This is the tenth blog in the 2 Peter 1 series and the seventh lesson on the chain Peter lays out.
Faith was the foundation. Virtue chiseled the image of Christ into our daily life. Knowledge gave us the Bible compass. Temperance gave us the brakes. Patience taught us to endure. Now Peter tells us where to stack the next step.
2 Peter 1:6, “And to patience godliness.”
A man can endure trouble for the wrong reasons. He can grit his teeth through a hard season just to come out the other side and live for himself again. Peter says after you learn to endure, the endurance has to start pointing somewhere. It has to start pointing at God. The whole life has to start being lived under His eye and for His glory.
Webster 1828 Definition
Godliness is piety. Belief in God and reverence for His character and laws. A religious life. A careful observance of the laws of God and performance of our duties to Him and to our fellow men, from love and reverence for the divine character.
The opposite of godliness is ungodliness and hypocrisy.
The Difference Between Virtue and Godliness
This is important because they look similar from the outside. Virtue is horizontal. Godliness is vertical.
Virtue is moral strength and right conduct toward men. A lost man or heathen philosopher can have virtue. It is courage, honesty, and moral excellence lived out before the world.
Godliness is reverence and devotion toward God. It cannot exist without God in it. It is a life lived under the eye of the Father, out of love for Him and obedience to His laws.
A virtuous man may impress people. A godly man worships God. The virtuous man can stand alone, but the godly man walks with Someone.
The Picture of Godliness: Enoch
Genesis 5:24, “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”
That is one of the shortest biographies in the Bible and one of the most powerful. He walked with God. Not visited God on Sunday, or prayed to God in a pinch. He walked with God, day in and day out, for hundreds of years. He walked so closely with God that one day God just took him home.
Hebrews 11:5, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”
Before God took him, Enoch had the testimony that he pleased God. Godliness produces a life that pleases God. Not a sinless life, but a life that walks in step with God so consistently that God Himself bears witness to it.
Walking With God
Picture two men on a long path walking side by side. One is a Christian, and the other is Christ. That is godliness. Not running ahead of God to chase what you want. Not lagging behind God to drag your feet. Side by side, in step, day after day, mile after mile.
Amos 3:3, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”
If two men are walking together, they have to be heading the same direction at the same pace, agreed on the destination. Godliness is the Christian walking in the direction God is walking, at the pace God is walking, toward the destination God is walking toward. The moment a Christian wants to go a different direction, the walk breaks down.
Godliness Is Given to Us
Godliness does not start with the Christian trying harder. It starts with what God has already given.
2 Peter 1:3, “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.”
God has already given the Christian every single thing that pertains to life and to godliness. The problem is never that God did not give it. The problem is that we do not lay hold of what He already gave. You do not have to wait on God to magically send you something to become godly. You have to wake up to what He has already put in your hand.
Exercise Yourself Unto Godliness
Godliness is a gift to be exercised, the same way a strong arm is built up by lifting day after day. Paul tells Timothy to train at it like an athlete.
1 Timothy 4:7-8, “But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”
Paul says bodily exercise has some value, and yet godliness has value in this life and the next. The man who hits the gym for an hour every day and never opens his Bible is exercising the part that is going to die anyway. The man who exercises in godliness is building muscle that will last forever.
Hebrews 12:11, “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
Exercise hurts when you are doing it, but it pays out after. The same goes for the chastening of the Lord. It does not feel good in the middle of it, but it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness later for the man who is exercised by it.
Godliness With Contentment Is Great Gain
1 Timothy 6:6, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”
1 Timothy 6:7-8, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.”
Paul ties godliness and contentment together. The godly man who is content has everything. The ungodly man who has everything but is not content has nothing. Most of America is chasing the wrong column on the ledger.
The godly man is already happy in another world that is coming. If he can also be content with his condition in this world, he has everything. The gains of true religion are infinitely greater than the losses of it, and one day every Christian will see it when the books are balanced.
Follow After Godliness
Paul tells Timothy to go after godliness, and he tells him what to run from at the same time.
1 Timothy 6:9-11, “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.”
Two directions:
- Flee from one set of things
- Follow after the other set
Godliness is not just running from sin. It is running toward God. The Christian who only knows how to flee but never knows what to chase has only done half the job.
A Form of Godliness Without the Power
There is a counterfeit godliness, and Paul says when you see it, turn away.
2 Timothy 3:5, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
A form of godliness is a man who looks the part on Sunday and lives the world’s life Monday through Saturday. He has the shell without the substance. Paul says do not partner with him and do not learn from him. He speaks of God’s power but does not exercise it in his daily life. The Christian has to make sure he is not the man Paul is warning about.
2 Timothy 3:12, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
The man who actually lives godly will be hated for it. The world does not mind a form of godliness. It hates the real thing. If you have never been pushed back on for living the way the Bible tells you to live, it might be because you are not actually living that way.
Living This Out
Godliness is built one day at a time. Walk with God every day. Open the Bible, talk to Him in prayer, and stay in step with Him from morning to night. Exercise in godliness the same way you would work a muscle. A little every day for the rest of your life is what builds godly strength.
Be content with what God has given you. Stop measuring your life by what the man across the street has. Flee from sin and follow after righteousness. Do not just run from. Run to. Do not settle for a form of godliness, but pursue the power. The shell is not what God is after. The substance is.
Live the same way in private as you do in public. Let your conversation match your confession, so the words coming out of your mouth match the testimony you say you carry. Revere God in how you speak, in how you work, and in how you play. Expect persecution and do not be shaken by it. The man who lives godly will be opposed, and that is part of the deal.
Keep eternity in view. Live for the world that is coming. Godliness is just heaven starting early.
The next blog stacks on the next step. Peter says to add to your godliness brotherly kindness, and that is where we are going next.
