Chapter 6

CHRISTIAN VIRTUES
Prof. Joel A. Reyes, J.D., Ph.D.
Chapter 6

CHRISTIAN VIRTUES
Prof. Joel A. Reyes, J.D., Ph.D.
Specific learning objectives

At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:

1. Locate the biblical foundations of virtues both in the Old Testament and in the New
Testament;
2. Understand and explain the meaning of virtues according to different perspectives;
3. Identify and discuss the four (4) cardinal virtues;
4. Identify and explain the three (3) theological virtues;
5. Distinguish cardinal virtues from theological virtues; and
6. Share personal reflection on the importance of virtues in Christian living; and
7. Discover other virtues that are connected to cardinal virtues and theological virtues.
 “What I do, I do not understand. For I do
not do what I want, but I do what I hate. Now
if I do what I do not want, I concur that the
law is good. So now it is no longer I who do it,
but sin dwell in me. For I know that good does
not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The will is
ready at hand, but doing the good is not. For I
do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I
do not want” (Romans 7:15-19).
This is what Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Romans emphasizing
that there may be times that we know what should be done, but still
could not do it. This means that we may know the commandments but
not the love of God for there are two opposing forces struggling within
us.
 The word virtue is derived from the Latin word
virtus which means “force”. It is a habit of good behavior
which enables us to do what is right with increasing ease,
joy, and consistency, in response to God’s offer of and
invitation to covenant love.
As Gregory of Nyssa says, “the aim of the virtuous
life is to become like God.” But placing virtues in Christian
life would give us a new concept of virtue being an
essential aspect of spiritual growth. It is a “power” in the
literal sense of the word. But when this power turned to
evil, it is called a vice.
Virtues in the Scriptures
There is no Hebrew term in the Old Testament until the OT
was translated to Greek (Septuagint) the word arête (virtue or
excellence) was used (e.g., Wisdom :1 and 5:13).
The term is also infrequently used in the New Testament.
Exegetes said that the reason for this is that the word was too
anthropocentric and stressed human achievement and merit.
However, we can find lists of virtues, in the New Testament,
that describe moral existence in the early years of the Christian
community (Galatians 5:22-33; Romans 1:29-321).
Different views of virtues
For Aristotle, virtue is intimately related to human
happiness or eudaemonia as the final end of humanity.
Thus, he defined virtue (arête) as a state of character
(hexis) concerned with choice, lying in a mean
intermediate between two extremes (vices).

