Courage

Is that quality of the mind that enables men to encounter difficulties and dangers. Natural courage is that which arises chiefly from constitution; moral or spiritual is that which is produced from principle, or a sense of duty. Courage and Fortitude are often used as synonymous, but they may be distinguished thus: fortitude is firmness of mind that supports pain; courage is active fortitude, that meets dangers, and attempts to repel them.

See FORTITUDE. Courage, says Addison, that grows from constitution, very often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; and when it is only a kind of instinct in the soul, it breaks out on all occasions, without judgment or discretion; but that courage which arises from a sense of duty, and from a fear of offending Him that made us, always acts in an uniform manner, and according to the dictates of right reason.

is that quality of the mind that enables men to encounter difficulties and dangers. Natural courage is that which arises chiefly from constitution; moral or spiritual is that which is produced from principle, or a sense of duty. Courage and fortitude are often used as synonymous, but they may be distinguished thus: fortitude is firmness of mind that supports pain; courage is active fortitude, that meets dangers, and attempts to repel them. SEE FORTITUDE. Courage, says Addison, that grows from constitution, very often forsakes a mall when he has occasion for it; and when it is only a kind of instinct in the soul, it breaks out on all occasions, without judgment or discretion; but that courage which arises from a sense of duty, and from a fear of offending Him that made us, always acts in a uniform manner, and according to the dictates of right reason.

Being Courageous

Deu_31:6-8; Jos_1:6-9; Jos_23:6; 1Ch_22:13; 2Ch_32:7-8; Psa_27:14; Psa_31:24.

COURAGE.—ἀνδρίζομαι, the Gr. equivalent for Heb. חָוַק and אָמַץ is not found in the Gospels, and, except in 1Co 16:13, not in the NT. The valour of the battlefield, so often commended in the OT, nowhere tomes into view. Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. It does not call for the prowess of the warrior. But there was no taint of cowardice in Jesus, and to be His disciple did not involve any slackening of moral fibre, or impairing of true manliness. He foresaw a situation bristling with menace to His followers, and courage was therefore a prime desideratum in His disciples, as it was an outstanding quality of His own nature. With unsparing hand He lifted the curtain of the future, and disclosed to all who would follow Him the hostility and peril which discipleship must involve (Mat 5:11; Mat 10:16-39; Mat 24:9 ff., Mar 13:9-13, Luk 21:12 ff., Joh 15:20; Joh 16:2). He who would follow Christ must not be faint-hearted or double-minded (Luk 9:62), he must be prepared to surrender many interests that were formerly dear to him, brace himself even to the renunciation of the closest earthly relationships, and, recognizing that the disciple is not greater than his Master, be ready to tread the same rough path, and bear the same cross. The demand for courage is all the more severe that it is not the courage of resisting, but of enduring wrong. The disciple of Jesus is called to meekness, to the patient endurance of suffering wrongfully inflicted, to the heroism of a calm and trustful heart. But the meek temper is not the sign of weakness. It is I restrained strength. It is the high courage of endurance, in the spirit and for the sake of Christ. It is of this sustained heroism that Jesus says, ‘In your patience (ὑπομονή, ‘patient endurance’) ye shall win your souls’ (Luk 21:19), ‘He that endureth to the end shall be saved’ (Mat 10:22; Mat 24:13); and those who, in spite of pain and persecution, confess Him before men, He declares He will confess before His Father and the holy angels (Luk 12:8, cf. Mat 10:32).

