Virtues of Character

Justice

Justice is about what we owe to others: God and neighbour.

Towards our neighbour: giving our neighbour what is their due, in terms of goods or recognition. We balance their needs against our needs for the good of the community, regardless of our personal preferences.

Towards God: But justice is not just about living with our neighbour; it is also about living with God. For Christians, the just man recognises that he is a creature, ultimately created by God and dependent on Him for his salvation; he is not God – recognising this overcomes the temptation to be God. Worship of God challenges us to recognize the transcendence of God to ourselves, that He is much greater than us. God is what we grow towards, not what we are. It enables us to accept that some things, especially pain and suffering, have a depth of meaning beyond our limited understanding.

Freedom: Freedom is an important part of this virtue. A Christian understands freedom to be the ability to do what is right; for those in the west today who do not accept the claims of religion, freedom means the ability to decide for oneself what is right and wrong. In this tradition of understanding it is the abilityto choose what one thinks is moral: life is a ‘do as you please’ affair. But Christians hold that morality is not as simple as an individual matter of preference or taste; it is a matter of objective standards and values which we all must share if we are to live together in peace and harmony. The just person searches these out and lives them. As the just person realizes the virtue of justice, so he grows in freedom. The just person is free from internal conflicts and free for excellence of action. Freedom and doing what is right are dependent on each other.

Challenges to this: All this is very against what this part of the world today thinks. It runs counter to aspects of our nature – we do not like to think that there is anything or any person higher than ourselves, that we owe someone something – least of all someone we can’t see directly. At worst, we wish to be considered as God. This reveals itself in this attitude: when I give my view that something is right or wrong, it really is right or wrong. Others see God as a partner in their ambitions and projects. God becomes an ally. Some politicians and soldiers have said: ‘God was on our side’. This is to raise us up to be equal with God. It is rooted in self centred-ness and finds expression in a culture or attitude that sees man as entirely independent (autonomous) and subject to no laws beyond those he seeks to impose on himself. It says: ‘The morality I wish to live by is the morality I develop – I am not challenged to be anything other than what I am; I simply confirm myself in my actions and you can’t criticise them.’