“The one who gets wisdom loves life; the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.” — Proverbs 19:8
Wisdom doesn’t just shape what we believe. It shapes how we live—including how we handle money.
That’s why prudence has long been considered one of the cardinal virtues. It’s not a word we use every day, but it speaks directly to the way Christians make decisions, set priorities, manage resources, and seek to honor God with what He has entrusted to us.
In this new series on the financial virtues, Dr. Greg Forster, Affiliate Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) and Executive Director of the Christian Investing Council (CIC), joined the show today to discuss prudence and why faithful stewardship requires more than financial knowledge.
What Is Virtue?
Before we can understand prudence, we first need to understand virtue.
Dr. Forster defines virtue as becoming a Christlike person. It is not merely doing the right thing outwardly. It is developing Christlike qualities in our character so that we obey God from the heart.
Jesus often exposed the danger of outward obedience without inward transformation. He spoke of “whitewashed tombs” that looked clean on the outside but were full of death within. He also warned against cleaning the outside of the cup while leaving the inside filthy.
Those images remind us that God cares not only about what we do, but also how and why we do it. That is especially important when it comes to money.
Faithful stewardship is not a checklist. It is not simply giving a certain amount, following a set of financial rules, or making decisions that appear responsible on the surface. Stewardship is relational. It is part of our worship. It is one way we bring our whole selves before the Lord and say, “This belongs to You. How can I use it for Your purposes?”
The Cardinal Virtues and the Christian Life
The cardinal virtues—prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice—come from a long tradition in Christian moral reflection. The word “cardinal” comes from the Latin word for the hinge of a door. These virtues are “hinge” virtues because they help guide and shape the others.
Christian ethics has often distinguished between theological virtues, which are known through God’s revelation in Scripture, and moral virtues, which are more broadly recognized because God has made His moral order known through creation and conscience.
That matters for two reasons.
First, it reminds us that all people are accountable to God. Even those who have never read the Bible still live in God’s world and bear His image.
Second, it gives us a foundation for shared life with neighbors who may not share our faith. There are moral truths people can recognize because God has woven them into the world He made.
Among those moral virtues, prudence has often been seen as especially important because it helps us discern how to put wisdom into practice.
What Is Prudence?
Prudence is often described as wisdom in action.
It is not simply about having good goals. It is knowing the right means to pursue those goals faithfully.
As Dr. Forster explained, we often say, “The ends don’t justify the means.” In other words, having a good goal does not give us permission to pursue it in careless, wasteful, or sinful ways. Prudence helps us ask, "What is the right course of action?" What is the wise path forward? How do we pursue good ends in a way that honors God?
That makes prudence deeply practical.
It moves us from abstract desire to concrete obedience. It is one thing to say, “I want to be more Christlike,” or “I want to be a faithful steward.” It is another thing to ask, “What decision sh
