People are quick to point out when a Christian’s character falls short. Faithful and loving pastors don’t make the news. But when a Christian leader falls into sin and scandal, we all hear about it. Pastors and teachers should be held to a high standard. But our culture, both religious and secular, holds a certain expectation for how Christians behave. People have varying views on the standard, further confusing the issue.
Of course, we must go back to the Scripture. What does the Bible say about Christian character?
Character includes the thinking and behaving that define a person. This can be good or bad, depending upon the moral perspective and standard. Philosophers throughout history have explored character as central to individual identity. Religions add a spiritual element to ideas of character.
Secular notions link character to personal choices and how people handle difficult situations. Aristotle described character as a combination of virtues a person develops through regular discipline, aspects like courage and justice. Benjamin Franklin explored developing character to produce success and social standing. In his Autobiography, Franklin detailed a plan to grow in 13 virtues, including humility, industry, and temperance. His methodical approach tried to practice daily actions with these virtues. In the 20th century, Steven Covey’s popular The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People built on these same ideas. He taught principles like responsibility and proactivity.
The Bible teaches similar principles but roots character within a person’s relationship with God and their commitment to his righteousness. The Greek word charakter appears in Hebrews 1:3, which describes Jesus Christ as the “express image” of God. Here, charakter refers to a stamp or impression. Jesus perfectly embodied and manifested God’s nature. Biblical character reflects God’s attributes like love, justice, and holiness.
The Old Testament doesn’t have a Hebrew word translated for character but does teach qualities tied to the idea. Tam is translated as integrity or blamelessness. Leb means heart or inner being. Proverbs 11:3 says, “The integrity [tam] of the upright guides them.” This verse teaches how inner moral character leads people in their actions. Biblically, character is both static and dynamic, growing through trials. Romans 5:3-4 says, “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” God’s character doesn’t change, and he shares it with us through his Spirit. But our character develops as hard times challenge our faith.
Scripture reveals how human character apart from God is flawed and corrupted by sin. From the beginning, the Bible teaches how our sinful nature separates us from God and makes human character selfish and rebellious.
This flawed condition flows from humanity’s fall. In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve’s disobedience introduced sin into the world and corrupted human nature. As a result, every person inherits a sinful nature, inclining individuals to rebellion against God. Paul writes in Romans 5:12, “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.” Selfish and sinful nature defines human character apart from God, and this brought death into the world.
We see this death through what is called entropy, how all things gradually devolve into destruction. Things don’t last in our world, and people, too, grow old and die. This wasn’t the original design.
Paul further declares the dire situation of human nature in Romans 3:10. “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” The apostle writes about this universal corruption of humanity, the self-seeking that dominates the character.
Human inner selfishness results in outward behavior, what people see and experience. Galatians 5:19-21 lists these as the works of the flesh. “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” Paul highlights these behaviors arising from the “flesh,” the biblical term for the sinful nature, rather than the Spirit. These acts reveal a heart focused on satisfying personal desires instead of God’s will, all leading to broken relationships and destruction.
Paul learned this reality from his own experience and his study of the Old Testament. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond care. Who can understand it?” Human nature is so flawed, it lies to people to justify their behavior, even calling good what is evil (Isaiah 5:20). The human heart views rebellion against God as goodness, twisting words and truth to bring themselves and others further down the path to destruction.
Since sin leads to death, The Bible equates living in disobedience as spiritual death. Ephesians says people are “dead in transgressions and sins … gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.” Apart from Christ, people live under the influence of sinful desires and even justify it with lies. And individuals are incapable of escaping this slavery on their own.
Thankfully, God didn’t leave people there. He provides another way.
The New Testament details Christian character as a way of being and living that reflects back to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father. Just as Jesus said, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father” (John 14:9), Christians can say, “If you’ve seen us, you’ve seen Jesus.”
The first clue about Christian character comes in the name. The term “Christian” first appeared in Acts 11:26. Christian means “little Christs.” Christ references the Messianic person of Jesus, the anointed one, the Son of God. However, believers didn’t call themselves by this term. Local people used the word, almost in a mocking way. The disciples of Jesus in Antioch talked about Jesus and acted in such a way that their behavior as individuals and a group reflected Christ to those outside the church. The name literally means “little anointed ones” or “little messiahs.” Not that the Christians are the Messiah, but because of the relationship with Jesus and the power of the Spirit, Christians live by the same anointing and mission as Jesus.
Christian character starts with a transformational process, which the Bible explains as putting on the “new man,” or a new person. Ephesians 4:22-24 tells believers to “put off your old self, which is 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.” The “new man” denotes a new identity in Christ to be like God. God’s nature and actions have perfect integrity, through love, justice, righteousness, and more. Through being born again by the Spirit, Christians have become a new creation “to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Paul also writes about this in Colossians 3:9-10: “You have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
The radical, inner change becomes manifest to others through a Christian’s words and actions. The Spirit produces “fruit,” different from “works of the flesh.” Fruit implies a natural, more organic process. Life leads to life. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” These are characteristics of the Spirit and become outward evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in a believer’s life. To develop this fruit, the Christian must walk in and with the Spirit, daily submitting to God’s guidance and power.
Jesus lived in humility and obedience to the Father. Christian character includes this mindset, an ability possible through the inward Spirit of the Son. Philippians 2:5-8 encourages believers to think and behave like Christ, who “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,” and he obeyed even to the point of death on the cross. Sacrificial love resulted in the resurrection, a greater life. God desires for people to have this abundant life through godly character. Jesus instructed in Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Perfection in this case includes completeness, growing in godliness and becoming who God created people to be.
Outward behavior stems from inward beliefs, thoughts, and nature. To change our character, we must first change the inner problem. When we attempt to change our actions in our own ability, we don’t change our sinful nature; we only strengthen the “flesh” when we use it to gain control over the same. This is called legalism.
Thankfully, Jesus came for this express purpose, to transform us from the inside out. Jesus explained in John 3:3, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again.” Upon repentance to the Father through the Son, God replaces our sinful nature with his divine Spirit. We become a new creation. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (1 Corinthians 5:17) We die to our old lives and live in Christ. The Spirit empowers us to live in obedience to God and grow in becoming more like Christ, and through this, we “participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world called by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:4).
The Bible gives several spiritual disciplines to help us grow and deepen our transformation, aligning our outward actions with the inward Spirit. These disciplines aren’t the end goal but tools to shape our thinking and character. They connect us with the unseen Father and his Kingdom.
Prayer offers us intimacy with God and helps us align our hearts with his will. Philippians 4:6-7 teaches us how prayer brings peace to guard our hearts and minds in Christ. We surrender our wills, our desires, and seek God’s guidance. Further, in prayer, we partake in the Son’s High Priest role, interceding on behalf of others to see God work powerfully in our lives and those we love.
Reading and meditating on Scripture transforms our minds to think as Christ. The Spirit inspired the Bible, and we use it to point us back to God. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Another important discipline involves participating in a local church community. The family of God, all of us children of the Father by the Spirit, provides us with encouragement, accountability, and ways to use our spiritual gifts to further develop our character. Learning to love people requires interaction and self-sacrifice, things difficult or impossible to do alone. Hebrews 10:24-25 says we must meet together regularly and “spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” We need one another for spiritual health and stability, as a body needs all members for full expression of God (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).
Christian character reveals God’s character, and we participate in this by humbly continuing to be “conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). These and other spiritual disciplines help us shape our inner and outward lives to reflect God’s divine character.
Peace.
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