2 Peter 1:5-7 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;… It was a beautiful saying of one of the old Fathers when, addressing himself to God, he exclaims, "Thou hast formed man. Thy creature, for Thee, and he cannot be at rest until he have come again unto Thee." I. WHAT IS THE GODLINESS HERE COMMENDED? Looking to the sense of the term here employed in the Greek original, it is piety or the fear of God — that veneration of the Most High which leads to homage and obedience. Godliness has its three sides. It is communion with God, for the society of our Maker is enjoyed in true worship of Him. It is intellectual and spiritual assimilation to Him, in the cordial admission and love of His truth; and practical assimilation to Him, in the endeavour to reflect on the world the lustre of His graces and some broken, distant beams, at least, of His moral excellences. To make this possible — to raise the fallen and rebuild the down trodden and polluted shrine — God Himself has come amongst us. II. THERE ARE FOUL SEMBLANCES OF GODLINESS, mere idols, that delude many. Let us keep our selves from them. 1. It is a mistake to suppose that mere veneration for some higher existence, however imaginary and false our views of this existence — that such vague veneration is godliness; that God hears alike with delight those who call Him Jehovah and receive the Bible and those who call Him Juggernaut and who swear by the Hindoo Shaster. In this vague and unscriptural sense of the term the atheistic poet, Shelley, and the pantheistic philosopher, Spinoza, have been called men of piety, because of a spirit of tenderness and awe that was attributed to them. But atheism — the ungrateful and irrational dethronement and denial of any God — is that to be by any apothecary's art of liberalism made to coalesce with the love and worship of the true God, as forming the same incense of accepted adoration? As to pantheism, it is opposed to piety or true godliness radically and throughout. True godliness begins in humility and penitence, and is sustained by prayer and adoration. But pantheism begins in pride. 2. It is a mistake, again, to look, as some seem now disposed to do, upon the austerities and ceremonies of the Church of Rome, as the fairest exhibition of godliness. III. IN WHAT MODE, THEN, MAY WE SAFELY AND SUCCESSFULLY ATTAIN THE GODLINESS WHICH THE APOSTLE HERE ENJOINS? Far, then, as it is a life, God must give it. Far as it is a truth, He in His Scriptures and by the Spirit of His Son must teach it; and far as it is a communion, it must be sought in the one way, Christ. Daily and earnest and effectual supplication is necessary. This must, again, seek God's teachings in the study of His revealed truth. Here He has manifested Himself, His purposes, and character; and this, His book, He delights to honour and to transcribe afresh into the experience and hearts of His devout people. IV. EVERY INDUCEMENT OF INTEREST AND DUTY, OF HONOUR AND SAFETY, OF BENEVOLENCE TO MAN AND PIETY TOWARDS GOD, REQUIRES EACH OF US TO BECOME THE FRIEND AND CHILD AND FOLLOWER OF THE LIVING GOD. 1. Remember that it is the highest style of human nature. The scholar, the sage, the discoverer, and the hero, what are they, before God, to the saint? 2. Holiness is, again, the master-key of the universe. Born to die, you are fated to travel hence. But whither? Become God's charge and child. Be a renewed man by God's grace, and you are gifted, virtually, with the freedom of the universe. 3. Remember, again, that it is the one thing needful. Send bread to the famishing, give sympathy to the oppressed, give healing remedies to those who are sick and ready to die, give education to the ignorant. But before the school, or political emancipation, or health, or even bread, the tribes of Adam need true godliness. 4. The last consideration is that as godliness is the bond and crown of all the virtues, so it is, on the other hand, the one sufficient remedy for the subjugation and removal of all the vices. (W. R. Williams.) Parallel Verses KJV: And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; |
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