Pursuing Godliness

In the New Testament, the Greek term translated godliness shows up fifteen times. Nine of them are in the “pastoral epistles,” namely, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. That’s a pretty high concentration considering that these are some of the shortest writings in the New Testament. It indicates the importance the apostle Paul places on godliness and his concern that his young protégés inculcate the quality in themselves and in those whom they shepherd. 

What is godliness? An English dictionary offers “the quality of being devoutly religious; piety.” Bryan Chapell suggests, “an active obedience that springs from a reverent awe of God.” While the first definition describes a quality that could be applied to a broad spectrum of belief and practice, the second directs the source of godliness to God himself. Our godliness begins with knowing God and the more we know God the greater will be our godliness. The means by which one grows in godliness, therefore, is not through physical depravation, as suggested by those in Ephesus who were advocating a form of asceticism, but by giving oneself to the study of revealed truth. 

Such was the case for Timothy. Paul assured his young charge that if he would put before the congregation the truth concerning the goodness of God’s creation and the rightness of receiving its bounty with thanksgiving, he would show himself to be “a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that [he had] followed.” (1 Timothy 4:6) This was the kind of “training for godliness” that was “of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” (v.8) And it stands in stark contrast to the “irreverent, silly myths” being promoted that gave rise to the unprofitable asceticism. Denying the body (forbidding marriage and requiring abstinence from foods, v.3) is not nearly as helpful as renewing the mind. To pursue godliness, then, is to pursue God. And to pursue God is to pursue knowledge of God. And to pursue knowledge of God one must turn to the Bible. The Bible is our primary source for the information, the vital information, we need if we are to grow in godliness. 

But as Timothy was a man who had been trained in the words of faith and good doctrine, we can assume that what he had come to know was gained not only from his encounter with the Scripture, but he also from its content being explained by his beloved teacher. This suggests that we should avail ourselves of the wisdom that has accumulated from those who have been reflecting upon the Scriptures for the past 2000 years. God has provided gifted teachers who have been shaped by the truth and who demonstrate an ability to make God known in ways that draw us deeper into Him, producing in us the kind of reverent awe and consequent obedience spoken of above.

There are certainly many places in Scripture in which we are exhorted, indeed, commanded to put off practices that run contrary to God’s will. This involves denying ourselves things that our sinful souls would otherwise enjoy. But such depravation is godliness in the best sense — acts of obedience that spring from a reverent awe of God.