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The Ancient Path of Moral Excellence (The Four Cardinal Virtues)

Long before Jesus came, people were already asking what it meant to live well. The ancient philosophers said that a good life isn’t just about rules or avoiding bad behavior. It’s about becoming the kind of person who naturally chooses what is good. They spoke of four key habits—prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance—that together form what they called the “cardinal virtues,” the path of moral excellence.

Centuries later, Christian theologians saw that this ancient insight lined up beautifully with the life of Jesus. He didn’t just teach the right way—He lived it perfectly. Jesus saw the truth clearly (prudence), lived for the good of others (justice), endured suffering for the sake of love (fortitude), and remained total self-control and peace (temperance). The virtues, then, aren’t a rival to Jesus’ way—they describe His character and show what His Spirit forms in us as we follow Him.

Josef Pieper, a twentieth-century Christian philosopher, brought this old wisdom to life again in his short book The Four Cardinal Virtues. He called it “the wisdom of the ancients” that had “inexhaustible contemporaneity,” a perpetual relevance (xii). Let’s walk the path together.

Continue reading “The Ancient Path of Moral Excellence (The Four Cardinal Virtues)”

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From Cicero to Ambrose: The Call to Serve the Common Good

Saint Ambrose of Milan (340–397) was a military governor turned Christian bishop. Concerned about the conduct of his priests, he wrote On the Duties of the Clergy to encourage them to live virtuously. In doing so, he borrowed the structure, many arguments, and even illustrations from Cicero’s On Duties (read about it here).

Cicero and Ambrose build their works in the same way: they begin with excellent character, then discuss what is useful, and finally ask what happens when the two collide. Their conclusion is simple—usefulness without character is worthless.

Both drive the point home with memorable words. Ambrose says, “Let not, therefore, expediency get the better of virtue, but virtue of expediency” (3.6.37). Cicero echoes the same truth: “When men detach the useful from the honourable, they undermine the very foundations of nature” (On Obligations, 119). In other words, being the best human you can be is the most important thing.

And what does this look like in practice?

Pursuing Justice
Both authors insist that virtue must be active. A virtuous person does not retreat into seclusion but seeks justice for the community. Ambrose says, “We must think it a far more noble thing to labour for our country than to pass a quiet life at ease” (3.3.23). Cicero agrees: “”you should embark on activities which are of course important and highly useful, but are in addition extremely taxing, full of toils and dangers which threaten both life and the many strands that compose it” (24). Virtue acts; it does not hide. Continue reading “From Cicero to Ambrose: The Call to Serve the Common Good”

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Cicero: Clear Your Head So You Can Serve the Community

We do not exist for ourselves. We are made to serve the community. This service is not always easy, and it is not always appreciated. Yet we must be willing to bear hardships and toil for the sake of others. As Cicero put it, “justice is the single virtue which is mistress and queen of all virtues” (On Obligations, 93). He lays out this vision in his book On Obligations or On Duties.

The key to understanding our obligations is realizing that we are not isolated individuals. We are created for community and for service:

I have often made the point earlier, but it must be repeated again and again: there is a bond of fellowship which in its widest sense exists between all members of the entire human race, an inner link between those of the same nation, and a still closer connection between those of the same state (107).

We are made for one another. Our destiny is not private. It is to use our resources in service of those around us. As Cicero says, the interest of the individual is bound up with the interest of the community. Continue reading “Cicero: Clear Your Head So You Can Serve the Community”

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Living in Fellowship with the Triune God

[Editor’s Note: Read a shorter version of this post here]

“Now, I’m really living!” Have you ever said that? What made you think you were really living? For me, I often said it while traveling—to Egypt, to Spain, or to Mexico.

Jesus also had a sense of what “really living” is. He called it eternal life: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). According to Jesus, real life is life in communion with the Father and the Son. From other passages, we know this life comes through the Holy Spirit as well.

This is the life we were created for but turned from in the fall. It is the life Jesus came to restore (John 3:16). We receive it by believing in Him. Once we do, we are to think of ourselves as really living but unto God: “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11).

A Life in Communion with the Triune God
This is life lived in communion with Jesus. John Mark Comer, in his book on discipleship, notes that following Jesus was fundamentally about being with Him.

Jesus said that communion would continue even after His ascension: “Abide in Me” (John 15). Comer paraphrases: “Make your home in my presence by the Spirit, and never leave” (37). He explains, “Goal #1 of apprenticeship to Jesus is to live in that moment-by-moment flow of love within the Trinity” (ibid.).

This is eternal life: living in communion with the Triune God. But how do we actually do this?

A Baseline for Communion with the Triune God
The key is to keep the Triune God at the forefront of our hearts and minds—to live in His presence. We cannot focus on many things at once, but when our minds wander, there is no better resting place than the Triune God.

One practice that has helped me is making the Apostle’s Creed part of my daily rhythm (see the appendix below to read the whole creed). It brings me back to the Triune God, summarizes the biblical faith, and connects me to the church through the ages. Continue reading “Living in Fellowship with the Triune God”

Posted on

Living in Fellowship with the Triune God

[Editor’s Note: you can read the full version of this post here]

“Now, I’m really living!” Have you ever said that? What made you think you were really living? For me, I often said it while traveling—to Egypt, to Spain, or to Mexico.

Jesus had an opinion on this question. “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). According to Jesus, real life — what it means to be “really living” — is communion with the Triune God: Father, Son, and Spirit.

This is the life for which we were created, the life we lost in the fall, and the life Christ came to restore. But how do we actually enter into it? The Apostles’ Creed gives us a map. It not only summarizes the faith; it teaches us how to commune with each Person of the Trinity:

  • We encounter the Father through creation
  • We encounter the Son through the Word
  • We encounter the Spirit through the Church

This framework keeps our fellowship with God concrete, biblical, and constant.

Life with the Father — in Creation
The Creed begins: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” Creation is the Father’s temple, revealing His glory and care.

Jesus taught us to look at the birds and flowers as reminders of the Father’s provision (Matt. 6:25–26). Dutch theologian Wilhelmus á Brakel urged believers to “accustom yourself to behold creation in such a fashion that you may behold God in it” (The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 1:281). Continue reading “Living in Fellowship with the Triune God”

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