Growing in Virtue

Growing  In Virtue

Growing  In Virtue (GIV) is a pastoral course on Christian formation. Each of the seven teachings are divided into three sections. Section one introduces one of the seven classical virtues: faith, hope, love,  prudence, courage, temperance and justice.  Section two shows which of the  classical spiritual disciplines of abstinence or engagement help that virtue to  grow.  Section three is an assignment for the following   week, that will help the soul grow in that virtue.

There have been periods in history when the very word  “virtue” became equated with “personal reputation.”  During the late nineteenth  century this was certainly the case in upper class society. The characters in  novels, such as in Jane Austen’s writings, repeatedly speak of “my virtue.” Virtue for a man was his “manly strength.”  Virtue for a woman was her  “chastity.” Toward the end of the Victorian era, the use of virtue to describe  personal character became synonymous with hypocrisy. In certain social circles,  a posture of virtue was shown, but in private something different was  practiced. This is not to say that all Victorians had the classic “Upstairs / Downstairs” split popularized by the PBS mini-series.  However, by the  mid-twentieth century there was an aversion to the use of the word virtue  altogether.  Toward the end of the twentieth century there was a renewal in the  Christian meaning of virtue, thanks to the writings of men like William Bennett  and Josef Pieper.

Throughout the centuries the Church repeatedly returns to the seven classical virtues  as hallmark qualities of the character of Christ Jesus. These seven virtues are  traditionally divided into two groups: three theological virtues of faith, hope  and love, followed by four cardinal virtues of prudence, courage, temperance and  justice.  If we seek to be like Jesus, then His virtuous character must be  formed in us. The seven virtues are a starting place for understanding the  character qualities of Jesus. The Scriptures and the great teachers of  Christendom remind us there are many more virtues in addition to these seven. But, these seven repeatedly show themselves to be the foundation upon which all  the other virtues of the Christian faith rest.

I am  indebted to Josef Pieper for his writings on the virtues. Years ago, Anglican  scholar Dr. Robert Krouse recommended Pieper’s two books on the virtues Faith, Hope and Love and The Four Cardinal Virtues, just as I was  about to teach an undergraduate course on the Dynamics of the Spiritual Life for  the Christian Education Department at Wheaton College. I combined Pieper’s  writings with Dallas Willard’s The Spirit of the Disciplines and  discovered for myself how easy it is to grow in Christ if we expend just a  mustard seed's worth of faith. Most of the time that is all we have to offer, a  tiny portion of faith.  Growing In Virtue is the outgrowth of that class, as well as numerous weekend seminars and adult education courses on developing  the seven classical virtues by practicing spiritual disciplines.

Growing In Virtue (GIV) is designed to aid the Christian in becoming like  Jesus over the lifespan. The Scripture promises us “we shall be like him.” What a glorious promise!  Ironically, the acrostic for this program, GIV, is a wordplay on give. To give to God and to others with outwardly directed love and  concern for justice toward all are central features of the mature Christian  soul. Our inspiration for this promise of becoming like Him is found in

John  3:2-3:

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not  yet been made known.  But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him,  for we shall see Him as He is.  Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies  himself, just as He is pure.

We are to  collaborate with the Lord Himself as He graciously infuses us with His  righteousness. In collaborating with Him to grow in the virtues, we walk a fine  line between faith and works. On the one hand, we are truly saved by faith in Jesus Christ and His righteousness is a grace gift that is worked into our souls as we follow Him. On the other hand, the Scriptures clearly teach, “if faith is not accompanied by action, it is dead.” James 2:17

However, in choosing to become more virtuous we are not earning our salvation through our own efforts. Salvation is accomplished alone through the work of Christ on the  Cross and is a free gift given to any who will faithfully call upon His Name.

Our  collaboration with the Lord to encourage the growth of virtue in the soul is an  action of faith. I know of no better way to grow the soul in holiness than  through the use of the spiritual disciplines. The practice of the disciplines  of abstinence and engagement help the character of Christ to grow  in us one virtue at a time. There  are at least seven disciplines of abstinence: solitude, silence, fasting,  frugality, chastity, secrecy, and sacrifice.  And, there are at least eight  disciplines of engagement: study, worship, celebration, service, prayer,  fellowship, confession, and submission or holy responsiveness.  By selectively  choosing which disciplines to practice, we can also choose to grow in one of the  virtues. That is the modus operandi of Growing In Virtue. Each of the  teachings on the individual virtues ends with a section on Suggested  Spiritual Disciplines To Grow in This Virtue.