God has called us by glory, virtue to avoid corruption
The headline “Virtue Road Opens,” in a recent issue of the farragutpress, reminded me of a quote attributed to Christopher Marlow, an English playright and poet from the late fifteen hundreds, who penned:
“Virtue is the fount whence honor springs.”
The question that this quote raises is this: How is virtue the fount from which honor springs?
We get the answer to this question from 2 Peter Chapter 1 and verses 1-4, which reads:
“His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been 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.”
Peter’s point is that God has called us by glory and virtue, that is a standard of right.
Through the knowledge of Him we can possess things that pertain to life and godliness though which we may be partakers of His divine nature.
In this way we escape the corruption that is in the world.
There are many verses in the New Testament that provide for us a picture of the glory and virtue that calls us, which are based on God’s knowledge and not man’s knowledge. Let’s consider one verse in Philippians 4:8. This verse says:
“Finally, brethren, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.”
What we learn from this verse and others in the New Testament is that as we dwell on these and other Biblical characteristics that come from God, and we put them into practice in our lives, then His glory and virtue are displayed in wisdom, kindness, good manners, courtesy, modesty, generosity, self-control, respect for others and so forth.
In this way, Marlow was right: Virtue truly is the “fount from which honor springs.”
