going deeper > winning the war of ACTION

Posted In: going deeper , War of the Worlds .

"(add to your faith)…and to knowledge, self-control..." (2 Peter 1:6)

In 2 Peter 1:6 the Apostle Peter uses an important Greek word that had a long and important history in Greco-Roman society. It is the word egkrateia, which means "self-strength." Commentator Adam Clarke defines this word as the "proper and limited use of all earthly enjoyments, keeping every sense under proper restraints, and never permitting the animal part to subjugate the rational." The King James translation renders this word as "temperance." In the ancient world, temperance was understood to be that quality which allows one to refuse to overdo anything which may be a good thing in and of itself.

Unfortunately, in our culture the word temperance is associated with the Temperance Movement which strove to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages. The Temperance Movement culminated with the passing of the 18th Amendment in 1920... and that began the era of Prohibition. However, temperance has a much richer and longer history than this.

Since the time of the early church, temperance has been understood to be one of the four moral virtues. The four moral virtues also include fortitude, justice and prudence. Augustine defined virtue as "a good quality of the mind by which we live righteously, of which no one can make bad use." From this perspective, then, temperance is the virtue (quality of mind) that orders and directs man’s ability to act appropriately in relationship to his own desires. Furthermore, temperance is primarily concerned with controlling one's desire for the greatest pleasures. The greatest pleasures are those that are connected with the preservation of human life both individually and collectively. Consequently, these great pleasures can be found in the consumption of food and drink and human sexuality. The bottom line is that temperance is focused primarily on the proper use of the pleasures associated with food, drink and sex.

It is, though, important to remember that pleasure itself is not evil. It is the immoderate or unbiblical use of pleasure that is evil. This means that it is not wrong to desire pleasant things... as long as they are in accord with God's will. Since antiquity, Christians have believed that the simple rejection of pleasure for its own sake is unreasonable and immoderate. In other words, it can be just as much a sin to forsake the pleasantries of food and drink to the point of jeopardizing one's health as it is to overindulge.

To get a better understanding of self-control (temperance), it is sometimes helpful to look at its opposite. The opposite of temperance is intemperance. Anyone who has raised a child knows that it is very unwise to let a child parent himself. You can discover just how intemperate a child can be by taking him to a department store. There is virtually no end to what a child thinks he needs.

In fact, the more a child is left to himself, the more self-centered he will become. Likewise, when we don’t learn how to be self-controlled, we become less and less able to subject our desires to God’s will. We become like a spoiled child. The remedy for adult intemperance is the same remedy for human childishness. A child is corrected by being restrained. So too, by restraining our desire for inappropriate pleasures we learn how to moderate those desires and grow to maturity in Christ.

Amazingly, self-control (temperance) has the added benefit of bringing about moral and spiritual beauty in a person. Peter says this:

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4 Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. (1 Peter 3:3-4)

Something is beautiful when there is harmony and proper proportion. Temperance promotes moral harmony and proper proportion. Consequently, the spiritual beauty of an inner self that is under the Lordship of Christ spills out onto the body, particularly the human face. Conversely, there is something unattractive about a physically beautiful person who has a selfish and self-centered heart.

What do you think? You may leave a comment by clicking on the thought bubble below. See you on Sunday!