Valorous

Self-Control - Fruit of the Spirit

Listen Later

This is our final episode of season 2, the last fruit of the spirit listed in Galatians 5, self-control! This word doesn't have a Hebrew equivalent, so we did our best using the Greek word Enkratia. Check out our show notes below, and enjoy the episode.

 

Enkratia (ἐγκράτεια)

“Self-Control”

 

Why start with the Greek?

    • Some Greek words are connected to concepts in Hebrew but not directly to a Hebrew word. This is the case with enkratia. We have to work backwards to understand where Paul is coming from, and be careful not to read our western thought into the scriptures.
  • Note: Some of the concepts Paul talked about were for Greeks and there was no 1:1 comparison to the words in Hebrew. They connected multiple moral concepts into one word.  Paul must be understood as a Jew writing to non-Jews, applying Torah to their moral framework.  We are not Rome, so how we apply Torah may look different from how Paul wrote... and this is OK! 

 

Strongs translates Enkratia:

  • Temperance, self-control (the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, esp. his sensual appetites)
  • From the root, enkratos
    • strong, robust, having power over, possessed of (a thing), mastering, controlling, curbing, restraining, controlling one's self, temperate, continent 
  • En – in, by, with. Kratos – power, dominion, strength
  • Plato thought enkratia was a paradox: 

    • “Now the phrase ‘master of himself’ is an absurdity, is it not? For he who is master of himself would also be subject to himself,” (Plato Republic, 430e)

    • Aristotle considered enkratia to be a word in need of a qualifier, 

    “As therefore we do not call bad doctors and actors bad men, because neither kind of incapacity is actually a vice, but only resembles Vice by analogy, so in the former case it is clear that only self-restraint and lack of restraint in regard to the same things as are the objects of Temperance and Profligacy are to be deemed Self-restraint and Unrestraint proper, and that these terms are applied to anger only by analogy; and so we add a qualification, ‘unrestrained in anger,’ just as we say ‘unrestrained in the pursuit of honor’ or ‘gain.’” (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 7.4.6)

    • From this we learn that the Greeks felt enkratia was either insufficient without a qualifier (Aristotle), or applied to the whole scope of existence (Plato).  It was seen both as a quality of restraint and of mastery.

     

    Hebrew concepts

    • Self-Governance (Mashal – Rule)
        • Go to the ant, you slacker—consider its ways and be wise! 7 It has no commander, no overseer or mashal. 8 Yet it prepares its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. (Proverbs 6:6-8)
  • If you do well, it will lift. But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the doorway. Its desire is for you, but you must mashal it. (Genesis 4:7)
  • Also keep Your servant from willful sins. May they not have mashal over me. Then I will be blameless, free from great transgression. (Psalm 19:14)
  • Better to be slow to anger than a mighty warrior. One who has mashal over his temper is better than one who conquers a city. (Proverbs 16:32)
  • Ruling over one’s own self is seen as a moral imperative.  The scriptures are clear that “every man doing right in his own eyes” is disastrous, but ruling over your own body with God’s priorities is life-giving.
    • Set-Apart Life (Palah – Severed/separated)
        • But know that Adonai has set apart (palah) the godly for His own. Adonai will hear when I call to Him. (Psalm 4:4)
  • “But on that day I will palah the land of Goshen, where My people are dwelling—except no swarm of flies will be there—so that you may know that I, Adonai, am in the midst of the earth. (Exodus 8:18)
  • I praise You, for I am awesomely, wonderfully palah! Wonderful are Your works— and my soul knows that very well. (Psalm 139:14)
  • Being set apart means being used for a specific purpose.  This does not mean the purpose is evident, nor that the purpose can be chosen by our own will.
    • Singleness of Purpose (Chanak – Dedication)
        • When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he rallied his trained (chanak) men, those born in his household… (Genesis 14:14a)
  • “The officers are to speak to the troops saying, ‘What man has built a new house but has not chanak(ed) it? Let him go back to his house—otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would chanak it. (Deuteronomy 20:5)
  • King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people chanak(ed) the House of God.
  • Chanak a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6)
  • Every aspect of a set-apart asks the question, “Set apart for what?” The one doing the separating is the one who has the authority to make that declaration.
    • Surrender of Will (Bachar – Chosen)
      • Who is this man who fears Adonai? He will instruct him in the way he should choose (bachar). (Psalm 25:12)
  • He bachar our inheritance for us,… (Psalm 47:5a)
  • Then He detested Joseph’s tent and bachar not the tribe of Ephraim. 68 Instead He bachar the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved. (Psalm 78:67, 68)
  • But there will be a crushing of transgressors and sinners together. Forsaking Adonai, they will be consumed. 29 For they will be ashamed of the sacred oaks that you desired, and embarrassed because of the gardens that you have bachar(ed). (Isaiah 1:28, 29)
  • Resignation to the will of God means setting our will aside.  That means what the flesh wants to do is set aside in favor of doing what the Spirit wants.  (Note: if we allow ourselves to continually choose our will over His will, we are in bondage to the flesh just as the Israelites were still in bondage in their hearts.)

    • (Note: Transaction of the Table)

    (Note: Power of the tongue: James, Psalms, ‘self talk’, etc.



    Bibliography

    Clark, M. (1999). Etymological dictionary of Biblical Hebrew. Jerusalem, Israel: Feldheim Publishers.

    Schlimm, M. R. (2018). 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

    Strong, J. (2022, June 9). H2617 - ḥeseḏ - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv). Retrieved from Blue Letter Bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2617/kjv/wlc/ss0/0-1



    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store
    ValorousBy Taharah Katherine
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5

    5

    4 ratings