Peter’s Living Monument of Character
In the first chapter of the Second Epistle of Peter is found what is sometimes called “Peter’s ladder,” or the “Gospel ladder.” Rather, it is a mighty monument of character, builded of divine materials. After speaking of the like precious faith founded in God’s word, the grace and peace multiplied by him, the “divine power” which comes through faith, and by which we become partakers of the divine nature, the apostle continues as follows: “And besides 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.” Verses 5–7. And Besides This.—It is not enough that God is good, that he “hath given unto us all things” pertaining unto life and godliness, that it is not of ourselves but of his exceeding great and precious promises that we become partakers of divine nature; it is not enough that God does all this, we must coöperate with him. While we must believe in God as though he were to do it all, we must “besides this” give “all diligence,” as though we were to do it all ourselves. For, indeed, it must be God’s power that does it all, yet it must be that we coöperate with him in everything with “all diligence.” There is no such a thing as a lazy Christian. Add to Your Faith.—The foundation rock on which it is builded, this living monument of character, is Christ Jesus and his word; for his Spirit and life are in his word. See 1 Cor. 3: 11; Luke 6: 47, 48; John 6: 63. Faith is the cement covering the broad foundation of this monument. It is that which connects the superstructure with the living base, the living foundation rock. Yea, the faith permeates and infuses every stone in the pile, every material in the building of character. It carries the life of God, like the electric current through every atom of the wondrous structure conceived in the mind of the great Architect and Master Builder, making one living pillar, pyramid, monument, of the entire structure. Virtue.—“Add to your faith virtue.” The word means boldness, courage, fortitude, bravery to meet the foe, the scoffer, the sneers, the opposition, the persecution, with determination and strength to endure to the end. It is only the man of faith who possesses such fortitude. He must believe in the cause he espouses. He must be anchored to the rock. But he who truly believes in God, who rests upon his word, rightly judges between the real and unreal, between the heavenly and earthly, between the unseen and seen. By faith he sees his all-glorious King with his angelic host—the army of the right—and he has courage to stand against all lesser powers. Virtue, or courage, is builded and welded by faith to the Rock. And to Virtue, Knowledge.—He who has faith in God, who has the courage born of faith, will seek God for a knowledge of his will; and God will demonstrate in him the truth that “unto him that hath shall be given.” By faith we understand. The same faith that grasps God’s power, grasps his wisdom. In fact, faith puts Christ in the heart (Eph. 3: 17), and in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead (Col. 2: 9). But faith finds Christ in the word, and in the word is revealed the knowledge of God and the beneficent purposes of his wisdom. Faith builds and welds to the structure of character another development,—knowledge of God. How to obtain the knowledge of God is thus revealed: “Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” Prov. 2: 3–6. But the seeking must be with “all diligence,” and with meekness; for “the meek will he guide in judgment; and the meek will he teach his way.” Ps. 25: 9. To Knowledge, Temperance.—This is the next logical manifestation in the building of character. All are found in faith, or what faith brings from the word, but the manifestation of some of these graces does not all appear at once. Knowing God brings temperance, or, what is better, self-control; for that is what is meant by the original word. True knowledge of God is union with God; it is eternal life. John 17: 3. By union with God we obtain the power of God, and his power gives self-control. In fact, it is Christ reigning within. It is his life dominant over the flesh. Gal. 2: 20; Rom. 8: 1–4. It is the armor of God, casting down all corrupt thoughts and imaginations. But in self-control, as in all other graces, it behooves the child of God to give all diligence. To Temperance, Patience.—The word is even stronger than patience; it is patient endurance. Surely it needs faith, it needs courage, it needs self-control by the Spirit of God, to endure patiently the temptations, trials, petty vexations, open blasphemies of the God whom we love, and all manner of persecution. And yet as God is patient toward us in all our failures, so will we be patient with others. “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” is the prayer of infinite patience; it should be our prayer, and the patience should be our patience, not only in the great trials, but in the petty vexations of every day. These little things are often the hardest to bear, but there is power in the Spirit of God, whose fruit it is (Gal. 5: 22), to bring it forth to the glory of God. To Patience, Godliness.—To be like God. This means to have God’s law, the transcript of his character, written in the heart and practiced in the life. It is godlikeness, Christ dwelling within. Nothing will develop this grace like patient endurance through faith. Tribulation brings Christ into our companionship more closely. To endure tribulation is to hold him there; and when he dwells within, his likeness will be seen without. To Godliness, Brotherly Kindness.—True love begins at home. To the child of God it is God first, and the members of the household next. The little one loves parents first, then brothers and sisters, then other friends. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” Gal. 6: 10. Kindness begins at home. If we can not be kind to those of the household of faith, how can we have any assurance that the Spirit of Christ dwells in us. If we love God, we will love our brother also. 1 John 4: 21. Brotherly kindness is the next manifestation2in the growth of character. “In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” To Brotherly Kindness, Charity.—Charity is love, the love from God. It embraces all other moral attributes. God is love, and every one that is born of God loveth even as God loves. See 1 John 4: 7–21. As God loved sinners, so will we. As love constrained Christ to die for the world, so will love constrain us to give ourselves to him and for those for whom he died, debtor to all. Rom. 1: 14; 2 Cor. 5: 14. Love is obedient. “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5: 3. The love of God will not call the law a “yoke of bondage,” nor his holy day the “old Jewish Sabbath.” Like Christ will he say, “I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.” Ps. 40: 8. Like David he will say, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” Ps. 119: 97. Charity—love—the crowning grace, the bond of perfectness, the greater than faith or hope, the chief glory of the monument of character, wrought out by the Spirit of God. Rom. 5: 5. Love includes all. “Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.” Knowledge alone puffs up; love builds up. 1 Cor. 8: 1. Love “seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth.” And therefore that monument, builded on Christ Jesus, the Rock, vitalized through faith by the life of God, builded from the bottom by the stones from heaven’s quarry,—virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness,—and crowned and strengthened by love, becomes itself one living pile and endures for all eternity. If.—It need not be uncertain—“If these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful; . . . for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” There need be no “if.” If we will to add these graces, if we “give diligence” to coöperate with God, he will multiply “grace and peace” to us. The task may seem hard, the field unpromising, but God is able and willing; his word is “able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” Diligence.—The Christian life will not be a success without diligence. This is a recognized principle in every sort of business in the temporal affairs of life. A diligent, honest man always has the sympathy of his fellows when he fails. Of a lazy, shiftless man who fails it is said, He deserves it. It is so with the Christian life. Diligence is demanded. Says the apostle, “Giving all diligence.” There is no room, no time, for pleasure, for ease, for resting in the sense of letting go of our work. All the time, with all our energies, must we pursue the heavenly way, must we prosecute the Lord’s business. He who will not do this, who does not consider eternal life in the kingdom of God worthy of “all diligence” in this short life, does not deserve life. God demands all the heart, mind, soul, and strength. “Whosoever he be of you,” says Jesus, “that forsaketh not all that he hath, he can not be my disciple.” The “all” includes selfish ease, slothfulness, laziness. Therefore, Christian, “be diligent,” in prayer, in watchfulness, in labor.