Temperance is one of the four Christian Cardinal virtues. It is the virtue of being able to keep our passions and desires under control instead of them controlling us. It is much more than just abstaining from something like food or alcohol but is using our passions and God given desires in the correct way.

Below is a close to transcript of what is covered in the podcast:

Welcome back to “Theology that Matters.” We are continuing our series on the Virtues and focusing on what has traditionally been called the “Cardinal Virtues.” They are called cardinal, for that is from a Latin word that means the hinge… like on a door, so these virtues are a hinge on which all the other Christian virtues come out of and are necessary to truly follow Jesus has he asks us to. These Cardinal virtues allow us to really live out the three great virtues (which we will discuss after the Cardinal virtues) of faith, hope and love.

Last time we talked about Prudence (wisdom) and why it is so important. Without prudence, which is the knowledge of what is right and wrong, there is no other way to act properly. One can’t act right if one does not know what is right and wrong. Temperance, Courage (fortitude) and Justice are impossible without Prudence. So prudence gives you the knowledge that urges us to act and act we must for the good by being temperate, courageous and just. These virtues help us then to commune in the divine love and be with God. Thus they are important to understand, seek and try to live out in our lives by the grace of God. If we want to be like Jesus and follow him, these Christian virtues are vital for us.

As we talk about Temperance today I want to give a quick definition of what it is Not and what it is and then get into some more detail about how we can be temperate and some ways that we commonly are intemperate. Temperance is not simply abstaining from something as most understand it. This common belief has made it too narrow a term and so people use it mostly about controlling alcohol or food, such as don’t drink too much or at all and don’t over eat and hurt your belly. That is way too limiting. Temperance is about much more than that.

C.S. Lewis says, “Temperance is going the right length and no further.” It is using all pleasures in the right moderation, for the right reason and in the right way. Temperance is mostly concerned with the pleasures of the body, viz. food, drink, sex, leisure time, work, family and using them wisely, not just avoiding pleasure. Temperance is concerned with the control of pleasures instead of them controlling or ruling over your life. We can do this when we have a healthy appreciation for the goods of life that God has created us for.. It is more than just self-control, but divine control of our lives, of our pleasures, habits and actions, in which the Spirit brings the body under subjection to God and for God by God’s power.

The opposite of temperance is intemperance, which is letting pleasures, desires rule us where they control us. Being intemperate is having an abnormal intensity of things that distract us from the good or God. In this way one’s pleasures are too much, to strong or too much out of control and then distract us from the Good. Control of our passions comes from God but also is tied to Prudence. One can’t be under the proper control if one does not know why or what we need to be controlled for and from. Prudence gives us the wisdom to know right and wrong and what we should avoid, do and what is the proper moderation. Temperance is living out this wisdom. So by being a temperate person one avoids ruin. Intemperance leads us to indulging too much in pleasure or avoiding it all together because we don’t see the proper place God has made in our lives for pleasure.

Let me give you an example of being intemperate and then why this negative consequence can be applied to all intemperate actions. Then I will give a few other ways(continued)