Growing in Christian Character Series

Magnanimity
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Giving the best we have and holding nothing back 
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By Don Schwager

The crowning virtue
Magnanimity has long been recognized as a key virtue for leaders and for everyone who desired to do great and honorable deeds for the people they served, even in the face of difficulty, and at the cost of great personal sacrifice. It is an essential virtue for parents and those who work with young people, for teachers, mentors, and pastoral workers who aspire to excellence in training and helping others grow in maturity and strong character. Aristotle called it “the crowning virtue.” Like a magnificent crown adorned with numerous jewels and precious gems, magnanimity ennobles all of the virtues and directs them to the generous service of others – to many great and noble deeds. 

The word “magnanimity” comes from the Latin word, magnanimus, which is derived from the Greek word, mega-lopsuchia, which literally means “great of soul”: magnus in Latin means “great,” large,” and “noble,” and animus in Latin refers to “heart,” mind,” “soul,” or “spirit.” 

Magnanimity describes the man or woman who has a “great heart,” a “noble mind,” and a “generous spirit” who takes delight in doing great deeds for the benefit of others. It is especially marked by an attitude of benevolence – freely giving to others and aiding them without any expectation of repayment or reward. Magnanimity not only treats others with fairness and kindness, it is also generous in forgiving insults and injuries, even of one’s enemies, because it refuses to be swayed by petty resentfulness or vindictiveness. 

David was magnanimous towards King Saul, even when Saul tried to kill David out of jealousy. 

Afterward David also arose, and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance.  And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Behold, David seeks your hurt'? Lo, this day your eyes have seen how the LORD gave you today into my hand in the cave; and some bade me kill you, but I spared you.” I said, “I will not put forth my hand against my lord; for he is the LORD'S anointed.” …  And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil.”  - 1 Samuel 24:8-10, 16-17

Aristotle (384-322 BC) described the magnanimous person as one who aims at great acts of virtue and who attempts things genuinely worthy of honor. Such a person attempts and achieves great things because they are appropriate expressions of the excellence he or she has, and not because he or she craves affirmation from others or desires glory. The magnanimous person “is more solicitous about truth than about human opinion. Such a person “does not depart from what he ought to do…because of what others think.”

Great heart and noble mind
When something is “magnified” it is made bigger or greater, and held in higher esteem. Magnanimity enlarges the heart of the giver to be ever more generous and ready to give the best one has to offer. It also enlarges the mind to think more nobly and well of others because it recognizes the great value and worth of those who receive the gift or benefit. Receiving a generous gift or benefit can also enlarge the heart of the recipient who accepts with great gratitude and thanksgiving what has been given. And it can enlarge the mind as well when the recipient recognizes the great value of the gift.

We “magnify” others by expressing to them their true worth when we bestow on them the best we have to offer. God gives generously and always for the benefit of those he wishes to bless and make great. We imitate God when we give to others the best we have. Scripture reminds us that God has created every man and woman in his own image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27) – that is where their true value and greatness come from and that is why they are worthy to receive the best we can give to them. 

How can we be like God? When God revealed himself to Moses, he expressed his character to him: 

The LORD passed before him [Moses], and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7).

All for God 
The word “magnanimity” is rarely used in the Bible – there are only a few uses of the term in the Greek manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments. However, the Scriptures do use a variety of expressions to describe the great quality of this virtue. I believe that one key expression of this virtue can be found in the biblical use of the word “all” – especially when describing how one should relate to God. God is very generous and magnanimous towards us – he is all-loving, merciful, and faithful. And God commands that we in turn give him our all as well. We see this in first and great commandment: 

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:29-30; Deuteronomy 6:5; Luke 10:27).  The second is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these (Mark 12:31; Leviticus 19:18). 

John Wesley (1703-1791), the great founder of the Methodist revival, wrote the following verses as a summary of his rule for Christian living:

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can!

Models of generous giving
In the Gospel accounts we can see how Jesus honored individuals who were “all-out” in giving generously to the Lord. Jesus praised a poor widow who offered to God all that she had:

He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury; and he saw a poor widow put in two copper coins. And he said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had” (Luke 21:3-4). 

Peter said to him [Jesus], “We have left all we had to follow you!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life” (Luke 18:28-30).

Jesus praised a woman who poured out all of her very expensive ointment, worth more than a year’s wages, as an expression of gratitude for Jesus’ mercy towards her:

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head, as he sat at table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum, and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me... Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Matthew 26:6-10,13).

