To Be One in Christ: We Have Treasure in the Jars of Clay(18)1-I

To Be One in Christ: We Have Treasure in the Jars of Clay -- the Series of Explanation and Analysis of Scripture (18) - 1 - I

The Explanation and Analysis of the Verses in Chapter 1 of 2 PETER

It is edited and compiled under the guidance of Holy Spirit. All thanks, praises and glories be to God!

1. Make every effort to grow in the spiritual life (1:1-15)

(1) Foreword (1:1-2)

2 PETERS 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

(NOTES)

A. The name that the sender called himself (1:1_upper)

Here, Peter called himself as “a servant and apostle”. In the previous letter, he only called himself as “an apostle”. The apostle and the servant are two different status. The apostle refers to a person who is sent out on a special mission. While the servant refers to a low status; and the most distinct character of the servant is that he must obey the master. Peter called himself as a servant and apostle of Christ. Before he represented Christ to be as the apostle, he had been the servant already. He submitted to Christ first and handed over himself completely to Christ; then he became the representative of Christ to show the power. He himself was bought and redeemed to become a person belong to Christ; then he was as the exit of the grace from the LORD so that many lost souls were bought and redeemed by the blood of LORD.

B. The name that the receivers were called (1:1_latter)

“To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours”. We received this precious faith through the righteousness of our God and also Savior Jesus Christ.

We have received the faith through Savior Jesus Christ; it is all because Jesus Christ was willing to be born and to die so that to accomplish the redemption for us, which is the root of our faith. LORD Jesus was willing to die to redeem us, so that we receive the righteousness of God through His righteousness (Php 3:9; 1Co 1:30).

The reason that the believers can have such a precious faith and enter the grace of this faith, is all because there is a Savior who loves us and paid the precious price for us, and opened the road to heaven by his precious blood. The cunning schemes used by the devil are the persecutions through the sufferings, or the temptations of all kinds of sins, evils and heterodoxies. However, since the believers have received this precious faith through Jesus Christ, we should treasure the grace we received and stand firm on the truth of the Gospel.

We have received this faith not only through the love and kindness of God, but also through “the righteousness of our God ”. The redemption of Christ shows the righteousness of God. “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”(Rom 3:21-23). God love man; however, the righteousness of God does not tolerate sins, and He must punish sins. Therefore, He sent His Son to come into the world to redeem the people, so that the people can be saved not only through His love, but also can be saved according to His righteousness, for God had punished our sins on His Son. Since we have received such a great salvation, we should be away from sins and evils, and should not live in sins any longer; we must live a holy life, make every effort to be one in Christ, and live the life of Christ.

C. the blessings (1:2)

2 PETERS 1:2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

(NOTES)

This verse can be taken as the annotation on the greetings and blessings in the previous letter and also many letters, for it explains that the grace and peace are given to the believers through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Those who do not know God won’t receive the grace and peace from God; the grace and peace will come to those who know God. The more one knows about God, the more grace and peace from God he will receive .

(2) The reason that one should make effort to grow in the spiritual life (1:3-4)

A. It is because the divine power of God has given us everything we need for life and godliness (1:3)

2 PETERS 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

(NOTES)

What are things we need for life?

“life” refers to the eternal and holy life sharing in the divine nature of God, which is the life in Christ.

God has given us everything that we need for life. In the past, we did no share in this life, but lived in the life of the old Adam, and lived according to the corrupted life without any power to go beyond the old life. Our spiritual eyes were blind and could not see ourselves; what we pursued are the pleasure of the body, the vanity in this world, the cravings of sinful nature, and all kinds of pleasures in sins of the old life. However, now since we know Jesus Christ, and have received His grace and His life, God has given us everything about His life and how to have the life to the full (Joh 10:10).

What are things that we need for godliness?

That is, to all of those who have received the life of God, God has given us everything about how to live our lives as strangers in this world in reverent fear of God, and do His wills, including taking hold of the truth, loving each other with the brotherly love, being faithful to the holy work, doing our duties and making use of the gifts He gives us to work on the duties He entrusts us, and cooperating with other members to serve; together with everything to let the Holy Spirit take charge of our spiritual life.

Note that: God has given us; this does not mean that we have got all of them. Just as God has given us a Savior to take up the punishment of the sins of the mankind, and grant the grace of redemption to all the people; however, the worldly people might not accept such a great salvation, and only those who believe sincerely can get it. In the like manner, God has given us everything we need for life and godliness as a possession; however, have we entered the rich life of God completely? That is not the case. But here, it reminds us that as to all the spiritual richness, although in most cases, we only wait there and desire for them, they actually have been given to us by God already; and what we need to do is to draw and enjoy it through the faith.

