IN YOUR KNOWLEDGE: en de te gnosei:
"In"
(en) means "in connection with" the preceding.
How
is self-control
related to
gnosis? Obedience is the key.
Gnosis involves a diligent study
and pursuit of truth in the Word of God and then a dutiful obedience to
that truth out of love for the one Who has made us partakers of His
divine nature.
SELF-CONTROL: ten egkrateian:
(Acts 24:25;
1Co 9:25;
Gal 5:23;
Titus 1:8;
2:2)
Self Control - See notes on
the fruit of the Spirit =
Galatians 5:23
Self Control
(1466) (egkrateia
from en = in + kratos = power to rule
<> the stem krat- speaks of power or lordship) is used
only 3 times in the NT (Acts;
Gal;
2 Peter)
and is translated temperance in the KJV and self-control in the NASB.
Egkrateia means
literally a holding oneself in or the ability to take a grip of oneself.
This meaning reminds one of our modern slang expression "Get a grip"! Egkrateia has reference to restraining passions and
appetites. It points to the inner power to control one's own desires and
appetites, and in context is one of the fruits of "true knowledge"
(epignosis). As with meekness, however, this grace does not apply to
God, who obviously does not need to restrain Himself. In His incarnation
Christ was the epitome of self-control. He was never tempted or tricked
into doing or saying anything that was not consistent with His Father’s
will and His own divine nature.
Egkrateia points to
an inner power to control one's old desires and cravings inherited from
Adam (see notes on
Ro 5:12).
Sometimes saints forget that even though they have been crucified with
Christ and are dead to the power of sin in their life, the old desires
are still latent and able to be activated in our mortal bodies as Paul
clearly taught writing...
"But
I say, walk by the Spirit & you will not carry out the desire of the
flesh"
(Gal 5:16
cf notes on
Ro 6:12-13).
The Greek word egkrateia
has the idea of to get a grip on one's self, on one's passions! Many of
the early Christian heresies taught that since the body was evil (they
claimed) it was not necessary to curb fleshly lusts, only to think
correctly. The writer of proverbs addresses this issue of "self control"
writing that
"He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he
who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city." (Pr 16:32)
Paul uses egkrateia in his
appearance before Felix, and in this context apparently referring to
self–control in the area of sex. When Paul spoke before Felix and his
wife Drusilla,
“discussing righteousness, self–control and the
judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, ‘Go away for the
present, and when I find time, I will summon you’ ” (Acts
24:24-25).
Felix had stolen Drusilla from her
former husband and was therefore living with her in an adulterous
relationship. The sexual self–control of which Paul spoke pertained to
lustful passion, as Felix understood. The message to the governor was
that he was living contrary to God’s righteousness by refusing to
discipline his sexual desire, and for that he was subject to God’s
judgment.
In Galatians Paul writing of the
fruit of the Holy Spirit says that "there is no law" against "gentleness,
self-control" (Gal 5:23)
Plato uses egkrateia
to refer to self-mastery. It is the spirit which has mastered its
desires and its love of pleasure. Secular Greek uses egkrateia
of the virtue of an Emperor who never lets his private interests
influence the government of his people. It is the virtue which makes a
man so master of himself that he is fit to be the servant of others.
In Peter’s day, self-control
was used of athletes who were to be self-restrained and self-disciplined
and was crucial to victory in the intense competition of the Olympic
Games. Greeks used this term especially to describe one who had his
sexual passions under control, but the NT extends the meaning to all
areas of life where the discernment between good and evil is important
(cf
1Th 5:21-22).
Socrates regarded it as a
cardinal virtue and Philo described it as superiority expressed in
self-restraint. A Christian is to control the flesh, the passions,
and the bodily desires, rather than allowing himself to be controlled by
them (1Co 9:24-25,
26-27).
Self-control
is not a legalistic abstinence, but is an attitude only possible because
of the Divine enablement and because I am a partaker of the Divine
nature, as I yield to the Spirit ("the
fruit of the
Spirit is...self-control"
Gal 5:22-23). He manifests an exemplary
life on the outside (the visible "fruit" in the schematic
diagram above) because he submits to
the Holy Spirit’s control on the inside.
