The True Republic - Essay Sample

Wisdom, goodness, happiness, and love are vital virtues for any existence of a just republic. The presence of these virtues in a society leads to a real human life in the sense that people can live together without any disagreements which mighty jeopardize a once tranquil state. Crito of Plato, the City of God and the 1st letter of St. Paul is evident to portray the virtues of love, wisdom, happiness, and goodness in that they all create a genuine vision of how peaceful a state can be if the virtues above are intrinsically valued (Annas, 12). The texts are clear to create the image of a just republic through various issues that unfold that disrupt the actual meaning of democracy. For instance, in Crito by Plato, the great laws of the land lead to the injustices that befell Socrates through their struggle to create respect and justice in the society (Woozley, 9). In the same way, the City of God shows us how lack of wisdom among the believers and the unbelievers create the argument as to why Christ let the enemies attack their peaceful city and did not protect them instead. Despite the vision of a republic being visible in the two contexts, the 1st letter of St. Paul is more explicit through the reverence of embracing current wisdom in Christ to bring transformation in the state. A careful examination of how St. Paul handles the divisions that occur in the Church of Corinth will shed light on the real vision of a republic.

The 1st letter of St. Paul is an example of how the republic can be achieved through personal virtues which are vital in leading the people in a unified and sensible way even in those moments of tribulations as well as quarrels. In this case; wisdom, love, happiness, and goodness are guidelines that lead to the unity of the people since many issues and problems occurring within and outside the parameters can be efficiently evaluated to bring long-lasting solutions. St. Paul apparently makes the people see sense in need to embrace the respectable virtues that are given through Jesus Christ to guide people in doing good not only to themselves but others as well. St. Paul knows from the beginning that the only way the people can live and appreciate one another is through the people embracing the true meaning of Christianity and all that is entailed in the teachings since he knew that people are easily compelled to sin (Augustine, 20). When a person sins against another person, he or she does betray not only his faith but also the goodness of a peaceful society in that there will be a rift between the two individuals which might later lead to a group or even the entire community. In the letter, St. Paul addresses the division in the church by making it known that the rift affects the whole republic and that is not what the gospel demands from the people.

Goodness and love make people value the lives of others just as they value themselves as St. Paul argues. When a person boasts of what he has or yet another person is lacking, then the boasting person does not have love and thus cannot practice doing good to others. Boasting, deceitfulness and masquerading as real disciples yet there is selfishness in the hearts only worsen the division issue among the people. In this case, practicing the negative virtues of selfishness is contrary to the goodness, wisdom, love, and happiness that the gospel advice against. The value of the gospel is to unite the people into a common ground to live in a peaceful society and help one another to achieve the success that is beneficial to the entire state in development. The presence of wisdom and power among the people creates unity among both cultural and non-cultural elites who can work together to accomplish significant roles within and outside the society. Wisdom comes from the Holy Spirit who makes the people aware of what is wrong and right and more so to make reasonable decisions that create unity among the people. When the Spirit descends upon an individual, he or she gets the pleasure to have a conscience that brings judgment onto one's self after committing a wrong thing against another person. For instance, through the personal virtues, the weak in the society can still be helped to learn and develop themselves both physically and spiritually to be used by God. Therefore, the strong have no right to oppress the weak and timid since Christ discriminates on none but loves and cares for all.

Moreover, prides is a threat to the real vision of a republic given the act of overconfidence that comes with it. When people are overconfidence, they end up neglecting the teachings that are supposed to correct and direct their daily endeavors, hence end up doing the wrong things that hurt the entire society or republic. St. Paul gives an example of being humble to receive favors from not only God but also the people as it is important to receive blessings that are accompanied by doing good (Ciampa et al., 17). When a person humbles to the level of other people, it is easy to treat another person with utmost respect. Thus, people will live in harmony and love. Evidently, though St. Paul is a gospel leader, he humbly goes to preach to the people in Corinth with so much humility and fear with no virtue of prideness to control the people due to the leadership privileges. In this case, leaders should also have the same humility virtue that will make them the citizens without any dictatorship or discrimination to ensure the existence of a peaceful republic. St. Paul is an example of a real leader who creates the image of how to make the change and bring development in the state without any use of force that hurt the people's feelings and create division. When a leader rules the people in a democratic and fair manner, it is easy to create a good rapport between the people and the leader hence help in the development of the state since citizens will willingly carry out their roles.

Based on the above argument, I find the 1st letter of Paul to give the real vision of a republic concerning his duties and teachings to the Church of Corinth. St. Paul uses his teachings on the need to avoid any form of transgression among the people since it is what brings the division in the society and not only in the church. In this case, the gospel teachings act as guidelines to correct and unify the people into doing good to God and fellow humans. In following the instructions, the negative virtues of selfishness, disrespect, feelings of pride and hatred are done away with hence, the existence of love of a true republic.

Works Cited

Annas, Julia. "An introduction to Plato's Republic." (1981).

Augustine, Saint. The City of God, Books XVIIXXII (The Fathers of the Church, Volume 24). CUA Press, 2010.Ciampa, Roy E., and Brian S. Rosner. The first letter to the Corinthians. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2010.

Woozley, Anthony Douglas. "Law and obedience: the arguments of Plato's Crito." (1979).