Of this high moral courage Jesus Himself is the supreme example. The emphasis which is so rightly laid upon His gentleness and compassion tends to obscure His strength and virility. But the remark in Act 4:13 ‘When they saw the boldness of Peter and John … they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus,’ is the record of the dominant impression made by Jesus, upon His enemies. The depth and warmth of His sympathy had not deluded them into the thought that He was deficient in courage. They bore witness to His fearlessness and fidelity to truth (Joh 7:26, Mat 22:16). His fearless exposure of hypocrisy (Mat 15:1-14, Mar 7:1-13, Mat 23:1-39 et al.), His disregard of, or opposition to, religious practices which had been invested with the sanctity of Divine law, and the performance of which was the hall-mark of righteousness (Mat 9:14; Mat 12:1; Mat 12:9, Mar 2:18-22; Mar 7:1, Luk 3:33; Luk 6:1-6), His defiance of social and religious caste in receiving sinners and eating with them were the moral utterances of a courageous righteousness and love (Mat 9:10, Luk 15:2). In circumstances of danger He is calm and self-possessed (Mat 8:26). He does not rush into danger, and more than once retires from scenes where His life is threatened (Luk 4:30, Joh 8:59; Joh 10:39). At those times He felt that His hour had not come. His courage was inspired by faith in God (Mat 8:26), and was controlled by obedience to the Divine will. When He knows that His hour has come, He presses to the cross with an eagerness which made those who saw Him afraid (Mar 10:32). But it is only as we enter into the consciousness of Jesus and see Him in His perfect purity of soul taking upon Him the sin of the world, that we feel the wonder of His heroism. We do not marvel that He shrank from the cup His Father gave Him to drink. We are amazed equally at the love and at the courage which bore Him through until He said, ‘It is finished’ (Joh 19:30). See, further, Fear.

Literature.—Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible , art. ‘Courage’; Aristotle, Ethics, iii. 6–9; Denney, Gospel Questions and Answers, p. 85 ff.

Joseph Muir.

By: Kaufmann Kohler, Adolf Guttmacher

That quality which enables one to encounter danger and difficulties with firmness, calmness, and intrepidity; Hebrew, ("Be of good courage," II Sam. x. 12), or ("Be strong and of a good courage," Deut. xxxi. 7, 23; Joshua i. 6).

Physical courage, the result of man's struggle against conditions that threaten his very existence, and which often develops boldness, fearlessness, and an utter disregard of physical pain, is extolled by the Hebrews as a valued possession (compare Judges viii. 21; Eccl. x. 17; I Kings xvi. 27; II Kings xviii. 20; Micah iii. 8). Often the victor was made a popular idol. "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands" (I Sam. xviii. 7), the women of Israel sang when David returned from a campaign against the Philistines. The angel of the Lord says to Gideon: "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor" (Judges vi. 12).

Biblical Examples of Courage.

The examples of courage found mentioned in the records of ancient Israel are numerous. The undaunted valor of Barak, of Gideon, and of Jephthah; the fearlessness of Samson, of Saul, and of David, are eloquent testimonies of physical courage. But the Bible sets more value upon moral courage, which is so prominent in the life-history ofthe Jew, and which goes far to explain the power of resistance that he has shown at all times against those who made plans for his destruction. This courage is fostered by confidence and trust in God. "Hope in the Lord, be strong, keep thy heart steadfast, yea, hope thou in the Lord" (Ps. xxvii. 14, Hebr.); "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isa. xl. 31); "Through God we shall do valiantly" (Ps. lx. 14; compare Num. xxiv. 18; Ps. xxxi. 25; Prov. iii. 23-26); "Fear thou not; for I am with thee. . . . I will strengthen thee" (Isa. xli. 10); "Yet now be strong O Zerubbabel . . . and be strong, O Joshua . . . and be strong, all ye people . . . for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts" (Hag. ii. 4; compare Zech. viii. 9, "Let your hands be strong, ye that hear").

In Post-Biblical Times.

In post-Biblical times the Jew displayed both physical and moral courage while standing for truth and right against a hostile world. He would face the obloquy of centuries to support a principle which, though unpopular, he believed to be true. "Strive for the truth unto death; and the Lord shall fight for thee" (Ecclus. [Sirach] iv. 28; compare ib. iv. 9, ii. 12; Baruch iii. 14). "In a place where there are no men, endeavor thou to be a man" (Ab. ii. 6b). Crushed to earth, defeated, driven from his native soil, pining in dungeons, made to furnish murderous sport for the wild beasts of the Colosseum and food for the flames of pyres and stakes, he still refused to surrender; struggling against terrible odds for national and political independence, for liberty of conscience, and for the rights of man.

The Martyrs.