Self-control
means mastering one’s emotions
rather than being controlled by them. Lack of self control played
a significant role in abominable deeds of the false teachers Peter would
expose more fully in chapter 2. Their claims to "liberty" led to
licentiousness rather than life as it should be lived. These men instead
of self control were controlled by sensuality, greed and fleshly
desires. These false teachers believed and taught that knowledge freed
people from the need to control their passions. Peter stamps as false
any "spiritual" doctrine or system that claims that knowledge
emancipates men from the obligations of morality.
Hiebert
quotes Barnett on the interrelationship among these traits
"Where
virtue (moral excellence) guided by knowledge, disciplines desire and
makes it the servant instead of the master of life, self-control may be
said to supplement faith."
The OT gives a dramatic picture of
self-control
where Solomon writes
"Like a city that is broken into
and without walls Is a man who has no control over his spirit." (Pr 25:28)
The city states of those days were walled for protection from marauders.
No wall meant no protection. No self control
by analogy means one is wide open to attack from the Evil One & the old
sinful flesh nature! Such a man or woman is an easy victim when
attacked by his desires and impulses.
Remember that when you take time off from "disciplining yourself for
godliness" (1Ti 4:7-8)
for several weeks you don't just remain static spiritually...just as
cessation of physical exercise results in loss of muscle mass, endurance
level, readiness level so too the same thing occurs in the spiritual
realm. And when you start re-training you're a little sore at first and
you definitely aren't at the spiritual level you were at when you took a
break. The longer you resist the Holy Spirit, the more difficult it
becomes to return to where you should be.
Wayne Barber discusses
"self control"
"Remember
that this self-control arises from and is accompanied by
our knowledge which comes out of obedience to the Word of God. It
comes right out of that faith that God gives us. The definition of
self control means to be able to hold one's self in. 1Co 9:25 Paul
is talking about an athlete and how he has to have self-control
(Ed Note: not egkrateia but the related verb egkrateuomai) ("And
everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control
in all things..." ) This would include control over his
appetite, his temper, his schedule (an athlete needs priorities or
he will become undisciplined). If you wanted to play on the
basketball team in college, you had to have discipline or
self-control. Remember that the definite article ("the" in
the Greek) is before each godly characteristic so Peter is talking
about the self-control, the very self-control and
self-restraint that Jesus had, even as He Himself was tempted as
all men are. And yet He gives us access to that same self-control!
So that's where the analogy breaks down...it's not human
energized self-control Peter is talking about but that which
is available by faith (obedience) from Christ in us. The Christian
ought to have control over his appetite." Wayne goes on to make
the point that when he is in the Word of God, he is a controlled
person. "How many diets have you been on? You lose some but then
you gain it right back. Remember that Scripture repeatedly links
idolatry and immorality (Nu25:1,2). Immorality and a person with
an uncontrolled appetite is closely related all the way through
Scripture. Believers because of Christ within them, possess the
potential to control our temper, to exercise control over our
desires, the power to say "no", the power to set godly priorities,
the power within us so that we can turn off the television so that
we can go to bed early so that we can arise early to be fresh with
God in the AM, the self control to get out of bed in the morning
to be alone with God, etc. And all of this self-discipline comes
out of our faith. We don't have to go to a course or read a book
on how to become self-disciplined! That discipline is within us
and if we are diligent to see results, then we will see God work
it out in our life and move us into His victory." (Bolding added)
For additional insights on this issue
of self control, you might want to read John Piper article entitled "The
Fierce Fruit of Self-Control"
AND IN
SELF-CONTROL PERSEVERANCE: en de te egkrateia ten hupomonen: (Ps 37:7;
Lu 8:15;
21:19;
Ro 2:7;
5:3,4;
8:25;
15:4;
2Co 6:4;
Col 1:11;
1Th 1:3;
2Th 1:4;
3:5;
Heb 6:12,15;
10:36;
12:1;
Ja 1:3,4;
5:7-10;
Rev 1:9;
2:2;
13:10;
14:12)
(See Torrey's Topic "Patience")
Perseverance (5281)
(hupomone
from hupo
= under + meno = stay, remain, abide) is literally
abiding under. The root idea of hupomone is that of
remaining under some discipline, subjecting one’s self to something
which demands the acquiescence of the will to something against which
one naturally would rebel. It portrays a picture
of steadfastly and unflinchingly bearing up under a heavy load and
describes that quality of character which does not allow one to
surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial. The picture is that
of steadfastness, constancy and endurance. It has in it a forward
look, the ability to focus on what is beyond the current pressures (eg
Jesus
"Who for the joy set before Him
endured [verb form hupomeno]
the Cross despising the shame" see notes on
Hebrews 12:2).
