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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. — Galatians 5:22-23
What is a virtue, and what makes it good and desirable? Virtues are high moral qualities, and they garner honor because we see them as strengths, talents, assets. A virtue is made of merits and advantages. They have potency and force—they are purities with power. Love can move mountains. Loyalty stands as a rock in a tornado. Joy sets the whole room dancing. Goodness is a courageous bulwark against the corrosion of evil.
Virtues are praiseworthy, for they have the brawn of maturity. Both feminine fortitude and masculine hardiness are the things of which virtues are made. A feeble virtue sounds like vegan alligator. Such a thing doesn’t exist, and if it did, it should be put out of its misery. And yet, the eighth spiritual fruit of Galatians 5:22-23 is gentleness or meekness. How can this be a virtue of the Spirit’s power?
What is the anatomy of meekness?
The first problem with this eighth fruit is what to call it, and this, actually, is not an easy task. Just in the English Standard Version (ESV), this word for gentleness, πραΰτης (prautēs), gets translated in four different ways: gentleness, humility, courtesy, and meekness. The King James Version (KJV) has the classic meekness. Other translations add modesty and gentle behavior to the list. This brings the total to six, so which one is it? So far, the spiritual fruits have been easily recognizable for us, like apples, peaches, pears, and oranges in the grocery store. Yet, number eight is more like a durian fruit, a lychee nut, or a dragon fruit.
The fact is there is no one single word in English that captures well the meaning of the Greek word. Even after rummaging through the thesaurus, you come up with nothing. While we will name this eighth fruit with the traditional label of meekness, we need to further define the word. Think of meekness like a canning jar full of meanings and connotations.
The world’s scorn for meekness is helpful in appreciating what this spiritual fruit is.
We must empty the canning jar of meekness by pouring out its English contents, and then we will refill it with biblical meaning, spiritual associations. There is a plus to sticking with the word meekness, because it isn’t a popular characteristic in our world. In our day meekness is weakness; it is to be spineless, insipid, unassertive, milquetoast.
The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche denounced Christians for this very virtue. He said that the only reason Christians prize meekness is due to them being weak and cowardly. Only the wimpy prize a weak virtue. The world’s scorn for meekness is helpful in appreciating what this spiritual fruit is.
The word meekness is helpful in that it is associated with a prominent Biblical character, Moses. Moses was very meek, more than anyone else on earth (Num. 12:3). In the flesh, Moses was a walking demonstration of meekness. Such a living definition of meekness gives us a solid anchor to tether our understanding.
You can’t make meekness without humility.
Before getting to Moses, we have some filling to do. We have our empty jar of meekness, and the first ingredient is one-fifth of a cup of humility. You can’t make meekness without humility—our bending the knee before our God as sinners—though the variety of humility that belongs to meekness isn’t so much decrying our worthlessness.
As sinners we are pathetic insects. This is true, but meekness has the humility of being more interested in others than self. As Paul states in Philippians 2:3, in humility we count others more significant that ourselves instead of acting in selfish ambition or conceit. Meekness prefers to listen to how someone’s day was, rather than talk about itself.
Meekness is the internal submission and happy desire to obey.
Meekness removes the “I” from the center of your heart and putting God and others in the center. Meekness prioritizes concern for others over concern for self. And this leads to our next ingredient. Into the jar go two tablespoons of obedience. Meekness is the internal submission and happy desire to obey.
Meekness seeks to obey God and to obey other authorities for the Lord’s sake. This is obeying without being preoccupied with yourself, without gainsaying or griping. Thus, the word for meekness could be used for domesticated animals—tame and docile. Meekness is not the wild ox but rather the one trained to the yoke, which is not weak.
A yoked ox has its power controlled and harnessed for good work, but an untrained ox tears the fence down and kicks you in the head. Our meekness happily serves our Lord, having been trained by his love. And along these lines, the next ingredient into the jar are two more tablespoons of teachability.
We show the meekness of wisdom by learning and doing good works.
