Source: View original Google Doc Converted: 2026-04-22
What Is Temperance?
Temperance (Greek: sōphrosynē) is the virtue of moderation and self-governance — the ability to direct one’s impulses, desires, and behaviors according to reason and virtue rather than passion and impulse.
It is listed as one of the four cardinal virtues (alongside prudence, justice, and fortitude) in both classical Greek philosophy and Christian moral theology.
Temperance is not the elimination of desire but its proper ordering — enjoying good things in right measure, at the right time, for the right reasons.
Areas of Temperance
1. Speech
The tongue is perhaps the arena where temperance is most needed and most often neglected.
“If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.” — James 1:26
“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” — Colossians 4:6
Temperance in speech means:
- Speaking what is true, necessary, and kind
- Not every thought needs to be spoken
- Not every argument needs to be won
- The pause between feeling and speaking
2. Habits and Technology
The modern world has created unprecedented temptation for intemperate use of time and attention:
- Average screen time: 7+ hours per day for adults
- Social media designed to maximize engagement, not virtue
- The infinite scroll — engineered to prevent the natural stopping point
Temperance in technology means:
- Setting boundaries before the temptation begins (not during)
- No phones at meals, in prayer, or in the first and last hour of the day
- Using technology as a tool, not allowing it to become a master
3. Food and Fasting
“Do not be among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.” — Proverbs 23:20–21
The Coptic Church’s fasting calendar (~210 fasting days per year) is the most extensive fasting discipline in Christianity — precisely because the Fathers knew that temperance in food trains temperance in everything else.
If you can say no to food, you can say no to other things.
Anger: The Special Case
Anger deserves its own section because it is the most immediately destructive passion and the hardest to control once it ignites.
Cain and Abel (Genesis 4)
“Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.’” — Genesis 4:5–7
God warned Cain before the murder: sin is crouching at the door. “You must rule over it.” Anger uncontrolled leads Cain to the first murder. God’s counsel before the act was temperance.
Moses (Numbers 20:7–12)
Moses — “the meekest man on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3) — lost his temper at the waters of Meribah. He struck the rock twice instead of speaking to it, as God commanded. The consequence: he did not enter the Promised Land.
A moment of uncontrolled anger cost him decades of faithfulness.
David (1 Samuel 25)
David was about to massacre Nabal’s household in rage over an insult. Abigail’s intervention stopped him. David recognized afterward: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt” (1 Sam 25:32–33).
Temperance sometimes comes through another person — receive it gratefully.
Saul (1 Samuel 18–19)
Saul’s uncontrolled jealousy and rage led him from envy to attempted murder to madness. Anger that is not tempered becomes a lifestyle, then an identity.
The Case Study of Jonah
“And he asked that he might die, and said, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’” — Jonah 4:8
Jonah fasted for three days in the belly of the fish — one of the most intense acts of temperance in Scripture. Yet the same Jonah was consumed by self-righteous anger when God spared Nineveh.
The lesson: temperance in one area does not guarantee temperance in all areas. Jonah could fast, but he could not govern his anger or his self-pity.
Practical Progression: Food → Words → Senses → Thoughts
The Fathers suggest a progression for developing temperance:
- Begin with food — fasting trains the will. The body is the most immediate teacher.
- Move to words — having trained the appetite, train the tongue.
- Then the senses — what we look at, listen to, and dwell on.
- Finally thoughts — the interior life. This is the goal: governing what rises in the mind.
Each stage prepares for the next. It is useless to try to govern thoughts before governing the body. The outer disciplines train the inner capacity.
How to Grow in Temperance
- Know your weak area — temperance is specific. Where do you most lack self-control?
- Set the rule before the temptation — Odysseus tied himself to the mast before the Sirens. Make the rule when you are not tempted.
- Start small — One meal per week of fasting is better than a failed vow of daily fasting. Begin where you can actually succeed.
- Gradual improvements — The goal is not perfection but direction. 10% more temperate this year than last.
- Accountability — Tell your confessor or a trusted friend where you are struggling. Temptation hates the light.
- Confess weakness to God — “I cannot do this alone” is the beginning of temperance, not its failure.
“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” — Philippians 4:13
This verse is often taken as a motivation toward ambitious achievement. In context, Paul is talking about contentment — the temperance to be satisfied whether in abundance or in need. It is a verse about self-control.