Temperance is Self-control
The King James Version of the Bible
calls the last fruit of the Spirit “temperance,” which is defined as moderation
and self-restraint, as in behavior. Newer translations call this fruit
“self-control,” which is control of one’s emotions, desires, or actions by
one’s own will. Right up front, I’m going to admit that I struggle with
self-control. My thoughts are sometimes evil and vindictive. Wrong words
sometimes fly right out of my mouth. Certainly some of my actions do not reflect
the light of Christ, and my emotions can roam all over the place. Not only do I
have issues with self-control, I have a hard time understanding “self-control”
as a fruit of the Spirit. All through the Bible we read that God Himself has
made the atonement for our sin, God Himself will transform us into the image of
His Son; God Himself will complete the good work He is performing in us. Why is
the ball back in my court?
Philippians 2:12-13 “…work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good
pleasure.”
This verse seems to say two
opposite things: work it out yourself and
God is working. Perhaps this issue is similar to the way we’ve looked at
the fruit of “goodness.” Our “goodness” is a response to God’s great love.
Remember when John the Baptist preached to the people at the Jordan
River , they actually asked him
what they could do to show their repentance. See Luke 3:10, 12, and 14. Later, in the book of Acts after the Day of
Pentecost, the people asked Peter what they could do, after they were “cut to
the heart” after his preaching in Acts
2:37. From these two examples, it appears that as people, we need to find a
way to respond to God’s work of
redemption. Even though it’s confusing, perhaps there is a balance that can be
reached between “simply accepting God’s finished work” and “responding to that
work by practicing self-control.”
In spite of my own difficulty in understanding
“self-control” as a fruit of the Spirit (and perhaps an immature evasion of taking
responsibility for my own actions,) I will try to discuss what the Bible says
about self-control, using examples of controlling our anger, controlling our
thoughts, and controlling our words.
The fruit of the Spirit is love.
The other attributes included in love are joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. In discussing
“self-control” as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, we have to remember what love is,
as defined in 1 Corinthians 13: “Love
suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is
not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked,
keeps no account of evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the
truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all
things.’
God’s
Restraint in Dealing with Us
Psalm 78:38 “But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity,
And did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away.”
Psalm 103: 8-10 “The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and
abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His
anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us
according to our iniquities.”
In Exodus 32, after Moses came down
from the mountain and the people had made a golden calf to worship, God said to
Moses in Exodus 32:10 “Now therefore,
let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them…”
11. Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said… 12. …Turn from your
fierce wrath and relent from this harm to Your people.” Yes, Moses talked
back to God. Verse 14 says, “So the LORD
relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.”
Joel 2:13 “…For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of
great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.”
In Jonah 4, Jonah was so mad that
the people of Nineveh Nineveh
Jonah 4:2 “So he prayed to the LORD and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this
what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to
Tar’shish; for I know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger
and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.”
If our Heavenly Father turned His
righteous anger away from us over and over, surely we at least, try to control our mostly unrighteous anger away from each other. Ephesians 5:1 says, “Be imitators of God as dear children.”
Be Slow to Anger
Psalm 37:8 “Cease
from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret – it only causes harm.”
Proverbs 14:17 “A
quick-tempered man acts foolishly…”
Proverbs 16:32 “He
who is slow to anger is better than the mighty…”
Proverbs 19:11 “Good
sense makes one slow to anger.”
James 1: 19-20 “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to
hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the
righteousness of God.”
Anger at the lack of Love and the Lack of
Respect
Jesus displayed righteous anger
both when He healed the man with the withered hand and when He turned over the
tables of the money-changers in the Temple
Mark 3: 1-5 “And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there
who had a withered hand. So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him
on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. And He said to the man with the
withered hand, “Step forward.” Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the
Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept
silent. And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the
hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he
stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.”
Matthew 21:12-13 “Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out
all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the
money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It
is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a
den of thieves.”
Keeping in mind the above
references to the righteous anger of Jesus, both for the lack of compassion
shown by the religious leaders and the disregard for God’s house, the Bible
teaches us that yes there is anger, but we’re to be careful that anger doesn’t
cause us to sin. Psalm 4:4 says, “Be
angry and do not sin…” Ephesians 4:26 says “Be angry and do not
sin, do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” Our righteous anger is
justified when we see people behaving in a way that is unloving and
disrespectful. Even then, we are not to carry our anger into the next day and
beyond.
The Bible Says to Control Our Thoughts
We can practice self-control by controlling
our thoughts. The Bible says we can actually choose what to think about.
2 Corinthians 10:5 says we can “bring every thought into captivity to
the obedience of Christ.”
Philippians 4:8 “…whatever things are true, whatever things are noble,
whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is
anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.”
When we bring our thoughts back to
the obedience of Christ, we’re not just using will power; we’re using the truth
of God’s word. In the Old Testament, Jeremiah, even though he was suffering,
hence the title “Lamentations,” he reminded himself:
Lamentations 3:21 “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.” He
reminded himself that even though his country was being destroyed, it was
through God’s mercy, that he hasn’t
been destroyed. And in fact God’s mercies are renewed every morning.
Controlling Our Words
When I first thought about the
issue of controlling our words, I was thinking in terms of not lashing out in
anger against people. Restraining angry words is a legitimate form of self-control;
however, there is a bigger issue at hand: controlling words in general. I talk
too much. I even go before God in prayer with my whole laundry list of
requests, not realizing that I am “before the throne of grace” and I need to
give Him reverence. Yes, Jesus told us that we could “ask, seek, knock” in Matthew
7:7 and the writer of Hebrews 4:16 said, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” However, I know that
I also need to heed the wisdom of Ecclesiastes
3:7 “(There is) a time to keep silence and a time to speak.” I need to take
the time to acknowledge that I’ve entered God’s presence in prayer and that He
is Holy.
Not only do I talk too much in
prayer, I talk too much to people. I often want to join in conversation by
showing that I too, know something about this topic. Or that I too, agree with
what the other person is saying and I have my two cents to contribute. I talk to people about other people. I hear
myself saying things like “I’m not saying this to be critical, but…” or “Please
don’t tell anyone else this, because she told me in confidence, but…” I used to
work with people who began their sentences with, “Not for nothing, but…” This
was always followed by some juicy tidbit about someone else, which was rarely
flattering.
Proverbs 10:19 “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he
who restrains his lips is wise.”
Proverbs 21:23 “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue Keeps his soul from
troubles.”
Proverbs 29:11 “A fool vents all his feelings, But a wise man holds
them back.”
James 3:2-5 “…If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man,
able also to bridle the whole body.” (In verses 3 and 4, James gives
examples of how a bit in a horse’s mouth makes the horse obey us and we can
control where they turn and how a rudder on a ship can turn the whole ship.) 4. Even so, the tongue is a little member
and boasts great things…”
There are two different definitions
for the word discretion:
- The quality of behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing offense or revealing private information.
- The freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation.
These two seemingly very different
definitions sum up self-control. The first definition tells us we are to
behave, think and speak in a way that causes no offense to God or to people. We
are to use discretion and not reveal people’s secrets. The second definition
tells us that yes we have freedom in Christ, (whom the Son made free is free
indeed,) but we’re to use our freedom to exercise restraint in our words,
thoughts, and actions, as a response to God’s great love for us.
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