The whole passage Ro 12'-13" has to be con- sidered if one is to grasp the wide scope of iru- tppoavfi) in St. Paul's teaching. It moves in the sphere of a community redeemed by the mercies of God (Ro 12'), renewed in mind (12-), endowed with v.aried graces by God's Spirit (12'), to which love is the fulfilling of the law (13'°), and which is waiting for the day of Chri.st (13""'''). On this plane light is thrown on the term by the wider Platonic usage, and we may go on to discuss (c) the third application of the term by St. Paul in Timothy and Titus.
* The meaning of o-wcfipoo-urTj is best understood by its opposite v^pi?, which is the general spirit of setting oneself up against what is higher than oneself, whether by insubordination to constituted authority (cf. Ro 13') and divine law, or by the rebellion of the appetites against the law of reason (cf. Ro 13'-''). Thus this quality in some degree includes what we call humility. It is often said that the virtue of humility is not recognised in the Greek moral code, but the man who was f7wii>pu>v in regard to the gods would be a humble man, and the v^piaTiKo^ is the " proud man " in the language of the Bible ' (Nettleship, p. 98).
It is in this wide sense that we are to understand these terms in 1 Ti 2''-3= and Tit 22-8 where St.
SOBKKXESS, SOKKIKTY
SONS UF GOli
Paul shows the univei'sal application of tliis prin- ciple to conduct. It applies to all sections ot the Christian community in all their relations, to men and women, to old and young, in the soul, in the family, in the Church, and in the State. In one passayu it condescends even to the matter of dress, ^larried women should use decorous garb in adorn- ing themselves with modesty and iiropriety. ' In " modesty " is involved an innate moral reimgnance to the doing of the dishonourahle act' (Trench, Synonyms of the NT^,^. 6J). Here it includes the feeling of disgust at unnecessary display, while propriety points rather to the sense of tact which leads a married woman to dress aright without erring either on the side of shahhiness or on that of show. But this .saving grace extends much further and penetrates much deeper than the out- ward person. It implies tlie gentle, graciims sense of suDordination and obedience to authority, the subordination of the younger women to their husbands : and the older women ou^;ht by their own conduct to teach * this virtue to the younger (Tit 2^-''). It implies the right attitude of the young to their elders and their superiors, and to their reason. It becomes the bishop and ])resbyter, for how else can they exercise authority without the excess of rigour or the laxit}' of weakness? There is an air of graciousness about the word which is not found in iyKparaa, for iyKpireia is forcible restraint, and even Plato and Aristotle insist that a man isnot o-uKftpuv ' unless his mastery of his passions and impulses is so easy and assiired that there is no sense of constraint about it' (Nettleship, p. 97, footnote). Harmony as well as subordination is included — ^a harmony resulting from every thing and every person being in their appropriate place.
In 1 Ti 2"> there is doubt as to whether this virtue is to be understood of women or of children or of parents. ' She shall be saved througli the child- bearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctilication with sobriety.' It is possible to under.stand this of the women themselves ; it is possible to understand it of husband and wife alike in their home relations ; but it is better to refer it to the children who in the atmosphere of this virtue have been brought <ip in faith and love and sanctilication. Thus the mother will see the primal curse turned into a blessing in her children. This virtue also avoids the extremes of softness and sourness, of laxity and harshness. Hence Timothy is reminded that the Christian spirit is one, not of fear, but of fortitude, of love, and of <riii<f)povL(Tij.6!. This is to be understood not simidy of personal self-control, but of ability to control others as well. Fear is the vice which shrinks from duty through terror of pain. Its oppo.site is fortitude — a virtue always associated with self- control, which is doing one's duty when pleasure would say ' No.'
J. MolTatt aptlj* quotes Gilbert Murray (Tke Rixe of thf. Greek Epic-, Oxford, 1911, p. 4S), that awtfipoaui^ * is somcthiiij; like Temperance, Gentleness, Mercy ; sometimes Innocence, never mere Caution ; a tempering of dominant emotions by pentler
thoupht The man or woman who is »6phr6n walks amid the
beauties and perils of the world, feeling the love, joy, anger, and the rest ; and through all he has that in his mind which saves. — \Ahom does it save? Not him only, bvit, as we should say, the whole situation. It saves the imminent evil from coming to be ' (_Exp, sth ser., ii. [1911] 564).
'^wrjipoaOvri indicates that ' each sex and situation has lines of conduct appropriate to itself, and that the individual must have tact and .strength of will enough to pursue these lines instead of lapsing into