2 Peter 1:5-8: And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Peter opened his second epistle by exhorting the Christians to which he wrote to put on Christ-like characteristics. He reminded them that God has promised “exceeding great and precious promises” to those who put off worldly sins and become like Jesus (verses 3-4).
The traits the Holy Spirit described through Peter are inward qualities of the heart. Inward qualities of the heart are often referred to collectively as one’s character.
Character is important for at least two reasons: (1) God commands us to have a certain character, and (2) our character is often the source of our behaviors. For our conduct to be right, our character must be right. As Jesus said in Matthew 15:19, “out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:”
Outward unrighteousness is often the result of inward impurity. Addressing the root of sin requires looking at our character.
Christ-like character involves being humble (Philippians 2:3-8), full of faith (Mark 11:22), compassionate (Matthew 9:36; Colossians 3:12), meek (Matthew 5:5; 11:29), honest (Ephesians 4:25), kind (Ephesians 4:32), forgiving (Ephesians 4:32), patient (Galatians 5:22), steadfast in truth (1 Corinthians 15:58), zealous for good works (Titus 2:14), and full of other character traits that emulate Jesus (cf. Romans 12:9-13; Galatians 5:22-23; Colossians 3:12-15; Titus 2:2-12).
As much as anything, having a Christ-like character means loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving others as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). This will lead us to make sacrifices in order to please God and benefit others.
This kind of character is not developed overnight. Though it may seem like we will never reach Christ’s level, we must “[give] all diligence” to be like Him (2 Peter 1:5).
This requires feeding our souls with God’s Word (1 Peter 2:2), praying for God’s help (cf. Philippians 1:9-11), examining ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5), and allowing God to “mold” us according to His will (Romans 12:1-2).
In order to walk in Jesus’ steps, we must do as He did, but we must also be like Him. We must focus not only on the outward actions that God commands, but on the inward traits that are needed in order to truly be Christ-like.
– Michael Hickox