EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/14/2025 8:52 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2”The Virtues Pursued”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Peter 1:5b-7
Message of the verses: “moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.”
I mentioned in my last SD that I was going to copy what John MacArthur wrote in this section of his commentary, and then once I get done with that I plan on going to Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on these verses and quote from it. The reason is that I believe this is a very important section of Scripture and so I want to get as much information on it so that I can better understand it. I will pick up from where I left of in last evening’s SD.
“Flowing from knowledge is a third virtue, self-control (egkrateia), which literally means ‘holding oneself in’ (cf. Gal. 5:23).” “gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” “It was used of athletes who sought self-discipline and self-restraint, even beating their bodies into submission (cf. 1 Cor (:27.” “But I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” “They would also abstain from rich foods, wine, and sexual activity in order to focus all their strength and attention on their training regimen. False theology (such as that propounded by heretics of Peter’s day and discussed in chapters 2 and 3) inevitably divorces faith from conduct because it cannot deliver the soul from sin’s harmful effects and forces its followers to battle for self-control on their own and indulge their lusts (cf. 1 Tim. 6:3-5; 2 Tim. 2:14, 16-19; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 16-19).
“A fourth essential virtue to pursue is perseverance, which connotes patience and endurance in doing what is right (Luke 8:15; Rom. 2:7; 8:25; 15:4-5; 2 Cor. 12:12; 1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 3:10; Titus 2:2; Rev. 2:19)—resisting temptations and enduring in the midst of trials and difficulties.
“Perseverance (hupomone) is a difficult term to express with one English word. Uncommon in classical Greek, the New Testament uses the word frequently to refer to remaining strong in unwelcome toil and hardship (cf. Rom. 5:3-4; 1:12; 2 Cor. 1:6; 2 Thess. 1:4; James 1:12; 1 Peter 2:20; Rev. 2:2-3), the kind that can make life extremely difficult, painful, grievous, and shocking—even to the point of death (cf. Rev. 1:9; 3:10; 13:10; 14:12). Barclay again offers helpful insight:
[Hupomone] is usually translated patience, but patience is too passive a word. Cicero defines patientia, its Latin equivalent, as: “The voluntary and daily suffering of hard and difficult things, for the sake of honor and usefulness.” Didmus of Alexandria writes on the temper of Job: “It is not that the righteous man must be without feeling, although he must patiently bear the things which afflict him; but it is true virtue when a man deeply feels the things he toils against, but nevertheless despises sorrows for the sake of God.”
Hupomone does not simply accept and endure; there is always a forward look in it. It is said of Jesus …that for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the Cross, despising the shame (Hebrews 12:2). That is hupomone, Christian steadfastness. It is the courageous acceptance of everything that life can do to us and the transmuting of even the worst event into another step on the upward way. (Letters of James and Peter, 303).”
I have to say after reading this last virtue that I believe that my family is now going through this, and I can also say that it is not pleasant, and takes a lot of faith in the Lord knowing that He is the One in control of what is going on now. I am thankful for the prayers of our church family for my wife and I, mostly for her as she is the one going through these cancer treatments at this time.
10/14/2025 9:25 PM
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