How has God given us everything we need for life and godliness?

It is according to “his divine power” that God guilds us to enter His richness. How weak we are that we can not enter His richness; how foolish we are that we did not appreciate many good things regarding life and godliness. But thanks be to God, He has given these things to us by His divine power, so that we do not need to worry about our weakness and foolishness, and we only need to look upon His grace through faith. The Gospel is the great power of God to save the sinners out of the power and punishment of sins. The power to live a holy life comes from the knowledge of our LORD and the life of Christ in us. The divine power of God is the source of the holiness; to know Him is the way to be holy. To grow up in knowing Him is to grow up in the holiness. The more we know Him, the more we look like Him.

What it is said that “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness”? What is the evidence to know for sure that God has bestowed us all these things?

The evidence is “through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness”. We have known LORD already; therefore, we know for sure that we can take the use of everything we need for life and godliness. It shows here that the divine power of God “has given us everything we need for life and godliness”, and “our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” are related together. In another word, “everything we need for life and godliness” is the right that every believer can enjoy; we should draw them through faith as much as possible, and bravely enter the infinite richness and abundant life of God.

Before we know LORD, we did not share in the things of life and godliness, and it is useless even though we admire and are willing to work for him. Some think that as long as they donate money to the church to build the chapel, they will be remembered by God more or less, just as those who donate money to the temple and wish to get the blessing and protection from the Bodhisattva. In fact, if he does not commit his sins and convert to God, and does not know the salvation of God, all these are in vain and can not save him. However, since we know God and share in everything of life and godliness, we can engage in these things, and have the right to please God on these things and receive His reward.

Here, it is mentioned that LORD that we know is the LORD “who called us by his own glory and goodness”. The believers are called from the world by LORD; this message is mentioned for several times in the letter of 1 Peter (1Pe 1:15; 2:9,21; 3:9; 5:10).

What attract us so that we come out of the world to answer the call of LORD?

It is by His own glory and goodness; that is, His love, holiness, goodness, sacrifice, shedding blood, giving up himself, and humbling himself infinitely, enduring the sufferings of the cross, and being exalted to the highest place, draw us to Him and know Him. And the divine power of God has given us everything that we need for life and godliness through these.

B. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises (1:4)

2 PETERS 1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

(NOTES)

“his very great and precious promises”:

The promises here refer to the promise of the new birth in Christ that God has bestowed us, through which we are redeemed from the sins so that we can rely on the Holy Spirit of Christ to be away from sins and become holy, and to be one in Christ so that to enter the rest of God.

“so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires”:

God gives us the new life in Christ through the rebirth by the Holy Spirit. It is to make us to escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires, to take off the conducts in the life of the old Adam, to obey the Holy Spirit, to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and to live the life of Christ, so that to participate in the divine nature of God and rebuild the image created by God.

Some promises in Christ regarding the holy life: a. Sin shall not be one’s master (Rom 6:14); b. sufficient grace (2Co 12:9); c. strength to obey the commands (Php 4:13); d. to overcome the devil (Jam 4:7); e. having a way out in the temptations (1Co 10:13); f. If we confess our sins and repent, our sins will be forgiven (1Jo 1:9); g. If we call upon God, we will be delivered (Psa 50:15).

No wonder here it is said that the promises are very great and precious. These promises can make the believers to escape the corruptions of the world. Everything that we need to resist the temptations; God has promised to bestow to us completely. When the sinful desires come upon us, we can turn to God for help. These promises can make us be able to escape the corruption in the world: sexually immorality, drunkenness, impurity, bitterness, rage, faithlessness and strife and so on.

Also, through these promises, we participate in the divine nature of God. This becomes the truth whenever we believe in LORD. After that, when we enjoy the promise of God practically in life, we will be more and more similar to the likeness of God. For example, He promises that the more we think of Him, the more we will be like Him (2Co 3:18). As long as we study the Bible, know Christ through the revelations of the Bible, and are willing to submit to the Holy Spirit to follow Him, we will turn these promises into the reality. During this process, the Holy Spirit moulds us into the likeness of Christ with ever-increasing glory.

“participate in the divine nature”:

That is to be reborn. We the new creation are born from God and have the divine nature of God. Since we were reborn already, we should develop this new life. When we live the new life and let Christ take the charge in us, our inward will have the favors and disposition of God; our life will have the trace and flavor of God; and our lives will have the form of Christ.

