Thread: Christmas
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Old 12-10-2008, 04:57 PM
Harley Harley is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Texas
Posts: 35
Default Moderation?

Php 4:5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

Interestingly, this is the only place in the Bible where the word moderation is used.

Because I believe the King James Bible I am less interested in understanding what the original Greek word here means because I trust that God through the Holy Ghost guided the translators such that the correct word, moderation, was used. So rather than looking to the Greek, I will look to the Oxford English Dictionary to determine what this word and thus sentence means.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, moderation originally means:
the quality of being moderate in harshness or intensity; mildness, clemency (obs.). Later more generally: the quality of being moderate in conduct, opinion, etc.; avoidance of excess or extremes in behaviour; temperateness, self-control, restraint.
I believe strongly that this is the definition the translators had in mind when guided by the Holy Ghost they rendered Philippians 4:5 as they did.

I realize the following verse is erroneously applied to Christian liberty and grace but if we look to the beginning of the paragraph in verse 1, Paul is encouraging the Philippians – and us – to stand fast in the Lord:
Php 4:1 ¶ Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
Christmas, Easter, Super Bowl Sunday – any celebration that would compete for our worship of our Lord should be approached in moderation. We do not want the unbelieving world to ever question who it is that is the most important person in our life and the object of our true love. True?

And finally, I never want to forget the consequences of my own actions, whether upon the unbelieving world or my fellow brothers and sisters:
Ro 14:21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
Harley