Christian Virtues, Part 1
INTRO
How to relate to other believers, vv. 9-16
How to relate to unbelievers, vv. 17-21
A. GODLY QUALITIES FOR ALL CHRISTIANS.
1) LOVE WITHOUT HYPOCRISY (v. 9).
a) The primacy of love.
(1) Love is the greatest virtue of the Christian life.
(2) Love reflects a saving knowledge of God. 1 Jn. 4:7, 8, 16.
(3) Love is more important than spiritual gifts. 1 Cor. 13:1-3.
(4) Love has priority over other virtues. Mk. 12:28-34; Col. 3:14; 1 Pet. 4:8.
(5) Love gives evidence of spiritual life. 1 Jn. 3:14.
(6) Love fulfills the law. Rom. 13:9-10.
b) The command of love. Jn. 13:34.
c) Love without hypocrisy.
An example of love infected by hypocrisy is found in 1 Jn. 3:17-18.
2) ABHOR EVIL (v. 9).
a) “abhor” - a strong term for hatred, “hate exceedingly”.
b) “evil” -
3) CLING TO WHAT IS GOOD (v. 9).
a) “Cling” is used of gluing two pieces of wood together; also for marriage commitment in Mt. 19:5.
b) The “good” = good in God’s sight. Same as “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things” (Phil. 4:8).
4) BE DEVOTED TO BROTHERLY LOVE (v. 10).
a) Reminds us we are a spiritual family in Christ. Paul uses a different word for love than in v. 9. This word comes from the word phileo, which deals more with the love among friends and family.
b) This love is a test of our discipleship: John 13:35 .
5) GIVE PREFERENCE IN HONOR (v. 10).
a) “Give preference” - ie, “lead the way” in giving honor to others. Or, surpass one another in showing honor to others. This would fit with Phil. 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself;
b) Humility - Cf. Rom. 12:3 “don’t think more highly of yourself than you should.” Humility is based on a true and biblical understanding of who we really are as sinners deserving hell.
CONCLUSION
How do all this? By the power of the HS. Rom. 8:4, 13.
The love we are to imitate is God’s love shown to us through the sacrifice of His Son. 1John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.