Jesus’ parable of the talents (Luke 19:15-24) praises those who wisely and generously invest the gifts and resources which have been entrusted to them by their master. And he also warns those who ignore or refuse to use their talents and resources for the Master’s sake, whether out of personal fear or self-interest. 
 

When he returned, having received the kingdom, he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by trading. The first came before him, saying, “Lord, your pound has made ten pounds more.” And he said to him, “Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.” And the second came, saying, “Lord, your pound has made five pounds.” And he said to him, “And you are to be over five cities.” Then another came, saying, “Lord, here is your pound, which I kept laid away in a napkin; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow. He said to him, “I will condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank, and at my coming I should have collected it with interest?” And he said to those who stood by, “Take the pound from him, and give it to him who has the ten pounds.”  - Luke 19:15-24

Like the good stewards in Jesus’ parables (Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 19:15-24) who freely invest all the resources the Master has placed at their disposal, the magnanimous man and woman of God take delight in investing all of their resources, including their time, strengths, and talents, for the Lord and the people they serve. They trust that God will not only be pleased with their generosity, but will increase and multiply their fruitfulness in doing even greater works. God loves a cheerful giver, and returns many times more than we can give, expecting more generous deeds to follow, and granting more fruitful harvest in return. 

Is there anything we possess, whether gifts, talents, and resources, which we can claim as simply our own? As Christians we know that we belong to God and everything we have belongs to him as well. We are simply his stewards who have been ransomed from slavery to sin and death “with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19), who suffered and died on the cross for our salvation. That is why gratitude is the only proper response to the exceeding grace and mercy which God has lavished upon us through his Son, Jesus Christ. 

But our gratitude for what Christ has done for us cannot be complete until we give back to God an offering of thanksgiving. God the Father has given us the best he has through his Son, and he desires that we give him the best we can offer in return. The best act of thanksgiving we can make is the giving over of our entire lives and all that we have to God.

Rooted in gratitude and depencence on God
When magnanimity is properly rooted in gratitude to God and dependence on God’s help and power, it frees us to pursue even greater works for the Lord, while at the same time expecting God to increase our capacity and strength for carrying them out. Magnanimity requires trust in God and not in ourselves. God has called us, and with the call gives us all the strength and help we need.

Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung, in her excellent dissertation on “Aquinas’s Virtues of Acknowledged Dependence: A New Measure of Greatness”, shows how dependence on God and trust in his help frees us from presumption and faint-heartedness, so we can serve God and others generously with magnanimity.

For God’s power in us to be efficacious, we must be willing to receive God’s gracious assistance, to receive it as a gift, and to trust that what is needful will be given. Precisely because magnanimity depends on God’s power and trusts his goodness, it protects us from smug presumption on the one hand and pusillanimous (small-minded/faint-hearted) despair on the other. Both vices are caused by a view of the self and its accomplishments without the aid of grace. The first takes the form of thinking our own power is sufficient for goodness so that we are independently worthy of honor; the second thinks that since we are absolutely helpless and hopeless on our own there is no reason to even try to be good. Thus to the presumptuous person, God says, “You cannot do this on your own” – and to those overwhelmed by a sense of their own inadequacy, God says, “You don’t have to do this on your own.…The gifts are given, not just for us, but also for God and for others. When the pusillanimous (small-minded/faint-hearted) person shrinks back from using his or her gifts to help others and meet their needs, then his or her neglect will be their loss as well. Pusillanimity makes the world a poorer place. 

John Wesley’s covenant with God
One of the greatest worldwide evangelistic renewal movements of the 18th century began in London in 1737. It was started by an unlikely and ordinary minister from the Church of England named John Wesley (1703-1791). John went to the new colonies in America to evangelize the native Indians, but he returned in failure and disgrace. It was only after he sought counsel and help from the Moravian brethren, who were known for their radical faith and trust in God’s guidance and power, that he discovered what was missing in his relationship with God. One evening after listening to the Moravians speak about Christ’s work of salvation in their personal lives, John experienced a profound and personal encounter with the Lord. He wrote in his journal that his “heart was strangely warmed” that evening. He experienced his faith coming alive through the gift and working of the Holy Spirit.

