The Character Of The Christian Leader

The Christian leader must be sober (nephalios, Greek #3524 ) and he must not over-indulge in wine, (paroinos, Greek #3943 ). In the ancient world wine was continually used. Where the water supply was very inadequate and sometimes dangerous, wine was the most natural drink of all. It is wine which cheers the hearts of gods and men ( 9:13 ). In the restoration of Israel she will plant her vineyards and drink her wine ( Amos 9:14 ). Strong drink is given to those who are ready to perish, and wine to those whose hearts are heavy ( Proverbs 31:6 ).

This is not to say that the ancient world was not fully alive to the dangers of strong drink. Proverbs speaks of the disaster which comes to the man who looks on the wine when it is red ( Proverbs 23:29-35 ). Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler ( Proverbs 20:1 ). There are terrible stories of what happened to people through over-indulgence in wine. There is the case of Noah ( Genesis 9:18-27 ); of Lot ( Genesis 19:30-38 ); of Amnon ( 2 Samuel 13:28-29 ). Although the ancient world used wine as the commonest of all drinks, it used it most abstemiously. When wine was drunk, it was drunk in the proportion of two parts of wine to three parts of water. A man who was drunken would be disgraced in ordinary heathen society, let alone in the Church.

The interesting thing is the double meaning that both words in this section possess. Nephalios ( Greek #3524 ) means sober, but it also means watchful and vigilant; paroinos ( Greek #3943 ) means addicted to wine, but it also means quarrelsome and violent. The point that the Pastorals make here is that the Christian must allow himself no indulgence which would lessen his Christian vigilance or soil his Christian conduct.

There follow two Greek words which describe two great qualities which must characterize the Christian leader. He must be prudent (sophron, Greek #4998 ) and well-behaved (kosmios, Greek #2887 ).

We have translated sophron ( Greek #4998 ) by prudent, but it is virtually untranslatable. It is variously translated of sound mind, discreet, prudent, self-controlled, chaste, having complete control over sensual desires. The Greeks derived it from two words which mean to keep one's mind safe and sound. The corresponding noun is sophrosune ( Greek #4997 ), and the Greeks wrote and thought much about it. It is the opposite of intemperance and lack of self-control. Plato defined it as "the mastery of pleasure and desire." Aristotle defined it as "that power by which the pleasures of the body are used as law commands." Philo defined it as "a certain limiting and ordering of the desires, which eliminates those which are external and excessive, and which adorns those which are necessary with timeliness and moderation." Pythagoras said that it was "the foundation on which the soul rests." Iamblichus said that "it is the safeguard of the most excellent habits in life." Euripides said that it was "the fairest gift of God." Jeremy Taylor called it "reason's girdle and passion's bridle." Trench describes sophrosune ( Greek #4997 ) as "the condition of entire command over the passions and desires, so that they receive no further allowance than that which law and right reason admit and approve." Gilbert Murray wrote of sophron ( Greek #4998 ): "There is a way of thinking which destroys and a way which saves. The man or woman who is sophron ( Greek #4998 ) walks among the beauties and perils of the world, feeling love, joy, anger, and the rest; and through all he has that in his mind which saves. Whom does it save? Not him only, but, as we should say, the whole situation. It saves the imminent evil from coming to be." E. F. Brown quotes in illustration of sophrosune ( Greek #4997 ) a prayer of Thomas Aquinas which asks for "a quieting of all our impulses, fleshly and spiritual."

The man who is sophron ( Greek #4998 ) has every part of his nature under perfect control, which is to say that the man who is sophron ( Greek #4998 ) is the man in whose heart Christ reigns supreme.

The companion word is kosmios ( Greek #2887 ), which we have translated well-behaved. If a man is kosmios ( Greek #2887 ) in his outer conduct it is because he is sophron ( Greek #4998 ) in his inner life. Kosmios ( Greek #2887 ) means orderly, honest, decorous. In Greek it has two special usages. It is common in tributes and in inscriptions to the dead. And it is commonly used to describe the man who is a good citizen. Plato defines the man who is kosmios ( Greek #2887 ) as "the citizen who is quiet in the land, who duly fulfils in his place and order the duties which are incumbent upon him as such." This word has more in it than simply good behaviour. It describes the man whose life is beautiful and in whose character all things are harmoniously integrated.

The leader of the Church must be a man who is sophron ( Greek #4998 ), his every instinct and desire under perfect control; he must be a man who is kosmios ( Greek #2887 ), his inner control issuing in outward beauty. The leader must be one in whose heart Christ's power reigns and on whose life Christ's beauty shines.