Noah was commanded by God to build a boat and declare to his neighbors that a flood was coming to destroy them. For decades of cloudless skies, he persisted in his message and in his carpentry despite the ridicule of his community. Esther found herself the wife of a pagan king who had decreed the destruction of her people. After prayer and fasting, Esther courageously approached her husband, the king, and won back the lives of her people. Magi in the East spotted a unique star. Their faithful journey following that star brought them to the palace of a hot-headed Herod where they told him that the star proclaimed a newborn King of the Jews. Notice the fortitude and divine work in the words of these pre-Christian figures.
Each of them shows the gift of fortitude: strength from the Holy Spirit to hold to what is true and good when fear, danger or long waiting press in. Fortitude in the Bible rests on God’s presence more than on human nerve, and it often shows itself in faithful speech. What follows defines the virtue, traces the gift through Scripture with Bible verses and examples, and considers what it means for a student learning to speak the truth.
What is the virtue of fortitude?
Fortitude is one of the four cardinal virtues, with prudence, justice and temperance. It is the firmness of soul that holds to the good in the face of fear, danger or long hardship. Thomas Aquinas names its two acts as attack and endurance, and counts endurance the greater. The brave person feels fear and refuses to be ruled by it. The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it simply: fortitude is “the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good” (CCC 1808).
Peter and John before the rulers
In the earliest days of the church, John and Peter encountered a lame man at a temple gate and in the name of Jesus, they healed the man. Many glorified God because of this miracle; many, but not all. Some rulers, elders and priests worried about this miracle being attributed to the crucified Jesus of Nazareth. These rulers arrested the two apostles, but upon seeing “the boldness of Peter and John, and perceiving that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled.” (Acts 4:13) Rather than worship God along with other witnesses of the miracle, these rulers demanded that Peter and John stop speaking of Jesus. Peter and John’s response was clear. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, they answered that they would continue speaking of what they had seen, heard and knew of Jesus, His death and resurrection.
What does the gift of fortitude from the Holy Spirit mean?
Notice the Spirit-filled fortitude of these apostles in response to their arrest and the instructions they were given to keep silent about Jesus. They were more sure of the meaning of Jesus’s resurrection than of any legal consequences. In that certainty, the apostles risked their immediate security and comfort for the eternal good news that was their sure hope. In that certainty, they continued declaring the resurrection and its glorious ramifications. In his book The Four Cardinal Virtues, Joseph Pieper claims that “In the gift of fortitude, the Holy Spirit pours into the soul a confidence that overcomes all fear.” A Christian’s theoretical beliefs rise within to become “evidence so direct and compelling as to resemble the experience of sight, hearing, and touch”. (Pieper 138) This Spirit-filled fortitude has mobilized apostles, saints, and other holy heroes of history toward many tasks and virtues. The Biblical examples above each employed speech in their task of faithfulness, so let’s pause to mark how spiritual fortitude gives force to the tool of rhetoric.
Why the ancient orators were trained in virtue first
Rhetorical training of ancient Greece was intended to prepare great orators. While introducing beautiful and persuasive linguistic tools for writing, the exercises also trained the hearts of students by exposing them to virtues in fables, narratives and biographies. Students were asked to argue in favor of virtue and against vice. They were encouraged to seek out and recognize goodness and truth and to avoid their opposites. To be a great orator of ancient Greece was first to be a great-souled person. Centuries into this discipline, Aristotle wrote his textbook “Rhetoric” to remind his students that a true orator is one of virtue, who speaks the truth in a beautiful style. Aristotle pointed out that truth always has the advantage in an argument. If truth loses in an argument, it is the fault of its defender. (Aristotle 1355a)
How the Spirit equips the speaker today
As Christians, we have the Spirit of Truth within us to “guide us into all Truth” (John 16:13). If we fail to speak or defend the truth, what is our excuse? Do we, as Moses (Exodus 3), doubt God’s ability to use us? Do we, like Zachariah (Luke 1), doubt the message’s plausibility? Do we, like Jeremiah or like Timothy, fear that we are the wrong age for people to listen? Thankfully, there is no need for such insecurities. This is where the gift of fortitude is made available. The Holy Spirit equips God’s speaker with “power and love and a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). The Spiritual fortitude that mobilized Noah, Esther, John, and Peter reached forward to strengthen the pens of Paul in his Roman cell and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his Birmingham Jail. It remains active today, empowering us to “be prepared to give an answer for the reason of the hope you have” in Christ (1 Peter 3:15-17). The Spirit of Truth continues to give purpose and life to the words of a student who employs the ancient tools of rhetoric for the Kingdom of God. Thanks be to God.