John began to go from church to church, preaching from the pulpits on the power of faith and the work of the Holy Spirit to make Christ come alive in the hearts of individuals. His message met stiff resistance from most of the clergy. After a number of church doors were closed to John, a new door and field for evangelism and mission opportunities began to open. John began to boldly preach throughout the public town squares of England, and even in the open fields. The response was immediate and electrifying – dozens of people, young and old who had never or rarely set foot in a church, came to hear his preaching. As word of mouth spread, hundreds and then thousands came to hear John Wesley preach.

John’s method of outdoor preaching and forming disciples for Christ began to spread rapidly throughout the British Isles. It quickly spread to the colonies in North America, and in time grew into a worldwide movement through the preaching of Methodist missionaries. 

Wesley’s method of preaching and forming disciples for Christ was simple and very effective. He first went directly to the people and spoke the gospel message in the open market places, inns, and countryside, wherever people would gather. He spoke the gospel message in the words the people could understand and he trusted in the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit to open the ears and hearts of his listeners to believe and understand what the Lord Jesus had done for them and was offering to them through the work of the Holy Spirit. He followed up his preaching by establishing local societies that met regularly for common prayer and teaching, and cell groups (usually composed of no more than 12 people each) that met weekly for the study of Scripture, prayer support, and personal growth in holiness through mutual care and accountability. The local societies also organized many voluntary works of mercy for those in need, especially for the poor, those in prison, and people struggling with addictions, the slave trade, and prostitution. 

John Wesley wrote a Covenant Prayer for the members of the Methodist Societies which grew up as part of his work. The Covenant Prayer beautifully expresses profound gratitude to God and the offering of one’s life in total dedication through a covenant commitment with God. 

I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,
exalted for you, or brought low for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things 
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours. So be it. 
May this covenant made on earth continue for all eternity. 
Amen.

Christ has many services to be done. Some are easy, others are difficult. Some bring honor, others bring reproach. Some are suitable to our natural inclinations and temporal interests, others are contrary to both... Yet the power to do all these things is given to us in Christ, who strengthens us.

Yet it is men and women, under his [God’s] jurisdiction, who write the pages of history through the sum of their choices. We never know what minor act of hopeless courage, what word spoken in defense of truth, what unintended consequence might swing the balance and change the world. “The death of a man at a critical juncture, his disgust, his retreat, his disgrace, have brought innumerable calamities on a whole nation. A common soldier, a child, a girl at the door of an inn, have changed the face of fortune, and almost of Nature,” said Edmund Burke.

Burke was referring to historical figures. The man who died at a critical juncture was Pericles, the Athenian general who shaped his culture; the man who retreated was Prime Minister Pitt on his retirement from public life. The child was twelve-year-old Hannibal, taking an oath to one day attack Rome; and the girl at the inn was Joan of Arc.

History pivots on the actions of individuals, both great and ordinary. In this regard one cannot help thinking of Esther, the young Israelite woman who married into royalty just when evil men were plotting the annihilation of the Jews in the fourth century B.C. Her uncle urged her to plead with her husband the king to save her people; when Queen Esther faltered, he added his famous remonstration: “Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

Esther found her courage renewed, despite the knowledge she might die. Advisors, friends, and officials had been executed for provoking her husband’s wrath. Nevertheless she went to him, leaving her uncle the message: “I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

Esther did not perish. Her decision to act without knowing the outcome changed the history of an entire race of people, an event still celebrated at the annual Jewish Feast of Purim.

It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken.

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.

All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.

Nations, cultures, arts, civilization – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner – no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. (The Weight of Glory)

For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption; therefore, as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father (John 14:12).

God is all-powerful and all-sufficient. He has no need of us, mere men and women, who are weak, ignorant, and subject to sin. But he has chosen through his divine plan to do nothing without us. That is why his Son became a man of mortal flesh who suffered, died, and rose for our sake. The Lord Jesus told his disciples that they would carry on the work which he began – proclaiming the good news of the Gospel, and bringing God’s mercy, healing, and deliverance to a lost generation in search of peace, happiness, and freedom. 

Vessels for noble use
Paul the Apostle urges us to choose to be noble vessels for the Lord who are consecrated and ready to do any work which the Lord chooses to give us. 

In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and earthenware, and some for noble use, some for ignoble. If anyone purifies himself from what is ignoble, then he will be a vessel for noble use, consecrated and useful to the master of the  house, ready for any good work. (2 Timothy 2:20-21)

[Don Schwager is a member of the Servants of the Word and author of the Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations website.]..