Section 4 Summary

As we have noticed in this section, God has given us a divine plan to grow as Christians. God has given a promise associated with this pattern of Christian growth, also referred to by many as the Christian graces. This promise is a guarantee from God if we add these traits to our Christian lives we will never fall, but a home in Heaven is guaranteed us.

This guarantee is to baptized believers only, since we are told to add to our faith these characteristics. When the Bible talks about a person having faith, the assumption can legitimately be made this is a person who has obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, they have been baptized or they have obeyed the commands of God are applicable to them for whatever time period they were in.

As we have seen, during the study of each of these Christian characteristics we are told to add to our faith, each characteristic depends in part on the previous characteristics having been at least partly added. For example, if I am working on adding patience (setting goals) and I am thinking about setting the goal of having a new songbook purchased. I need to make sure Virtue has been added in regard to this goal, in other words, I am not trying to do this for any glory that may come my way. I need to also make sure there is enough money available, it will not cause problems in the congregation, and anything else good or bad that might come from buying new song books.

I also need to make sure I have added Knowledge. I have studied out this goal from the Bible. Is this goal scriptural? Is it required? Is it a matter of liberty? The answer to each of these questions should affect whether I set this as a goal and how long and hard I pursue this as a goal. If it is a matter of liberty, this means if I keep pushing an idea that is a matter of liberty when it is starting to generate problems in a congregation, I am in the wrong. I need to drop the goal or modify it at the bare minimum.

I also need to make sure I have added Temperance in regard to this goal at least. I need to make sure I am not doing this for any selfish reason, for example, will I receive money from the purchase of song books? Am I going to receive any glory or honor from this sale? A yes answer does not necessarily mean the goal is not a good goal, but it should determine how hard I am willing to press this goal. It is important I keep this fact in mind as I set goals and strive towards them. There is a big difference between a matter of commandment, in which I must keep no matter what my personal feelings and a matter of liberty in which I should consider what is best for my brothers and sisters in Christ before any thing I may desire.

This divine plan for growing unto Christian maturity is clearly not intended as a plan that does not take effort. I envision it as a steep staircase takes effort and much care and prayer as we walk up, not as an escalator we just stand on and it does all of the work. Also, it clearly is not intended that we must have added all virtue before we progress onto knowledge, then gain all knowledge before we proceed to temperance and so on. But rather, I see it as a staircase effect only in the sense as we start adding certain things to our lives, we will need to have certain requirements from each of the preceding steps as foundation stones or steps are necessary to be able to perform a certain task.

I believe very strongly in the fact the Creator of the Universe, who loves us enough to send His Son to this earth to die for us in order we can have a hope of a home in Heaven, who did not leave it to us to guess at what we needed to do in order to be saved, would not turn around and leave the rest of our Christian life to chance.

I have listed this section in the order I have because it is my belief this section on Christian growth is the over all plan given by God and is many ways the tie that binds the rest of our Christian life together. Also because it is the most complex and the most complete of any of the group of verses that God has given for us to study regarding Christian maturity, at least in my opinion.

I do not even begin to claim I have conquered and achieved any of the Christian graces completely. But I do believe they are important and need to be taught and can be understood and achieved by a mature Christian.