What Does True Christian Moral Excellence Look Like? (Christian Character Part III)

Summary

Podcast Summary: "What Does True Christian Moral Excellence Look Like? (Christian Character Part III)"

Christian Questions Bible Podcast
Hosts: Rick & Julie
Date: January 26, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses on defining and understanding "moral excellence"—the second rung in the Apostle Peter's ladder of Christian character (from 2 Peter 1:5)—and its essential role in true Christian living. Rick and Julie explore the biblical meaning of "arete" (moral excellence), its connection to faith, how it is exemplified by God and Jesus, and how Christians are called to both internal transformation and visible, outward conduct that reflects God's character. Throughout, the hosts weave scriptural analysis with thought-provoking questions and practical applications for spiritual growth.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Peter’s Blueprint for Christian Character

• Scripture Reference: 2 Peter 1:5 (00:28, 01:49)
• Rick: Lays the groundwork, emphasizing that while God provides “incomprehensible promises,” Christians must reciprocate with the development of specific Christ-like virtues, beginning with faith as the foundation.
• Julie: Introduces the "ladder" metaphor—faith as the first rung, moral excellence as the next.

"Now that we've got God's promises, what do we have to give back?" – Julie (03:05)

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2. Defining Moral Excellence ("Arete")

• Greek Context: Julie shares how "arete" (A R E T E) was understood in Peter's Greek-influenced audience to mean fulfilling one’s highest purpose or function (e.g., a knife that cuts well, a horse that runs fast). In a Christian context, it’s living to the highest purpose God intends.
• Translations vary: Moral excellence, goodness, virtue, noble/worthy character.
• Excellence Measured by Purpose: Arete is performance at its designed best.

"Arete is something that performs exactly as it was meant to its highest purpose... Peter takes that word that everybody would know, and he overlays it onto the life of a Christian." – Julie (06:16)

Notable Quote

"Arete – living like God's purpose actually matters to you." – Rick (07:03)
"It's about choosing what's noble, courageous and upright in every part of life." – Julie (06:54)

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3. The Model of God and Jesus

• Scripture Reference: 2 Peter 1:3 (08:36)
  • God's own excellence ("arete") is the standard to which believers are called.
  • Jesus exemplified this excellence under pressure and persecution (Hebrews 12:1-3).
• Meditating on Christ: We’re told not just to admire, but to “consider” (deeply contemplate and model after) Jesus.

"He absolutely lived in a way that matched God's purpose for him and reflected God's own excellence. Arete." – Julie (11:06)

Analogy

• "Looking at the Lord Jesus in doing what he did, you can't get a stronger dedication to his godly purpose." – Rick (11:30)

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4. Root vs. Fruit: Arete and Kalos

• Scripture Reference: 1 Peter 2:9, 11–12 (12:23)
  • Arete: Inner excellence or character fulfilling its intended purpose (root).
  • Kalos: Beautiful, honorable conduct—goodness visibly seen by others (fruit).

"Think of arete as the root and kalos as the fruit. So you can't have the fruit without the root." – Rick & Julie (14:50)

Reflection Question

"Does the average person, when they look at me, say, there's something about that individual that is higher, that's different?... Are we showing that by our natural behavior before others?" – Rick (15:39)

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5. Practical Examples of Moral Excellence

The hosts explore several scriptures to illustrate how “arete” manifests in Christian life:

• Faith and Works (James 2:18) [16:16]
  • Inner transformation (arete) must lead to observable deeds (kalos).
  • Hypocrisy (acting) is the external display without true inner change.
• Managing Anger (James 1:19-20) [17:56]
  • Moral excellence grows when humility, self-control, and emotional maturity are cultivated.
  • Human anger blocks the external display of God’s excellence.
• Kindness/Forgiveness (Ephesians 4:31–32) [20:10]
  • Moral excellence recognizes and replaces bitterness with grace, as modeled by Christ.
• Doing Good & Persevering (Galatians 6:9-10) [21:28]
  • Excellence is shown in tireless good works, especially toward the faith community.
• Cultivating God's Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:16–24) [22:55]
  • Daily habits of rejoicing, prayer, gratitude, and discernment foster an environment for moral excellence.

