Self-Denial
SELF-DENIAL
A term that denotes our relinquishing every thing that stands in opposition to the divine command, and our own spiritual welfare, Mat 16:24. It does not consist in denying what a man is, or what he has: in refusing favours converred on us in the course of providence; in rejecting the use of God’s creatures; in being careless of life, health, and family; in macerating the body, or abusing it in any respect; but in renouncing al those pleasures, profets, views, connections, or practices, that are prejudicial to the true interests of the soul. The understanding must be so far denied as not to lean upon it, independent of divine instruction, Pro 3:5-6. The will must be denied, so far as it opposes the will of God, Eph 5:1-33. The affections, when they become inordinate, Col 3:5. The gratification of the members of the body must be denied when out of their due course, Rom 6:12-13. The honours of the world, and praise of men, when they become a snare, Heb 11:24-26. Worldly emoluments, when to be obtained in an unlawful way, or when standing in opposition to religion and usefulness, Mat 4:20-22. Friends and relatives, so far as they oppose the truth, and would influence us to oppose it too, Gen 12:1. Our own righteousness, so as to depend upon it, Php 3:8-9. Life itself must be laid down, if called for, in the cause of Christ, Mat 16:24-25. In fine, every thing that is sinful must be denied, however pleasant, and apparently advantageous, since, without holiness, no man shall see the Lord, Heb 12:14. To enable us to practise this duty, let us consider the injunction of Christ, Mat 16:24; his eminent example, Php 2:5; Php 2:8; the encouragement he gives, Mat 16:25; the example of his saints in all ages; Heb 11:1-40 :; the advantages that attend it, and, above all, learn to implore the agency of that Divine Spirit, without whom we can do nothing.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
Self Denial
the forbearing to follow one’s inclinations or desires. In the scriptural sense it is the renouncing of all those pleasures, profits, views, connections, or practices that are prejudicial to the true interests of the soul. The understanding must be so far denied as not to lean upon it independent of divine instruction (Pro 3:5-6). The will must be denied so far as it opposes the will of God (Eph 5:17). The affections must be denied when they become inordinate (Col 3:5). The gratification of the members of the body must be denied when out of their due course (Rom 6:12-13). The honors of the world and praise of men must be foregone when they become a snare (Heb 11:24-26); also worldly emoluments, when to be obtained in an unlawful way or when standing in opposition to religion and usefulness (Mat 4:20-22). Friends and relatives must be renounced, so far as they oppose the truth and would influence us to oppose it too (Gen 12:1). Our own righteousness must be relinquished, so as not to depend upon it (Php 3:8-9). Life itself must be laid down if called for in the cause of Christ (Mat 16:24-25). In fine, everything that is sinful must be denied, however pleasant and apparently advantageous, since, without holiness, no man shall see the Lord (Heb 12:14).
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Self-Denial
SELF-DENIAL.Self-denial is undoubtedly an essential part of the religious life as set before men by Jesus Christ. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself (Mat 16:24). The word used () occurs elsewhere only in the parallel passages (Mar 8:34, Luk 9:23); in the accounts given by the four Evangelists of St. Peters denial (Mat 26:34-35; Mat 26:75, Mar 14:30-31; Mar 14:72, Luk 22:61, Joh 13:38); and in our Lords denunciation of apostasy (Luk 12:9). It is used in the LXX Septuagint to translation . It is a strong word, and its meaning is best understood perhaps by comparing it with the corresponding expression of St. Paul, I count as loss ( , Php 3:7-8). It must be understood to include a conquest of the insistent and unruly demands of the body, denial of the lower self; and a bringing into subjection of the ambitions and emotions of the intellect and spirit, denial of the higher self.
1. The denial of the carnal self.The practices by which men have sought to accomplish this kind of self-denial pass generally under the name of asceticism. There are five such kinds of discipline recommended or countenanced by our Lords teaching and example: (1) fasting, (2) celibacy and sexual restraint, (3) almsgiving, (4) vigils, (5) the refusal of luxury in the surroundings of life.
(1) Fasting was practised by our Lord Himself (Mat 4:1 ff. ||). It was presupposed as likely to form part of the religious life by His disciples (Mat 6:16 ff., Mar 2:20). It was practised by the Apostles and the Church in their time (Act 10:9; Act 10:30; Act 13:3; Act 14:23, 1Co 7:5), and traditions of the severity of their fasting survived into the 2nd cent. (Clem. Recog. vii. 6; Clem. Alex. [Note: Alexandrian.] Paedag. ii. 1; Can. [Note: Canaanite.] Murat. i. 11). In the sub-Apostolic age, probably as a result of the example of the Pharisees, fasting on stated days became a common form of self-denial (Did. viii.; Hermas, Sim. v. 1; Clem. Alex. [Note: Alexandrian.] Strom. vii. 12). The Lenten fast grew from an original 14 days (Tertull. de Jejun. 15) to 40 days, in imitation of our Lords fast in the wilderness. The Friday fast, the Lenten fast, and the custom of fasting before receiving the Communion, were very general, if not universal, in the early Catholic and the mediaeval Church. See art. Fasting.
