Let us recollect the steps of our journey thus far. We began by acknowledging that the apostle Peter deemed it very important to write a second letter to our brethren in the first century because the faith (creed) of many had faltered due to the constant mockery by the masses regarding Christ returning for His church. He first re-establishes beyond any doubt that the Lord’s promise to return is true, and as faithful disciples we must be fully prepared to receive our Redeemer on that fabulous day. From his lessons, we now have the image of a great, majestic mountain that we must climb in order to meet God at the top and be granted eternal glory. Although this narrow and dangerous climb is intimidating to the eye, the apostle encourages us to enrich our faith for this is where it all begins. We learned that our faith is not only the banner which we must proudly wave, but it is also the source of our endurance. Scripture enlightened our understanding by revealing that a powerful, consistent faith (Greek word pistis) that pleases God is both our doctrine and our reliance upon God (Hebrews 11:1, 11:6 and Romans 1:16-17). Having now conquered terror’s deadly grasp through faith, we have begun our grueling climb up the spiritual Everest! Inspired by the Holy Spirit Peter states, “add to your faith virtue” thus revealing the following step in our training to reach the top (2nd Peter 1:5). In Medieval times, virtue was most elegantly seen in the life of a christened knight. According to history, during the installation of knighthood upon a man, the soon to become knight would make an oath to protect those in distress, be righteous in his struggle against injustice, defend the chastity of women, and most importantly never allow his Christian character to be defiled by word or action. In completing his installation as one of the king’s knights, he would then be destined to live a pure and blameless life. History remembers and recognizes those knights who upheld their creed until their death as virtuous men because they had the strength and courage to endure the burdens the “knight’s creed” had placed on their shoulders. This is the same concept Peter refers to when he instructs us to increase our faith by the avenues of virtue. Similar to the “knight’s creed,” those who have chosen to obey the gospel of Christ have also taken an oath to be faithful to Jesus Christ unto death. Through baptism, God has cleansed us and has put upon our brow His most holy stamp of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). Having been branded by the Almighty as His spiritual warriors, we are now commanded to be brave and fight our adversaries until the very end (Ephesians 6:10-13)! We too are required to live a holy and blameless life because our King is holy (Leviticus 11:44-45). Therefore, Peter’s instructions make sense because we now understand that we are to emulate our Father in His perfection (Matthew 5:48). Faith can be easily confused with courage, but in truth they are not the same. In our last lesson, we were able to see that faith is a confident conviction or belief in God as well as having complete trust and dependency on God. Although this conviction and security allows us to dispel any fear, it does not grant us the courage we need to continue moving forward on its own. On the contrary, man by nature typically tends to firmly grip to that which is most secure as exemplified by the constructors of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:3-4). We can observe in Scripture that the tower’s purpose was to serve as a beacon to guide them back to the city they had constructed “lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4). Let us recall that this was the post-flood generation to whom God had commanded that they “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” (Genesis 9:1). In wanting to establish a tower so high that the citizens of that city could always see it and know where to return, they were in direct disobedience of Jehovah’s command to “replenish the earth” and would remain stagnate in one secure spot. Notice that they were multiplying and being fruitful, but we can infer from their intentions of building the tower that they lacked the courage to go out into the world and replenish it as they were commanded. James, in his letter, confirms Peter’s teachings by stating that “faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” (James 2:17). Faith alone is not enough to make a disciple of Jesus mature and please God. James points to the example of whom we tenderly call the father of faith, Abraham. It is interesting to see that although he is famously known for his faith, James is quick to mention that Abraham was not justified by faith alone. Rather he is called the friend of God due to his obedience (a courageous action) in not denying his only son Isaac to God in sacrifice (James 2:21-24). The writer to the Hebrews also adds that Abraham’s moral courage to fulfill such a difficult task was prompted by his complete reliance in Jehovah God (Hebrews 11:17-19). When tying these lessons together, the apostle’s use of the Greek word areté for virtue manifests itself. Areté translated to English means manliness (valor), i.e. excellence (Strong, G703). Upon this revelation, it is easy to see how Peter seeks to inspire his readers to be brave and not cower away from the fiery trials they were enduring. The Christians from that era lived in perilous times where publicly confessing their faith (creed) in Jesus also meant stamping the date of their death. The apostle understood that these dire circumstances could squelch any sincere desire to follow the doctrine of Christ. This was why he glared his spotlight on the prime necessity of moral courage (virtue) to sustain a consistent, fruitful faith in the gospel of Jesus. Paul, in his instructions to Timothy, agreed with Peter’s logic that in order for faith to be sustained it must be accompanied by a powerful, moral courage (2nd Timothy 1:7-10). Grabbing on to those rocks from the mountain and pulling our bodies up to climb requires great upper body strength so that we may hold on firmly and not fall to our deaths. It all begins with faith, but we must continue with a mighty courage that cannot be easily shaken. A moral courage that can only be seen in a true hero that is willing to go against the enormous tide of mockers. A hero brave enough to affirm his stance in his belief, ignoring the chides of those who seek to discourage him. However, now that we have been able to completely rid our minds and hearts from any fear, it is equally important for us to know how to climb this great, wonderful mountain of God. Climbing blindly without knowledge of what to do or where to go is just as dangerous as allowing the distracting shouts from below to cause us to take a wrong step. The climb up our spiritual endeavor has begun, but in order to secure the glory we seek it is necessary to be able to recognize that which we seek. To be continued…