Nothing stirred the Jew to resistance so much as interference with his religious belief and practises; for the abandonment of the Law was deemed the most heinous of crimes. Men had fought at all times for house and hearth; but to fight for one's religion was new. The plan of Antiochus Epiphanes to uproot the religion of Judea met with stubborn resistance. "God forbid," says Mattathias, the aged priest of Modin, "that we should forsake the law and the ordinances. We will not harken to the king's word to go from our religion, either on the right hand or the left" (I Macc. ii. 21, 22). Eleazar, one of the scribes, chose rather to die the glorious death of a martyr than to be faithless to his religion. "But when he [Eleazar] was ready to die . . . he groaned, and said, It is manifest unto the Lord . . . that . . . whereas I might have been delivered from death, I now endure sore pains in body . . . but in soul am well content to suffer. . . . And thus this man died, leaving his death for an example of a noble courage . . ." (II Macc. vi. 30, 31). Seven brothers, who were seized by the minions of Antiochus and scourged, to compel them publicly to abjure their faith by eating forbidden food, refuse to do so, and suffer the penalty of most cruel deaths. One of them voices the sentiment of all when he exclaims, "We are ready to die rather than to transgress the laws of our fathers" (ib. vii. 2; compare ib. xiv. 18). Though the seven were tortured in the presence of their mother, the awful sight did not weaken her resolution to endure a similar fate. "But the mother was marvelous above all, and worth of honorable memory: for when she saw her seven sons slain within the space of one day, she bore it with a good courage, because of the hope she had in the Lord" (ib. vii. 20). Even the king, and those who were with him to witness the torture of the seven brothers, marveled at their remarkable courage (ib. vii. 12; IV Macc. viii. 9).

Later, in the desperate life-struggle of the Jews against the trained legions of mighty Rome, which ended in the overthrow of the Jewish state and the loss of Jewish independence (70 C. E.), the heroism and self-sacrifice of the Jews were such as to elicit the admiration of all time. Josephus extols the courage of his fellow believers in facing death for the sake of the Law. "I do not mean such an easy death as happens in battles, but that which comes with bodily torments and seems to be the severest kind of death" ("Contra Ap." ii. 33).

Under Hadrian.

Later, under Hadrian (117-138), the Jews were goaded by edicts of violence and oppression into open revolt. With a desperate but ill-fated heroism the Jews under Bar Kokba made a last effort to regain their freedom. Rabbi Akiba, one of the ten martyrs, on the pyre praised his fate that it was now his good fortune to fulfil the Law: "Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy soul" (Deut. vi. 5); explaining that "with all thy soul" means "even by giving up one's life" (Ber. 61b).

Especially rich in deeds of martyrdom is the history of the Jews during the Middle Ages. Hated and despised, pelted and jeered at, burned and tortured, they nevertheless remained true to their ancestral faith. Moral cowardice was unknown to the Jew of the Middle Ages. During the reign of Richard I. Cœur de Lion the Jews of York were persecuted by their Christian townsmen, who were incited to rapine and robbery by the Crusaders. The Jews sought shelter in the castle, where they were besieged for several days. Spurning the thought of embracing Christianity in order to be free, the men, after slaying their wives and children to prevent them from falling into the hands of their enemies, killed themselves(1190). The expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492) furnishes a most glorious lesson of moral heroism among the Jews. Those who had risen to opulence and to positions of honor and trust in Spain willingly gave up all they had achieved rather than go to the baptismal font. The heroic efforts on the part of Gabriel Riesser and others (1815) in behalf of the emancipation of the Jews in Prussia; Johann Jacoby's protest against the edict of Frederick William III. curtailing certain privileges of the Jews; and the heroism of the Reform pioneers, one of whom, Abraham Kohn, rabbi of Hohenems, was poisoned (1848) because of his advocacy of reforms within Judaism, give sufficient proof of the moral courage of the Jews in modern times. The persecutions within the last twenty years of Hebrews in Russia and Rumania have given rise to many exhibitions of courage in the Jew, who has left the land that cradled him and has become a friendless wanderer rather than forsake what he believes to be the highest truth. Theheroism of Dreyfus, the French captain, has thrilled the whole civilized world.