(2) Celibacy is countenanced by our Lord, but not generally recommended (Mat 19:12, Luk 14:26). It and temporary sexual restraint are recommended and even deemed specially honourable by the Apostles (1Co 7:29; 1Co 7:35, Rev 14:3-4). In the sub-Apostolic age the idea of the superior sanctity of the virgin state grew rapidly (Did. xi. 11; Ignat. Ep. ad Polyc. v.; Just. Mart. Apol. i. 15; Athenag. 33, etc.). See art. Celibacy.
(3) Almsgiving, as a form of self-denial, is distinctly recommended by our Lord (Mat 6:1 ff., Luk 11:41; Luk 12:33, Mar 12:43; cf. Luk 6:38, Mat 5:42, Act 20:35), and He Himself, though poor, practised it (Joh 13:29). The Apostles insisted on the duty of almsgiving, at first apparently indiscriminately (Act 2:44-45), afterwards with more caution (Rom 12:8, 2Co 8:3, Jam 2:14 f., 1Jn 3:17, Heb 13:16, Jam 1:27, 2Co 9:6-7, Gal 6:9, 1Co 16:1, 2Co 9:1, Rom 15:26, Act 11:27-30; cf. 2Th 3:10). In the early Church, almsgiving, either weekly or monthly, was a recognized duty (Tertull. Apol. 39; Cypr. de Oper. et Elecm.). See Almsgiving.
(4) Vigils.Watching and wakefulness as a form of self-denying service to God were no doubt suggested by our Lords commands (Mat 24:42; Mat 26:41, Luk 12:37) as well as by His own practice (Mat 14:23; Mat 26:38), and in this sense were understood many of the Apostolic exhortations (1Co 16:13, 1Th 5:6, Eph 6:18). Examples of vigil services are to be found in the records of the Apostolic Church (Act 12:12; Act 20:7) and in the practice of St. Paul (2Co 6:5; 2Co 11:27). The heathen Plinys description (Ep. x. 97) of the Christians as meeting before daybreak probably points to nothing but a desire for privacy and a feeling of the necessity for avoiding public notice, but we have certainly allusions to vigils in the strict sense of the word in the writings of several of the early Fathers (Clem. Alex. [Note: Alexandrian.] Paedag. ii. 9; Tertull. ad Ux. ii. 5; Cypr. de Laps. 34 ff.; Lactant. vii. 19; August. Ep. ad Januar. 119; Socr. i. 37, v, 21; Sozom. ii. 29, iii. 6).
(5) Refusal of luxury.Another region in which self-denial might be exercised was found in the surroundings of life, clothes, household arrangements, etc. Our Lords own example (Mat 8:20) was appealed to, and certain hints in His teaching were felt to have a bearing on the subject (Mat 10:10; Mat 11:8, Luk 16:19). The teaching of the Apostles was more detailed and definite (1Ti 2:9, 1Pe 3:3 f.). The question of the amount of luxury permissible to Christians came up in the Montanist controversy (Euseb. v. 18. 4; Tertull. de Coron. Mil. 5, 10, 11). It occupies a considerable part of the Paedag. of Clem, of Alex. [Note: Alexandrian.] (see especially ii. 11, ii. 812, iii. 2, etc.), and is discussed by Cyprian (de Virg. vel. and de Cult. fem.).
2. The denial of the higher intellectual and psychical self.When we consider the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are at once struck by His definite and marked departure from the ethics of classical antiquity. For Him there is no such word as (cf. , and the Lat. vir-tus) with the sense of elevated manliness. Nor has He anything to correspond with the classical tetrad (or ), , , . These express the completest development of the higher, better self in man, and proclaim as the ideal the attainment of the truest manliness in the face of an appreciative and admiring world. For our Lord the ideal is a different one. His life fulfils the conception of the prophet. He has no beauty that men should desire Him. He is despised, rejected, a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He is meek and lowly of heart (cf. Zec 9:9, 2Co 10:1, Php 2:7). He is one that serveth (Mat 20:28, Joh 13:13-17). It is the poor in spirit, they that mourn, the meek, and those that are reviled whom He calls blessed (cf. Mat 18:3-4; Mat 19:30; Mat 20:14, Mar 10:27 ff., Luk 1:48). It is quite evident that the ideal here set up is wholly difterent from that of the classical philosophers. The two are, in fact, in fundamental opposition. The one is the ideal of the development, the other the ideal of the denial of the higher self. The Apostles understood the Master very well and taught as He did (but see the use of in what may be its classical sense in Php 4:8 and in 2Pe 1:5). Indeed, they insisted with even more than His iteration on the denial of self (1Co 1:28-29, 2Co 1:5; 2Co 6:10, Php 2:6-8, 2Co 10:1, 1Pe 2:21, Gal 5:23; Gal 6:1, Eph 4:2, Col 3:12, Jam 1:21; Jam 3:13, 1Pe 5:5, 2Co 12:21).
