Psalm 31:24; Joshua 23:11; Joshua 1:9
Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.
Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): What is this Christian courage?
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Courage is frequently thought of by some as the absence of fear in the presence of danger. By others it is seen as the act of bravery in spite of a sense of fear.
THOMAS MANTON: There is a great deal of difference between the courage of wicked men, and the faith and fortitude of good Christians.
SIMEON ASHE (1595-1662): The common nature of it is an undaunted audacity. This is common both unto men and to some brutes. The lion is said to be the strongest among beasts, that turneth not away from any, Proverbs 30:30. And there is an elegant description of the war horse in regard of boldness, Job 39:19-25.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): There is a boldness and intrepidity natural to the temper of some men, which make them easily undertake, and often achieve great things; which give them such assurance and reliance upon themselves, that they overlook the dangers and difficulties at which others stand nerveless and amazed.
EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): In this respect different persons differ very widely, even from their birth. Some appear to be constitutionally timid, mild, gentle, quiet, affectionate, and yielding; while others are bold, boisterous, restless, irritable, and obstinate—persons, who have such a temper, are not infrequently bold, resolute, and unyielding, and it is easy for them to be firm, zealous, and courageous in the cause of Christ; and they may easily mistake their constitutional courage for holy boldness and Christian zeal. But let them beware of this mistake.
THOMAS COKE: The courage of the Christian is very different from that of the natural man; it arises from other considerations, and is supported by other hopes and expectations. Glory and success are the proper incitements of human courage; reproach and afflictions are the necessary exercises of Christian fortitude.
THOMAS MANTON: There is military valour and Christian valour. The one consists in doing, the other in suffering, great things. Peter, at Christ’s death, had more of the military valour and fierceness than of the passive valour, for he that could venture on a band of men, was foiled by a damsel’s question.
JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): Thus may persons who appear to set death and danger at defiance in the hour of battle, while they are animated by the examples of those around them, and instigated by a fear of the punishment or shame they would incur if they deserted their post. But upon a change of situation—as for instance, on a bed of sickness, they discover no traces of the heroism for which they were before applauded, but tremble at the leisurely approach of death, though they were thought to despise it under a different form.
THOMAS MANTON: The one dependeth on hastiness of temper, greatness of blood and spirits; the other upon faith and submission to God’s will.
SIMEON ASHE: Christian courage may thus be described. It is the undaunted audacity of a sanctified heart in adventuring upon difficulties and undergoing hardships for a good cause upon the call of God…Some conceive our English word “courage” to be derived from cordis actio, the very acting of the heart. A valiant man is described in 2 Samuel 17:10 to be a man whose heart is as the heart of a lion. And the original Hebrew translated as “courageous” in Amos 2:16, may most properly be rendered “a man of heart.” Beloved, valour doth not consist in a piercing eye, in a terrible look, in big words; but it consists in the mettle, the vigour that is within the bosom. Sometimes a coward may dwell at the sign of a roaring voice and of a stern countenance; whereas true fortitude may be found within his breast whose outward deportment promises little or nothing in that kind.
A. W. PINK: The word ‘courageous’ suggests more than bravery; it intimates that which makes one brave. The word in its various usages implies the confirmation of truth that produces strength of conviction.
SIMEON ASHE: Note the qualification: I said a sanctified heart; I am not now speaking of fortitude as a moral virtue, whereof heathens that have not God are capable, and for which many that are not Christians, have been worthily commended. I am speaking of courage as a theological virtue, as a gracious qualification upon the people of God by special covenant. And there are three things that characterize it, and which distinguish it from the moral virtue of fortitude. The root, whence it ariseth; the rule, whereby it is directed; and the end, to which it is referred.
THOMAS COKE: Christian courage and resolution arises from a sure trust in God, a fear of Him, and a perfect submission to His will.
SIMEON ASHE: The root, from whence it ariseth, is love to God: all the saints of God that love the Lord be of good courage. ‘The love of Christ constraineth me to make these bold and brave adventures,’ saith the apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 5:14. The rule, whereby it is directed, is the Word of God—what the Lord hath pleased to leave on record for a Christian’s guidance in holy pages. “Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the Lord thy God. Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage: dread not, nor be dismayed,” I Chronicles 22:12,13. ‘Be a man of mettle, but let thy mettle be according to my mind, according to this rule.’ And the end, to which it refers, is God. For every sanctified man, being a self-denying and a God-advancing man, his God is his centre, wherein his actings, his undertakings rest; and his soul is not—yea, it cannot be satisfied but in God.
THOMAS MANTON: Stephen “being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,” Acts 7:55. It is spoken when the people gnashed on him with their teeth—then he was full of the Holy Ghost. There is the habit of fortitude, and the act of it when led on.
JOHN NEWTON: This greatness of mind is essential and peculiar to the character of the Christian—I mean the Christian who deserves the name. His ends are great and sublime, to glorify God, to obtain nearer communion with Him, and to advance in conformity to His holy will,—undisturbed and unwearied by difficulty, danger, or pain, and equally indifferent to the censure or scorn of incompetent judges.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Courage is the salt of character: put your fears in this brine. Have you the courage to profess unfashionable truth?
EDWARD PAYSON: Let them not conclude they have made much progress in the work of sanctification, until their zeal and boldness are guided by knowledge, tempered with gentleness, and prompted by love…When this is done, they will resemble their Master, who united in Himself the apparently inconsistent qualities of the lion and the lamb, the serpent and the dove—and will be of all Christians the most amiable, exemplary, and useful.
