Self-Control in a Time of Self-Fulfillment
For Meditation
Last week when we talked about gentleness, we mentioned that humility and gentleness were not valued virtues in the Greco-Roman society. However, there was hardly any virtue valued more highly to the Greeks and Romans than self-control. Xenophon, a student of Socrates, wrote, “Shall not every man hold self-control to be foundation of all virtue?” It was a common assumption that the virtuous person is one who is able to hold his or her passions under control. Modern writers on virtue have followed this same thread, such as William J. Bennett in The Book of Virtues. This is self-control as self-mastery.
But Paul’s approach to self-control is pretty different. You can immediately see that he is approaching self-control differently by putting it at the end of his list of virtues rather than the beginning. In contrast to the philosophers, Paul names love as the chief of all virtues, out of which all the others flow. Biblical self-control is not about self-mastery, as the Greeks and Romans understood it. Biblical self-control is about being empowered by the Spirit (not the self) to order our passions toward the love of God and neighbor.
This understanding of self-control results in a truly unique approach to human passions and desires. On the one hand, the hedonistic stream of our culture encourages us to express our passions in our personal pursuit of happiness. On the other hand, the moralistic and religious stream of our culture encourages us to repress our desires and deny our passions in the quest of self-mastery. The gospel approach stands in contrast to either of these paths, both of which keep the self at the center. Our desires and passions are a good and beautiful part of our humanity, yet under the leadership of Jesus and his Spirit we can order and direct our desires toward that which we were made: love of God and neighbor. This is not about self-mastery, but living in step with and empowered by the Spirit to be the redeemed people God has created us to be, with not the self but God at the center.
In preparation for worship this Sunday, read the account of Jesus entering into Jerusalem in Matthew 21:1-11 and consider how Jesus’ own self-control is at the heart of his saving mission.
Galatians 5:22–23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.
Matthew 16:21-26
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”