Lord’s Day, Vol. 4 No. 17
The Fruit of the Spirit is Gentleness
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Do you often second-guess others’ intentions in a negative way? Do you count the wrongs others have done to you? Are you willing to forgive and make peace? To be forgiving and forbearing is a fruit of the spirit called ‘gentleness.’ Where there is no forgiveness, each one is irreconcilably offended.
The word “gentleness” in Greek is “chrēstótēs”. The ending “tēs” describes an agent. The root word is “chrēstós” meaning “to furnish what is needed, useful and profitable.”
This word means good as in Luke 6:35 “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.”
Consider also Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
To be gentle is to be willing to forgive, ready to make peace. How did Jesus respond to those who crucified Him? “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34a). Stephen, the first Christian martyr, said in Acts 7:60, “And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
In 1 Corinthians 13:5, the Apostle Paul tells us that charity “thinketh no evil”. The word for “thinketh” is the word “to count” that is “keeping a mental record take into account, keep in mind, count (up)” evil that is done to us. [Friberg Analytical Greek Lexicon]
This fruit of the spirit called “gentleness” is that part of the character that enables us not to count the offences of others done to us.
Galatians 6:1 “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
“Meekness” means gentleness, humility, courtesy. “To restore” means to set right, to help this brother or sister in sin to be on the right path again. It is a command to help as long as the occasion arises each time. We are to do so with gentleness and not in self-righteousness lest we also fall into sin.
This character trait of gentleness is described well in 2 Timothy 2:24-26, “And the servant of the Lord must not strive (dispute with words); but be gentle (gentle, mild, kind) unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”
In Titus 3:1b-2, “…to be ready to every good work, To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle (yielding, kind, courteous), shewing all meekness unto all men.”
In other words, we are to give room and time for the weaker brethren. Do not despise or discourage him who needed time to search the Scriptures to discover the truth for himself.
Pray for him. Give him time, be patient and gentle, do not condemn the person to the extent that he rebels and goes back to his sin. The gentle spirit is patient and helps others to submit to the truth.
In John 8:3, a woman caught committing adultery by the scribes and Pharisees was brought to Jesus. They asked Jesus if she was to be stoned according to the Mosaic Law? Our Lord did not answer but wrote on the ground. When they pressed Him for a reply, He gave a most gracious answer, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7).
The people who heard our Lord were made to realise their own sinfulness. “And they who heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last” (John 8:9a).
Initially, Jesus did not answer the scribes and Pharisees immediately because He was giving an opportunity for the woman to repent!
The advice of the scribes and Pharisees was to punish the woman without recourse. Indeed, our Lord, the Judge of judges, was gracious and said to her, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more” (John 8:11b). Our Lord restored the woman in the spirit of meekness!
May the Lord help us to bring forth the fruit of gentleness in our lives! Amen.
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee