It’s never been easier to appear virtuous. With a few clicks I can prove my virtue by tweeting about the latest outrage or I can share a photo of myself wearing a mask. I can point out someone else’s racism or express my disgust at the lack of social distancing by partygoers. All of this makes me feel better about myself, reassuring me and others that I hold the correct views about things and I’m publicly committed to them.
Virtue signaling, the attempt to show that you are a good person by expressing disgust or favor for certain political ideas or cultural happenings, is much easier to come by than genuine virtue. Genuine virtue is a habit difficult to obtain because it requires real moral strength. The word is rooted in the Latin virus (man), and like manhood, is something that is attained by consistent acts of self-control, courage, and self-sacrifice.
Although the methods of signaling virtue have changed over the years, this kind of “virtual virtue” is nothing new. King David was quite virtuous – a creative artist who wrote worship music and led congregations in singing, a charismatic leader of men in battle, and an able administrator of an expanding kingdom. He was a man of humble upbringing whose life demonstrated that the poorest of society could make it to the top by doing what was right.
At some point in mid-life, the virtuous David was settling into palace life with his eighth wife, Bathsheba. (Backstory: Not being satisfied with seven wives, David had set his eyes on the wife of one of his officers. Having bedded her while her husband was off fighting the king’s battle and accidentally creating another human being in the act, David covered his tracks by arranging the long-distance murder of her husband. Once that loose end was tied up, David swooped in to rescue the grieving widow from poverty by making her his wife – oh the virtue!)
A year or so after all this happened, a man named Nathan knocked on the door and told David a story of a situation in his kingdom that was a genuine outrage, something extremely offensive and certain to arouse the moral sensibilities of the virtuous king. It seems there was a poor man who had one possession, a little lamb that was like a daughter to him. However, a wealthy man had taken the poor man’s lamb and slaughtered her to feed a guest. When Nathan asked David what should be done to this wealthy man, David tweeted: “That man deserves to die!” And everyone loved it and retweeted it.
Then Nathan replied: “You are that man.”
Perhaps the reason we are so quick to judge others and claim the moral high ground on everything from wearing masks to the latest racial incident is that we are hiding something ourselves, so we distract with “Nothing to see here”. If we had the vision of the prophet Nathan, we would see that we are a nation of adulterers and murderers. We tolerate the two great moral evils of our time – pornography (legalized prostitution) and abortion while declaring ourselves moral superiors to our ancestors who would have been appalled at both.
Our virtue signaling resembles that of the pious worshiper Jesus spoke of who prayed, “I thank you God that I am not like other people – cheaters, sinners, adulterers” when we ought be praying, “God have mercy on me, a sinner”. (Luke 18:11-13 NLT)
In the moment that David’s virtue signaling was called out by those four words of the prophet, he was utterly broken. What followed was a humble prayer of repentance.
Have mercy on me, O God,
because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
blot out the stain of my sins.
Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
For I recognize my rebellion;
it haunts me day and night.
Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
You will be proved right in what you say,
and your judgment against me is just. (Psalm 51:1-4. NLT)
Real virtue begins with the acknowledgement that we are not virtuous. Our attempts to call others out for their lack of virtue is often a screen to hide our own infidelity. Rather than virtue signaling, we should be cultivating genuine virtue by exercising self-control and self-sacrifice that is nourished by drinking deeply of the grace of God, inoculating us from the pride and self-deception that inherently accompanies virtue signaling.