COURAGE (אָמֵץ, H599, to be stout, strong, bold, brave; חָזַק, H2616, to be or make firm, to strengthen; θάρσος, G2511, courage, confidence, cf. Acts 28:15; ἀνδρίζομαι, G437, to show oneself a man, to be brave, cf. 1 Cor 16:13).

Courage generally is acknowledged to be a human virtue. It is one of the four fundamental virtues discriminated by the Greeks and one of the seven catalogued by the Christian moralists of the Middle Ages.

Because courage is a virtue, a proper understanding of it involves some understanding of virtue in general. Virtues are basically “strengths” or “potencies.” As such they enable human beings to do something well. This is not the same as saying that they enable one to do something good, although in fact they are thus enabling. As strengths or capabilities virtues are primarily means; they have instrumental value. Having this value, they may be said to be in some sense good. But virtues existing separately or merely in the aggregate, and not adjusted to each other within an overarching unity, do not as such constitute a man good. Separate virtues, such as thrift or loyalty, can be made serviceable to evil ends as well as good, and the same holds true of courage. Admirable because it is a necessary ingredient of the good life (but also of the bad; one cannot do great harm without some courage), courage, or any other “strength,” is a virtue in the deepest and truest sense only as it is expressive of a good will and as it is incorporated in a life integrated through attachment to authentic values.

Like all settled virtues, courage is a quality of being, a trait of selfhood, an ingredient of character. It arises out of and is a quality of what Plato called the “spirited” part of the human organism (cf. רוּחַ, H8120, spirit, Josh 2:11). Because to some degree it emerges naturally and instinctively out of this, traces of it can be found in all men, even the most timorous. Considered in its more perfected state, however, courage is a moral attainment, an excellence achieved through the exercise of will. As such it can be, and in the Bible is, commanded and enjoined (Deut 31:6, 7, 23; 1 Cor 16:13).

What calls forth courage, and sometimes also evokes its opposite, cowardice, are the physical, social, and spiritual threats, dangers, and pains which are a constant feature of the broken and hostile world we live in. In this present age man is beset on every hand by evil forces let loose in the world by sin. The question is: how shall a man, how shall a Christian, relate himself to these? Will he be deterred by them, will he flee them, will he without taking thought flail out at them, or will he stand up to them by the exercise of a will made firm through the power of a compelling and governing ideal? That is, will he be fearfully immobilized by the dangers of existence, will he flee from them in terror, will he with an almost animal instinct rush headlong against them, or will he face and meet them with steeled endurance and with resolute action? If he does the latter he will be acting courageously. The courageous man reacts to pain and danger not with indecision, cowardice, or rashness, but with spirit, strength, and firmness. Courage may, accordingly, be defined as strength of purpose and steadfastness of will in the presence of life’s threats and tribulations.

Although courage retains its essential nature regardless of the type of danger or pain with which it is confronted, it is possible to distinguish various modes of courage. These modes are differentiated by the different kinds of objects or situations which threaten or affright and by the different levels of value for the sake of which the risk of danger or pain is run. Physical courage, or valor, though seldom called for in civilized suburbia, is requisite in battle; there is no place in war for the coward or the fainthearted (cf. לֵבָב, H4222, heart, Dan 11:25; Amos 2:16). Physical courage, essential to the successful prosecution of the Israelitish wars, is highly acclaimed and often enjoined in the OT (Deut 31:6, 7, 23; Josh 1:6, 7, 9, 18; 10:25; 2 Sam 10:12; 1 Chron 19:13), but it is significant that this courage is always made to rest upon the promises and presence of Jehovah.

More important than physical courage, although it may involve this, is moral courage. The courage of endurance, akin to patience, is the will to bear manfully the pains and frustrations of life, and is frequently enjoined in the Bible (Ps 27:14; 31:24). The courage to venture forth, akin to faith, is the mark of the saints celebrated in Hebrews 11. So likewise is moral steadfastness and religious fidelity, the courage to stand up for truth and justice, and, esp. for the Lord and His kingdom (Josh 23:6; 1 Chron 22:13; 2 Chron 19:11; 1 Cor 16:13).

For the Christian, courage of every sort is possible in the measure that he knows himself to be in the almighty hands and under the beneficent protection of his heavenly Father.