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Book: The Practice of Godliness: Godliness has value for all things by Jerry Bridges
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Authors: Jerry Bridges
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produced without him, but wrought through him.... Let us then be ever mindful of our entire dependence upon the Spirit of God ... [but] let us be ever mindful of our duty “to maintain good works.” 4
PUT OFF AND PUT ON
The fourth principle of godly character is, The development of godly character entails both putting off and putting on character traits. Paul says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
In the succeeding verses (4:28-5:4) Paul makes some very specific applications of this principle. We are to put off falsehood and put on truthfulness. We are to put off stealing and put on generosity. Unwholesome talk must be put off and replaced with speech which is helpful for building others up. Bitterness, rage, anger, and slander are to be replaced with kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. Obscene or suggestive speech is to be replaced with thanksgiving. Even Paul’s list of gracious qualities in Galatians 5, called the fruit of the Spirit, is set in contrast to a lengthy catalog of vices of the sinful nature which must be put off by the godly person.
It was said of the Lord Jesus that He has both loved righteousness and hated wickedness (Hebrews 1:9). And we are to follow His example, for Paul instructs us to “hate what is evil; cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9). Surely we must put to death, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, the misdeeds of the body. But we must also, again with His enablement, clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Just as we need to learn Scripture’s teaching for the dual principle of personal responsibility and total dependence, here also we need to seek the balance of Scripture in putting off and putting on. Some Christians have a tendency to emphasize only putting off traits of the sinful nature. They are usually very morally upright, but lacking in those gracious qualities of love, joy, and compassion. When a fellow Christian falls into sin, they do not seek to restore him gently, but rather ostracize him from their fellowship. A repentant Christian once wrote me that his church knew how to reach out to lost sinners but did not know how to restore one of its own errant members. This is the attitude we tend to develop when we put our entire emphasis in Christian character growth on putting off sinful habits.
But there is equal danger if we focus all our attention on such qualities as love and compassion while neglecting to deal with the vices of the sinful nature. Today, there is a good deal of emphasis on affirming and encouraging one another. We are to help one another “feel good about ourselves.” We undoubtedly need such encouragement in the body of Christ, but we must not neglect the equally scriptural emphasis of putting to death the deeds of the sinful nature.
We are to put off the traits of the old self and put on the traits of the new. If we desire to be godly we must not neglect either of these biblical emphases.
BALANCED GROWTH
The fifth principle of godly character is, We are to pursue growth in all of the graces that are considered the fruit of the Spirit. This would include traits such as compassion, forbearance, and humility that are not included in the nine-trait list of Galatians 5 but are obviously a result of His ministry in our lives. Godly character is balanced. It displays with equal emphasis the entire spectrum of graces that are set forth in the Scriptures as characteristic of the godly person.
We tend to emphasize in our lives those traits that seem most natural to our particular temperaments. But the fruit of the Spirit is not a matter of temperament; it is the result of the individual Christian seeking to grow, under the direction and aid of the Spirit, in
PUT OFF AND PUT ON
The fourth principle of godly character is, The development of godly character entails both putting off and putting on character traits. Paul says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
In the succeeding verses (4:28-5:4) Paul makes some very specific applications of this principle. We are to put off falsehood and put on truthfulness. We are to put off stealing and put on generosity. Unwholesome talk must be put off and replaced with speech which is helpful for building others up. Bitterness, rage, anger, and slander are to be replaced with kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. Obscene or suggestive speech is to be replaced with thanksgiving. Even Paul’s list of gracious qualities in Galatians 5, called the fruit of the Spirit, is set in contrast to a lengthy catalog of vices of the sinful nature which must be put off by the godly person.
It was said of the Lord Jesus that He has both loved righteousness and hated wickedness (Hebrews 1:9). And we are to follow His example, for Paul instructs us to “hate what is evil; cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9). Surely we must put to death, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, the misdeeds of the body. But we must also, again with His enablement, clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Just as we need to learn Scripture’s teaching for the dual principle of personal responsibility and total dependence, here also we need to seek the balance of Scripture in putting off and putting on. Some Christians have a tendency to emphasize only putting off traits of the sinful nature. They are usually very morally upright, but lacking in those gracious qualities of love, joy, and compassion. When a fellow Christian falls into sin, they do not seek to restore him gently, but rather ostracize him from their fellowship. A repentant Christian once wrote me that his church knew how to reach out to lost sinners but did not know how to restore one of its own errant members. This is the attitude we tend to develop when we put our entire emphasis in Christian character growth on putting off sinful habits.
But there is equal danger if we focus all our attention on such qualities as love and compassion while neglecting to deal with the vices of the sinful nature. Today, there is a good deal of emphasis on affirming and encouraging one another. We are to help one another “feel good about ourselves.” We undoubtedly need such encouragement in the body of Christ, but we must not neglect the equally scriptural emphasis of putting to death the deeds of the sinful nature.
We are to put off the traits of the old self and put on the traits of the new. If we desire to be godly we must not neglect either of these biblical emphases.
BALANCED GROWTH
The fifth principle of godly character is, We are to pursue growth in all of the graces that are considered the fruit of the Spirit. This would include traits such as compassion, forbearance, and humility that are not included in the nine-trait list of Galatians 5 but are obviously a result of His ministry in our lives. Godly character is balanced. It displays with equal emphasis the entire spectrum of graces that are set forth in the Scriptures as characteristic of the godly person.
We tend to emphasize in our lives those traits that seem most natural to our particular temperaments. But the fruit of the Spirit is not a matter of temperament; it is the result of the individual Christian seeking to grow, under the direction and aid of the Spirit, in
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