Meekness includes that reverent and openness to be instructed, discipled, and trained. James tells us to “receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). Proverbs states because of meekness there is fear of the Lord in us (Prov. 22:4), and in Psalm 25:9 we read that the Lord leads the meek in what is right and teaches the meek his way. The wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, and meek (James 3:17), and we show the meekness of wisdom by learning and doing good works.
Yes, heavenly wisdom is meek, as it is willing and eager to learn and strives to obey in the fear of the Lord. Meekness makes correction a stimulant, not a depressant. Thus, the first three ingredients of meekness are humility, obedience, and teachability, and these three are kind of like onions, carrots, and celery—they form the base for several virtues.
Meekness focuses on not sinning in our anger.
It is time for the more unique elements. Next into the jar goes a large dose of controlling our anger. Yes, meekness especially relates to anger—our tempers, but it is a little different than patience.
Patience is being slow to anger, whereas meekness focuses on not sinning in your anger. It includes having just the right amount of anger and not being wild and out of control with your temper. The opposite of meekness is being ill-tempered: violent, harsh, and quarrelsome. We are not to speak evil of anyone, to avoid quarreling, and to show perfect meekness to all (Tit. 3:2).
In his letter to Titus, the apostle Paul contrasts meekness with being self-willed, ill-tempered, and violent. Proverbs warns us not to be friends with a man of anger, nor associate with an ill-tempered person. An angry man stirs up strife and digs up much sin. Or for those married, there is the proverb: “It is better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman” (Prov. 21:19).
Elders are not to be violent, quarrelsome, or quick to anger but instead to be meek. The ill-tempered person gets overly upset over a small thing—a tantrum over spilled milk. He stays angry way too long; his anger becomes resentment, bitterness, and a grudge. The person devoid of meekness is irascible, snappy, and cantankerous.
Meekness, however, has a calm and gentle temper; its spirit is stable, tranquil, and not easily provoked. Meekness is free from bitterness and contentiousness. Meekness is not the absence of anger, but it is difficult to move it to anger. Meekness righteously and gently expresses the anger. And this brings us to the standout ingredient of meekness.
Meekness eschews power and doesn’t demand its rights.
The secret ingredient of meekness is eschewing power. Yes, power dynamics lie within the soul of meekness and its opposite. Ill-tempered people aren’t just wild with anger; they also demand their rights. They scramble for power to get their way, and they employ power, violence, and coercion for vengeance.
If you disagree with an ill-tempered person, he or she takes it as a personal affront. If injured, such people have no use for forgiveness but instead demand the full redress of the law. They are easily offended and must always defend their honor and reputation, even for the smallest thing. To win the argument, they will shoot you down; if their shot misses you, they will hit with the butt of their gun.
This is the pride of being ill-tempered that is so contrary to the humility of meekness. Ill-tempered pride is all about me—my rights, my justice now, my power, my resources, my way, my win, and so on. It insists on the full use of power for its self-interest, which is why in the face of injury it will take justice into its own hands with revenge.
Such pride has no use for gentleness; instead, harshness and brute force are its only tools. Step on its toe, and it will bludgeon you. The shining star of ill-tempered pride in Scripture is Lamech from Genesis 4—slap him and he will kill you. Thus, meekness is especially a virtue for times of disagreement and friction.
Meekness is more concerned about the other person.
In the New Testament, meekness most often pops up in contexts of correction and response to being reviled. Paul tells Timothy to correct his opponents with meekness, so that God may grant them repentance (2 Tim. 2:24-25). Likewise, if someone is caught in any transgression, we should restore him or her with a spirit of meekness.
Paul asks the Corinthians, “What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?” (1 Cor. 4:21). In 1 Peter, when we are reviled for Christ, we should give a reason for the hope that is within us, with meekness and respect (1 Pet. 3:15). Meekness is not concerned with its own reputation or its rights, but it is more concerned about the other person.
