8 Vital Christian Qualities

In the Bible, Peter gives us a list of 8 vital Christian qualities.

“Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:6-8)

Faith

Virtue

Knowledge

Self-Control

Perseverance

Godliness

Brotherly Kindness

Love

These 8 qualities are all connected. They build on each other. Each of these qualities address a potential lack in the previous quality and refines it, bringing it into balance. 

As we go through this important list, you’ll see what I mean. 

Faith

The first Christian quality is faith. 

Faith is the beginning of our walk with God. Through faith in the gospel we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes inside of us, we are united with Christ, and we receive eternal life.

Our Christian lives not only begin with faith, but they continue by faith. 

“The just will live by faith” (Romans 1:17). We are called to live our Christian lives looking at the invisible things of God and his word, and not the visible things of this world. We are called to live by faith, not by sight.

Faith is vitally important. But faith by itself is not enough.

Virtue

We must add virtue to our faith. 

This word virtue has the old English meaning: “valor, manliness, courage to act, or boldness.” We need to add the courage to act to our faith. We must be able to put our faith into practice. 

James 2:17 says “faith without works is dead.” If we have faith but not the willingness to put our faith into practice, then our faith is weak and even potentially dead. We need to add the courage to act to our faith so that we can do the works that will prove that our faith is alive.

There is no point in saying you believe God is telling you to do something but then not doing it. If you refuse to act on what you say you believe, then your inaction proves you don’t really believe it. Disobedience in the word of God disproves faith. This is why we must add the courage or willingness to act to our faith, so that our faith can be implemented and become complete.

Virtue (the courageous willingness to act) is important. 

But virtue by itself is not enough.

Knowledge 

We need to add knowledge to our virtue. 

We might have strength, boldness and willingness to act (virtue), but without knowledge we won’t know what to do. Without knowledge, our actions will be meaningless or even harmful. 

Take Samson for example. He had lots of courage, but he lacked knowledge. Therefore some of his actions were harmful. When we try to do things without spiritual knowledge, then our actions will not accomplish God’s purpose.

True knowledge comes from the word of God.

Ephesians 5:17 says “Be not unwise but understand what the will of God is.” 

The Bible reveals the will of God. We need renew our minds by the word of God so that we have knowledge about what God wants us to do. When we combine knowledge with the courage to act, then our courage is able to fulfill its purpose.

But knowledge by itself is not enough.

Self-Control

We need to add self-control to our knowledge.

Self-control is the ability to walk according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh. Without self-control, even if we know what to do, we can’t do it. 

“For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.” (Romans 7:15) 

The flesh and the Spirit are opposing forces within us. Without self-control, we will live in the flesh and be unable to obey God. Then all the knowledge in the world won’t help us. Self-control enables us put off the flesh and live according to our spiritual knowledge. 

Solomon was the wisest person in the world, with knowledge given to him as a gift from God. But he lacked self-control. Without self-control, much of his knowledge was ultimately useless, because he fell into sin with many women and committed idolatry with false gods. 

Without self-control, we cannot implement our knowledge. But when we have self-control, we can implement our knowledge of God’s word. 

Self control is a fruit of the Spirit, and it comes from God. It is vitally important.

But we need more than self-control.

Perseverance

We need to add perseverance to our self-control.

Perseverance is the ability to keep doing something in spite of opposition. Self-control is not something that we do just once. We don’t just get the victory once over the flesh and live happily ever after in the Spirit. We must exercise self-control regularly and learn the habit of living and walking in the Spirit every day. This is perseverance. Perseverance perfects our self-control, because perseverance makes self-control a regular feature of our lives.

Perseverance is vital. But it needs something more.

Godliness

We must add godliness to our perseverance.

Godliness means focusing on God. It means acknowledging God, worshiping God, and thanking God. When we are persevering through challenges, God is the one who will get us through. We can’t get through in our own strength. God is our source of joy and strength. Focusing on God while we persevere will keep us going forward in God’s strength.

“The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

When we try to persevere without God, our perseverance can turn into drudgery. We might become depressed or discouraged. Bitterness and anger can come into our perseverance and tinge it with darkness.

Think of David. He had to persevere for a long time in order to escape Saul’s wrath and become king. He was able to persevere because he added godliness to his perseverance, and he kept focusing on God as he endured trouble. The Psalms tell us about how David added godliness to his perseverance and was thereby able to get through.

Godliness is important. But godliness needs another quality to become complete. 

Brotherly Kindness

We need to add brotherly kindness to our godliness. Brotherly kindness is Phileo love. This is the affectionate love of feelings. 

True godliness is not just concerned about God, but it is also concerned about other people. It focuses on helping others, loving them, and being kind and affectionate towards them. Phileo love particularly focuses on our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

If we just focus on God and don’t care about others, then we aren’t really focusing on God. True godliness cares about others. Brotherly kindness makes our godliness complete.

Phileo love also needs something to make it better.

Love

We need to add agape love to our brotherly kindness. 

Agape love is the highest form of love. Phileo love becomes perfected when it is controlled by agape love.

Agape love puts God first. Agape love is based on the word of God, and it seeks to follow God’s commands (1 John 5:3).

Without agape love, our feelings and affections will not be bounded by God’s word. Our feelings may be led by our mind or even by our flesh, and they won’t be according to God. But when our feelings are controlled by agape love, which means they are submitted to God’s word, then they come into divine order.

Agape love is the final quality in this list because there is nothing to add to agape love. Agape love is the first and greatest commandment. If we have agape love, then we have God. 

“The end of the commandment is love from a pure heart” (1 Timothy 1:5).

Conclusion

This is a beautiful chain of Christian qualities. It starts with faith and it ends with love. Each one of these qualities connects to the previous quality and refines it. It balances the one that went before it and completes it. 

We need to give all diligence (which means to work hard) to implement these qualities into our lives. As we do this, the Holy Spirit will help us. As we implement these qualities, we will become increasingly spiritually fruitful.