(3) The attitude that one should have to make effort to grow in the spiritual life (1:5-7)

From verses 5-7, it is known that there are two basic attitudes of the believers to make effort to grow in the spiritual life:

A. Making every effort (1:5_upper)

2 PETERS 1:5_upper For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness;

(NOTES)

Note that “For this very reason”, this gives the reason that we should make every effort, is because of what are mentioned above: since we have known God already, and He has given us everything we need for life and godliness with His very great and precious promises, we participate in His divine nature. We are like the dealers who have become the formal “shareholders”, and have been qualified to take part in the spiritual affaires and manage the heavenly wealth. These things of life and godliness are our spiritual possessions; since they belong to us already, we should “make every effort” to manage and develop them so that we may finally enter the kingdom of God richly. If the spiritual life does not grow and has no difference with the old self, one continues in having a deficit to the glory of God and storing up the wrath of God.

To “make every effort” indicates to make best use of one’s intelligence and capability so that to achieve a perfect result, not only to fulfill the duty, but also to keep one’s eyes open for any chance that could be used, and to spare no effort.

We are running on the journey to the heaven; we must make efforts and must not be lazy. We should make our best to pursue the holiness and the growth of the spiritual life in Christ.

What is to “make every effort”? To “make every effort” means to actively grasp the chances and produce the chances. To be lazy is to allow things happen naturally and is afraid of using the minds and thoughts. Here, we are required not only to make effort, but to make every effort. “every” shows that we should pursue the spiritual things more eagerly than to pursue the worldly things, such as the knowledge, money, fame, or other material benefits. If we see how eagerly those dealers develop their enterprise, we should know that we should be even more eager to pursue the heavenly enterprise. It is a pity that the pursuits of many believers nowadays on the spiritual things are less than half of the eagerness of the pursuits of the worldly people on the worldly things.

B. all kinds of spiritual virtues to be added (1:5_latter - 7)

2 PETERS 1:5-7 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

(NOTES)

These verses mention the words of “and to” for several times. This shows that the believers should continue in making progress and pursuing without self-satisfaction. This is the attitude that we should have to pursue the growth of the spiritual life.

It is a pity that the believers nowadays often pursue eagerly in the beginning and stop after reaching a certain level. As a result, they can not let LORD continue to use them further.

(4) The virtues that one should have to make every effort to grow in the spiritual life (1:5-7)

In these verses, there are eight virtues that the believers should have:

a. “faith” (1:5)

The “faith” is the root and foundation of love and together with all other spiritual virtues.

“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,” (Eph 3:17)

The faith talked about in the Bible is not a kind of theory or knowledge; neither is a kind of religious ceremony. To learn some religious habit, or to experience the ceremony of certain religion, or to understand some truth, none of them is the “faith”. The faith is not like all of these at all. The faith in the Bible is “a practical entering”, and is an inner and practical belief. A good interpretation of the “faith” is given in (Joh 1:12): “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children”. In another word, those who have faith in Him are those who receive Him. The so-called faith is to receive practically.

Paul said: “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. ” (Rom 10:9-10). Note that to confess with the mouth and to believe in the heart are related. Only to confess with the mouth without believing in the heart is false and invalid. To confess with the mouth should be the outward of believing in the heart. One should believe in the heart first, then one will confess it outwardly. Such a “faith” is a true faith.

The faith let Christ dwell in us and is the root and foundation of love together with all other spiritual virtues. The faith that is required in the Bible is not only to commend, like, raise the hand to agree, or research and discuss, but also to invite Jesus to enter oneself, accept the accomplishment of the redemption from Christ and receive His life.

Therefore, the faith is the foundation of all the spiritual virtues. Without the faith, all the spiritual virtues won’t have the root and foundation, and are all impractical and unreliable. However, after having the faith, one can add other virtues to it.

b. “goodness” (1:5)

The “goodness” talked here does not refer to the common conducts, but refer to the spiritual goodness, which is the virtue to live according to the divine nature. In the Philippians, the believers are also exhorted to think about more on the virtues and make progress on it (Php 4:8). We are saved by the virtues, but we must have good and holy virtues, for these are the duty of our Christians and we should continue in growing in the virtues. However, the goodness should come from the faith; the believers should have faith first and then the goodness. The difference between the morals in the Bible and all the other principles is that we should have the life first and then the goodness. The faith let us receive the life and enter Christ and share in the divine nature of God. However, the true goodness is the appearance of the divine nature of God.

It will be difficult to distinguish the Christianity and men’s religions if one does not talk about life and exclude the life of God. If one studies the Bible from the viewpoint of men’s philosophy of life without receiving the life of God and without the experience to be reborn, one will always be the uninitiated, and can not understand the difference between Christianity and other religions.