So also, meekness understands that forgiveness is preferable to the punishments of the law. Meekness controls its anger from any violence and vengeance. This is the gentleness of meekness. Indeed, another usage for this word for meekness is to soothe, to smooth out. Meekness is soothing and gentle towards others, not harsh.
Moses was very meek, more than anyone else on earth.
Meekness doesn’t take a hammer and chisel to others; rather, it uses sandpaper and polish. Instead of thinking about itself, meekness thinks about what is best for the other person or for the greater good. And this brings us back to Moses in Numbers 12. Now, in the full story of Moses, we see him behaving is all sorts of ways. He is confused and unsure as young man in Egypt.
Moses sins grievously near the end of his life in Numbers 20—not everything he did was meek. Yet, in Numbers 12, his meekness rises like morning sun. There, his own brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam, revile and slander him before all of Israel and before the Lord. They attack Moses and want him demoted.
And how does Moses respond? He doesn’t; he is as quiet as a docile mouse. Moses doesn’t fight for his honor; he doesn’t let his pride get wounded and strike out. Instead, he lets God defend him. Even though Moses had power and authority, he refuses to use the power for himself. He chooses to trust in God. And when the Lord punishes Miriam, Moses asks for leniency and mercy.
Moses doesn’t want his sister to suffer the full brunt of the law. This is meekness, which also shows up during the golden calf debacle in Exodus 32. In a just and controlled anger, Moses rightly breaks the covenant tablets at the horrible adultery of the people. Meekness is not shy to correct what is wrong; rather, it is bold.
Yet, Moses’ manner of correction is gentle, merciful, and seeking good. When the Lord tells him to stand aside to destroy Israel, Moses steps in between to intercede for mercy. Meekness eschews power, especially as the world uses power, and it gently acts for forgiveness. This comes out in another use for this word for meekness in the Bible.
Meekness and poverty are metaphorically connected by their relationship to power.
The word for meekness in Galatians 5:23 can also be used for the poor, the weak of society in the Old Testament. The poor were at the bottom of the social ladder—they had no power, no access to the courts to defend themselves or their rights. The poor were easily taken advantage of and so trusted in the Lord to vindicate them in the end.
Now, poverty is not the same as meekness. To be poor is a state; to be meek is an attitude and virtue. There is no inherent virtue to poverty in Scripture. Yet, they are metaphorically connected by their relationship to power, especially the judicial power that the world so values. As the poor lack power, so the meek avoid power in favor of gentle mercy.
In his incarnation and humiliation, our meek Messiah eschewed the ways of power.
And this bring us to the other primary example of meekness in Scripture who is greater than Moses: Jesus Christ. Interestingly in Scripture, meekness is never attributed to God, but it is an attribute of Jesus, God come in the flesh. So, Zechariah peered into the future and saw the Messianic King coming to his people, meek and riding upon a donkey.
Yes, Jesus rode into Jerusalem in the triumphal entry with the crowds chanting, “‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble [meek], and mounted on a donkey” (Matt. 21:5; see also Zech. 9:9). At first, the power of the king seems contradictory to the powerlessness of meekness, yet, meekness is not whether you have power or not but how you use it. Meekness refuses the worldly ways of power.
Thus, Jesus as the Son of God possessed all power and might. In his incarnation, he became poor. Jesus surrendered his divine rights to be a human. In his humiliation, Jesus eschewed the ways of power. Jesus was first meek by his obedience to the Father. He came to do the Father’s will, not his own.
Jesus accomplished our merciful salvation in the supreme act of meekness—death upon the cross.
Jesus wasn’t seeking his own honor but rather the glory of the Father by our salvation. Jesus put the Father’s honor and our salvation before his own glory. When Jesus was reviled, he was silent. When the Pharisees blasphemed him, Jesus said that blasphemy against the Son of Man is forgivable, but blasphemy against the Spirit is unforgiveable (Matt. 12:32).
Jesus was not meek towards the demons, but he was meek towards the people. Jesus could be bold in rebuke of sin at times. He pronounced woe on cities; he told Peter to get behind him as the devil. Jesus even cleared the temple by flipping tables. Yet, even by these bold corrections, Jesus labored for mercy and forgiveness.
