Wisdom from Howard E. Butt, Jr.

On this blog, you’ll find more thoughts from Howard E. Butt, Jr. about the intersection of faith and daily living. It’s wisdom in bite-size pieces similar to his successful radio spots, just one more way to tell the story of his efforts since 1956 to integrate faith and work.

subscribe to this blog >

Yandall Woodfin, a seminary professor friend, introduced me to biblical importance of pursuing beauty. In the New Testament, two different Greek words are used for "good." Agathos means "good" in a plain vanilla sense. Kalos means "beautiful in form or beautifully good, physically or morally good." Kalos beauty comes from harmony and right proportion. Kalos is pleasing, lovely, and admirable.

The King James version of the Bible (on which I was raised) makes no distinction between the two words. Both are translated as plain vanilla "good." But the original Greek of the Gospels uses kalos—emphasizing beauty as inherent in goodness—substantially more often than agathos. Why? I think the Bible teaches us to appreciate beauty. And to practice it.

Consider Matthew 5:16. Jesus says, "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your kalos [your beautiful deeds, my translation] and praise your Father in heaven." In most translations, the passage reads "good deeds," but that misses the writer's original emphasis on deeds that reflect God's beauty and the beauty of God's creation.

If deeds and actions can be beautiful, then beauty must be something more than a type of pleasant feeling. The Scriptures' use of kalos for righteous conduct connects beauty with the source of all righteousness, God himself. Beauty must be seen then as an aspect of God and God's creation. Beauty is the light of God shining from within the created world. The fact that one person sees beauty where another doesn't has to do with people's different capacities, not the nature of beauty itself.

Why does all this matter? Because if we want to be followers of Christ, we need to join Christ in his work. Through his incarnation, public ministry, passion, resurrection, and ascension, Christ initiated a cosmic renewal. His victory over death began the restoration of God's entire creation to a state even better than its original "goodness."

In fact, we are invited to be cocreators with Christ in this work, as part of his living body within the world. That means performing kalos, beautiful deeds . . . from anointing the Savior's feet with expensive perfume to building exquisite church sanctuaries; from shaping a beautiful clay pot at the Cody Center to helping widows, orphans, and prisoners; from constructing excellent architecture to putting together vital organizations; from decorating our homes attractively to creating a harmonious workplace.

1 Comment >  |  Leave a Comment or Tag >

browse all resources from Wisdom from Howard E. Butt, Jr. >