I first read C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity when I was a teenager. I distinctly remember finding the first two sections of the book relating to apologetics very interesting, but I quickly became bogged down in his following examination of Christian behavior and the doctrine of the Trinity. Recently, however, I have found this back half of the book much more enriching than before. In particular, I have been intrigued by Lewis’s use of the cardinal virtues: prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude.
Historically, Christians have believed that they should pursue seven virtues. Three are the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, taken from 1 Corinthians 13. These virtues are, “as a rule,” Lewis explains, known only by Christians.[1] Certainly, we have heard many sermons on these virtues and prayed for God’s sanctifying work to promote them in our lives. But they are not the only virtues we should pursue.
Lewis’s examination of Christian behavior begins with the four cardinal virtues, rather than the theological ones. He opens with these four because they are essential for true virtue. He explains that the name “cardinal” comes from a Latin word meaning the hinge of a door and are, as it were, “pivotal” to true morality.[2] Further, in service to his broader apologetic ends, “all civilized people” have recognized the cardinal virtues.[3] Thus they offer good common ground from which to build in our conversations with unbelievers.
Prudence
Lewis begins his discussion of the cardinal virtues with prudence, which he defines as “practical common sense,” or reason, or even wisdom.[4] While this virtue is essential, Lewis notes that modern society has largely ignored it. He lays the blame partly on bad theology in the Christian church.
Some well-meaning, pietistic Christians have misinterpreted Christ’s warning that we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven unless we embrace the humility of a child (Mt. 18:3) to mean that ignorance is a good thing. But Lewis will have none of it. First, he notes that children have plenty of prudence and think carefully through the things in which they are interested. Further, he reminds his readers that Christ also called us to be wise as serpents (Mt. 10:16). Thus, we should aim to cultivate the heart of a child and the mind of an adult.[5]
Lewis assures his readers that God will hold us accountable for how we have stewarded the intelligence He has bestowed upon us. For this reason, Lewis warns those who are considering becoming Christians that they are “embarking on something which is going to take the whole of [them], brains and all.”[6] Even though salvation comes by faith, he contends that faith cannot be divorced from reason.[7] This argument means that Christians must pursue reason and knowledge with diligence and vigor. To do otherwise would be sin.
Lewis warns that “God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than of any other slackers.”[8] Moreover, he contends, “anyone who is honestly trying to be a Christian” will find that “Christianity is an education in itself,” and their intelligence will be sharpened as they grow in Christ.[9] In part, this growth comes from the pursuit of morality. As we contend with temptation and our sinful desires, we “will [understand] more and more clearly the evil that is still left in [us].”[10] Thus sanctification is also a pursuit of knowledge.
The results of intellectual development, however, depend upon the gifting of God. Lewis assures us that God does not love people any less for having a “very second-rate brain.”[11] Rather, God expects us to use the mind He gave us to the best of our abilities without concern about how our gifts compare to those of others.
Lewis describes the virtue of prudence as giving direction to our engagement with the other virtues. As we survey the remaining virtues, we will see how each is dependent upon all the others.
Temperance
Temperance refers to our relationship to the world around us. Lewis describes this virtue as the ability to enjoy pleasures in precisely the right amount, “going the right length and no further.”[12] We might also think of this virtue as self-control. All men, Lewis notes, must practice temperance in one form or another to be “sane and civilized.”[13] Without practicing moderation, we are left in barbarism.
Unbalanced engagement with the world is also a form of idolatry. Lewis rightly warns that temperance applies to all human activities: “A man who makes his golf or his motor-bicycle the center of his life, or a woman who devotes all her thoughts to clothes or bridge or her dog, is being just as ‘intemperate’ as someone who gets drunk every evening.”[14] In his wonderful short spiritual journey modeled on the works of Dante and John Bunyan, The Great Divorce, Lewis highlights this point when he explores how the love of a mother for her child even can become an idol. This is an excellent word of caution from Lewis. We often ignore our imbalanced engagement with something that is clearly good.
Lewis admits that the results of specific sins may be more visible and socially destructive. When discussing chastity, he argues that intemperate sexual activity will, at the very least, produce myriad children out of wedlock. However, lest we be tempted to argue that some sins are more sinful than others simply because they are more visible, Lewis reminds us that “God is not deceived by externals.”[15] All intemperance is sin and harms us. Regardless of the sin, intemperance is misdirected love and, thus, a form of idolatry. Our love, a theological virtue, must be directed at God by prudence and temperance; only then will we rightly order the rest of our loves.
Justice
Lewis’s treatment of justice is abbreviated, focusing primarily on correcting a common misperception. He explains that the classical concept of justice embraces much more than simply criminality and state punishment. Justice also encompasses a whole range of sensibilities that he summarizes as “fairness.” In this sense, justice would include, among other things, the practice of telling the truth, keeping promises, compromising, being straightforward with others, and committing ourselves to the truth in our understanding of the world.[16] In this description, Lewis summarizes Aristotle’s thinking about justice.
Aristotle articulated two types of justice: universal and particular. In his discussion of Aristotle’s thinking on these matters, philosopher Ronald Nash explains that universal justice “is coextensive with the whole of righteousness, with the whole of virtue.”[17] In this sense, justice is behaving virtuously at all times. An intemperate man who will not bend to try to find common ground with an opponent is thus unjust in a universal sense.