Augustine of Hippo has defined virtue as a fixed

disposition of the soul, making connatural the response
to what is morally right, and the art of living slightly and
in a proper manner. While Augustine accepted the
cardinal virtues of the Greeks, viz., prudence, justice,
fortitude and temperance he gave pride of place to the
Christian virtues of faith, hope and charity.
Cardinal Virtues
Four virtues play a pivotal role and accordingly are called
“cardinal”; all the others are grouped around them. They are:
1. prudence,
2. justice,
3. fortitude, and
4. temperance.
“If anyone loves righteousness, (Wisdom's) labors are virtues; for
she teaches temperance and prudence, justice and courage.” (8:7)
Prudence
Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our
true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving
it; “the prudent man looks where he is going.” (Prov 14:15) “Keep sane and
sober for your prayers.” (Pt 4:7)
“Prudence is right reason in action,” writes St. Thomas Aquinas,
following Aristotle. It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with
duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the
virtues; it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence
that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man
determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With
the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without
error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.
(CCC, no. 1806)
Prudence
The virtue of prudence implies the following acts: wise
consultation, right judgment, and command.
This virtue has the following elements: memory, understanding or
intuition, docility, shrewdness, reason, foresight, circumspection, and
caution.
The virtues related to prudence are the following: the habit of
seeking right counsel, of judging the morality of an action according to
law or higher principles.
Justice
Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm
will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called
the “virtue of religion.”
Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each
and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes
equity with regard to persons and to the common good.
The just man, often mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures, is
distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of his
conduct toward his neighbor. “You shall not be partial to the poor or
defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge you neighbor.”
Justice
The different species of the virtue of justice are:
1. legal justice – that regards the observance of the law,
2. commutative justice – that regards relation among individuals or
group of individuals,
3. distributive justice – that regards honors and burdens in society, and
4. social justice – that regards establishment of a right social order.
Justice
The virtues connected with justice are:
1. piety,
2. reverence due to those who enjoy some dignity,
3. obedience,
4. gratitude,
5. affability,
6. friendship,
7. fidelity, and truthfulness.
Fortitude
Fortitude is a moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties
and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to
resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life.
The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of
death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to
renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause.
“The LORD is my strength and might.” (Ps 118:14)
In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Fortitude
The virtues related to the virtue of fortitude are:
magnanimity – by which the will is rendered prompt to undertake great
and arduous good works,
munificence – readiness to incur great expense in necessary external
works,
patience, longanimity – the disposition to bear patiently the hardships,
and
perseverance – the inclination to continue to do something even
though it is difficult.
Temperance
Temperance is a moral virtue that moderates the attraction of
pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures
the will's mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of
what is honorable.
The temperate person directs the sensitive appetites toward
what is good, and maintains a healthy discretion: “Do not follow your
inclination and strength, walking according to the desires of your heart.”
Temperance
The different species of the virtue of temperance are: abstinence,
sobriety, and chastity.
The virtues connected with chastity are: purity, continence, and
virginity.
The virtues connected with the virtue of temperance are:
modesty, humility, meekness, clemency, and studiousness.
Theological virtues
The three theological virtues of faith, hope and love dispose
Christians to live in relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have the
One and Triune God for their origin, motive, and object (CCC 1812).
In Christian life, virtue is linked directly with the action of the
Holy Spirit within us, including His gifts and fruits (CFC 979).
Theological virtues
Today, these theological virtues are integrated more dynamically
with life of grace, linking the Christians’ spiritual life with their moral
activities (CFC 983). The virtues of faith, hope and love (1 Cor 5:8;
13:13) are technically called the theological virtues (or more correctly
as the Greek Fathers say, theological virtues) because their object first
of all is the Triune God.
The term “theological” virtues can be misunderstood to mean
those virtues of which theology treats, i.e. all virtues; while
“theological” signifies only those virtues which have God as their direct
object and thus applies exclusively to faith, hope, and love.
Faith
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews launches into a detailed
description of faith, complete with reference to several dozen biographical
models (Hebrews 11:1-38). It briefly gives a definition: Faith is the
realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
Then, follows the description of faith by enumerating the records of
how the people of ancient times won God’s approval starting from the time
of Abel’s offering a better sacrifice than Cain’s, Enoch’s taking up to God
instead of dying, Noah’s building a boat, Abraham’s becoming a father of
many nations, Isaac’s promise of blessings for the future of Jacob and Esau –
then to Joseph, then Moses’ leaving Egypt by crossing the Red Sea, up to the
time of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephtha, David, Samuel, and the prophets.
Faith
According to Vatican II, “The obedience of faith must be given to
God as he reveals himself. By faith man freely commits his entire self to
God, making ‘the full submission of his intellect and will to God who
reveals,’ and willingly assenting to the Revelation given by him.
Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of
God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the
Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and makes it easy for all to accept and
believe the truth.” (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei
Verbum, no. 5)
Different Approaches of Faith
1. Faith as Conviction
The “illuminist” school (Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, et al.)
understands faith as an inner light or as the beginning of wisdom. Its primary
focus is on the personal relationship between the individual and God in a
contemplative union that could unwittingly encourage a spirit of indifference
to the needs of others.
The “body of doctrines” school, on the other hand, sees faith as a firm
assent of the mind to what the Church authoritatively teaches in the name of
God. It focuses believers’ attention so strongly on what there is to believe
that they tend to ignore the moral (social, political, economic as well as
personal and interpersonal) implications of accepting the Gospel in faith.
Different Approaches of Faith
2. Faith as Trust

