Powerful Meekness

I am going to circle back to a topic I have written about more than once already. It seems to keep knocking on my door, so I feel I have to answer it again. I have experienced that confluence of circumstances I have mentioned before where several things combine to make a point I cannot avoid. The subject I am coming back to is how we are supposed to handle differences of opinion with our Christian brothers and sisters. If you haven’t read “Disagree Agreeably” and “The Importance of Being Right,” I recommend that you check them out.

I was pushed to today’s review of this topic by criticism from a fellow-Christian who perceived my attitude as arrogant. He said, “You think you are always right; you’re not!” It is ironic that he should be so perceptive and so wrong at the same time. As I have written previously, I grew up in an atmosphere where it was imperative that you were “right,” and that you made everyone else see how right you were. Through the patience of my loving wife and the grace of God, I have gradually shed much of the argumentative attitude that characterized my life for decades. My behavior just prior to the man’s criticism was a study in Clair-being-non-argumentative. That’s the further irony: here I was being what I thought a Christian should be when having a disagreement. Apparently, I still have work to do.

A couple days after the confrontation at church, John MacArthur’s devotional was on James’ admonition to behave, “in the gentleness of wisdom.” MacArthur insisted that, “A wise person is a gentle person.” He focused on the word “gentle” explaining that it translated a Greek word that could be rendered as “meek.” He said, “The Greeks characterized meekness as power under control; in the believer’s case, that means being under the control of God.”* He also pointed out that Jesus is our perfect example of meekness, and not surprisingly, it is listed as a fruit of the Spirit.

This all should have gone down without a hitch except that my Bible reading for that day had been John’s report of Jesus cleansing the temple – with a whip and some caustic criticism. In “True Lies and Lying Truth” I wrote, “Over the last few months, I studied a harmony of the Gospels as my daily devotional reading. The strongest impression I came away with is that Jesus was a very critical person. He was a stickler for the truth and a warrior against lies. He called His arch enemy the father of lies. I think we do our Lord a disservice to suggest that He would stand meekly aside while a wave of lies washes the shores of our society.”

In that article I was primarily focused on lies in the political realm, but I am equally disturbed by the “truth” shared by some Bible teachers that might be called lies – a lie told in ignorance or through misinterpretation is still a lie. (See “Lies We Have Been Told”) The man who confronted me was quoting the words of a Bible commentator on a subject that honest Christians can disagree about. I suggested that we look at what the Bible itself has to say, and that is what caused the critical response on his part. I suspect the commentator was one he held in high esteem, and he believed I was wrong to disagree with him. I think I exhibited meekness in my response to him (I have a witness who agrees.), but he did not take it well.

My point is that while Jesus was the epitome of meekness, and we should always follow His example (WWJD), Jesus never allowed His meekness to turn Him into a doormat. (Admittedly, the cross was a major doormat moment, but that was the explicit purpose for the incarnation: that He should submit to the punishment due us for our transgressions.) Most of the disagreements I have with fellow-believers center on the interpretation of Scripture. In many cases, the only option is to agree to disagree. That is fine; it can be done in perfect meekness and in honor to the truth of God’s Word.

However, there are times when an opinion is not based on truth, and it should be corrected. As an example, I spent several weeks debating with a fellow-Christian who believes that God blesses same-sex marriages. (For more on that debate see “Clobber the Argument”) While it is true that God loves homosexuals and heterosexuals unconditionally, it is disingenuous to say that Scripture condones any sexual intimacy outside of the marriage of a man and a woman. This applies to all aberrations: homosexuality, adultery, incest, pedophilia, beastiality, and anything else a perverted mind can imagine. God’s plan for His creation has procreation at its core, and to tamper with the beauty and simplicity of marital intimacy is to destroy the very foundation of human society. (See “You Have Heard That it was Said”)

There are other subjects that rise to this level of demand for correction: denial of the virgin birth, acceptance of salvation through any means but the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, dismissal of the existence of hell and judgment, the elevation of any book but the Bible as inspired revelation from God. And more. The point I am trying to make in all humility and meekness is that as Christians, we are compelled to defend the truth as revealed in Scripture. If any person, regardless of their popularity or admiration, holds an opinion that cannot be supported by the Word of God, that opinion should be challenged. And that challenge must be made with all meekness – truth spoken in love as Paul directs. This approach will not always have happy results. Remember how the Temple merchandisers reacted to Jesus’ dramatic correction of their misuse of God’s house. Stay meek, yes, but stay strong.

* John MacArthur, Strength for Today (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1997).

Related posts: How Do You Read Paul; Sanctify Them; Truth Matters; The Truth About the Truth