Manners, as rules agreed upon within a family or culture, are essential to maintain civility and progress. They are often seen as social constraints, yet they serve a vital purpose in preventing chaos. God Himself is the ultimate setter of manners, establishing standards for behavior to ensure order and respect, especially in His presence. Manners are defined as the way a thing is done, encompassing social behavior and polite, well-bred conduct in public. The origin of manners varies, sometimes stemming from prominent public figures whose styles or behaviors are emulated, often as fads that can become customary within certain groups. Entertainers and athletes also influence manners through emulation, as people adopt their traits or symbols. Most manners are learned in childhood within the family, absorbed during formative years, and intended by God to be set in the home with the hope that they are good manners. As individuals enter the broader world, they refine their manners, recognizing their importance in gaining acceptance or rejection by desired groups or companies. Manners directly influence control over one's life, being necessary to maintain civility, which is increasingly disappearing as people argue or resort to violence over minor issues. In recent times, new manners, often termed political correctness, have been pushed by various groups, breaking traditional boundaries and sometimes conflicting with God's standards, leading to less peace. In former generations, manners played a significant role in restraining behavior through a more rigid code of correctness. Now, with less rigid rules, many feel free to be offensive, justifying disrespect as honesty, viewing respect as hypocritical. Such attitudes expose proud contempt, whereas restraint through manners allows tempers to cool and disputes to be settled without violence.

A lack of courtesy appears in everyday driving situations where individuals refuse to yield the left lane to faster traffic. Signs in various states remind drivers that the left lane is for passing only or that slow traffic should keep right. Courtesy requires a humble attitude toward others. The Greek word praiotes conveys a sense of courtesy in modern English. The Greek word philophron translates directly to the English word courtesy and derives from philos meaning friend and phren meaning understanding. This term appears in the instruction to be courteous along with being of one mind and having compassion. A humble and God-fearing person will naturally be courteous. Esteeming others greater than oneself leads to courteous behavior. Living in accordance with God's laws results in courtesy. Saying please and thank you serves as a start toward proper conduct though it does not alone secure a place in God's Kingdom. Those who are impolite and rude will not enjoy their ultimate reward.

Good manners fall under the area of civility and represent practical applications of godly qualities such as gentleness, humility, concern, mercy and peace. These qualities produce calm, even, peaceable, quiet and orderly conduct in contrast to pride and anger which produce mind games, frustration and confusion. Gentleness acts to maintain peace and patience even in the midst of exasperating annoyances and associates with love, kindness, patience, meekness and humility. Christian etiquette has nothing to do with social status or wealth because with God there is no respect of persons. True Christianity proves gentle and pleasant and avoids the appearance of evil through a whole demeanor of kindness and tenderheartedness. Good conduct must prove accurate about all the saints so that perfect gentle courtesy becomes an important part of avoiding the appearances of evil. Christians must remain civil, polite and gentle in dealing with people even when persecuted. Good breeding means to inculcate by training good manners, refinement, polish, gentility, politeness, courtesy, grace, upbringing and rearing into children. It relates to appropriateness, respectability, modesty, decency and the customs and manners of a polite society. Politeness expresses the golden rule and without it life becomes an arid wasteland. Families in the church must avoid the habit of faultfinding because nothing proves more detrimental or inconsistent to true politeness than constant faultfinding concerning petty trifles. Parents must teach good manners so that children do not tend to become slobs, vulgar, disrespectful, unhelpful, uncooperative and unable to control themselves. A woman who fears the Lord qualifies as a lady and any person who truly fears the Lord qualifies as a gentleman or a lady. The home serves as the primary training and testing ground for gentleness, good manners, politeness and patience.