And so hupomone does not describe a grim resignation or a passive "grin
& bear" attitude but a triumphant facing of difficult circumstances
knowing that even out of evil God guarantees good. It is courageous
gallantry which accepts suffering and hardship and turns them into grace
and glory.
Hupomone is used 32 times in
the NASB (Lu
2x;
Ro
6x;
2Co
3x;
Col;
1Th;
2Th
2x;
1Ti;
2Ti;
Titus;
Heb
2x;
Js
3x;
2 P;
Re
7x) and is
translated: endurance, 7; patient enduring, 1; perseverance, 21;
steadfastness, 3.
Luke 8:15 "And the seed in the
good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and
good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.
Luke 21:19 "By your
endurance you will gain your lives.
Romans 2:7 (note)
to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and
honor and immortality, eternal life;
Romans 5:3 (note)
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that
tribulation brings about perseverance;
Romans 5:4 (note)
and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
Romans 8:25 (note)
But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait
eagerly for it.
Romans 15:4 (note)
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our
instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of
the Scriptures we might have hope.
Romans 15:5 (note)
Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant
you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus;
2 Corinthians 1:6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort
and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is
effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings
which we also suffer;
2 Corinthians 6:4 but in everything commending ourselves as
servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships,
in distresses,
2 Corinthians 12:12 The signs of a true apostle were performed
among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and
miracles.
Colossians 1:11 (note)
strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the
attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously
1 Thessalonians 1:3 (note) constantly
bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and
steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of
our God and Father,
2 Thessalonians 1:4 therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you
among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the
midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.
2 Thessalonians 3:5 And may the Lord direct your hearts into the
love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.
1 Timothy 6:11 But flee from these things, you man of God; and
pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and
gentleness.
2 Timothy 3:10 (note) But
you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love,
perseverance,
Titus 2:2 (note)
Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in
faith, in love, in perseverance.
Hebrews 10:36 (note)
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the
will of God, you may receive what was promised.
Hebrews 12:1 (note) Therefore,
since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also
lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
James 1:3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces
endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect
result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
James 5:11 Behold, we count those blessed who endured. You have
heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the
Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.
2 Peter 1:6 (note)
and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control,
perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness;
Revelation 1:9 (note) I,
John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom
and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called
Patmos, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
Revelation 2:2 (note) 'I
know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you
cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call
themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;
Revelation 2:3 (note) and
you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and
have not grown weary.
Revelation 2:19 (note)
'I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service
and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at
first.
Revelation 3:10 (note)
'Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will
keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon
the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.
Revelation 13:10 (note)
If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone
kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the
perseverance and the faith of the saints.
Revelation 14:12 (note) Here
is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of
God and their faith in Jesus.
Hupomone is found 9 times in the
Septuagint (LXX)
(1 Chr. 29:15; Ezr. 10:2; Job 14:19; Ps. 9:18; 39:7; 62:5; 71:5; Jer.
14:8; 17:13)
Hupomone is the ability to endure when circumstances are
difficult - not a passive sitting down and bearing things but a
triumphant facing of them so that even out of evil there can come good,
a bearing up in a way that honors and glorifies our heavenly Father.
The
difficulties in our lives,
The obstacles we face,
Give God the opportunity
To show His power and grace.
