The word translated godliness in II Peter chapter one is from the Greek word. eusebeia (yoo-seb’-i-ah) which is Strong’s word NT:2150 and means piety, godliness, and holiness.
Godliness means to appear like God, having piety, being holy. In much the same way the word Christian means being Christ-like, acting like Christ godliness is being like God. To put it very simply this is the point when your RELIGION TURNS OUTWARD, when you begin telling others of Jesus Christ. The steps before this have been internal, now to add godliness to our lives requires us to start looking outward in our Christianity.
GODLINESS
1 Timothy 4:6-9 "If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation."
One of the things that is necessary for one to understand about godliness and its place in one’s spiritual growth is brought forth here in I Timothy. Paul, in writing to Timothy, makes a comparison between the purpose and effect of bodily exercise on the physical body and the purpose and the effect of godliness on the spiritual body. What exercise does for the physical body, godliness does for the spiritual body.
In the same way your physical body gets flabby and out of shape if you never do any physical exercise, your spiritual body becomes spiritually weak and sickly and eventually it will die if you never add godliness to your life. Your spiritual health and spiritual growth and maturity depend very heavily on the priority of godliness in your Christian life.
Everyone whether they exercise or not knows the importance and necessity of physical exercise for their physical health. Paul is not concerned about the physical body of the Christian, but he does admit bodily exercise does serve some purpose for the physical body, but if you are concerned about your spiritual body bodily exercise profits very little, but godliness is profitable for all things. Godliness has a promise both in this life and the eternal life that is to come.
When Christians start adding godliness to their spiritual lives is when they begin actively submitting to the leadership of the congregation by doing the things they are asked to do. For example this is the time when Christian men start leading songs, when they begin leading public prayer, and other things they are asked in regard to the public worship service of the Church. This would also be the time younger Christian women should approach the older Christian women about helping them in the things they are trying to add in their lives. This would also be the time both men and women start visiting the sick and the elderly. In addition this is the time all Christians begin telling their friends and neighbors about Jesus Christ and His place in their lives. Christian men and women begin learning how to study with others, both Christians and non-Christians. Each Christian has a responsibility to God to teach privately and when they submit to the leadership and ask the leadership in the local congregation for help in these things, then they have begun adding godliness and taking another step in their spiritual growth.
James 2:14-23 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
James brings out the important relationship between works and faith. Works can not save us, and faith that does not bring about works doesn’t save us either. But faith which brings forth the works of God does save us. How can this be? Aren’t these two statements contradictory? No they are not. For example, James goes on to say Abraham was justified (saved) when God commanded him to offer his son as a sacrifice to God. But how can this be? It is really simple, Abraham trusted God, so when God told Abraham to do something, it was a natural outgrowth of that trust for Abraham to do what God told him. This obedience to God was then imputed unto Abraham for righteousness.
As a matter of fact, faith can not survive without works. When Abraham was commanded by God to do something, his trust in God led to his obedience. If Abraham had not obeyed God, it would have demonstrated his lack of trust or in other words, his lack of faith. This is why James implies someone can believe in God and still be lost. There is a difference between an intellectual belief and a trust in God. Trust causes one to obey. I am reminded of a saying my Dad used to say all of the time. He would say, “If God told me to jump through a brick wall in order to be saved, it would be my responsibility to jump and trust in God to fulfill His part and carry me through the brick wall.
This is what trust is all about, to believe when it seems implausible. When facts seem against you, when it seems impossible for what you believe in to happen, that is when trust is all we have to count on, trusting in God to do the impossible is what Christianity is all about! We just need to remember doing the impossible is so common place with God. God’s plan of salvation and Christian growth seem like foolishness with man, but the foolishness of God is wiser than man.
Works of obedience brings our faith to maturity and is imputed unto us for righteousness. The only difference between the Devil's faith and a Christian’s faith is a Christian submits to God and obeys God while Satan doesn’t. Adding godliness is when we start doing works of obedience. It is these works of obedience bringing our faith to perfection that trusting in God is all about. The more that mankind scoffs and belittles, the more trust and faith it takes to simply do the things God wants and in turn, God counts them to us for righteousness.
MATTHEW 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Here, John the Immerser is using a fact everyone knew and understood about fruit trees to teach a spiritual truth. While the Bible contains many tidbits of earthly knowledge, it is not an encyclopedia or a book on farming. John did not live in the desert in order that people would come to him to learn how to make a bigger profit on their orchards. Trees here represent people. Anyone who does not bring forth good fruits (works of obedience) for God is in danger of spending an eternity in hell is the point John is making in these verses.
