In concluding the previous essay, I made the point that it is not man's place to construct a model of good character, although many have done it and doubtless will continue to do it. In Jer. 10:23, Jehovah through the prophet, stated that "A man's way is not in himself; nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps." In composing these essays on good character, I therefore resisted the urge to draw up a list of personality traits and proclaim, "When these are integrated into one's life, they will develop in that individual a good character." Neither would I assemble such a list from the writings of philosophers, social scientists, and psychologists, which I have often read. What I would do, and it's all I have done, is point to Jesus as the God-given example of good character and encourage everyone to investigate His life and then model yours after Him. After all, that is what we are told to do in I Pet. 2:21, "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps." The closer a person comes to Jesus' perfect example, the more excellent his character becomes. No one can find a better way, or even one that is comparable.
In the same context of thought, we are told in Eph. 4:11-13 that God has given us a sure and effec-tual way to bring us to "the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ." The inspired writer might just have said "good character," but instead he used the phrases "mature man" and "measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ." They are, however, synonymous. The words "mature" and "fulness" in this verse refer to the same thing, completeness. Jesus was a complete Man, that is, He possessed a fully developed character, having the substance of God Himself imprinted within Him.
Let us focus attention for a moment on the word "good" in the phrase "good character." The idea of good is usually considered to be a moral entity in and of itself. But in my own study and insight into the term, I have come to the conclusion that ... something is good if it fulfills whatever God intended for the thing to be and if it contains all that God mean for it to have. Therefore, a character is good if it makes a person fulfill God's will for an individual and if it contains all that God meant to be there. The passage last considered, Eph. 4:11-13, speaks of "the fulness of Christ." That means that He accomplishmed all that God sent Him to earth to do and that He contained all in His personality that God meant to be there. This has been, and now is, true of no other man. Therefore, Jesus is the ONLY model of good character. Only of Christ does Scripture say that a person should aim to achieve the "measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness" of that person.
It is indeed proper to make a list of the components of a good character, because it will facilitate the understanding and application of them in one's life. But the list should be drawn from a careful study of Jesus' life as recorded in the New Testament, not from the musings of a philosopher, social scientist, or psychologist. To discover Jesus' attitudes and see how He responded to the varying circumstances of daily life can be accomplished by anyone who will read closely the Four Gospels. As we think about the challenge to develop good character, this is the only course that Christians should think of choosing.
We have therefore come to the place in these essays where we should start looking at the specific traits of good character. Since the New Testament uses the word only once (in Heb. 1:3), and then in reference to Christ, there is no passage that discusses the subject with direct reference to the word "character." There are, however, several passages that do deal with the subject without using the word and reveal the constituent components we seek. Since Christ is THE model for character, we should expect these passages either to refer to Him or to be the substance of something He taught. In the remainder of these essays two such passages will be considered.
