“I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3)

You don’t always have to insist on being right.

Sometimes, it is wiser to be humble, gentle, patient, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There are times truth absolutely matters. When it comes to the essentials of the faith – Jesus is Lord, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, the Bible is the absolute authority, etc., – truth absolutely matters.

But when it comes to pretty much everything else, what matters more in relationships is a spirit of humility and gentleness, patience, and a willingness to bear with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit of the bond of peace.

It is exhausting to be with someone who insists on being right and someone who wants to make sure that everyone else knows that they are right all the time.

• Such an attitude and spirit destroys relationships, community, and fellowship
• Such an attitude and spirit makes a mockery of Christ because it goes against the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

So Christians, please be kind, humble, loving, peaceful, joyful, and gentle with the people around you. Everyone you come eye-ball to eye-ball with today is someone for whom God could not imagine eternity without. So everyone you encounter today is someone for whom God sent his Son to die so that they may live eternally.

So as the Apostle Paul says, “I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

“My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted” (Galatians 6:1)

Some say that the church is filled with hypocrites, and they are right.

Some say that the church is filled with messed up people, and they are right.

Some say that they know better people who aren’t Christians, and they are right.

The church is filled up with messed up people because the church is filled up with people like you and me.

That’s why the spirit of gentleness is essential. We’re going to mess up because there are no perfect people in the church. And when we mess up, sin, transgress the role of the church is never to condemn but always to restore. That’s a good thing. That’s a great thing! Because we’re all going to mess it up. We’re all going to need restoration.

The thing that makes the church different than any other organization is grace and the spirit of gentleness, because the church is the place of restoring people into a right relationship with God and with one another.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:23).

The eighth characteristic listed as an aspect of the being a fruit of the Spirit – gentleness.

The Greek word for gentleness is agathosune. The word only appears four times in the New Testament and it appears no where else in secular Greek. It is strictly a New Testament word.

The word agathosune literally means goodness. The root word for agathosune is agathos. agathos is the most generic word for good and appears more than a hundred times in the New Testament.

As relating to believers, the word goodness refers to the goodness that comes from God and shows up in us as a spiritual fruit. As with all the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit, we cannot generate goodness on our own. It comes from God and once we have been the recipients of God’s goodness, we are able to show that same goodness to others.

Why do most New Testament texts translate this word as gentleness and not goodness? I am not sure. That’s the thing about translations: when you’re studying a particular text, it’s always good to check multiple translations to see if there are any notable differences. Those differences often times can be a clue as to what you might want to look up for further study.

I suppose that God’s goodness is demonstrated in the gracious and gentle manner in which God deals with us, and this is the primary reason why most New Testament translations translate this word as gentleness.

Bottom line: this goodness comes from God and is given to us by God. And once we’ve experienced God’s goodness, gentleness, and grace, we are able to treat others in the same manner.

Looking forward to another good week in studying an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit: goodness.