What is Courage?
The two most powerful motivators of human action are love and fear. Love motivates us to pursue things that we find desirable, while fear motivates us to withdraw from things we consider to be dangerous in some way. There is nothing wrong with fear per se. Without the powerful emotion of fear to motivate us, we would fail to avoid many dangerous and harmful situations. Fear is thus a very important emotion that helps us to avoid much pointless suffering and death.
But what happens when fear motivates us to act in a way that conflicts with our moral obligations? Sometimes, the demands of justice require that we put ourselves in harm’s way in order to come to someone else’s aid. Sometimes, acting with integrity and honesty will cause us to face dire social, economic, and political consequences at the hands of others. Sometimes, showing love and compassion to others requires us to step far outside our comfort zone and enter situations that can make us fearful.
If we want to act morally in these cases, we need to be able to overcome our fear and to do the right thing, in spite of the difficult circumstances. For this, we need the virtue of courage (or fortitude). This is the character trait that enables us to act ethically in spite of whatever adversity we face.
Courage is inextricably interconnected with the other virtues. If we have the desire to establish justice, but lack the courage to do what needs to be done to establish it, then our justice is meaningless. If we have the wisdom to know how we should go about doing something, but lack the courage to actually do it, then our wisdom is meaningless.
Christian Courage
“Believe in yourself.” “You can do anything you set your mind to.” “Believe it and you can achieve it.” These are the kind of motivational statements our society frequently uses to try to encourage people to overcome adversity. The idea underlying these statements is that appealing to self-reliance will give people the strength and courage they need to do what needs to be done.
The problem is, these statements are simply not true. It is simply not true that if we believe in ourselves, we can overcome all adversity. The fact is, people often encounter situations in which adversity overwhelms them and there is nothing they can do about it by their own power.
Christian courage, though, has a completely different origin. It is not based on self-confidence or self-reliance. Instead, it is based on who God is.
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Josh 1:9). Such was God’s command to Joshua as he was about to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land and fight against several nations greater and stronger than they were (Deut 4:38, 9:1). The basis for Joshua’s courage was not his own strength and capabilities or the strength and capabilities of the Israelites. The sole basis for Joshua’s courage was the knowledge that God was with them and would help them with whatever adversity they would face.
Repeatedly, over the course of God’s covenant relationship with His people Israel, He taught them to rely not on themselves, but on Him. The same is true for Christians in the New Testament period. We have no reason to be afraid, not because of our own strength or power, but because we know that God is with us wherever we go. Whatever we face, we know that God is on our side, and that we are safely in the hands of our loving Heavenly Father. Knowing this, Christians should always be courageous, even as we live in the midst of a dangerous and frightening world.
Courage and Violence
The world primarily associates courage with violence. It looks to soldiers and other agents of state-sponsored violence as its primary role models for courage. It is those who put themselves in harm’s way as they attempt to kill evildoers who are, in the eyes of the world, the greatest examples of virtue.
To a large extent, this was also true for God’s people during the Old Testament period of salvation history. However, for Christians today, things are different. Killing evildoers is incompatible with the demands of Christian discipleship. Instead, Christians must love their enemies (Matt 5:43-48).
This means that Christian courage is often expressed in a very different way than the world’s courage. The ultimate examples of courage for Christians are not soldiers but martyrs. Martyrs are those who were willing to suffer and die rather than to deny Christ, and who died loving their enemies. When Christians find themselves in violent situations, they express courage, not by responding with violence of their own, but by steadfastly refusing to use violence, even when using violence could eliminate a threat. After all, what truly requires more courage: killing our enemies because we are afraid of them, or showing love to our enemies, even though it might mean we will have to suffer and die?
“In the world you will have tribulation,” Jesus told His disciples, “But take courage; I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33). Being faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ often means that Christans will experience violent persecution, not to mention slander, ridicule, rejection, prejudice, discrimination, and other sources of suffering. But Christians know that through Jesus God has already won the victory over all the powers of evil in the world, that they have the certain hope of eternal life, and that, whatever happens, God is ultimately in control. For this reason, they have every reason to be steadfast and courageous, no matter what difficulties they encounter as a consequence of following Jesus.