(2) Ethical content. — In speaking of the 'teach- ing of Jesus' or the 'apostles' teaching,' it is usually the doctrinal or theological content that is primarily thought of, to the exclusion of the prac- tical and moral. But a careful study of the records and specimens of our Lord's instruction and that of His followers shows that the proportion of ethical teaching is very great. The historic interest in apostolic doctrine aroused through centuries of controversy has overshadowed the moral teaching. While it may be straining the niceties of philo- sophical terminology to speak of the ' ethics of the NT ' as though it constituted a system of moral principles and precepts based on human reason, yet no one can be blind to the substantial body of ethical teaching contained in the NT. In the apostolic and sub-apostolic literature this teaching receives full and explicit exposition. Nor again can any one overlook the influence of such moral teaching upon the subsequent developments of human civilization.
The teacher in apostolic times based his moral commands as to conduct upon the requirements of the Moral Law. But there was a distinctively Christian ' way ' (Ac 9^) or mode of life, which was taught and applied by the Christian teacher much in the same manner as the Jewish Rabbis dealt with their Halakha. The authoritative norm of such teaching was the moral teaching of Jesus as Lord. Hence St. Paul speaks of ' my ways which be in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church' (1 Co 4"). In warning the Ephesians against their former Gentile vices, the Apostle says, ' Ye did not so learn Christ ; if so be that ye heard him, and were taught in him' (Eph i^"). The various precepts, however, were all applica- tions of the central principle of love, thus ' fulfil- ling the law of Christ' (Gal 5" 6=). Negatively, the Christian ethic prohibited open vice, such as fornication and drunkenness ; it exposed the sin- fulness of spiritual errors, such as pride and covet- ousness ; positively, it enjoined purity, self-control, liinnility, and above all Christian love (ayairT)). The supreme end of moral perfection, of holiness, was set before believers by the apostles and teachers, whom we see not only instructing converts in
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doctrine, but also ' admonishing every man and teiu'hiiig every man in all wisdum, that we may present every man perfect in Christ' (Col 1^).
LiTERATi'RE. — III adililioFi to the works quoted above, see W. F. Adeney. art. ' Teacher, Teachint;,' in 1IDH; T. M. Lindsay, Th>' C/ilirc/t ami tftt' Ministrj/ in the Early Centuries-, I^ondon, 11)113 ; E. von Dobschiitz, C/(r(,s(mrt Lite intlie I'nmi- live Church, Kiii;. tr., «lu., U)04 ; C. von Weizsacker, 'I'he Apostolic Atje of the Christian Church-, do., lS!)7-!l'.t.
M. Scott Flktciikr.
TEMPERANCE (iyKpireia). — The aim of the present article is to determine the meaning of (yKpdreia in the NT. Our word ' temperance ' is in popular speech limited to moderation in the use of intoxicants or total ahstinence therefrom. This limitation of the word indicates the seriousness of tlie drink question in modern times ; but ti^mper- ance in the NT is not so restricted, so that the dis- cussion of temperance in the modern sense can be touched on here only in so far as it is included in the more general question of ^yKpdreia.
1. Temperance synthetically viewed as one of a catalogue of moral virtues or graces. — In the four cardinal virtues of Greek ethics aiul also the seven of scholastic and modern times temperance has a place, and its meaning is determined not only analytically but also synthetically, i.e. its relation in the moral life to other virtues is e.xliibited. Is there any synthetic treatment of it in the NT ?
In Gal 5'""^ it occurs at the end of a group of graces, and some have found in its position here a proof that it forms, as it were, the kej'-stone of the moral structure — the culminating point of a climax (A. B. D. Alexander, Ethics of St. Paid, Glasgow, 1910, p. 184 ff.) ; but this is not the case. St. Paul maybe opposing it to 'drunkennesses and revel- lings ' in the corresponding list of vices, in which case the word would approach in meaning our own ' temperance' ; but in all likelihood its position in the list is in no way regulative of its meaning, and so we are compelled to take it in its ordinary sense of self-control in food, drink, and especially in sexual indulgence. These ethical lists in St, Paul are not constructed logically. The lack of unifor- mity in them is a suliicient proof of this. Thus in Ac 24-° temperance is associated with righteousness (not in the specific Pauline sense), and both are enforced in the light of the judgment to come. The reason for the association of the two is simply that Felix was notoriously deficient in both these points (Tac. Ann. xii. 54 ; Suet. CUmd. 28). Here ' temper- ance'primarily, perhaps exclusively, means' contin- ence ' — the irepi ruJv dcppoSKrliov (yKpdreta of Xenophon {A(/. V. 4) — a restricted meaning which the verb has in 1 Co 7". Indeed the word tended towards this limited sense in later literature as our own word ' temperance' is restricted to the matter of drink. The reason is obvious, Iiumorality was even a graver sin for the Church than gluttony or drunken- ness.