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6. Growth and Reflection

• Self-Examination: Are you growing daily in your allegiance to God’s excellence? Are you slipping into comfort and rationalization, or continually striving higher? (24:27)
• Paul’s Corroboration (Philippians 4:8–9) [25:13]
  • Paul echoes Peter: “If there is any excellence (arete)…dwell on these things... practice these things.”
  • Julie: “Let Philippians 4:8 be our mental filter.”

"If we're filling our days with bitterness and fear, comparison, anger...it's going to affect our moral excellence. When our thoughts dwell on what's true and pure and lovely, our life begins to display the goodness that our faith claims." – Julie (26:20)

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7. Addressing the High Standard

• Is it too much? Julie asks if God’s standard of excellence is realistic, given the potential for failure (28:16).
• Rick: Affirms it’s difficult and we will fail, but God provides “every single solitary ingredient” for growth, citing Peter’s assurances of divine promises and help.
• Distinction: Christian moral excellence is different from general worldly virtue because it’s fueled by allegiance to God.

"Our calling is to Godliness and not merely human moral integrity. And there's a big difference between those two things." – Rick (29:09)

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8. Personal Application and Encouragement

• “Look in the mirror”: Julie shares her personal resolve to confront and replace aspects of her character that don’t align with God’s purpose (30:17).
• Keep climbing: Rick reminds listeners we're still only on the second rung—moral excellence is foundational, but there are further steps.

"I have to live like his purpose actually matters to me. I have to confront the parts of my character that don't match that purpose. I can't justify them...I have to replace them with what God is shaping in me." – Julie (30:40)

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Notable Quotes

• "It is, what am I supposed to do with the privilege of what I've been given? See, it's now all about the allegiance of our very being, of who we are developing step by step, into greater Christ likeness." – Rick (03:09)
• "Arete—living like God's purpose actually matters to you." – Rick (07:03)
• "Think of arete as the root and kalos as the fruit." – Julie (14:53)
• "If you do have the external without the internal, then you are an actor." – Rick (16:52)
• "Our calling is to Godliness and not merely human moral integrity. And there's a big difference between those two things." – Rick (29:09)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:28 – Theme verse read: 2 Peter 1:5
• 04:07 – Recap of previous episode (faith as foundational rung); transition to moral excellence
• 06:00–07:03 – Greek word "arete" explained; practical implication to Christian life
• 08:36 – God's "arete" as the model for believers
• 10:32–11:06 – Jesus as the perfect example of moral excellence
• 12:23–14:53 – Arete vs. Kalos: inner excellence and external conduct
• 16:16–17:08 – James 2:18; faith and works; acting/hypocrisy
• 17:56–19:06 – James 1:19–20; handling anger and emotional maturity
• 20:10–21:28 – Ephesians 4:31–32; kindness, forgiveness
• 22:55–23:41 – 1 Thessalonians 5:16–24; habits of the heart, the Spirit’s role
• 25:13 – Philippians 4:8–9; Paul’s list and encouragement
• 28:16–29:09 – The challenge (is the standard too high?) addressed
• 30:17–30:49 – Julie and Rick’s personal application and encouragement

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Tone and Style

The episode balances in-depth biblical teaching, Greek language insights, personal testimony, reflective questioning, and practical advice—all in a warm, earnest, and slightly scholarly conversational tone. The overall aim is to challenge, encourage, and equip listeners to pursue Christian character that is shaped by, and points to, God’s very nature.

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Next Up

Preview: The next episode (Part IV) will explore "How does knowledge as a Christian change my earthly life?"

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For further resources and engagement:
Visit christianquestions.com or reach out directly with feedback and questions.

Transcript

[A]

Think about the Bible like you never have before. You're listening to Christian Questions. Access more audio videos and Bible Study [e-mail] Our topic is what Does True Christian Moral Excellence look like? Here's Rick and Julie.

[B]

Welcome everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Julie, a longtime contributor. Julie, what's our theme scripture for this episode?

