Self-Control = Freedom

As [Paul] reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed. —Acts 24:25

There’s an interesting passage in Acts 24 that uses the same word for self-control as 2 Peter 1, giving us insight about its meaning.

Paul had been detained by the government in Caesarea. The governor of that province was a man named Felix, who was on his third marriage. He had lured his current wife away from her previous husband.

One day Paul was summoned to appear before Felix and his wife. As Paul spoke to them about the gospel and “righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment,” Scripture says that Felix was “alarmed” and had to “go away.”

Why? Because Felix wknew Paul was talking about him. He didn’t want to face his lack of self-control and righteousness, and he certainly didn’t want to face the judgment.

We may think we’re free when we don’t have to restrain our fleshly desires—free to eat, free to drink, free to sleep around. But according to Scripture, the people who believe that’s freedom are really slaves.