We need to distinguish another
closely related Greek word
makrothumia (makro =
long + thumos = temper), literally "long-temper" or the idea of a
"long fuse" before it explodes. It is a long holding out of the mind
before it gives room to passion. Although there is some overlap in
meanings, in general, makrothumia has to do more with difficult
people than with difficult circumstances. Hupomone has to do with
the circumstances of life (trials, difficulties, hardships)
Paul explains that the source of a
believer's perseverance in his prayer for the Colossians that they be
strengthened (passive
voice = literally
being strengthened = the effect comes from an outside source, ie,
the grace God supplies) with
all
power (dunamis),
according to His glorious might (kratos),
for the attaining of all
steadfastness (hupomone)
and patience (makrothumia);
joyously (see notes on
Colossians 1:11)
(Note the "all's")
The point is that both the
steadfastness and the patience called for in the life of a believer
cannot be lived in the sphere of mere human strength but requires His
(supernatural) strength. Therefore Paul prays that the believers might
know the power of the risen Son of God ("resurrection power fill us this
hour"). Note that from this text, there is no power shortage because it
is "according to (not a portion of but proportional to) His glorious
might". In other words, His power available to us to remain steadfast
and be patient offers limitless power. As Peake writes:
The equipment with power is
proportional not simply to the recipient’s need, but to the Divine
supply. (Peake, A S: Colossians: The Expositor’s Greek Testament,
III:499)
Perseverance is that spiritual staying power that will die
before it gives in. It is the virtue which can endure, not simply with
resignation, but with a vibrant hope.
Perseverance involves
doing what is right and never giving in to the temptation or trial.
It is a conquering patience or conquering endurance. Hupomone
is the ability to deal triumphantly with anything that life can do to
us. It accepts the blows of life but in accepting them transforms them
into stepping stones to new achievement.
Self-control has to do
with handling the pleasures of life, while
perseverance
relates to the pressures and problems of
life.
Hupomone describes that
spirit which remains under (hupo = under +
meno = remain) trials in a God-honoring way so as to learn the lesson
they are sent to teach, rather than attempt to get out from under them
in an effort to be relieved of their pressure.
Hiebert
adds that perseverance
fosters the ability to
withstand the two Satanic agencies of opposition from the world without
and enticement from the flesh within. This quality was especially
important in view of those who doubted Christ's return because of its
seeming delay. (see notes
2 Peter 3:3;
3:4).
Morris says hupomone
is the attitude of the soldier who in
the thick of battle is not dismayed but fights on stoutly whatever the
difficulties.
Thayer says that hupomone is
the characteristic of a man who is
unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety
by even the greatest trials and sufferings.
Trench says that hupomone
does not mark merely endurance, or even patience, but the
perseverance, the brave patience with which the Christian contends
against the various hindrances, persecutions, and temptations that
befall him in his conflict with the inward and outward world.” He
adds that hupomone is "that temper of spirit in which
we accept God’s dealings with us as good, and therefore without
disputing or resisting.
(Trench, R. C. Synonyms of the New Testament)
Barclay writes that hupomone
does not mean...
the
patience which sits down and accepts things but the patience which
masters them. It is not some romantic thing which lends us wings
to fly over the difficulties and the hard places. It is a
determination, unhurrying and yet undelaying, which goes steadily
on and refuses to be deflected. Obstacles do not daunt it and
discouragements do not take its hope away. It is the steadfast
endurance which carries on until in the end it gets there.
(Hupomone) means the spirit which can
overcome the world; it means the spirit which does not passively
endure but which actively overcomes the trials and tribulations of
life. When Beethoven was threatened with deafness, that most
terrible of troubles for a musician, he said: “I will take life
by the throat.” That is hupomonē. When Scott was involved in ruin
because of the bankruptcy of his publishers, he said: “No man
will say ‘Poor fellow!’ to me; my own right hand will pay the
debt.” That is hupomone. Someone once said to a gallant soul who
was undergoing a great sorrow: “Sorrow fairly colours life,
doesn’t it?” Back came the reply: “Yes! And I propose to choose
the colour!” That is hupomonē...when we meet
life with the hupomonē which Christ can give, the colour of
life is never grey or black; it is always tinged with glory. Hupomonē is not the spirit which
lies down and lets the floods go over it; it is the spirit which
meets things breast forward and overcomes them.
(Hupomone) is the triumphant adequacy
which can cope with life; it is the strength which does not only
accept things, but which, in accepting them, transmutes them into
glory.