[C]

Second Peter 1:5. Now, for this very reason, also applying all diligence in your faith supply moral excellence and in your moral excellence, knowledge.

[B]

In Second Peter Chapter one, the Apostle Peter is laying out a phenomenal blueprint for us to follow regarding the how and why of developing a focused and loyal character that is modeled after Christ. He begins by reminding us of the majesty and power of God along with the loyalty and sacrifice of Jesus. He tells us that because God is as lofty as he is, we are given incomprehensible promises that can bring us to God's own divine nature. He then tells us what's required on our part. Peter explains that because of these promises we need to apply all diligence and in our faith we need to supply we need to develop and live a character that will nurture and grow specific virtues of Christ likeness. Now this is a several part series on Christian character. This is part three here and we're working through the Apostle Peter's teaching. So here's the portion of the Apostle Peter's blueprint that reveals what our appropriate focus should look like so we can understand what our Christian characters are supposed to look like. Julie, let's go back to second Peter

[C]

1:5 again, our theme text. Now for this very reason, and he means because we have God's promises also applying all diligence and in your faith supply moral excellence and in your moral excellence knowledge.

[B]

Now, we've gone through part of this verse already, so let's restate this what the Apostle Peter just said, emphasizing what the key words applying diligence and supply actually mean. So restating it while receiving God's promises, Peter's blueprint calls us for for us to simultaneously apply and and that simultaneously means along with the promises you have to apply diligent earnestness and haste. You have to really be working hard on our faith as a basis. And that basis is to fully supply our lives with the fundamental character development needed to truly follow Jesus. So that's the baseline this Peter is setting up. Here's how I'm instructing you to understand the the building of your characters. He has given us God's part and Peter teaching now turns away from what God has given us, and it turns towards what we are to give to him by way of our Christian character.

[C]

In other words, now that we've got God's promises, what do we have to give back?

[B]

Right. And this is important because you receive the promises, and it's not like, oh, look what I got. It is, what am I supposed to do with the privilege of what I've been giving? See, it's now all about the allegiance of our very being, of who we are developing step by step, into greater Christ likeness. Our faith is where our ability to build a lasting character, allegiance to God, begins. And we're going to use that word a lot, Allegiance. Why? Because it's all about loyalty. To whom? To God the Father. Our total complete loyalty has to be there. And so when we go through these lessons of the Apostle Peter, we're going through these different pieces that he's bringing out, and we're calling them allegiance attributes. Now, in our last episode, we talked about the allegiance attribute of faith.

[C]

Yeah, that's the allegiance of our direction. Where does my loyalty lie? So in what direction is my life going?

[B]

And without the appropriate direction, nothing else is going to work. Now, faith is the gift of our calling that requires our full embrace. Why? It's because the earnest development of our faith is the basis for other allegiance attributes to have a solid base to be built upon. So you need to have that faith in there first so you can build the character pieces on top of that. So let's continue to follow the blueprint. Here we go. Now we're opening up the next piece, and this is a good piece. Now that we have the basis of faith through God's grace and promises, what are we supposed to do? Okay, faith is there. Okay, now what do I do? Julie? 2 Peter 1:5, same scripture.

[C]

Now, for this very reason, also applying all diligence in your faith supply, moral excellence.

[B]

It's an allegiance attribute. Moral excellence is. This is the allegiance of our heart. Now, we're going to clearly define what that means, but think about this. Moral excellence is the allegiance of our heart to God.

[C]

In part one of this series, we used a metaphor of a ladder. Faith was the first rung. And once we climb onto that stable base, it's time to step higher, right onto this rung of moral excellence. So we're reading from the new American standard version, the 1995 edition, but other translations call this moral excellence, goodness, virtue, moral character, noble character, and worthiness. And I really enjoyed this study this week because I found out that in Greek, this word for moral excellence is arete, A R E T e, arete. Peter's audience, shaped by Greek language and culture, would have understood arete to mean excellence, with the idea of something fully living out its purpose. A knife has arete if it cuts well. A horse has arete if it runs fast. Fertile land is arete. Now, if you look up this definition in Strong's exhaustive concordance, it includes manly valor or strength. And we were wondering, well, what is. Why is that? Well, that's because in early Greek culture, excellence was often measured in heroic action or bravery in battle. So a person has arete if they lived courageously and nobly. So arete is something that performs exactly as it was meant to its highest purpose. Here's the brilliance. Peter takes that word that everybody would know, and he overlays it onto the life of a Christian. So once you've put your trust in Christ, the next step is to pursue a life that reflects God's excellence, living in a way that matches the purpose he's called you to. Living like God's purpose actually matters to you. It's about choosing what's noble, courageous and upright in every part of life.

