in God is needed in a Christian for this particular scripture to be realized in his life. Thus, Christian virtuousness is primarily a function of unfeigned and tenacious faith in God and his eternal words.
  
  
• Knowledge: “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits” – Daniel 11:32
  
  The above scripture tells us that the knowledge of God is required for strength and doing exploits. Knowledge here refers to the revelational knowledge of God through the indwelling Holy Spirit in us. And we receive these revelational knowledge from the Holy Spirit, through continual word study, meditation and prayers.
  
  Thus, virtuousness in the kingdom of God is also a function of divine revelational knowledge.
  
  
• Diligence: A major scriptural key to excellence or virtue in every area of life is diligence. Both in the Christian and secular world. The virtuous woman in the book of proverbs chapter 31 is a typical biblical example of the direct relationship between diligence and excellence or virtuousness.
  
  To record exploits in every area of our lives, we must of a necessity add diligence to our faith. For instance, right from the very moment I gained admission into the university, I chose the class of degree I was going to graduate with by faith in God.
  
  As I did that, I started confessing it and by the grace of God, I set out about one hour to be studying my books every day, very early in the morning after prayers. I gave myself a target of rounding off all my course outlines at least twice before exam timetable would be out. So during the exam period I would just be left with revision…
  
  And as I did that consistently by God’s grace, all through my years in the university, I became and remained one of the best students. I taught my course mates in more understandable ways than my lecturers. Many a time, I would finish answering exam questions allotted two hours to, in just 30 minutes.
  
  And finally, to the glory of God, I graduated with the exact class of degree I desired of God, in spite of all the challenging oppositions. And as such, I was among the list of the best graduating students in my session. Hence, diligence is a major key to Christian virtuousness in every area of life.
  
  
• Divine Wisdom: Divine wisdom is another major key to Christian virtuousness or excellence. Many suffer mediocrity and defeat, just for the want of wisdom. Divine wisdom in the form of inspired thought or idea is what makes a believer outstanding amongst his contemporaries. For instance, it is divine wisdom from God that has turned me into a successful, self-taught, multi-lingual, freelance programmer.
  
  And by the grace of God, within a year, I already had an edge above many other programmers in the new City we currently live as I was led into by God. To receive wisdom from God for excellence in every and any area of life, you just have to ask him for it in faith (James 1:5-6).

Added to this list above, Christian virtuousness is also a direct function of godliness, Love of God and Meekness. And as you engage these scriptural keys, you will definitely emerge a champion and super star in every area of your life to the glory of God in Jesus precious name!

Remain Blessed!

Emeke Odili

 

[Latour]

The Greek word for virtue is indeed "arete". It means manly courage. The Greeks worshipped this quality for it is the quality of a warrior. Achilles, the great hero of the Iliad was seen as the ultimate in arete. This quality was also seen in Leonidas who headed up the 300 Spartans at Thermolylae. Courage in battle is arete at it's finest.

After a battle, certain hoplites (soldiers) among the Greeks were given special honours. This was always based on arete. There was a certain man from Athens who won the honour in a battle against the Persians at Plataea. He had made an anchor for himself which he attached to his belt and stuck into the ground so that no matter what force he met in the battle line he would never be pushed back. The Greeks fought shoulder to shoulder and a little hesitation on the part of one could affect the whole line. But so also the courage of one could likewise affect all. Because of his virtue (courage) this Athenian held the line against the superior Persian host by giving a good example of arete so that the success of the Greeks (because of his steadiness) was in part due to him. The people around him took courage from his unwavering solidity in the line.

So we are also to stand fast in the Lord without giving any ground to the enemy. We are to be examples of faith and faithfulness to our brothers beside us. We are to hold the line. We are to add this to our faith at the outset...before thinking of other things. All other attributes...if courage is lacking...are ineffective since only the courageous remain on the field of battle. All the others have run away. Even love, if it is timid...becomes ineffective to save the day.

Is it any wonder that God would communicate this quality of faithfulness towards God to the Greeks who already understood that standard?


It was Churchill that said
“Without courage all other virtues lose their meaning.”

Be strong in the Lord.

 

[Latour]

I forgot to add the in my little story that the anchor for us is Christ. It is attached to the belt of truth. He gives us the strength to hold the line.

Also it is no wonder that it is Peter that mentions the need for arete. If we can remember that although Peter professed love for Jesus and his willingness to die for Him yet he denied the Lord 3 times. He lacked courage. So then it is normal that Peter, being the most outspoken and seemingly courageous among the disciples...lacked arete at the crucial moment. So it tops his list of qualities we are to add to our faith.

 

[HeRoseFromTheDead]

Virtue/excellence (arete) is the first/foremost thing that we are to supply in faith in our walk of sanctification and growing into perfection.

... applying all diligence, supply in your faith excellence, and in excellence, knowledge, and in knowledge, self-control, and in self-control, patient endurance, and in patient endurance, godliness, and in godliness, brotherly love, and in brotherly love, love. 2 Peter 1:5-6​

There are a lot of undercurrents going on with this word with things like the pre-eminence of the firstborn, headship, etc. For example,

...Thus saith the Lord Almighty; Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall spring up from his stem, and build the house of the Lord. And he shall receive excellence, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and there shall be a priest on his right hand, and a peaceable counsel shall be between them both. Zechariah 6:12-13​

In my studies, so far I have likened it to the excellence of light (note: excels in this verse is not arete).

And I saw that wisdom excels folly, as much as light excels darkness. Ecclesiastes 2:13​

The Theological Dictionary of the NT distills the meaning of arete to eminence.

A. ἀρετή outside the NT.​

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At the time of the NT the word ἀρετή had so many meanings that it gave rise to misunderstandings. When, e.g., we read Hesiod Op., 313: πλούτῳ δʼ ἀρετὴ καὶ κῦδος ὀπηδεῖ, we might take it to mean that wealth and virtue are inseparably connected. Plutarch at least credits such ideas of the young patrons of letters in his day. That later generations, for whom Greek was no longer their everyday speech, should be exposed to errors is obvious, and to this very day it is still difficult to decide in individual cases.​

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Yet in spite of the ambiguity of the term we can pick out a single basic meaning. It might be rendered a. “eminence,” quaelibet rei praestantia. It can refer to excellence of achievement, to mastery in a specific field, on the one side, or to endowment with higher power on the other, or often to both together. Thus a happy destiny is the result of fine achievement (Plut. → n. 1), and conversely achievement is a precondition of the good which is sought by all, of good fortune.​

Here are some places arete is used in scripture.

But you an elect offspring, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people into possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of the one having called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 1 Peter 2:9​

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Whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, of good report; if any excellence and any praise, meditate on these things. Philippians 4.8​

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His divine power as to life and godliness having been given as all things to us, through the full knowledge of the one having called us through glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1.3​

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God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His excellence covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. Habakkuk 3:3​