Virtue

     Virtue is like morel mushrooms: it is hard to come by! When I think of goodness in nature, I think of those delicious morsels. I dream about the delicious taste of them. I know that is a bad analogy but you know what I mean; that virtue is extremely desirable but difficult to obtain.

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. (1 Pet 1:2-7)

     Let us focus on virtue in those passages:  "virtue" is dynamis in the Greek. That very word indicates power. Power comes in different "flavors". The implication is that it is the Power of God or spiritual morality of the best flavor: goodness. Before, we move on, let's examine the best usages of the word virtue:

And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. (Luke 8:46)

And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all. (Luke 6:19)

    There are only three instance in the Bible of virtue flowing from Jesus. Those are two of them. The other one is the healing of the blood issue of a woman:

And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? Mark 5:29-31)

     Thus, we can see that virtue is the transmission of goodness from one person to the next. However, goodness is not of the individual but of God. I believe the laying on of hands is a biblical way of transmitting God's goodness from one person to the next as demonstrated by Jesus being in contact with the faithful. In all these cases, Jesus's virtue was for healing. Somehow faith is the source from which goodness flows. The greatest faith is the faith of God, but doubt decreases that faith:

For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? (Rom 3:3)

     Jesus can heal because of His perfect faith. God knows His own power! The rest of us must accept in confidence that Jesus has the power of healing that we don't have. That enlightenment results in being born again. Jesus's ability to heal is infinite power. Our virtue "stream" is much less and is dependent on our faith. Jesus gave examples of faith: (1) no faith, (2) a little faith, (3) faith of a grain of mustard seed, (4) great faith, (5) the faith of Abraham, and (6) the faith of God. Thus faith is a variable and is measured from zero to infinite faith. 
    Jesus could heal one or many because His virtue was infinite. He could, however, feel it leaving. When Jesus was tested by Satan after forty days deprived of nourishment, he felt great loss of virtue in defeating sin. Power flowed out of him to shield himself from the devouring beast. Thus, virtue not only heals but protects!
    Christians cannot heal to a great extent because faith is the powerhouse from which virtue flows. Our "little faith" is enough to move mountains but is ineffectual because we have no need to move mountains. There is a need, though, to escape corruption and love others. Jesus used his virtue to heal the sick, but his was enough to move a mightier mountain: the mountain of sins committed by all His creation.

Who his own self (Jesus) bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Pet 2:24)

     That is the ultimate case of virtue flowing from Jesus. His death healed the nations. It is written, "Through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb 2:14). The death of Jesus was goodness flowing from him to defeat death to heal the world. No wonder Jesus thought the Father had forsaken him! The flow of goodness from himself to Hell where sin was destroyed was tremendous. The flow of goodness - virtue - is what killed Jesus. Then the flow of virtue subsided because it was finished:

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.(John 19:30)

     Jesus was drained of power. The Holy Spirit is the power of God (John 14:26) and is the source of power to God's children (Acts 1:8). At Jesus's death, so much virtue came out of him to defeat sin that finally his power was exhausted. Jesus gave up the Ghost which was his own Power from God. That specific Power or Spirit was the Existence of Jesus's own Spirit - his "ghost" because it was God's Spirit which was diminished in defeating all sin. That is not to say that the Holy Spirit became lesser but finished the task at hand. It was an exhausting task and Jesus's soul agonized in anticipation and completion of his Purpose!
     Christians, if they are truly born again, have that virtue as well. Because God so loved the world, He shared his virtue with it (John 3:16). Love flowed from himself to the world bountiful enough to destroy sin and defeat Satan. We aren't capable of virtue in ourselves. We can't defeat sin because we are not God! However, true Christians have some degree of virtue, not of ourselves, but of God since it is by faith. Christian virtue goes from us to the world through the work of love. The more virtue Christians have, the more loving they are. Loving others is being like Jesus. As virtue came out of him to heal those who have faith, love should come out of them to heal others.
     Of course, virtuous Christians can pray for healing of the sick. Perhaps the laying on of hands transmits that virtue. Perhaps anointing with olive oil precipitates the flowing of virtue. Either way, the greater the faith, the greater the virtue to heal. It may have become clear; the Holy Spirit is the Power behind the sharing of virtue. It's not from us but from God. The flowing out of virtue has two streams flowing into one:

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Mat 22:36-39)

     The end result of adding virtue to our faith is that flowing out of love in those two streams: (1) to God, and (2) to others. By sharing virtue to others it is seen as virtue back to God. It seems that the flow of virtue has a circular path: from God to us, from us to others and God, from others back to God. That virtue is the world communing with or showing love for God and his creation.
     Sin shuts off the flow of virtue. We are not demonstrating love when we sin. Sin is sort of a spiritual redirection of love. Love toward God is virtue. Love is without iniquity. Iniquity is the cessation of virtue, or when love ceases. Love is hard work requiring much Power. God supplies that Power through His Holy Spirit in the form of virtue, not of Christians but from them originating from God.
     Doing God's will is the flow of virtue. God's will be done is loving Him and others. It's so simple, why do we not do it? Because of sin! Sin may or may not be damning for the born again Christian but it sure decreases love. In fact, sin is hatred! Hatred is the negative flow of virtue. It's taking back goodness and returning evil in its place.
     Just as the flow of love heals the world, hatred murders. Scripture equivocates hatred with murder (1 John 3:15). If the flow of virtue provides healing and life, then the opposing flow of iniquity or hatred of God's will, kills.
     From 1 Pet 1:2-7 above we learn that from faith comes virtue. To have virtue requires faith which is trusting in God. Virtue or goodness should flow from the faithful. The absence of sin, called righteousness, is the evidence of faith which is the assurance of salvation. When there is no flow of virtue, those who identify as Christians should question their faith. Virtue is doing God's will. We love God by obedience. The disobedient are not loving God and the flow of virtue is stopped dead by sin.