[B]

Arete, living like God's purpose actually matters to you. And I want to even build upon that because it's living up to the highest potential. It is putting God's purpose right in front of everything else. So we put God first by eagerly and fully supplying this arete, this moral excellence, to the foundation of our faith. This is now where we begin to build this. We have a basis of faith to work from. And immediately we supposed to add this arete, this moral excellence to it as we discuss what it is and how it works in the life of a Christian. Let's put a question, just a thought question out as you are listening. Why is moral excellence? Why is arete the next quality right after faith? Keep this question in mind because there is a profound connection. And this is the pattern of what Peter is gonna do over and over and over again in these verses as he teaches us how to live. Let's get down to applying arete moral excellence. How do we add moral excellence? How do we add it to our lives? Well, we follow the highest example. If you want to get excellence, you go to the best example you can possibly find. Peter explained to us that any true excellence we may develop is fashioned after the excellence of God, our Creator. Let's go back just a few verses in Second Peter, chapter one. Now, we've been reading verse five over and over again. Let's just go back to verse three and begin to uncover some things, seeing

[C]

that his divine power, that's God's divine power, has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. Excellence is arete. So here's where Peter is shifting his audience from this general excellence of arete to moral excellence rooted in God's character. And I'll repeat what I said earlier, it means to pursue a life that reflects God, God's excellence, living in a way that matches the purpose he's called you to. Living like God's purpose actually matters to you. So we could say that are ate is God shaped character. And not only does God help shape us within us through this, through our faith, and through his promises, but it's God shaped in the sense that it's modeled after God's own character, his own excellent character. It's modeled in the shape of God.

[B]

That's almost scary, but it's exciting. It is, it is. You can't get a better example. When we look around at our world and we look at perhaps athletes or physicians, soldiers, heroes, and you find the absolute highest level and the highest standard, and you say, wow, that's what it should look like. Well, this makes all of those little things look very puny because Peter is essentially saying it's God's own excellence that we are to be modeled after. That's a, a big, big step, and it's got to be built upon faith. Next to God's immutable moral excellence, we've got the example of Jesus also applying such excellence under great trial and pressure. Now we're going to read some scriptures from Hebrews. And the word. This word arete doesn't appear in these Scriptures, but the meaning, the meaning of that moral excellence just comes screaming out of these texts. Hebrews 12:1 3.

[C]

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him, who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You know, that phrase consider him? Consider isn't just a casual thought. It means to meditate on, to contemplate to ponder Jesus's life and experiences, learn from his strength and his character. He absolutely lived in a way that matched God's purpose for him and reflected God's own excellence. Arete.

[B]

And it's interesting because in these verses we're told to look at and ponder and meditate on and follow. And that's exactly what you would do with the definition of looking at manliness, that great soldier. That's the example you want to follow. This is the arete. Looking at the Lord Jesus, in doing what he did, you can't get a stronger dedication to his godly purpose than what he showed us. Okay, so now we've got God and now we've got Jesus. We've got these two lofty and morally excellent examples before us. So what should our moral excellence show? Our excellence should reflect God's excellence through Jesus. How do we do that? Well, there are challenges to that. Let's take a look at 1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 9. Then we're going to go to 11 and 12, but we're just going to pause after verse 9.