Hupomonē is not simply the ability to
bear things; it is the ability to turn them to greatness and to
glory. The thing which amazed the heathen in the centuries of
persecution was that the martyrs did not die grimly, they died
singing. One smiled in the flames; they asked him what he found to
smile at there. “I saw the glory of God,” he said, “and was
glad.” Hupomonē is the quality which makes a man able, not simply
to suffer things, but to vanquish them. The effect of testing
rightly borne is strength to bear still more and to conquer in
still harder battles.
The word used of (Job in James 5:11 "Behold,
we count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the
endurance (hupomone) of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's
dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.")
is that great New Testament word hupomonē, which describes, not a
passive patience, but that gallant spirit which can breast the
tides of doubt and sorrow and disaster and come out with faith
still stronger on the other side. There may be a faith which never
complained or questioned; but still greater is the faith which was
tortured by questions and still believed. It was the faith which
held grimly on that came out on the other side, for “the Lord
blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning” (Job 42:12).
There will be moments in life when we think that God has
forgotten, but if we cling to the remnants of faith, at the end
we, too, shall see that God is very kind and very merciful.
Chrysostom called hupomonē “The
Queen of the Virtues.” In the Authorized Version it is usually
translated patience; but patience is too passive a word. Hupomonē
has always a background of courage. Cicero defines patientia, its
Latin equivalent, as: “The voluntary and daily suffering of hard
and difficult things, for the sake of honour and usefulness.”
Didymus of Alexandria writes on the temper of Job: “It is not
that the righteous man must be without feeling, although he must
patiently bear the things which afflict him; but it is true virtue
when a man deeply feels the things he toils against, but
nevertheless despises sorrows for the sake of God.”...That is
hupomone, Christian steadfastness. It is the courageous acceptance
of everything that life can do to us and the transmuting of even
the worst event into another step on the upward way.
The keynote of hupomone is
not grim, bleak acceptance of trouble but triumph. It describes
the spirit which can not only accept suffering but triumph over
it....As the silver comes purer from the fire, so the Christian
can emerge finer and stronger from hard days. The Christian is the
athlete of God whose spiritual muscles become stronger from the
discipline of difficulties.
(Hupomone) does not describe the
frame of mind which can sit down with folded hands and bowed head
and let a torrent of troubles sweep over it in passive
resignation. It describes the ability to bear things in such a
triumphant way that it transfigures them. Chrysostom has a great
panegyric on this hupomone. He calls it “the root of all
goods, the mother of piety, the fruit that never withers, a
fortress that is never taken, a harbour that knows no storms” and
“the queen of virtues, the foundation of right actions, peace in
war, calm in tempest, security in plots.” It is the courageous
and triumphant ability to pass the breaking-point and not to break
and always to greet the unseen with a cheer. It is the alchemy
which transmutes tribulation into strength and glory.
Hupomonē never means simply the
ability to sit down and bear things but the ability to rise up and
conquer them. God is He who gives us the power to use any
experience to lend greatness and glory to life. God is He in whom
we learn to use joy and sorrow, success and failure, achievement
and disappointment alike, to enrich and to ennoble life, to make
us more useful to others and to bring us nearer to himself.
(Hupomone) is victorious
endurance. “It is unswerving constancy to faith and piety in
spite of adversity and suffering.” It is the virtue which does
not so much accept the experiences of life as conquers them. (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The
Westminster Press)
Perseverance is not something that develops automatically;
we must work at it. James (Ja 1:2-8)
provides the template we need to follow, writing we must
"Consider
it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let
endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing."
Amy Carmichael in
Candles in the Dark
writes that
The best training is to learn to
accept everything as it comes, as from Him whom our soul loves. The
tests are always unexpected things, not great things that can be written
up, but the common little rubs of life, silly little nothings, things
you are ashamed of minding (at all). Yet they can knock a strong man
over and lay him very low.
Writing to the Thessalonians Paul
commends them for their
steadfastness of hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ (see note
1Thessalonians 1:3)
So here we see that steadfastness (hupomone) is
related to hope (remembering that Christian hope is different
from the world's hope for our hope reflects an absolute certainty of
future good and is manifest by a desire of some good with the
expectation of obtaining it). What is the source of their steadfastness?
The context clearly teaches it is "in our Lord Jesus Christ" In
(see note
1Thessalonians 1:10)
we find that the Thessalonian believers are expectantl