Fortitude in the Bible: meaning and definition
In the Bible, fortitude is God-given strength of soul to do what is right and to keep doing it under fear, danger or long suffering. Scripture calls it strength, might, courage and endurance, and it always traces that strength to the Lord’s presence and promise rather than to human willpower.
The word “fortitude” is rare in modern English Bibles, which speak instead of strength, courage, steadfastness and endurance, yet the virtue itself runs through the whole of Scripture. When Joshua takes up the work of Moses, the Lord tells him again and again to “be strong and courageous,” and grounds the command in His own presence: “for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9, ESV). The three young men in Babylon tell the king that their God is able to deliver them from the furnace, “but if not,” they will still not bow (Daniel 3:17-18). In the Wisdom of Solomon, read as Scripture in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, the four cardinal virtues stand together: Wisdom teaches self-control, prudence, justice and courage (Wisdom 8:7).
In the New Testament the key word is endurance (hypomone), the patient holding fast that Hebrews asks of those who run the race set before them. Paul tells the Corinthians to “stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13, ESV). The source of this strength is never the self. Isaiah foresees the Messiah on whom rests “the Spirit of counsel and might” (Isaiah 11:2, ESV), the passage from which the Church drew its list of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit; the Latin Vulgate renders this “might” with the word fortitudo. And Jesus tells His disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, ESV).
Examples of fortitude in the Bible
Scripture teaches fortitude mostly through people. These examples of fortitude in the Bible make good reading at the family table, and children remember them long after a definition fades.
- Noah kept building and kept warning his neighbors through years of ridicule (Genesis 6 to 9; Hebrews 11:7).
- Joshua led Israel into a land of fortified cities, holding to the command to be strong and courageous (Joshua 1).
- Esther went to the king unsummoned after three days of fasting, saying, “If I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16, ESV).
- Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow to the golden image, trusting God whether or not He delivered them (Daniel 3).
- Daniel kept praying three times a day with his windows open, knowing the lions’ den waited (Daniel 6).
- Christ in Gethsemane prayed, “not my will, but yours, be done,” and an angel came to strengthen Him (Luke 22:42-43, ESV).
- Peter and John told the rulers they could not stop speaking of what they had seen and heard (Acts 4:20).
- Stephen spoke the truth before the council and prayed for the men who stoned him (Acts 7).
- Paul endured beatings, shipwreck and prison, and at the end could write, “I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7, ESV).
Bible verses about the gift of fortitude
These Bible verses about fortitude are worth memorizing with children. Each one places the source of strength in God rather than in the self.
- “And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD” (Isaiah 11:2, ESV).
- “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8, ESV).
- “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7, ESV).
- “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6:10, ESV).
- “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6, ESV).
- “But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31, ESV).
- “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV).
- “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” (Psalm 27:14, ESV).
Frequently asked questions
What is the gift of fortitude?
The gift of fortitude is the strengthening the Holy Spirit gives so that a Christian can do and endure what the virtue of fortitude asks, often beyond what natural courage could manage. Josef Pieper describes it as a confidence poured into the soul that overcomes all fear. The virtue is formed by practice; the gift is received, asked for in prayer, and seen in the boldness of Peter and John before the rulers.
Is fortitude a gift of the Holy Spirit?
Yes. The Catholic and Orthodox traditions, and the Anglican and Lutheran confirmation prayers, count fortitude among the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, with wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord, a list drawn from Isaiah 11:2-3. Christians who do not use the language of seven gifts confess the same reality from Scripture: God gives “a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7, ESV).
What Bible verse is the gift of fortitude from?
The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit come from Isaiah 11:2-3, which describes the Spirit resting on the Messiah as “the Spirit of counsel and might.” The Latin Vulgate translates “might” as fortitudo, which is where the name of the gift comes from. Thomas Aquinas treats the gift in the Summa Theologiae (II-II, q. 139).
Is fortitude the same as courage?
Nearly. Courage is the common English word, and many Bibles use it where older writers said fortitude. Fortitude is the broader term in the classical tradition: it includes the courage to act in a moment of danger and the endurance to keep going through long hardship, which Aquinas counted the greater part.
How can parents help children grow in fortitude?
Fortitude grows the way the other virtues do, through small acts repeated, so parents can give children tasks hard enough to tempt them to quit and stay near while they finish. Stories of brave endurance, from Daniel in Babylon to Frodo on the road to Mordor, let children rehearse courage in the imagination before they need it. Fear should be named honestly rather than shamed, and prayer belongs at the center, since the Spirit’s gift completes what habit begins. Emily Brigham’s account of fortitude in the grammar school years offers classroom examples: guided drawings, handwork and gardening.
Sources Cited
Aristotle and Richard McKeon. The Basic Works of Aristotle. Rhetoric. New York: Random
House, 1941.
The Orthodox Study Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008.
Pieper, Joseph (1966). The Four Cardinal Virtues. Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press
