Humility and Boldness: Complimentary Christian Virtues

In this article I will consider the relationship between the character traits of humility and boldness in terms of Christian virtue ethics. It is a common view that humility and boldness are opposing character traits that are incompatible with one another. I will argue here that humility and boldness are indeed compatible with one another despite this commonly received view.

I will first consider the character trait of humility. It is unquestionably true that humility is a proper Christian virtue for a number of reasons. The first reason is our ontological dependence upon God the Father as creator of the universe and creator of us ourselves as individuals. Second, in our humility of spirit we yield sovereignty of our own lives to God the Father and to Christ as our Lord and Savior. Third, a spirit of humility is crucial in developing a Christlike nature as we emulate the selflessness of Jesus as he died and rose again for the forgiveness of the sins of the world. The list of reasons could go on, of course, but the point is somewhat incontrovertible that a spirit of humility is a crucial part of one's proper development as a follower of Jesus.

The character trait of boldness is less obviously a proper Christian virtue. Boldness of spirit is often taken to be associated with negative character traits such as arrogance and selfishness. However I advocate the view that a boldness of spirit is equally as important to being a Christian as humility of spirit. Choosing to be a follower of Jesus Christ requires various actions of boldness without which it would be impossible to be a genuine follower of Christ as opposed to someone who is nominally a Christian but who demonstrates none of the fruit of the spirit characteristic of a new life in Christ.