Interestingly, Lewis also describes the man who fails to pursue the truth as unjust. This supposition may, at first, seem odd to us. How could it be a moral issue, if I choose to ignore a fact or overlook a truth because it is uncomfortable or unpopular? However, if we remember that all truth is God’s truth, which is the Logos (ordered, communicated thought of God) embedded in all creation, we must admit that we are unrighteous (unjust) when we deny or “suppress” the truth (Rom. 1:18 NASB).[18] Such unrighteousness leads to further injustice and social destruction, as Paul makes abundantly clear in the following verses of Romans 1.
Our interest in universal justice, however, should not preclude our concerns for particular justice. Nash explains that particular justice concerns people receiving their due.[19] Aristotle found that particular justice exists in three categories: commercial, remedial (criminal or civil laws and punishments), and distributive (the proper, but not necessarily equal, apportioning of some good or burden among specific people). Lewis notes that we must deal with one another truthfully and keep our promises.
These qualities are essential for just commercial dealings. Fairness in court and in the distribution of goods from a rightful owner are also important to Christians, and we should promote them both in our own lives and in our societies. However, we should note that prudence must direct our pursuit of justice, for balancing the claims, duties, and rights of adversaries is no easy matter.
Fortitude
In addressing fortitude, Lewis limits his discussion to describing the two forms it manifests. On one hand, fortitude is the courage to face dangers in spite of our fears—doing a courageous thing without allowing the regard for safety to keep us from the thing that needs doing. On the other hand, it includes the courage to remain committed under the pressure of pain and suffering.
Both types of fortitude are incorporated in God’s command to the Israelites to be strong and very courageous. As they prepared to enter Canaan, filled with real enemies who were dangerous, Moses commissioned Joshua as their next leader and exhorted them to be “strong and courageous” in the face of danger (Deut. 31:6–7). He counseled them not to fear the enemy because God would go with them. God reiterated these words of encouragement multiple times in Joshua 1, assuring His people they could face the challenges ahead through His might. Yet the victory would not be won over night; the Israelites would have to continue through fighting and suffering to take the land.
The repetition of these commands to be courageous highlight how difficult remaining true to the task before us can be when the path is strewn with dangers. Such fortitude requires us not to value our own safety intemperately in the face of more important goals. Prudence must instruct our wills to do what is the most just action in the situation, even if it is to our harm. For this reason, Lewis says that fortitude is required to pursue all the other virtues.
Virtuous Actions or Virtuous Men
Having given an overview of the cardinal virtues, Lewis turns to one last concern. He explains that we should not confuse performing virtuous actions with developing a virtuous character. Lewis carefully distinguishes between the particular instances of just or temperate action and the broader cultivation of our sensibilities. He argues that we are aiming to cultivate an ingrained attitude of virtue that results from the consistent practice of virtuous actions. In this way, we become prudent as we diligently seek prudence in specific situations over an extended time frame.
Lewis thinks this distinction is essential to grasp because God does not desire our simple adherence to a list of rules, nor is it preferrable to your spiritual development to act virtuously for the wrong reasons. It is useless for us to weigh the contents of our spice cabinets for tithing while we ignore the weightier matters of justice and mercy and faith. Instead, we are reshaping our sensibilities to adhere to the Logos of God embedded in creation so that we might enjoy Him forever.
If virtue were only for this life, Lewis argues, its cultivation might not be so important. But he sees our pursuit of these sensibilities as preparation for eternity in the presence of God.[20] We are slowly “turning the central part of ourselves, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before” so that over our lifetimes we are becoming “either . . . a heavenly creature or a hellish creature: either . . . a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself.”[21] Thus, as we learn to love prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude, we are learning to love God.
Conclusion
Perhaps, for some, this discussion of the cardinal virtues has seemed disconnected from a Christian understanding of the virtues to which we are accustomed. We hear many more sermons on faith, hope, and love, than we do of prudence or temperance, let alone justice or fortitude. However, hopefully, it has become clear how essential these virtues are to developing a healthy relationship with God, neighbor, world, and self. Lewis certainly thought so. For him, the Christian life could not be pursued without embracing the call to live in prudence, enjoy God’s creation with temperance, practice justice, and exhibit fortitude. These four should be magnified by the three theological virtues but must not be left behind.
[1] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillian, 1952), 74.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid., 75.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid., 122.
[8] Ibid., 75.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid., 87.
[11] Ibid., 75.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid., 93.
[14] Ibid., 76.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid., 76.
[17] Ronald H. Nash, Social Justice and the Christian Church (Milford, MI: Mott Media, 1983), 30.
[18] For analysis on the revelation of truth in creation and the importance of pursuing it, see Bradley G. Green, The Gospel and the Mind: Recovering and Reshaping the Intellectual Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010); Phillip T. Morgan, “The Kosmos and the Logos” Helwys Society Forum, October 31, 2018, http://www.helwyssocietyforum.com/the-kosmos-and-the-logos/; and Phillip T. Morgan, “O Be Careful Little Tongue What You Say: A Theology of Speaking Well” Helwys Society Forum, December 27, 2021, http://www.helwyssocietyforum.com/o-be-careful-little-tongue-what-you-say-a-theology-of-speaking-well/.
[19] Nash, 28–29.
[20] Lewis, 77–78.
[21] Ibid., 86.
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