According to the Bible, what's the difference between Character and Conduct? Which one comes first?
Character is inward; conduct is outward.
Proverbs 20:
Character is who you are. Your conduct demonstrates your character.
Romans 5:
Perseverance in suffering produces inner character strength. From there, we exhibit hopeful conduct.
Character comes first, then conduct. After that, conduct reinforces the character and forms a positive feedback cycle.
Proverbs 20:11 Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.
Reminds me of
Luke 7:29-35 And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. [30] But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. [31] And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? [32] They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. [33]
For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and you say, He has a devil. [34]
The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and you say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! [35]
But wisdom is justified of all her children.
You may say that doesn’t apply. But to me it at least speaks on character, then conduct. I’m not sure what it means except this …they weren’t satisfied with either John who neither
ate or drank wine saying he had a devil. Yet they weren’t satisfied with Jesus Christ either saying
he come eating and drinking telling the people —“behold, look see here ! a man given to MUCH wine. A man given to gluttony!” …a friend to publicans and sinners! —I’m not sure what He meant by
“But wisdom is justified of all her children.” Maybe “who are justified through the Spirit of God and not through the flesh.” If it’s the Wisdom that comes from God and not man. If it’s the wisdom that comes from men, it comes to no value, empty, unprofitable, void—they seemed to “justify themselves” by using John the Baptist to make themselves appear “holier than thou” and then—they used Jesus Christ to “justify themselves” as “holier than thou”. Wasn’t that the motive behind their attack on others in the habit of glorifying “their own image” as “higher” and “far superior”? even far more superior than Jesus Christ!
But it does remind me of Proverbs 20:11 Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.
Proverbs 20:9-10
Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? [10] Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD.
