Abundant Living - GlobalReach.org

196 A b u n d a n t L i v i n ggentleness of Christ.” Meekness in this passage refers to bearinginjury with patience and without resentment. Gentleness refers tomildness in manners or disposition—the opposite of harshness,sternness, violence, or roughness. Paul did not want to dealharshly with those who were living by the standards of the world,but he was ready to defend the gospel and his ministry aboveeverything else. His approach was that of a loving brother whowanted to give the wrongdoers every opportunity to make thingsright in a spirit of submission and obedience.Gentleness and humility. Gentleness is not possible withouthumility. Ephesians 4:2 says, “Be completely humble andgentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Beinghumble is the opposite of being proud or boastful. It is anattitude of submission and deference to others.Gentleness and wisdom. “Who is wise and understandingamong you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done inthe humility [praotes] that comes from wisdom” (James 3:13).Praotes, which is translated as “gentleness” in Galatians 5:23, istranslated as “humility” in this passage. The wise man is a humble,gentle man. Again, this speaks of a spirit of submissiveness orteachableness, which is an evidence of the fruit of gentleness.Gentleness and quietness. In 1 Peter 3:1–6 the apostleexhorted wives to be submissive to their husbands, so that ifany of them were unbelievers, they would be won over by thepurity and reverence they saw in their wives. Peter went on tosay that a wife’s beauty should not depend on how she adornsherself outwardly, but “it should be that of your inner self,the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is ofgreat worth in God’s sight” (v. 4). The word praotes includesthe idea of something calming and soothing as a balm. Whilethis passage is directed to wives in particular, the principleapplies to all of us—a gentle, quiet spirit will do more to attractthe unbeliever to Jesus Christ than any argument or outwarddisplay of religious superiority.Gentleness and salvation. “For the Lord takes delight in hispeople; He crowns the humble with salvation” (Psalm 149:4).