39 min
Fruit of the Spirit: Gentleness Wednesday in the Word
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- Christianity
Gentleness as a fruit of the Spirit is not about being soft or timid. It involves humbly accepting what God gives without self-promotion or ambition.
Key Points
* Moses illustrates this quality. Despite his significant role, he did not seek personal glory or power.
* Jesus illustrates this quality in his entry into Jerusalem, foot washing and how he describes his “yoke.”
* James warns against people who lack this quality becoming teachers.
* Word: Strong’s G4240.
* Passages: Numbers 12:1-16; Psalm 27; Luke 14:7-11; Matthew 21:1-5; Matthew 11:28-30; James 3:13-14; Galatians 5:25-6:1; John 12:12-17.
Next: Fruit of the Spirit: Self-control
Previous: Fruit of the Spirit: Faith
Series: Fruit of the Spirit
Gentleness as a Fruit of the Spirit
In this series, we are searching for an understanding of the nouns on Paul's list of the fruit of the Spirit. Today we'll be talking about gentleness. We're exploring scripture to see what the Bible says about these concepts and, therefore, what Paul was thinking when he wrote the list.
I have been arguing that the items on this list are not feelings. Rather, they are a lifestyle that results from a profound worldview shift. As the Spirit of God teaches us truth, our perspective changes and that changes how we choose to act, respond and treat each other.
As always, we'll start by remembering the context in Galatians where we find the list. Paul spends most of his time in Galatians refuting the teaching of the Judaizers and arguing that faith in Jesus is sufficient for salvation. At this point in the letter, he's arguing that freedom from the law does not mean that we are free to pursue sin.
Paul argues that law keeping only changes us on the outside, producing a fake moral transformation. But once we have faith in Jesus, God gives us his spirit and his spirit changes us from the inside out, producing genuine moral change. The qualities on this list are the result of that change and are examples of the kind of thing that the Spirit produces in us.
Meekness
Both the English Standard Version of the Bible and the New American Standard Version translate as this fruit as ‘gentleness.’ This Greek word is also translated ‘meekness’ or ‘lowliness.’ We don't have an English word that exactly captures the meaning of this Greek word. Because we don't have a one-to-one translation equivalent, this word is often misunderstood.
If you've heard my teaching on the Beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew, this concept of meekness or gentleness will be familiar to you. In the Beatitudes, Jesus says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. That word ‘meek’ is the same word as the one in our list. In fact, studying the Beatitudes first challenged me to understand this word.
We'll going to look at two Old Testament passages. I will cover all the complexities of a word study.
Gentleness as a fruit of the Spirit is not about being soft or timid. It involves humbly accepting what God gives without self-promotion or ambition.
Key Points
* Moses illustrates this quality. Despite his significant role, he did not seek personal glory or power.
* Jesus illustrates this quality in his entry into Jerusalem, foot washing and how he describes his “yoke.”
* James warns against people who lack this quality becoming teachers.
* Word: Strong’s G4240.
* Passages: Numbers 12:1-16; Psalm 27; Luke 14:7-11; Matthew 21:1-5; Matthew 11:28-30; James 3:13-14; Galatians 5:25-6:1; John 12:12-17.
Next: Fruit of the Spirit: Self-control
Previous: Fruit of the Spirit: Faith
Series: Fruit of the Spirit
Gentleness as a Fruit of the Spirit
In this series, we are searching for an understanding of the nouns on Paul's list of the fruit of the Spirit. Today we'll be talking about gentleness. We're exploring scripture to see what the Bible says about these concepts and, therefore, what Paul was thinking when he wrote the list.
I have been arguing that the items on this list are not feelings. Rather, they are a lifestyle that results from a profound worldview shift. As the Spirit of God teaches us truth, our perspective changes and that changes how we choose to act, respond and treat each other.
As always, we'll start by remembering the context in Galatians where we find the list. Paul spends most of his time in Galatians refuting the teaching of the Judaizers and arguing that faith in Jesus is sufficient for salvation. At this point in the letter, he's arguing that freedom from the law does not mean that we are free to pursue sin.
Paul argues that law keeping only changes us on the outside, producing a fake moral transformation. But once we have faith in Jesus, God gives us his spirit and his spirit changes us from the inside out, producing genuine moral change. The qualities on this list are the result of that change and are examples of the kind of thing that the Spirit produces in us.
Meekness
Both the English Standard Version of the Bible and the New American Standard Version translate as this fruit as ‘gentleness.’ This Greek word is also translated ‘meekness’ or ‘lowliness.’ We don't have an English word that exactly captures the meaning of this Greek word. Because we don't have a one-to-one translation equivalent, this word is often misunderstood.
If you've heard my teaching on the Beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew, this concept of meekness or gentleness will be familiar to you. In the Beatitudes, Jesus says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. That word ‘meek’ is the same word as the one in our list. In fact, studying the Beatitudes first challenged me to understand this word.
We'll going to look at two Old Testament passages. I will cover all the complexities of a word study.
39 min