“Nor does the Christian practice self-control simply for the healthful benefits to the body. Furthermore, an uncultured man who has never tasted pleasures is not necessarily practicing self-control. Many who have led such lives lose all self-control when they finally taste pleasures for the first time. These are the ones who are only restrained by law and fear. But upon finding a favorable opportunity, they abandon good. But true self control, desirable for its own sake, is perfected through knowledge. It is ever enduring, making the man the lord and master of himself. So the one who knows God is moderate and free from fleshly desires. He is incapable of being dissolved by pleasures and pains. The source of these virtues is love. (Col. 3:14)” (Clement of Alexandria – d. ca 215AD, The One who Knows God, pg. 97)
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