[C]

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies Arete of Him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. And by the way, Rick, arete is a rare word in the New Testament. It's only used five times, so it highlights how intentional Peter and Paul were

[B]

when they use it so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who's called you out of darkness. Again, it's proclaiming them and modeling your life after them. That's where we have to go with this. That's part of our learning to step up to this incredible responsibility, but incredible privilege as well. And because God is so lofty in his being and his plan, we're spurred on to always keep him first. As we strive for our own moral excellence and our own moral excellence. It needs to be applied in action around those who are not godly. It needs to be applied in action in everyday life. It needs to be this shining example. Let's continue with verses 11 and 12, and that'll open that up for us.

[C]

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers, to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. Okay, So I read, keep your behavior excellent or virtuous. This isn't arete. This is a different Greek word. It's coloss, spelled K A L, O, S. Kalos. And remember L. Arete was fulfilling our intended purpose. That's our inner character, the internal transformation that aligns our life with God's purpose. In other words, you become who God intends you to be. Kalos is a beautiful, honorable, external behavior. It means others see God through your actions. So Peter's telling us, keep your conduct so visibly good that even unbelievers can't ignore it. This is an external witness. It's goodness that can be seen. So think of arete as the root and kalos as the fruit.

[B]

So you can't have the fruit without the root.

[C]

Right.

[B]

And it says in your faith, fully supply the root, the arete, that internal character, so it can show externally. There's a powerful formula that Peter is just pouring out to us if we pay attention. So here's the question now. Is my moral excellence? Is my arete? Is my virtuous behavior? Is my close able to be observed and remembered by others? Does the average person, when they look at me, say, there's something about that individual that is higher, that's different, that you pause and say, wow, that's something special. Are we showing that by our natural behavior before others? We've got to think about this.

[C]

Yeah. And it's more than just abstaining from evil. It's living true to our covenant. So true excellence of character is gonna mark us as being separate from the world and its spirit. Live the life God designed you for and show it to others.

[B]

And you can only do that if it really matters to you.

[C]

That's right.

[B]

You know, it's got to matter to us. All right, so now we've discussed kind of what it is. Let's take a look at some examples of what this arete should look like, this moral excellence. So we're gonna go through several scriptures and just make some observations and put start with James 2:18.

[C]

But someone may well say, well, you have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by the works. James throws down a challenge. Show me your faith. Peter just showed us how to do that. Arete. Arete is the character that faith grows. Kalos is the conduct. The character produces what others can see. James 2:18 is the argument that you can't separate the two.

[B]

Exactly.

[C]

Genuine faith in evidently produces inner transformation, which produces outward evidence. It all works together.

[B]

Yeah. You can't have the external without the internal. And if you do have the external without the internal, then you are an actor.

[C]

Like a Pharisee.

[B]

Yes, well, and the word for actor from the Greek is actually the word hypocrite.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. Because you're acting in a way that is not real to you. So the outward has to be a reflection of what's inside. So moral excellence, the allegiance of our heart. Because remember, this is an allegiance attribute. This allegiance of our heart provokes us to live what our faith teaches us and nothing less than that. See, that's the key. Okay? I'm going to live what my faith teaches me and you are never going to live below that. That's what our striving is towards, to never live below what our faith teaches us. That's hard, but boy is it worth it. And boy, is there a Christ likeness that comes blooming out of that when you put it in place. Let's go to another example of what our moral excellence should look like. Let's go to James 1, 1920.

[C]

This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. So he's not talking about righteous anger like the kind God has or the anger that Jesus had with the money changers. This is my ordinary reactive, ego driven anger that rises too quickly and it speaks too soon. So that's not the kind of anger that grows God's character in us. And here James is giving us the conditions that allow our moral excellence to grow. Humility is quick to hear self control, is slow to speak, emotional maturity in order to be slow to anger and letting anger lead, like unfortunately I sometimes do. Letting anger lead doesn't help us develop God's highest purpose in us, our arete. That's the inward expression. And it shuts down close on the outside because it looks ugly, it's harsh, it's reactive. People don't want to respond to that. They can't see God with all of the me blocking the view.

