Temperance

And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, Acts 24:25.

In the never ending quest to dumb down the Western World, most new bibles and commentaries substitute the words "self control" for temperance. Almost every Sunday School explanation of "temperance" is that temperance means self control. Like most Roman officials, Felix was intemperate but he did not lack self control. He lacked temperance.

With perfect self control it was a custom of wealthy Romans to over eat and over drink. When they did, they had a specially designed room called a vomitorium. With perfect self control they would go to the vomitorium, stick their finger down their throat and vomit. Then with perfect self control they would go back to the feast table and gorge themsleves some more. That is intemperance.

The root word for temperance is temper. When people lose their temper they don't always loose self control. What they lost was the steady mood that they were in. Their mood is no longer tempered. They become angry. If people always lost self control when they became angry, there would be a lot more divorce and the jails would be much more full.

Like most bible words, temperance and its root word temper can be discerned by viewing them in context. Perhaps the perfect place to see "temper" used in a context that defines it is Ezekiel 46:14; And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the LORD.

Just how thoroughly should the oil and the flour mix. Like any good cook, the person mixing them would temper the oil with fine flour. They would use their own discernment to know when the mix was just right. Before Betty Crocker designed boxes with all of the ingredients perfectly measured out, a woman baking a cake would carefully temper her ingredients as she mixed them together.

I once found an old handmade cook book in a Vermont hay barn that had been prepared in the early 1900s. It didn't use measurements. It would tell its reader to use flour, butter, salt, chocolate powder, lemons, yeast, eggs, or whatever else the recipe called for. When it talked about oven temperatures, it used terms like "medium hot". It was assumed that whoever was cooking would have the sense to know how much of each ingredient to use. It was assumed that anyone who knew how to cook would know how to temper each ingredient into the mix to obtain the desired taste and consistency.

That could never work today. The average person going about to bake a cake or to make cookies needs exact amounts. They need to be told exactly how to mix the ingredients together and in what order. They need to know exactly how hot the oven should be and exactly how long to let it bake. My guess is that if we could taste the bake goods from 1900, we would never want another desert made from a box mix.

Our human relations have taken a similar turn. There was a time when a person who was trained in social behavior knew how to be kind. They knew when to be reserved in manner and when to be effusive. They understood the boundaries of personal contact. Not so today, people need books to tell them how to handle social calls, marriage intimacy, meeting new people, and just about every other aspect of human interaction.

Fortunately the new birth comes with the indwelling of the Spirit of God.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Galatians 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

No new believer has an instant understanding of how to incorporate those nine attributes into his life. The indwelling is there, but he must learn to yield to the Spirit of God. Christian growth can be partially summed up by how well the believer yields to the fruit of the Spirit in his life. What we will look at here is temperance. It is a fruit of the Spirit of God in a believer's life. For example, every believer needs fellowship. Temperance will guide him in how much fellowship to have and when to have it.

I know Christians who won't own a television. Television in itself is not evil. what is evil is the lack of temperance that cause some to watch far too much television and to watch shows that grieve the Spirit of God. Holy Ghost anointed temperance will guide a believer into the exact right mixtures of entertainment, fellowship, worship, bible reading, sleep, work, and every other aspect of life.

I have known people who with perfect will power and self control have timed every aspect of their lives. After a while, such a life becomes like the box mix cake. The flavor will never match the life of a person who has tempered his life together so that each ingredient always has the right measure for each circumstance in life. That is a work of God. That is the fruit of the Spirit working temperance in a believer's life.

Biblical temperance is a Holy Ghost wrought mixture of the affairs of life that keep a believer's life in balance with God. There is simply no self help book that can do that work. No matter how much self control a person has, if the Holy Ghost does not temper the ingredients of a life together it, will ultimately not profit that person.