This concept of faith is solidly biblical. It was also the emphasis of

Protestant Reformers. Everything is left in the hands of God, who will
save us in spite of our inequity. As sum, faith alone saves. It entails a
lack of real interest in social reform.
Different Approaches of Faith
3. Faith as Commitment
This is the so-called performative approach. It must be incarnate in
praxis (faith-in-action). Faith is a transforming acceptance of the Word, which
challenges us through the cries of the poor and oppressed. It is an active
engagement in the service of the Kingdom of God, “Those who do what is
true come to the light” (John 3:21).
The Gospel is the power of God revealing God’s justice and leading to
salvation (Rom 1:16-17). Faith works through love (Gal 5:6). Our faith
overcomes the world (1 Jn 5:4). In sum, faith in theological sense is a self-
surrender to God as he reveals Himself. It is thus only the acceptance or
response on the part of the human being who realizes that the initiative
rests with God.
Hope
The virtue of hope is rooted in faith. This virtue is sounded in Genesis
immediately after the Fall, when God does not at once execute the sentence of
death on Adam and Eve but settles them in exile, clothing them, and
withdrawing from them the blessing of fertility (Gen 3:20-24).
The New Testament proclaims that this Messiah is the Son of God, Jesus
Christ who suffered, died, and was buried, but the Church remains a permanent
witness through the ages that Jesus was raised from the dead.
Hope
Pope Benedict XVI, in Encyclical Letter
Spe Salvi (On Christian Hope) said,
“Let us say once again: we need the greater and lesser hopes
that keep us going day by day. But these are not enough without the
great hope, which must surpass everything else. This great hope can
only be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who can
bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain. The fact that it
comes to us as a gift is actually part of hope. God is the foundation of
hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has
loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety.” (no.
31). Through prayer, as the school of hope, the Pope said, we
become capable of the great hope, and thus we become
ministers of hope for others (no. 34).
Love
In Greek, there are four meanings of love.
Epithemia is the desire, with the connotation of lust. This is
sexual love.
Eros is the drive toward union with others which brings self-
fulfillment.
Philia is affectionate love such as that among brothers, sisters,
and friends.
Agape is total dedication and devotion to the welfare of the
other, regardless of sacrifice and personal cost.
Love
For St. John, love is rooted in the entire life, death, and
resurrection of Christ (John 3:16). Thus, for him, God is love (1 John 4:7-
21). For St. Paul, he identifies love as the greatest of the gifts of the
Spirit (1 Cor 13:13). The whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 actually
describes the features of love, which binds together all the other
virtues because without love, no virtues really count:
Love is patient, love is kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is
not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way, it is not
irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the
right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things. (1 Cor 13:4-7)
 “Love is patient” does not simply have to
do with “enduring all things” but rather to
the quality of one who does not act on
impulse and avoids giving offense.

This characteristics conforms to the nature

of God who is “slow to anger” (Ex 34:6;
Pope Francis, in his Num 14:18) for God’s patience is shown
Amoris Laetitia, a towards sinners. St. Paul always reminds us,
Post-Synodal “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and
Apostolic clamor and slander be put away from you,
Exhortation on Love with all malice” (Eph 4:31).
 “Love is kind” means it is ever ready to be
of assistance. It indicates that love benefits
and helps others. As St. Ignatius of Loyola
said, “Love is shown more by deeds than by
words.”

“Love is not jealous” means that love has

Pope Francis, in his no room for discomfiture at another
Amoris Laetitia, a person’s good fortune (Acts 7:9; 17:5). Envy
Post-Synodal is a form of sadness provoked by another’s
Apostolic prosperity. It shows that we are not
Exhortation on Love concerned for the happiness of others but
only with our own well-being.
 “Love is not boastful” indicates that love is
not arrogant. It means that we do not
become “puffed up” before others. Jesus
told his disciples that in a world where
power prevails, each tries to dominate the
other, but “it shall not be so among you. . .
whoever would be first among you must be
Pope Francis, in his your slave” (Mt 20:26). St. Peter also said,
Amoris Laetitia, a Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility
Post-Synodal towards one another, for God opposes the
Apostolic proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1
Exhortation on Love Pet 5:5).
 “Love is not rude” indicates that love is not
ill-mannered or harsh. Its actions, words
and gestures are pleasing and not abrasive
or rigid. To love is to be gentle and
thoughtful. Those who love are capable of
speaking words of comfort, strength,
consolation, and encouragement.
“Love is generous” means an act of serving
Pope Francis, in his others. Jesus said, You received without pay,
Amoris Laetitia, a give without pay (Mt 10:8). In the letter of
Post-Synodal St. Paul to the Philippians he said, Let each
Apostolic of you look not only to his own interests,
Exhortation on Love but also to the interests of others (2:4).
 “Love is not irritable or resentful”
means renunciation of a violent
reaction within, a hidden irritation
that sets us on edge where others
are concerned, as if they were
troublesome or threatening and thus
Pope Francis, in his to be avoided. If we must fight evil,
Amoris Laetitia, a so be it; but we must always say “no”
Post-Synodal to violence.
Apostolic
Exhortation on Love
 “Love does not rejoice at wrong” means
that love forgives. It takes no account of
evil. As Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for
they know not what they do (Lk 23:34).
Though, forgiving those who have offended
us is not easy but if we accept God’s
unconditional love we will become capable
of showing boundless love and forgiving
Pope Francis, in his others even if they have wronged us.
Amoris Laetitia, a “Love rejoices with others” means that we
Post-Synodal rejoice at the good of others when we see
Apostolic their dignity and value their abilities and
Exhortation on Love good works. This is why “it is more blessed
to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
 “Love bears all things”, as the countercultural
power of love that is able to face whatever
might threaten it, means holding one’s peace
about what may be wrong with another
person. It implies limiting judgment, checking
the impulse to issue a firm and ruthless
condemnation: “Judge not and you will not be
judged” (Jas 3:6).
Pope Francis, in his “Love believes all things” means that love
Amoris Laetitia, a trusts, it sets free, it does not try to control,
Post-Synodal possess and dominate everything. A family
Apostolic marked by loving trust, come what may, helps
Exhortation on Love its members to be themselves and
spontaneously to reject deceit, falsehood, and
lies.
 “Love hopes all things” means that love
does not despair of the future.

