The Fruit of Gentleness: A Strong Humility

Daniel Burton Blog Daniel Burton September 17, 2018 | 0

by Daniel Burton

During my collegiate days at the University of Florida, every day students would walk past so-called “preachers” with great, large signs proclaiming all the people that Jesus condemns. To be clear, they preached with very little traces of the Gospel and the scope of their theological and practical errors goes beyond what this article can cover. Yet, one of their hallmark features was to preach in such a manner that those who heard them felt personally attacked. They displayed lists of who would be going to hell with very little proclamations of the Gospel and an extreme amount of condemnation. For even the traces of the times they stumbled into sound Gospel, due to their lack of humility, meekness, and gentleness, the message was lost amidst the noise. As Paul discusses the fruit of the Spirit, he includes gentleness as a clear indication that a person is living a Spirit-filled life. As much as we use this term and mentally ascent to its Christ-like quality, often times this quality is one of the first to go for the sake of boldness or standing firm, aggressively. We live as if gentleness concedes territory in our spiritual lives. Nothing could be further from the truth. Gentleness finds its basis in the ideas of meekness and humility but not in weakness. Instead the expression of gentleness roots itself in the strength of the Holy Spirit.

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

– 2 Timothy 2:22-26, ESV

Meekness and Humility

The idea of gentleness, as Paul presents it, is very closely related to the concepts of meekness and humility. Fundamentally, gentleness operates under the proper idea of our identity and knowing where we stand in the grand scheme of creation. In order to best operate in gentleness, the believer first must recognize that we are nothing without Jesus Christ. No amount of striving or effort can produce a work of the Holy Spirit by our own hands. The Spirit moves within us to accomplish the purposes that God sets before us. Nothing we do produces salvation in ourselves or in others. Knowing this, in our dealings with others, even as we seek to correct or confront them, our words and actions are marked by gentleness. We give the same grace and gentleness to others that God gives to us.

Furthermore, our actions should seek to bring glory to God, not to ourselves. As Paul makes clear in Galatians, the works of the Holy Spirit and the works of the flesh stand in stark contradiction to one another. As we bring correction and proclaim the Gospel, we do so with gentleness to proclaim the Gospel that Jesus Christ saves all people. Gentleness becomes an extension of the grace that Jesus Christ showed us. Rather than crushing us under the weight of our own decisions, Christ showed us grace and gentleness by bearing the weight of our sin upon Himself, restoring our right relationship with Him. Therefore, as we deal with the world, as hostile as it may be, the Spirit filled Christian can encounter the hostility with gentleness from our identity having been secured in the person of Jesus Christ and this cannot be taken from us.

Gentle Strength

Yet, we cannot for a moment get the impression that gentleness is synonymous with weakness. Meekness and humility are not signs of weakness but instead they are signs of strength. A strong man understands his limits and has no need to prove his strength. We see this constantly throughout the life of Jesus Christ. Rather than flex His authority and power, Jesus took on the role of a servant. When you think of everything that Jesus Christ COULD have done and compare that how Jesus presented Himself to mankind, you see a man confident in His identity as ruler and King over all the universe. It is only those Kings who fear their reign is coming to an end that must continue to demonstrate and flex their strength

Sins effects had ravaged the world. God would have been in His full right to demolish mankind and the whole of the earth. Yet, God being a God of ultimate strength, chose to instead treat mankind with gentleness by taking the fullness of the consequences of sin upon Himself. Christ became the propitiation of our sin so that we would never need to feel ultimate consequences of our sin. This, while gentle, is not weak. God demonstrates His gentleness towards those made in His image through the strength with which he bears the burdens of sin, sickness, and death upon Himself. For the Spirit to reside inside of the believer, we exhibit that same strength as we care for the world around us with the humility that God does the work in others.