COURAGE.—In Dan 11:25 ‘courage’ is the rendering of the Heb. word for ‘heart’; in Amo 2:16 ‘courageous’ is literally ‘stoutest of heart.’ Elsewhere in the OT the root-ideas of the words generally used are ‘to be firm’ (’âmçts) and ‘to be strong’ (châzaq). Courage, being a quality of mind, has manifold manifestations, as, e.g. in the sufferer’s endurance, the reformer’s boldness, and the saint’s ‘wrestling’ (Eph 6:12), as well as in the soldier’s valour. Professor Sorley says that moral courage is ‘the control of the fear of social evils (disgrace or ridicule from those who determine the opinion of the community), whereas the ordinary application of courage is to the fear of physical evils’ (Baldwin, Dict. of Philosophy, i. 239).

In the NT the Gr. noun for ‘courage’ is found only in Act 28:15. The corresponding verb is rendered uniformly in the RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘be of good cheer’; but a later form of the same verb occurs six times, and is tr. [Note: translate or translation.] in RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘be of good courage.’ The comparative rarity of the word ‘courage’ implies no disparagement of the virtue, for exhortations to ‘be strong,’ and to ‘fear not’ are frequent. T. H. Green, comparing Greek and Christian ideals of virtue (Prolegomena to Ethics, p. 277 ff.), shows how greatly the conception of moral heroism has been widened. Courage or fortitude is defined as ‘the will to endure even unto death for a worthy end’; therefore the Christian may be courageous ‘in obscure labours of love as well as in the splendid heroism at which a world might wonder.’

J. G. Tasker.

One of the passions of the appetite, irascible, as it is called, which not only desires but strives for its object and endures trial of strength to attain it; it is also the cardinal virtue of fortitude.

kur´ā̇j: Hebrew ḥāzaḳ, “to show oneself strong” (Num 13:20; 2Sa 10:12; 1Ch 19:13; 2Ch 15:8; Ezr 10:4; Psa 27:14; Psa 31:24; Isa 41:6); rū^aḥ, “spirit,” “animus” (Jos 2:11 the King James Version); ’āmac, “to be alert” (physically and mentally), “to be agile,” “quick,” “energetic” (Deu 31:6, Deu 31:7, Deu 31:23; Jos 1:6, Jos 1:9, Jos 1:18; Jos 10:25; 1Ch 22:13; 1Ch 28:20); lēbhābh, “the heart,” and figuratively, “person,” “spirit” (Dan 11:25); Greek thársos, “cheer” (Act 28:15). A virtue highly esteemed among all nations, one of the four chief “natural” (cardinal) virtues (The Wisdom of Solomon 8:7), while cowardice ranks as one of the mortal sins (Ecclesiasticus 2:12, 13; Rev 21:8).

One characteristic of the person who has a strong faith in God is courage in the midst of danger. There are, however, different kinds of dangers and different kinds of courage.

Courage may be obvious where a person is brave or heroic in circumstances of physical danger on every side, such as in war or natural disasters (1Sa 14:6-15; 2Sa 23:13-19; Act 27:24-26; 2Co 12:25-26). It is obvious also in cases where, by speaking or acting in a certain way, a person knowingly faces consequences where physical suffering is a clear possibility (Num 13:30-32; Dan 3:16-18; Mar 6:17-18; Joh 2:13-17; Act 4:13; Act 5:27-30). But greater courage may be necessary in cases where there is no immediate physical danger, but other pressures make it difficult to stand for what is right against a majority who want to do wrong (Pro 28:1; Luk 14:1-6; Joh 7:50-52; cf. Luk 22:54-62; Gal 2:11-14; see FEAR).

The courage of believers comes through their faith in God (Deu 3:22; 1Sa 17:45-46; Psa 56:3-4; 1Co 16:13) and is maintained through prayer (Psa 27:14; Act 4:29; Eph 6:18-19). But it still involves effort, since it requires people to set out deliberately to do what they know will be dangerous (Mar 15:43). Such courage is an example to others, urging them to greater confidence and increased boldness (Php 1:12-14). Like the biblical expression ‘Be of good courage’, it is a way of giving encouragement to those who need it (Jos 1:6-7; Jos 1:9; 2Sa 10:12; see ENCOURAGEMENT).