A Jot from John
“Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue . . .” (2 Peter 1:5).
The word, virtue, is used in both a generic and a specific sense. In its generic application it refers to any characteristic of moral quality or excellence, but in its more limited usage it refers to the particular quality that we call courage or manliness. It is in this latter sense that the word is used by the apostle Peter in his catalog of Christian graces.
In Latin, the word Vir meant a man, and the word Virtus referred to the quality of manliness or courage. To be virtuous, therefore, is to be courageous.
The Greeks placed a high estimate upon manliness, but their emphasis was largely physical. They stressed the orderly development of the human form. The quality of manliness or courage which is taught by Peter, however, is not after the Greek model. It is of much deeper significance, Paul wrote to Timothy, “And exercise thyself unto godliness: for bodily exercise is profitable for a little; but godliness is profitable for all things. Having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come.” (1 Tim. 4:7-8). Bodily exercise is not discounted, but it is placed in its proper perspective. The virtue that we are to develop is manliness in godliness.
Christ is our example in all things (1 Peter 2:21). It behooved him “in all things to be made like unto his brethren.” (Heb. 2:17). Even though he existed in the “form of God,” he did not consider this equality a “thing to be grasped,” but took on “the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.” (Phil. 2:5-8). Christ therefore became the perfect example of the manliness and courage which should characterize his disciples.
Men often have had a distorted picture of Christ. Because he taught that we should turn the other cheek and that we should go two miles with one who compelled us to go one mile, they have assumed that the Lord was almost effeminate Their idea of courage and manhood would be to strike back and to resist any form of submission. They fail to see that it is the way of Christ which requires the greatest amount of courage. He did not encourage his disciples to run from danger, but he would have them stand in the face of that danger without partaking of the wrong.
The most sublime example of the virtue and courage of Christ came in the very shadow of the cross. In his prayer to the Father he asked, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me.” He felt no yearning for the sorrow, suffering, and shame of the cross, and he asked to be released if it were possible. But that same prayer concluded with these words: “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matt. 26:39). Thus he “endured the cross, despising the shame,” and became obedient “even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.” (Heb. 12:2; Phil. 2:8).
Onward Rejoicing, John B. Daniels, Associate Minister
