Modesty
MODESTY
Is sometimes used to denote humility, and sometimes to express chastity. The Greek word modestus, signifies neat or clean. Modesty, therefore, consists in purity of sentiment and manners, inclining us to abhor the least appearance of vice and indecency, and to fear doing any thing which will incur censure. An excess of modesty may be called bashfulness, and the want of it impertinence. There is a false of vicious modesty, which influences a man to do any thing that is ill or indiscreet; such as, through fear of offending his companions he runs into their follies or excesses; or it is a false modesty which restrains a man from doing what is good or laudable; such as being ashamed to speak of religion, and to be seen in the exercises of piety and devotion.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
modesty
(Latin: modus, measure)
Governs exterior deportment, refraining senses and members from all excess. It is a part of temperance, and its outward expression. The supernatural virtue rises higher, infusing into the regularity of carriage a spiritual beauty that makes evident the grace of the soul. It is a most efficacious protection against pride and sensuality. To govern the exterior it must, of course, originate in the mind and in the will.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Modesty
(Lat. modestia, from maodus, a measure) is sometimes used to denote humility, and sometimes to express chastity. The Greek word kosmios signifies neat, or well arranged. It suggests the idea of simple elegance. Modesty, therefore, consists in purity of sentiment and manners, inclining us to abhor the least appearance of vice and indecency, and to fear doing anything which will justly incur censure. All excess of modesty is called bashfulness or diffidence, and the want of it impertinence or impudence. There is also a false or vicious modesty, which influences a man to do anything that is ill or indiscreet; such as, through fear of offending his companions, he runs into their follies or excesses; or it is a false modesty Which restrains a man from doing what is good or laudable, such as being ashamed to speak of religion, and to be seen in the exercises of piety and devotion.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Modesty
Of women
1Ti 2:9
Instances of:
– Saul
1Sa 9:21
– Vashti
Est 1:11-12
– Elihu
Job 32:4-7 Humility
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Modesty
aidos (G127) Modesty, Propriety, Sobriety
sophrosyne (G4997) Shamefacedness, Self-Control, Moderation
Paul used both of these words in 1Ti 2:9 to describe the truest adornment of a Christian woman. Sophrosyne occurs in two other places in the New Testament: Act 26:25 and 1Ti 2:15. If the distinction drawn in section 19 is correct, then Xenophon was wrong when he had Cyrus say: “He always distinguished between modesty [aido] and self-control [sophro-syne] in this way: The modest flee the openly shameful things, but the self-controlled also flee the things that are secretly shameful.” These remarks are incorrect for both words. Aidos does not refer merely to the avoidance of open and manifest baseness, though aischyne (G152) may do so; and in the case of sophrosyne, a mere characteristic is given as its essence. The etymology of sophrosyne to mean “preserving wisdom,” or “the preservation of wisdom,” must not be taken seriously. Chrysostom’s account of its etymology is correct: “Sophrosyne is derived from having a sound mind.” It is contrasted with akolasia and with akrasia, and is the mean between asotia (G810) and pheidolia. It refers to complete control over the passions and desires, so that they are lawful and reasonable. Aristotle defined it as “the virtue that causes people to behave in respect to bodily pleasures as the law commands.” And according to Plutarch, sophrosyne refers to “a certain curtailment and regulation of passions, both removing those that are improper and excessive and also arranging those that are necessary to the proper time and in moderation.” In Jeremy Taylor’s words:
It is reason’s girdle, and passion’s bridle…. it is “the soul’s strength,” as Pythagoras calls it; “the foundation of virtue,” so Socrates; “the adornment of all that is good,” so Plato; “the stability of the noblest habits,” so Iamblichus.
Often sophrosyne is joined to kosmiotes, eutaxia, karteria, and hagneia.
No single Latin word exactly represents sophrosyne, which Cicero translated by temperantia (temperateness), moderatio (moderation), and modestia (sobriety). According to Cicero, “a characteristic of it [sophrosyne] seems to be a striving to control and calm the impulses of the mind and to preserve a firmness that opposes passion and is moderate in every respect.”
Sophrosyne was a more important virtue in heathen than in Christian ethics, not because Christianity attached less value to it but because the number of virtues was smaller in heathen ethics, and so each virtue received more attention. Additionally, for those who are “led by the Spirit,” the condition of self-command is transformed into a higher sphere in which a man does not order and command himself but is ordered and commanded by God.
In 1Ti 2:9, aidos refers to that “shamefastness” or modesty that shrinks from exceeding the limits of womanly reserve, as well as from the dishonor that would justly attach to doing so. Sophrosyne is that habitual inner self-control, with its constant rein on all the passions and desires, that hinders temptations from overcoming the checks and barriers that aidos opposes.