Unlikely Leaders

Peter Crucified at Rome

This chapter is based on the Second Letter of Peter.

In his second letter the apostle Peter explains the divine plan for developing Christian character. He writes that God has “given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” ULe 194.1

“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.” ULe 194.2

The apostle presents the ladder of Christian progress to the believers. Every step represents advancement in knowing God. We are saved by climbing rung after rung to the height of Christ’s ideal for us. God wants to see men and women reaching the highest standard, and when they lay hold of Christ by faith, when they claim His promises as their own, when they seek for the Holy Spirit, God will make them complete in Him. ULe 194.3

Having received the faith of the gospel, the believer is to add virtue to his character, and in this way prepare the mind for the knowledge of God. This knowledge is the foundation of all true service and the only real protection against temptation. This alone can make us like God in character. No good gift is kept back from anyone who sincerely desires the righteousness of God. ULe 194.4

No one needs to fail to reach, in his or her sphere, perfection of Christian character. God places before us the example of Christ’s character. In His humanity, perfected by a life of constant resistance of evil, the Savior showed that through cooperation with Divinity, human beings may reach perfection of character in this life. We may obtain complete victory. ULe 194.5