Insights through Questions
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
Last week’s question was about Christ’s lordship; this week’s is about a Christian’s lifestyle. This question is raised in the concluding chapter of Peter’s second epistle following a vivid description about the coming day of the Lord.
The coming day of the Lord is described in part as a time “in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10).
The question posed against the backdrop of the coming day of the Lord is a very practical one about a Christian’s lifestyle in view of that coming day: “Since all these things will be dissolved what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?” (2 Pet. 3:11)
Godlikeness
The first aspect of the Bible’s answer to this question is actually included in the question itself. We ought to be persons of “holy conduct and godliness.”
Godliness is a shorter way of saying godlikeness. So when it comes to the lifestyle of Christians we might say simply that we are to be godly, a shorter way of saying godlike.
In reading the Old Testament we might reduce godlikeness to the single word holy. People refrained from using His name lest they profane it or took off their sandals since His presence made the ground holy. God is holy. In reading the New Testament the most prominent term that expresses what God is like is love: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). What kind of persons ought we to be? If we would be godlike the Bible’s answer is we must be holy and loving.
Turning back to 2 Peter 3 we read that the Bible urges us not only to be godly persons but also to be guarded persons. In verse 14 of that passage the urging is that we “be diligent to be found by Him in peace without spot and blameless.”
Guarded and growing
In verse 17 of the same passage we are instructed to “beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked.” Being warned to be “diligent” and to “beware” alerts us about the need to always be on guard against error or wickedness.
The concluding verse of 2 Peter 3 admonishes us also to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”
(v. 18). Hence this section of the Bible calls for believers to develop a lifestyle characterized by being godly, guarded and growing.
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