What is the Most Important Virtue?

 What is the Most Important Virtue?

Most people may suggest 'love'. But love could easily be misunderstood. Love alone may lead to abuse and spoiled 'kids'. As Paul defines love in 1 Cor 13 "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth." We see love includes truth, no evil, etc. 

Some will suggest "wisdom'. But wisdom is too abstract to be useful. It is the content of wisdom that will help us. What are the wise words for us to know? The Bible has many verses about wisdom. The foundational verse is Pro 9:10a The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; It is repeated in Pro 1:7,3:7,15:3; Ps 111:10, Job 28:28b; Ecc 12:13, etc.

Knowing that we seek and obey God's teaching. Which is:

• The Seeking & Following.
  "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." - Matthew 6:33 (ESV) - 
• The Outcome of Doing:
  "Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God." Philippians 1:11 - 
• The Blessing:
  Proverbs 21:21: "Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor."
• Deliverance:
  Psa_34:19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

The first is to seek Righteousness.

What is Righteousness?

It is a state of being in the right relationship with God and others. Includes Loving God & Others like Self. If you take this definition, righteousness is about relationships and the objective of a relationship is about harmony. It is harmony between God and men and men to men. This harmony is achieved when we all pursue righteousness.

The following are keys to understanding righteousness.

• #1 The objective is harmony; so this is the highest value.
  • “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). two aspects of being righteous: doing the right thing (being blameless) and having a relationship with God (walking with God).
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• #2 Living in accordance with God's moral standards,

• Confucius says "道不同不可与相为谋”

  People with differing values cannot work together.

• #3 It involves both faith and obedience --- Trusting God enough to follow His values.

  • Trust is the foundation of a relationship
  • Neh_9:8b And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.
• #4 Seeking justice

  • "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love  mercy and to walk humbly with your God." - Micah 6:8 (NIV)

  • Deu_16:19  You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.

• #5 Having wisdom
  • judging needs wisdom to know right or wrong, truth or lies
  • Psa_37:30  The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.
• #6 Kindness
  • Mat_25:37  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
• #7 being justified through faith in Jesus Christ.---Justification is needed when a relationship is broken
  • "The righteous will live by faith." - Romans 1:17 (NIV)
  • Rom 3:22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

Among the seven keys shown above, the key value for a lasting relationship is Justice - fairness. Whatever we do, we must ask, that it is fair to all. Fairness is not necessarily equal to equality. Fairness must compensate for the differences in people. Some people are tall, and some are short. Those who are short should be given stools to stand on so that they can reach the height of tall and get the same view of the football match. It is about getting all the people's needs satisfied.

We can learn much about the virtues from Sinology.

国学

Sinology

• 鬼谷子《谋》圣人之制道, 在隐与匿. 非独忠、信、仁、义也, 中正而已矣’”.

  Guiguzi's "Stratagem" says, "The sage's governance lies in concealment and secrecy. It is not only about loyalty, trust, benevolence, and righteousness; it is centered on being fair and just/upright alone."

  • 陈蒲清翻译：圣人制定谋略, 表现在隐密. ’不在于表面讲忠、信、仁、义, 只要内心中正就可以了”.

    Chen Puqing's translation: "The sage formulates strategies, manifesting in secrecy. 'It is not merely about outward expressions of loyalty, trust, benevolence, and righteousness; as long as the inner self is upright, it suffices.'"

• 《易乾文言》曰“义者，利之和也”
  • Book of Change - Confucius said righteousness is the harmony of benefits
• 孟子四端： “恻隐之心，仁之端也；羞恶之心，义之端也；辞让之心，礼之端也；是非之心，智之端也。”

  Mencius' Four Virtues: "The heart of compassion is the essence of benevolence; the heart of shame and dislike is the essence of righteousness; the heart of courtesy and modesty is the essence of propriety; the heart of right and wrong is the essence of wisdom."

• 五德配五行，其中仁配木，礼配火，信配土，义配金，智配水

  "The Five Virtues match the Five Elements, with benevolence corresponding to wood, propriety to fire, trustworthiness to earth, righteousness to metal, and wisdom to water.

  • 义是我拿刀杀羊代罪！

    righteousness is using a knife to kill a lamb as a sacrifice for my sins

    • righteousness 义 meaning.png

The Chinese word for Righteousness is 义, and the complex form is 義 which has a lamb covering me, showing the subtitutional death of Christ the lamb for us. The ancient pictorial form is even more meaningful as shown below:

It is about a man carrying a weapon(together they stand for the word 我 me) to kill and sacrifice a lamb to cover our sin or to justify us!

In summary, the most important value is righteousness, which is to achieve harmony among different subjects (God and man, man and man) based on justice. But because man could not keep his side of the relationship since he committed sin, Jesus came as the sacrificial lamb to pay the price to justify men and to restore the relationship between God and men. To have good relationships, when making decisions and plans, please aim for fairness for all from their perspectives (not what we think is good for them). That is just right. That is righteousness.

Lim Liat (c) 15-11-23