Two Christian leaders were talking together about how to disciple a new believer. One asked the other, “What is the first thing we should teach someone who has just accepted Christ as Savior?” The other replied, “Well, you need to get him involved in serving the Lord, witnessing, and missions, teach him to tithe and to live a righteous life.” The man who asked the question said, “Do you realize that this is not what the Scriptures tell us to do? In 2 Peter 1: 5-8 we are told: ‘…giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ “

When I heard this story I really became excited! Does this mean that if we add knowledge to our faith before adding virtue our lives will not be fruitful? It is true that knowledge can puff us up and cause pride, whereas virtue is the character of Christ, who said, “I am meek and lowly in heart.” Some people try to build character into their lives without faith in Christ, but that only results in prideful self-righteousness. God’s plan is that to personal faith in Christ for our salvation we then must add virtue, the character of the sinless Son of God.

So how can I teach virtue to new believers?” “How do we add Christ’s character qualities to our faith in Him?” The answer is seen in how Jesus taught his disciples. The very first thing He taught these new believers was the Sermon on the Mount as found in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. His basic outline is found in the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12, and the remainder of those three chapters simply amplify these first twelve verses. Then in the remainder of the book of Matthew Jesus shows His disciples how those truths apply to daily life.

With this concept as a basis, I began an Institute in Biblical Studies with the men of the church. We studied each of the Beatitudes and sought to build these teachings into our lives. As the men grew spiritually, they then added knowledge and the other attributes to their lives as well, to such an extent that their wives saw the changes that came over them and wanted what they had! This gave the men opportunities to teach their wives the character qualities of Christ, as well as to be able to answer their wives’ questions with godly, biblical answers. Many of these men have become spiritual leaders, able to teach and preach the Word of God in truth.