Self-discipline
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Sōphronismos names sound-minded discipline, prudent self-control, or the formation that brings conduct under wise restraint. In 2 Timothy, Paul says God has not given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and sound-minded control.
Reader summary
Full entry for σωφρονισμός (G4995) · Open the biblical lexicon
Sōphronismos names sound-minded discipline, prudent self-control, or the formation that brings conduct under wise restraint. In 2 Timothy, Paul says God has not given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and sound-minded control.
The BSB source-word alignment has 1 aligned row for this entry. Common renderings include self-control (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at 2 Timothy 1:7. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Timothy (1).
Sōphronismos names sound-minded discipline, prudent self-control, or the formation that brings conduct under wise restraint. In 2 Timothy, Paul says God has not given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and sound-minded control. Related exhortations in Titus describe grace training believers to live self-controlled lives, while the Pastoral Epistles connect salvation, faith, love, holiness, and sound judgment.
The noun is rare, so its meaning must not be inflated into a complete psychology or a promise that faithful believers will never experience anxiety, trauma, or mental illness. It describes Spirit-enabled steadiness that orders power through love and supports faithful witness under pressure.
Sōphronismos names sound judgment and disciplined self-control. Its central New Testament setting contrasts cowardice with a God-given pattern of power governed by love and wise restraint, within Paul's call to unashamed gospel endurance.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
Second Timothy 1:7 says God did not give believers a spirit of cowardice but of power, love, and sound-minded discipline. The three belong together: courage is neither passivity nor uncontrolled force.
It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
Titus 2:12 uses the related word family to say grace trains believers to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. Sound-mindedness is learned under grace.
Women, however, will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.
First Timothy 2:15 uses related sound-minded language within a difficult passage about women, faith, love, holiness, and self-control. It must be handled with the chapter's context and without making a woman's salvation depend on childbirth or domestic performance.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Sound judgment and self-restraint working together; discipline from within rather than external control
Sound judgment and self-restraint working together; discipline from within rather than external control
(σωφρονίζω),
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
1 Greek text appearance shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
self-control, self-discipline
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 1 case and number pattern. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Where this word appears in Scripture: passage, original form, and sense in context.
σωφρονισμός is built from this root:
Courage is not recklessness. The Spirit produces steady-minded faithfulness that speaks, suffers, and serves with clarity and restraint. 2 Timothy 1:1-7
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Sōphronismos appears in a pastoral setting where Timothy is tempted toward fear and shame. Paul's answer is not bravado. God's gift joins power with love and disciplined judgment, enabling Timothy to guard the gospel and share in suffering without becoming harsh or reckless. The related word family shows that grace trains this steadiness over time. Sound-minded control is therefore not a personality type, a denial of emotion, or proof that Christians never need clinical care.
It is the Spirit-shaped capacity to bring choices, impulses, and fears under truth and love. Churches should cultivate it through Scripture, prayer, accountable relationships, wise boundaries, and practiced obedience while showing compassion toward those carrying psychological or neurological burdens.
2Tim.1.7
Sōphronismos is a rare noun related to sōphrōn and may mean self-control, sound-mindedness, prudent discipline, or the act of bringing someone to sound judgment. Its single clear New Testament occurrence requires modest lexical claims.
Wisdom praises self-control and sober judgment, prophets contrast fear-driven alliances with trust in God, and covenant instruction forms disciplined lives. The gospel roots such formation in grace and the Spirit.
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