The book of James let us see that the true faith must be accompanied by the actions, while the true deeds must be the deeds with faith.

c. “knowledge” (1:6)

Note that among the eight things mentioned here, the other seven things are virtues originally except the knowledge, which does not seem to be the virtues originally. It is because the “knowledge” itself can not guarantee those who have it to use it for doing good; not only the worldly knowledge, but also the spiritual knowledge are like this. If the believers do not humble themselves to rely on God, all the truth and knowledge can not guarantee him to live in the will of God. Therefore, in the book of 1 Corinthians, it is said that: “We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ” (1Co 8:1) However, why the knowledge is listed together with other seven virtues. This shows that the knowledge talked about here is not the common knowledge in the brain, but is the knowledge in the practice. It is the knowledge that is obtained by seeking to know God in the experience. This kind of knowledge makes all of our spiritual virtues and capabilities to be used in the will of God, and let the “knowledge” of God enhanced more and more.

Here, the knowledge is put after the faith and goodness to constitute the order of faith, deeds and knowledge. This order is different from the ordinary teachings. The principle of men’s world is to know first, then to do it, finally one can believe. However, the order of the Bible is to believe first, then to know. The theory advocated by Mr. Sun, Yat-sen -- “it is difficult to know and easy to do ” is apparently influenced by the truth in Bible, for he is also a Christian. In our experience of life, in fact, there are many things that we believe first, then do it next, and know it at last. The simplest example is having a daily meal; we believe it first and eat it, then we will understand many things about having meals. We take the meal with faith; then from the numerous experiences, we know that having a meal can have us fill and benefit us, so that we will study more about the meals and have more knowledge. It is similar on the spiritual experiences; we receive Jesus as our Savior through faith first, then we can know God further through the experiences.

“faith”: The faith puts us on a good basis and makes us share in the divine nature of God, have the life of the living God, and have the spiritual power to show all kinds of good virtues.

“goodness”: The goodness shows our inner faith, proves the power of the true faith, and enhance our faith in our experiences.

“knowledge”: The knowledge puts our faith and goodness on the right path so that we know how to use it properly and carefully.

These three factors are mutual cause and effect to each other. The knowledge can enhance our faith and goodness; the enhancement of the goodness and the faith can also enhance the knowledge.

d. “self-control” (1:6)

The “self-control” is one of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:23). It is proper to put the self-control after the knowledge. After having the faith, goodness and knowledge, one will be able to be self-controlled.

Here, it is mentioned for several times the words of “and to”; this shows that these eight virtues have a certain order, just as the steps and ladders rise up with one by one level. We can not ask one who has no faith, no share in the divine nature of God, and no spiritual virtues and knowledge to have self-control. This self-control applies not only to the sinful nature and evil desires, but also to every aspect of the life and conducts, so that our life will have a proper order. The self-control means to restrain oneself and the selfish and sinful desires, be self-disciplined, not indulge oneself, and live a godly life.

The self-control comes from the power produced by the will of men to choose the Holy Spirit, have the mind controlled by the Holy Spirit, and live according to the Holy Spirit. The “self-control” seems to indicate that one controls oneself; however, the “self-control” is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. In another word, the self-control is the self-control by letting the Holy Spirit take charge of our life.

e. “perseverance” (1:6)

The “perseverance” is also one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22). The self-control also includes the perseverance. Those who do not have perseverance, are impatient and act impulsively will not be self-controlled. Therefore, the self-control and the perseverance could be called “the brothers with the same parents”. Since being self-controlled and perseverant can make us keep on growing constantly in the truth of LORD, all rash, impetuous and irritable conducts do not come from the Holy Spirit and should not be the conducts of the Christians.

All the spiritual great men in the Bible are the great men with perseverance. Their success is not achieved in one day. Noah used to stay in the ark with perseverance to wait for the fade-away of the flood. Although David had been anointed already, he waited with perseverance for the coming of the time of God to be enthroned as the king. LORD Jesus took the sufferings of the cross with perseverance to become the Savior of the mankind. Even on the ordinary and worldly things nowadays, one need to have the perseverance; if the Christians want to produce mature and spiritual fruit on all kinds of spiritual virtues and work, we need to have more perseverance. No matter to lead people to LORD, to serve in the church according to the duty, to contribute money, to pray and study the Bible, or other spiritual things, one need to wait for the accomplishment of the will of God with perseverance. As to waiting for the Second Coming of LORD, we need to have more perseverance and clear mind. May the Lord direct our hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance (2Th 3:5).

f. “godliness” (1:7)

The “godliness”, “self-control” and “perseverance” can be grouped together. If we realize the love and power of God in the perseverance, we will be more godly and know that God is worthy of respects and love. The believers of the New Testament nowadays need more godliness to serve the LORD. It is completely wrong that many Christians are not reverent and godly for they only consider that God is full of love and mercy, but ignore the righteousness and sternness of God to those who fell (Rom 11:22), and the godliness and reverence that we should have. Such an attitude can not only make God get our higher respect and worship, but also let us have more strength to restrain ourselves in the life and on the morality, to be more willing to endure all kinds of sufferings for the sake of God, and to further realize that we ourselves are not deserving.