Literature.1. Historical: Zckler, Askese und Mnchtum (1894), Die Tugendlehre des Christentums (1904); Mayer, Die Christl. Askese, ihre Wesen und ihre histor. Entfaltung (1894); A. Ritschl, Gesch. des Pietismus (188086); W. Bright, Some Aspects of Primitive Church Life (1898); J. O. Hannay, The Spirit and Origin of Christian Monasticism (1902); Migne, Dictionnaire dAsctisme, Encycl. Thol. vols. 45, 46; Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian Church.
Theological and Devotional:Rothe, Theol. Ethik, iii. (1848); Dorner, Syst. d. chr. Sittenlehre; Newman Smyth, Christian Ethics (1894); Jeremy Taylor, Holy Living and Holy Dying; J. Keble, Letters of Spiritual Counsel; J. H. Newman, Historical Sketches; Bp. Paget, The Spirit of Discipline; J. O. Hannay, The Wisdom of the Desert (1904); Thomas Kempis, The Imitation of Christ; Baxter, Self-Denial.
J. O. Hannay.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Self-Denial
General references
Gen 22:1-12; 2Sa 24:24; Psa 132:3-5; Pro 16:32; Pro 23:2; Dan 10:3; Mat 5:29-30; Mar 9:43; Mat 8:19-22; Luk 9:57-60; Mat 10:37-39; Mat 13:44-46; Mat 16:24-25; Mar 8:34-35; Luk 9:23-24; Mat 18:8-9; Mat 19:12; Mat 19:21; Luk 12:33; Luk 5:11; Luk 5:27; Mar 2:14; Luk 14:26-33; Luk 18:27-30; Mar 10:29; Luk 21:2-4; Mar 12:43-44; Joh 12:25; Act 20:22-24; Act 21:13; Rom 6:6; Rom 8:12-13; Rom 8:35-36; Rom 13:14; Rom 14:1-22; Rom 15:1-5; 1Co 6:12; 1Co 8:10-13; 1Co 9:12; 1Co 9:15; 1Co 9:18-19; 1Co 9:23; 1Co 9:25-27; 1Co 10:23-24; 2Co 6:3; Gal 2:20; Gal 5:16-17; Gal 5:24; Gal 6:14; Phi 2:4; Phi 3:7-9; Col 3:5; 2Ti 2:4; Tit 2:12; Heb 13:13; 1Pe 2:11-16; 1Pe 4:1-2; 3Jn 1:7; Rev 12:11 Cross; Humility
Instances of:
– Abraham, when he accorded to Lot, his junior, his preference of the land of Canaan
Gen 13:9; Gen 17:8
– Moses:
b In choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin
Heb 11:25
b In taking no compensation from the Israelites for his services
Num 16:15
– Samuel, in his administration of justice
1Sa 12:3-4
– The widow of Zarephath, in sharing with Elijah the last of her sustenance
1Ki 17:12-15
– Daniel:
b In his abstemiousness
Dan 1:8
b In refusing rewards from Belshazzar
Dan 5:16-17
– Esther, in risking her life for the deliverance of her people
Est 4:16
– The Rechabites, in refusing to drink wine or strong drink, or even to plant vineyards
Jer 35:6-7
– Peter and other apostles:
b In abandoning their vocations and following Jesus
Mat 4:20; Mat 9:9; Mar 1:16-20; Mar 2:14; Luk 5:11; Luk 5:27-28
b In forsaking all and following Jesus
Mat 19:27; Mar 10:28
– The widow, who cast her all into the treasury
Luk 21:4
– The early Christians, in having everything in common
Act 2:44-45; Act 4:34
– Joses, in selling his possessions, and giving all that he received to the apostles
Act 4:36-37
– Paul:
b In not counting even his life dear to himself
Act 20:24; Phi 3:7-8
b In not coveting any man’s silver or gold or apparel
Act 20:33
b In laboring for his own support while he also taught
Act 20:34-35; 1Co 4:12; 1Co 10:33