You Are Capable of Being Virtuous
Even if you don't feel like it
One of my working theories about contemporary culture is that we are deeply inhibited. Obviously when you make a sweeping claim like that there are a million exceptions, but I think it’s true for a lot of people. I think a lot of people feel frozen, stuck, afraid to act on their God-given agency in a world that seems increasingly hostile, uncertain, and accelerating. And so they fold in on themselves. To cope, they distract themselves, they get therapy to treat the inhibition (which is not a bad thing), they take medication, they work long hours, or they avoid working, and so on. But the point is, they seize up in some area of life. They develop a belief that they lack the agency to act in their own lives in meaningful ways (we could talk here about the way the State, Big Tech, and technique have robbed us of our sense of agency, but now is not the time). And one area where I think this is true is our ability to turn from sin and act virtuously, even as Christians.
I think that many Christians believe that prudence, justice, courage (or fortitude), temperance, faith, hope, and love are for the most part virtues beyond their ability to obtain. Particularly in the case of the cardinal virtues (the first four). Prudence (practical wisdom) is not cherished or cultivated. Justice is too complicated to figure out these days. Courage is for the especially brave, not the average person. And temperance is just too hard in an age of manufactured addictions (sports gambling, pornography, smartphones, social media). The virtuous person can easily be viewed as either an unusual kind of person, a kind of super-Christian, or a phony just waiting to be revealed as a hypocrite. The reality is that all virtuous people are sinners. But not all of them are also harboring some terrible, scandalous affair. And more importantly, all it means to be a “virtuous person” is to strive by God’s grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit to live as you were created to live, in a manner worthy of the Gospel (Philippians 1:27), to glorify and enjoy God forever. The virtues are concrete practices that are in line with that created order. And you can practice them because God endowed you with the intellect and ability to act virtuously and (more importantly) because you are a New Creation!
In Augustine’s City of God in writes about God’s creation of humanity and how he endowed us with the cognitive abilities to live virtuous lives:
It is God Who has given the human soul a mind. In the infant, reason and intelligence are in a certain sense dormant, and it is as if they were not present at all. But they are soon to be awakened and exercised as the years pass; and in this way the individual becomes capable of knowledge and learning, able to perceive the true and love the good. This capacity enables the mind to drink in wisdom and to achieve those virtues of prudence, fortitude, temperance and justice by which a man is equipped to resist errors and the other vices implanted in him, and to conquer them by fixing his desires upon nothing but the Supreme and Immutable Good.
….we have this capacity to live well and to achieve immortal happiness by means of those arts which are called virtues, which are given only by the grace of God, which is in Christ, to the children of promise and of the kingdom” (1161 XXII Chapter 24).
Augustine argues that humans are given this powerful capacity for knowledge and learning which can enable us to “drink in wisdom” and achieve virtues which equip us to resist sins and fix our gaze on the Supreme and Immutable Good, by which he means God. By itself, however, this paragraph gives the impression that all humans have access to these virtues thanks to the power of reason and the intellect. But that is not quite what Augustine means. What he means is that God uses the gift of the intellect and reason to develop these virtues. But by themselves, they are not enough.
To get the full picture, we need to move to the next paragraph, where he says that we have this capacity “to live well” (shout out to my book?) through the virtues which are only given by the grace of God to the Children of promise. And this is a point he makes elsewhere in the City of God. That virtues that are merely humanistic virtues are not true virtues.
What does he mean by this? The Scriptures give us plenty of explanation. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Christians are called “new creations.” In Ephesians 4:22-24 Paul calls us to put off the “old self” with its sin and put on a “new self” with holiness. And in Romans 6:17 Paul describes how the Roman Christians were slaves to sin but are now free to obey from the heart. This is our reality. When we believe in Christ, repenting of our sins, and surrendering our lives to him in baptism, we do not just continue to be enslaved to sin. We are changed. We are given new agency. We have the choice not to sin, not to live in vice. We have the ability to be virtuous. Not of our own ability, but because of the grace of God and the work of Christ.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” That’s how I think about living a virtuous life. Now that I am a New Creation, I am called to put on a new self each day, to walk in the good works that God has prepared beforehand. They aren’t my works of virtue. They are his workmanship. But they are still steps that I must choose to make each day. I need to think about how to walk justly and think prudently and love my neighbor and live temperately and be courageous through suffering. These practices aren’t easy, but I can do them through Christ who strengthens me. And besides, the works were already established beforehand! All I’m doing is walking in them!
Yes, turning from sin and choosing to live rightly is difficult. The world will always call for you to give up, to rest your weary hands and surrender to your fears of being insufficient or inadequate or a failure. But here’s the thing. You’re not. Because your righteousness is in Christ. Not your good works. So your task is to just faithfully walk in the good works that God has prepared beforehand out of love and joy and gratitude. You can live a virtuous life. And what a blessing that will be to other people. Yes, you will sin and make mistakes, but you can keep moving and striving in grace and gratitude for God’s glory. And what you will discover is that you are moving. And God is glorified. And people are blessed. Don’t be afraid to try.
If all this talk of virtues interests you, please preorder my new book, To Live Well: Practical Wisdom for Moving Through Chaotic Times! Also, apparently Barnes and Noble is selling it now. So if you want a copy now, try them!