John tells about this husbandman who owns an orchard, who as a good husbandman wants to maximize his production of edible fruit, either to sell for profit or to eat. This means when he finds a tree that either produces no fruit or produces rotten fruit, he either replaces the tree or takes steps to try and cause the tree to produce good fruit. John tells this story in order to impress upon the listeners the fact God expects His followers to produce good fruit. This story also teaches us unless we as followers produce good fruit, we are useless for God’s purposes and thus we will be cast out and spend an eternity separated from God in the lake of fire.
Titus 1:1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
Paul reveals a very simple truth in Titus, one many people who profess to be Christians miss, for something to be said to involve godliness, truth must be involved; it must come from the Bible. In plain simple English Paul is saying if we don't go by the Bible, whatever we do is not godly, it has nothing to do with truth and it serves no spiritual value.
2 Peter 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
God, who is all powerful and possesses all wisdom, through His divine power and wisdom, has given unto us everything that pertains to life and godliness. This means if it is not contained in the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, it has nothing to do with eternal life or godliness.
Oh the arrogance of men who think they can improve on the things God has given. What they are saying is mankind today is smarter and wiser than God was back in the days when the Bible was being written. If mankind today knows more than God did even when he created the heavens and the earth, then he can not be an all-wise and all-knowing God. By either adding to the worship God has given unto man or taking away, that is, changing it in any way, we are saying God is not worth worshipping because if man, who is definitely not worth worshipping, can improve on anything God has given, then we are smarter than God, and therefore we should not worship God.
1 Timothy 6:3-6 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
Anyone, who teaches something not found in the Bible, is following Satan and like the Devil is lifted up with pride. These are those who in Matthew Chapter 10 are thieves trying to kill, steal and destroy. They are trying to kill the souls of those who would obey from the heart that form of doctrine, they think they can usurp God’s place by stealing the authority of Jesus Christ by issuing so-called spiritual decrees, and they hope to accomplish their master’s will by destroying the Church of the Lamb.
We also see anyone who teaches things not found in the Bible is first of all lifted up with pride, knowing nothing, they are about questions and they love striving of words, they are filled with envy, strife, railing (always secretly spreading gossip), their minds are corrupt and destitute of the truth, and we are told to not only be wary of them, but we are told to withdraw from them. Remember godliness with contentment is great gain.
Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Just running around saying Lord, Lord, does not get us into heaven, contrary to what many people would have us think. For us to make it into the Church, let along into Heaven into the presence of God, we must obey all of the will of the Father. There will be many on the final day who will be completely surprised to hear Jesus say, “Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” The phrase “I never knew you” in the original literally means “I never authorized the things you did” Therefore we see being known by Jesus actually means we have done the things he authorized. And guess where we find the things Jesus has authorized? You should have guessed easily, from the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, the writings of God.
In I Samuel Chapter 3, one of the most arrogant examples of men thinking they are smarter than God is told. Samuel had sent word throughout Isreal that Isreal was to gather their army together to fight the Philistines. When the army of Isreal gathered them selves together and fought the Philistines in battle, on the first day, the battle went against Isreal and 4,000 Israelite soldiers were slain. Instead of waiting for Samuel or praying to God for help, the elders of Israel came up with what they thought was a brilliant strategy. They decided to go into battle with the Ark of the Covenant because they thought God would not dare let his Ark fall into enemy hands. Oh the arrogance of men to think mere mortal man could force God to do anything. On that second day of battle the two priests, the sons of Eli were killed, the Ark of the Lord was taken by the Philistines and 30,000 footmen of Isreal were killed. On that same day Eli, the judge of Isreal died, when he heard the news.
God does not need men to protect God and His honor. For the next seven months, God plagued the Philistines and they died by the thousands until the Philistines finally had enough and they put the Ark of the Lord on a cart and turned the cart loose and the oxen pulling the cart wandered back to Isreal. The Ark of the Covenant found its way to the house of Abinadab where it remained for approximately 20 years. Then twenty years later, when David was King of Isreal, David decided to bring the Ark of the Covenant home to Jerusalem as we will notice next.
I Chronicles 13:1-13 And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. 2 And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the LORD our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren every where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us: 3 And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul. 4 And all the congregation said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. 5 So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath-jearim. 6 And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kirjath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the LORD, that dwelleth between the cherubims, whose name is called on it. 7 And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart. 8 And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets. 9 And when they came unto the threshingfloor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. 10 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God. 11 And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzza: wherefore that place is called Perez-uzza to this day. 12 And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me? 13 So David brought not the ark home to himself to the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
We see in I Chronicles in the continuation of the story how easy it is to get caught up in pride and for one to forget to look to God for what should be done. Here David, a man after God’s own heart, starts thinking about the worship of God. He decides it would be a good idea to move the Ark to Jerusalem so they could worship God, at the Ark of the Covenant, as God had commanded. So David consults with the leaders of Israel and they agree with David this sounds like a good idea. David does not stop there, he now consults with all the people of Israel and they agree it is a good idea. The one person David forgot to consult with was God and disaster comes about because of this oversight.