Why many people can not endure the sufferings, are not willing to suffer the loss to LORD, and consider the pains of unjust suffering to be too much, and the price paid to be too high and unworthy? It is because they do not have the reverence to God. If we know that how admirable and lovable God is, and how loftiness and greatness He is, we will realize at the same time the impurity of sins and evils of ourselves, and admit that we should actually take greater sufferings according to the punishment that we should receive on our sins and evils, and it is proper even if greater sufferings and losses come upon us. David is one who fears God. When he went into exile because the rebellion of his son Absalom, there was a man called Shimei who was from the same clan as Saul's family and came out to curse and insult him. Then Abishai, a general of David wanted to go to kill Shimei. However, David stopped him and said: “What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD said to him, 'Curse David,' who can ask, 'Why do you do this?' … let him curse, for the LORD has told him to. It may be that the LORD will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today." ” (2Sa 16:10-14) David admitted that according to his corruption, these insults and unreasonable treatments were what he should suffered.

There are some heathens who abuse themselves with all kinds of methods to show their piety to the false gods. Such as some believers of Hinduism, who cover themselves with many needles with the length of about two feet, hanging with all kinds of ornaments on the needle; and hitched many hooks to the face, hanging with all kinds of tiny bottles; then they danced enthusiastically to please their false gods. How emptiness this kind of people obtained? Our God absolutely does not have such a unreasonable requirement and He treats us with love; however, our piety to this true God with goodness and love is much less than one tenth of the piety of those heathens to the false God. The Christians really need to have a pious mind.

g. “brotherly kindness” (1:7)

The “brotherly kindness” is the brotherly love. The love of the Christians to each other is the biggest characteristic of the church. LORD Jesus said: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Joh 13:35). This is the command of LORD: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (Joh 13:34).

The believers should love the brothers and live a life of love with other members; this is the good virtue that the believers must have. It is because the reason that God gave all kinds of gifts to us, is not for the boast of ourselves, but for the benefit of all the brothers so that we can obey the commands of LORD together.

To love the brothers is not to form factions and be divisive. The “brothers” refer to all the Christians who have life, but not a few people that one likes. No matter those who are close to us, or not familiar to us, and those whom we respect, or whom we dislike, are all our brothers and the members in the life of Christ; we should love them with the love of Christ, and this is the brotherly love. In chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians, love is taken as the value of all the spiritual work and virtues; without love, all other gifts are false. Here, love is put at the highest level among the eight virtues. As to the brotherly love, there are more detailed teachings in 1 John:

“This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” (1Jo 3:10)

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. ” (1Jo 3:14-18)

“Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" ” (1Jo 4:12)

“Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ” (1Jo 4:20-21)

h. “love” (1:7)

The love of man is an affection of love stirred up mutually; it is because others are lovely, or others love me, therefore, I also love them. However, the love of God do not need others to stir up so that to provoke His love. The love of God to men is completely initiative. His love has no impartiality and the intergradient of sin, but is in the truth completely, and is just, vast and profound.

The believers should not only love the brothers, but also have “love” from God. This “love” is the love of all the people and is to love others according to the mind of God regardless of the class difference. This love is the same as the love in the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22-23).

Since God is the heavenly Father of us all, all people are brothers and sisters to each other. We should love our neighbors as ourselves. Then we will be the true children of God.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' … "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” (Mat 25:34-40)

“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. ” (Col 3:14) This shows that love is the power to bind all the virtues. Love makes all other gifts and virtues to show the perfect power so that to reach the more noble goal.

In a word, eight spiritual virtues mentioned here are rather the display of the divine nature of the life of God than the virtues. It is because all these goodness can not be pretended by men’s imitations, but are the fruit of Spirit produced by the life of those who share in the divine nature of God and the life of Christ. Whenever we make effort to live according to the inner life, we will realize more and more that our lives given by God are very rich and abundant . We should continue in pursuing to grow, so that the divine nature of God can display on us more adequately, and the glorious beauty of Christ can live on us more richly. This is the goal of the race on the spiritual journey for us nowadays.

Reference:

1. Zhongdao Chen: “The Lectures on the Bible Studying of the Letters in New Testament”.