“Love endures all things” means that love

bears every trial with a positive attitude. It
stands firm in hostile surroundings. This
endurance involves not only the ability to
Pope Francis, in his tolerate certain aggravations, but
Amoris Laetitia, a something greater: a constant readiness to
Post-Synodal confront any challenge. It is love that
Apostolic never gives up even in the darkest hour.
Exhortation on Love
 Pope Benedict XVI, in his Encyclical Letter
Deus Caritatis Est (on Christian Love) points
to some profound underlying unity between
the eros and agape.

He contrasted the two notions as “ascending” love and

“descending” love, with similar classifications as between
possessive love (amor concupiscentiae) and oblative love (amor
benevolentiae). The descending, oblative love – agape – would
be typically Christian, while the ascending, possessive or
covetous love – eros – would be typical of non-Christian. For the
Pope, eros and agape – ascending love and descending love – can
never be completely separated.
 Pope Benedict XVI, in his Encyclical Letter
Deus Caritatis Est (on Christian Love) points
to some profound underlying unity between
the eros and agape.

The more the two, in their different aspects, find a proper unity
in their own reality of love, the more the true nature of love in
general is realized. The agape enters into the eros when it draws
near to the other, increasingly seeking the happiness of the other,
is concerned more and more with the beloved, bestows itself and
wants to “be there for” the other. He further said that man
cannot live by oblative, descending love alone. He cannot always
give, he must also receive (no. 7).
Cardinal Virtues Distinguished from Theological Virtues

Cardinal virtues are natural virtues for they can be acquired by

man through repetition of certain actions as normal habits or through
human achievements, while theological virtues are supernatural virtues
for they are infused by God as grace freely given to man.
Hence, the latter cannot be acquired through man’s constant
practice. Though, cardinal virtues can be acquired through the normal
habits, they can also be Christian virtues if and when they are
associated with love.
Cardinal Virtues Distinguished from Theological Virtues

Cardinal virtues are particular virtues for they affect specific

relationships, like prudence, fortitude and temperance with regard to
relationship with the self, or justice with regard to relationships with
neighbor and the society.
Theological virtues, on the other hand, are general virtues for
they affect the totality of relationships with the self, others, nature, and
God.
Finally, cardinal virtues are moral virtues for they involve
prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, while the other virtues
are theological virtues for they the faith, hope, and love.
 Conclusion
It can be said that living a moral life is not easy matter for it demands faithful
observance of moral norms which are not only complicated to understand
but also unbearable to practice perfectly. It takes not only the responsibility
“to know the right thing to do” but rather to really “do the right thing”
because it is the truth of life. Truth is not only to be understood as an idea or
concept but it is something to be done and lived to the full. In order to grasp
what is the truth of a moral life, one must therefore live a virtuous life so
that his aspiration for good works will become a reality with the light of God.
“But whoever lives according to the truth comes into the light so that it can
be clearly seen that his works have been done in God” (John 3:21). Hence,
we need all these virtues, cardinal and theological and all other virtues
attached to these, to perfectly observe the moral norms.