[B]

And so therefore the will of God does not follow because we are stuck in the anger. And so we are living according to our faith. It is putting those things aside. And that's this moral excellence rising up, saying, I live to a standard that is far higher than, than anything I've ever lived to. And this is what it calls me to do. Now look, we're not perfect. We fall down. But the point is to get up and re establish that standard and go Right back to it. So here with this anger situation, moral excellence, the Remember, it's the allegiance of our heart. It differentiates. It helps us understand. It differentiates between our anger and God's righteousness. And my anger and God's righteousness are never on the same page. We have to understand that. We have to understand. My human anger. And God's righteousness will never agree. His righteousness is always going to be higher. Let's look at another example of what our moral excellence, our arete, should look like. Ephesians 4:31,32 Let all bitterness and wrath

[C]

and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Just as God in Christ also has

[B]

forgiven you, so it's built upon the same things as that last James scripture. It says, okay, you've got all of these personal things, all of these parts of your life, bitterness and wrath and anger, clamor and slander, put them away. Put them away along with malice, and instead apply this moral excellence that has this kindness, this tenderheartedness, this forgiving. Just as Christ, in his arete character, in his morally excellent character, he has forgiven you, so God in Christ has forgiven you. So it's just a powerful example for us. Our moral excellence, the allegiance of our heart, recognizes and then replaces the emotionalism that plagues every one of us with the same grace towards others that we have been given by God through Christ. And that's a powerful principle. Can I apply the same grace to others that God through Christ has given to me? That's the moral excellence. That's the arete. That's the place that we want to strive for. Let's look at another example of what this moral excellence should look like. Galatians 6, 9, 10.

[C]

Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, when we have the opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

[B]

God sends rain upon the just and the unjust. Let us do good to all people. Let's follow his example. Because our moral excellence is built upon faith. Our moral excellence, that is the allegiance of our heart, is going to focus on persevering. Because this is not easy, because it says, don't lose heart. In due time we will reap if we don't grow weary. So what we need to do is, is move forward. And it gets difficult. But the admonitions, keep going, keep going. Keep going. Because that's what arete, that's what moral excellence requires of us. Because you don't get to that high standard without going. When it gets so tough, you look like you're done. This focus, it's built around persevering, as we know that's God's blessing and promises are with us. We know that, and that's what gives us the strength to keep going. Look, because our moral excellence is based on our faith, it can be further honed through the transformational work of growing the influence of God's Spirit in our lives daily. A little bit of a different focus here. Now let's look at that transformational work of growing the influence of God's spirit first. Thessalonians 5, 16, 24.

[C]

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing in everything. Give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances, but examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he who calls you, and he will also bring it to pass. A heart that rejoices and prays and listens and stays grateful is the kind of heart where God can cultivate this excellence. These are daily good habits to build our moral excellence.

[B]

And these are the daily habits that our Lord Jesus had character, that prays. Well, God doesn't pray, but Jesus did. Because he was in the same form as we are as a man. And he showed us how to reflect the arete, the moral excellence of the Father, through his human life. And that gives us this sense, this capacity to say, okay, I get how these things work. Because all I have to do is follow the model. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Follow the model. So here's a question for us now. Is my moral excellence is that arete that. That internal moral excellence that's formed after the image of God, essentially? Is the allegiance of my heart stronger today than it was yesterday?

[C]

Good question.

[B]

Is it better? Is it stronger? Is it building?

[C]

Am I growing?

[B]

Yeah. Or am I like, well, you know, that wasn't so bad. Yeah, I'll try again next time. Are we getting a little bit careless, perhaps Comfortable? Yeah, a little bit too comfortable. And then we begin to rationalize because we get comfortable. That is not the moral excellence that the Apostle Peter is Saying, on your faith build this moral excellence. Okay, let's begin to put this all together. Finally, the Apostle Paul's teaching exactly dovetails with the Apostle Peter's teaching, as moral excellence is an integral part of both of their quote unquote lists of spirituality. Let's look at a list from the APostle Paul. Philippians 4, 8, 9.

