In this lesson we will continue the previous lesson and look at further matters concerning the believers’ having the highest standard of morality and virtues through experiencing the dispensing of the Divine Trinity. We will also consider the believers’ experience of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in the matter of watching and praying.
Second Thessalonians 2:16 and 17 say, “Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope in grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.” These verses indicate that by experiencing the dispensing of the Divine Trinity we can have a good testimony in what we do and say; we are established in every good work and word.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:20 and 21 Paul says, “Do not despise prophecies, but prove all things. Hold fast to what is good.” In these verses Paul reminds us not to despise prophecies but instead to prove all things. To prove all things includes to discern prophecies (1 Cor. 14:29), to discern the spirits (12:10), to prove the spirits (1 John 4:1), to prove what the will of God is (Rom 12:2), and to prove what is well pleasing to the Lord (Eph. 5:10). On the one hand, we should not despise prophecies; on the other hand, we should not follow blindly. We should have the habit of proving everything that we intend to do, of testing everything, and then of holding fast to what is good.
First Thessalonians 5:22 says, “Abstain from every kind of evil.” This indicates that the believers who live in the divine dispensing should abstain from evil in any form and of any kind.
The fact that the believers have the highest standard of morality and virtues is also seen in their enduring suffering for doing good. First Peter 2:20 says, “For what glory is it if, while sinning and being buffeted, you endure? But if, while doing good and suffering, you endure, this is grace with God.” In this verse grace refers to the motivation of the divine life within us and its expression in our life, becoming in our behavior gracious and acceptable in the sight of both man and God. We are able to express endurance in our living by the working of God’s grace within us and through us.
In Philippians 4:8 Paul says, “What things are true, what things are dignified, what things are righteous, what things are pure, what things are lovely, what things are well spoken of, if there is any virtue and if any praise, take account of these things.” In this verse we first see the expression of six virtues, which are six governing aspects, in a life that lives Christ. Next, we see the summing up of the six virtues expressed in the Christian life.