Jesus was driving people to believe in him for forgiveness. And Jesus accomplished our merciful salvation in the supreme act of meekness—death upon the cross. Yes, the cross is the epitome of weakness, powerlessness, and shame to the world. The cross is the loss of all human rights and dignity. As a silent lamb, Jesus meekly laid down his life.
Jesus suffered in his own body all the violent power of justice so that we might enjoy the soothing gentleness of grace.
Yet, by his meekness unto death, which the world scorned and mocked, Jesus victoriously conquered for our redemption. The meekness of Jesus was his strength operating on a completely different power dynamic than the world. In his meekness, Jesus suffered in his own body all the violent power of justice so that we might enjoy the soothing gentleness of grace.
Far from being weakness, Jesus’ meekness was actually his righteous power to bring forth new creation—and to do this with the sweet manner of the gospel. His meekness silenced the law’s loud thunder against us so that we might hear the tender voice of the Father’s love. Thus, by Jesus’ meekness we inherit resurrection and life everlasting.
Indeed, the perfect image for the meekness of Christ is the Lion as the lamb. Jesus is the Lion of divine power, but he is a lamb towards us. Thus, by the meekness of Christ towards us, we are enabled to be meek as Jesus is. More so, the meekness of Christ shows us that we as believers and as the church operate on a completely different plane of power.
Meekness says, “This is not about me; it is about Christ.”
The world respects the sword, but as the church we have the meek word of the gospel. The world demands strict justice, but the keys of the church are repentance for forgiveness. The world insists on its rights, on being respected, being honored and vengeance for redress. In the meekness of Christ, though, we turn the other cheek.
We give up our rights for the good of others. When others revile us, label us as wicked, and drag our names through the mud, we leave vengeance to God. We pray for those who hate us and want our harm. And when we do correct, we use the winsomeness of meekness; we patiently use sandpaper and not a sledgehammer.
We set wrongs right and rebuke sins and errors, but we meekly do these for the good of others, for the name of Christ, and for the sake of the church. Meekness says, “This is not about me; it is about Christ.” Indeed, meekness is the strength to bear pain. As Jesus meekly bore the pains of hell for us, so we meekly endure reproaches, evils, and crimes against us.
Meekness flexes its muscles not by using the weapons of the world but by speaking the name of Jesus.
In this way the ultimate expression of meekness is martyrdom. For the name of Christ, for doing what is right, the world will condemn us; it will execute us for high treason. Falsely accused, the evil world will hate, abuse, and kill us. In such a time of trial, meekness flexes its muscles not by using the weapons of the world but by speaking the name of Jesus.
Meekly, we defend the truth of the gospel without defending ourselves. Rather, like Stephen the Meek, as the stones fall upon us, with eyes upon Christ, we pray, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:24 KJV). Yes, the church is built on the meekness of Christ and the meek blood of the martyrs.
And it is only now that we come to understand, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5 KJV). This blessing on the meek is not about some terrestrial plot of ground; instead, it is heavenly. The land in this blessing is the new heavens and the new earth. And Jesus grants heaven to the meek for they humbly detest themselves and the power of the world to rest in the merit of Christ alone.
God’s children wear the insult of meekness as a compliment.
Jesus let go of his very life, being humble to death, to win the resurrection by his righteous meekness. So also, in the merit of Jesus we imitate Christ to gain heaven through meekness, and with this, meekness has taken its pride of place as precious fruit of the Spirit. Our growing in meekness is our reflecting the soothing gentleness of Christ unto heaven.
The world will continue to shame meekness as a weakness not worthy of the name of virtue, but God’s children wear the insult of meekness as a compliment. For there is no higher privilege for us than to resemble our Savior in meekness in life and death for the glory of our heavenly Father. Let us then treasure the meekness of Christ as the gospel of grace, and may we flourish in the meekness of wisdom for the praise of Christ’s name.
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