[C]

I love lists, and I love this one most of all. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever's pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence, that's arete, and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things, the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. So Peter told us in 2 Peter 1:5 to add Arete moral excellence to our faith. Here in Philippians, Paul tells us to think on arete, think on moral excellence. Then he says, practice these things. In other words, take the good you've seen in my life, make it visible in yours. What's that? That's close. That's close in action, even though the word isn't used. And remember, remember when James said, I will show you my faith by my works. Paul and James both describe this visible outworking of our transformed inner life that Kalos. So let Philippians 4, 8 be our mental filter. If we're filling our days with bitterness and fear, comparison, anger, questionable thoughts, worldly activities, it's going to affect our moral excellence. When our thoughts dwell on what's true and pure and lovely, our life begins to display the goodness that our faith claims.

[B]

And I love the way that verse is written. If it's true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, whatever is a good repute, then it says, if there's any excellence, if there's any godly excellence, that's how you qualify what's really true, what's really honorable, what's really right, what's really pure. So we've got this between Peter and Paul, we've got this tremendous guideline that says, here is how to build your Christian life. It's a very powerful, powerful example. You know, earlier in the episode, we asked why moral excellence is the next quality after faith. And we've been answering that question all along. I mean, the answer has been coming out very, very plainly. Here's the bottom line. Without a godly standard of moral excellence, remember being fashioned in the shape of God, essentially, without that godly standard, moral excellence, everything else that we can potentially build upon, our faith will crumble because it is founded on a faulty foundation. Can't have a foundation to build moral excellence that has cracks in it. That's why we go to the Heavenly Father and his example. That's what the Apostle Peter is telling us to do.

[C]

So we're not going to be able to get to that next rung on the ladder if our excellence isn't excellent and we grow into that excellence that reflects God's character. Again, it's this internal transformation that aligns your life with God's purpose for you. But I have a question. Is the standard too high? This is God's standard. Is this too much responsibility? Won't we fail and fail and fail and fail?

[B]

Yes, we will. Okay, but it's not too high. How do we know? Well, why did God give us a standard that will fail and fail? Hang on. Go back a few verses. And what did the Apostle Peter say? He says, God gives us his exceeding, great and precious, these unbelievable promises, so that because of those promises, because God is with you, you can attain to the divine nature. And then it says therefore, essentially at your faith, moral excellence. Yes, it's hard, but we are given every single solitary ingredient to make this plant of moral excellence grow from root to blossom. It is there because Peter is explaining, this is how it all works. Yes, it's difficult, but God has already thought that through and given us everything we could possibly need. Let's look at the allegiance attribute of moral excellence. A mature Christian's moral excellence. Allegiance must find its fuel through faith in the excellence of God, our Creator and Jesus our Lord. That's where it's fueled, and only there is where it's fueled. Excellence and virtue can and do abound in many people for many reasons, and we always want to be aware of it and support it. Lots of people in the world that may not be Christians have wonderful excellence and morality in their lives, and we want to applaud those things. However, for us, however, we cannot forget the why of our seeking such virtue and the loftiness with which we are to strive. As good as those things are, our standard is different. It's higher, it's clearer, and it's spiritually focused. Our calling is to Godliness and not merely human moral integrity. And there's a big difference between those two things. All right, Julie, one more time. Second Peter 1:5.

[C]

Now, for this very reason also applying all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence and this lesson on moral excellence. This arete has strongly reminded me that I need to look in the mirror and be the person God intends me to be. I have to live like his purpose actually matters to me. I have to confront the parts of my character that don't match that purpose. I can't justify them or make excuses for them or get lazy. I have to replace them with what God is shaping in me.

[B]

And that is a lesson. And you look at this and say, man, that is profound. That's inspirational, folks. That's the first of all of these lessons that are to follow.

[C]

You haven't made it up the ladder yet.

[B]

No, no. We're on the same second rung of the ladder. Based on your faith, apply this godly moral excellence, this, this sense of a higher being. And so that we can really, truly every day work on developing Christ likeness. I say work on developing it because we are imperfect and we do fail. And it's okay. We ask for forgiveness and we get up and God loves us, no less as we try. Again, folks, moral excellence based on God. Think about it. We love hearing from our listeners. We welcome your feedback and questions on this episode and other [e-mail] coming up in our next episode, how does knowledge as a Christian change my earthly life? That'll be part four.