David, wanting to put the best in service to God, has a new cart made on which to move the Ark. As the cart, bearing the Ark is moving along, one of the oxen stumbles and Uzza, one of the two men given the responsibility to move the Ark, sees the oxen stumble and so he is afraid the Ark will fall so Uzza reaches up to steady the Ark, and God became angry and struck Uzza dead. But why did God strike Uzza dead? Didn’t Uzza act in all good conscience and didn’t he save the Ark from falling and being destroyed? Yes, Uzza did what he thought was the best thing to do and the Ark might have fallen and been destroyed if Uzza had not steadied the Ark of God. Yes Uzza did what he thought was right, but God still struck him dead.
David became afraid of God that day and they moved the cart and the Ark to the closest place where they could safely leave the ark and there it remained for three months while David tried to find out what had gone wrong.
1 Chronicles 15:12-15 And said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it. 13 For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order. 14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel. 15 And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD.
After three months, David finds the answer to his problem. Instead of consulting the leaders of the people and the people themselves, David should have consulted with God. From the earliest times, when the Ark of the Covenant was first built, God had given specific commands on the moving of the Ark. Commandments that had been forgotten because for at least the 40 years Saul had been King, Isreal had not worshipped at the Ark of God as they should have. So there was probably no one alive who had seen the Ark moved properly. But that was no excuse. God had commanded the Ark was to be moved after the due order (proper procedures). The Ark should never have been placed on a cart from which it could fall. Additionally God had commanded any one other than a priest, who had been consecrated by following certain procedures to consecrate himself to God who touched the Ark of the Covenant, was to die.
After David did what he should have done before hand that is to consult with God by reading the Law of Moses on how the Ark of God was to be moved, David tries again. This time he has the Levites use staves and they carry the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders, as God had commanded through Moses. Finally the Ark of God is brought to Jerusalem in accordance to the will of God.
But today many would argue, isn’t God a God of Love? Surely he would understand we are trying to worship God from our hearts. Surely this is the most important thing in worshipping God. Well let us take a look in our mind at David and the throngs moving the Ark. They were filled with joy and excitement at the thought of being able to worship God at the Ark of the Covenant again. We know this because they were dancing, singing, and playing their instruments of music with joy, up until Uzza was struck dead. God speaking through his actions was repeating the same thing that Samuel told King Saul when he returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, “To obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
We need to remember this when we approach close to God in our worship services. We need to consult with God first, long before we are to even consider what men want. We must be guided after the due order in our worship services in this day and time as surely as David needed to in his day. While God may not strike us dead as he did Uzza, in the same way the blood of Abel calls to us from the ground, the blood of Uzza calls up and warns us to worship God after the due order.
Matthew 7:13-20 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Jesus is speaking and He warns his listeners and through the written word He warns us today. He tells us we are not to enter in at the wide gate, but rather the gate we must enter is strait (difficult). Basically Jesus is saying, your criteria for the things you chose to do should not be how many people are doing it or even how few people are doing it. We must chose to do the things we do because it is what God tells us in his word. We must make sure what we are choosing to do, the way we choose to worship God is after the due order.
Jesus goes on to warn us of false prophets who come to us claiming to be children of God, but inwardly they are ravening, starved wolves, who desire nothing more than to lay waste to the Church and destroy the flock. The only way you can tell these men from true Christians is by their fruits. Look at their history, does peace and harmony within the congregation follow where these men have been or does strife, division, and smaller congregations follow them. This is how we are to judge men and how we must judge them. This is how we can tell who is adding godliness to their lives and who isn’t.
Chapter Summary
1. Godliness is the fifth thing we are to add to our faith.
2. The word translated godliness in II Peter 1, could also be translated piety or holiness.
3. Godliness is the point when our religion begins turning outward.
4. Godliness does for the spiritual body what exercise does for the physical body.
5. Godliness involves submission to the leadership of the local congregation..
6. Godliness involves visiting the sick, helping the widows and orphans.
7. Godliness is perfecting faith through doing works of obedience to God.
8. Works in order to be godly must be based on truth or they are not part of godliness.
9. Works in order to be godly must be commanded by God and found in the Bible.
10. Adding Godliness is obeying God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son.
11. The Bible contains everything that is necessary for godliness.
12. It is impossible for mankind to improve on anything God has given.
13. To think mankind can improve on anything God has given is being arrogant.
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