Humility
By Andrew Murray
Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose Name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
James 4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Jesus' humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility. The saints must needs be marked by an all-pervading humility. Without this there can be no true abiding in God's presence, or experience of His favor and the power of His Spirit; without this no abiding faith, or love or joy or strength. Humility is the only soil in which the graces root; the lack of humility is the sufficient explanation of every defect and failure. Humility is not so much a grace or virtue along with others; it is the root of all, because it alone takes the right attitude before God, and allows Him as God to do all . . . Humility is not a something which we bring to God, or He bestows; it is simply the sense of entire nothingness, which comes when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all. When the creature realizes that this is the true nobility, and consents to be with his will, his mind, and his affections, the form, the vessel in which the life and glory of God are to work and manifest themselves, he sees that humility is simply acknowledging the truth of his position as creature, and yielding to God His place.
Meekness and lowliness of heart are to be the distinguishing feature of the disciple as they were of the Master. This humility is not a thing that will come of itself, but that it must be made the object of special desire and prayer and faith and practice. Let us study the character of Christ until our souls are filled with the love and admiration of His lowliness. And let us believe that, when we are broken down under a sense of our pride, and our impotence to cast it out, Jesus Christ Himself will come in to impart this grace too, as a part of His wondrous life within us.
Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Meekness
Definition: Mild, forbearance, humble. Primarily it does not denote outward expression of feeling, but an inward grace of the soul, calmness toward God in particular. It is the acceptance of God's dealings with us considering them as good in that they enhance the closeness of our relationship with Him. Christ uses it of His own disposition. It consists not in a person's "outward behavior" only; nor yet in his relations to his fellow-men. Rather, it is an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting; it is closely linked with the word humility, and follows directly upon it. Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:12.
It is only the humble heart which is also the meek, and which, as such, does not fight against God and more or less struggle and contend with Him. This meekness, however, being first of all a meekness before God, is also such in the face of men, even of evil men, out of a sense that these, with the insults and injuries which they may inflict, are permitted and employed by Him for the chastening and purifying of His elect. It is difficult to find a rendering less open to objection than ‘meekness'; ‘gentleness' has been suggested, but meekness describes a condition of mind and heart, and as ‘gentleness' is appropriate rather to actions. It must be clearly understood, that the meekness manifested by the Lord and commended to the believer is the fruit of power.
The common assumption is that when a man is meek it is because he cannot help himself; but the Lord was ‘meek' because He had the infinite resources of God at His command. Described negatively, meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest; it is equanimity of spirit that is neither elated nor cast down, simply because it is not occupied with self at all.
The word for the Christian virtue of humility was not used before the Christian era, and is distinctly an outgrowth of the Gospel. This virtue is based upon a correct estimate of our actual littleness, and is linked with a sense of sinfulness. True greatness is holiness. We are little because sinful. For the sinner humility involves the confession of sin, inasmuch as it involves the confession of his true condition; while yet for the unfallen creature the grace itself as truly exists, involving for such the acknowledgment, not of sinfulness, which would be untrue, but of creatureliness, of absolute dependence, of having nothing, but receiving all things of God. And thus the grace of humility belongs to the highest angel before the throne, being as he is a creature, yea, even to the Lord of Glory Himself. In His human nature He must be the pattern of all humility, of all creaturely dependence; and it is only as a man that Christ thus claims to be lowly; His human life was a constant living on the fulness of His Father's love; He evermore, as man, took the place which was fitting for the creature in the presence of its Creator.
Synonyms: of a soothing disposition; forbearing, humble
Antonyms: irascible, anger as a disposition; anger, savage, fierce; perilous, difficult
Sources:
Andrew Murray, Humility (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literatire Chrusade, 1980), 14-16.
M.R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (Wilmingtonk, DE: Associated Publishers and Authors, 1972), 45.
W.E. Vine, M.F. Unger, W. White, Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985), 401.
Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary, New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1992) 1208, 1209.
By Andrew Murray
Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose Name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
James 4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Jesus' humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility. The saints must needs be marked by an all-pervading humility. Without this there can be no true abiding in God's presence, or experience of His favor and the power of His Spirit; without this no abiding faith, or love or joy or strength. Humility is the only soil in which the graces root; the lack of humility is the sufficient explanation of every defect and failure. Humility is not so much a grace or virtue along with others; it is the root of all, because it alone takes the right attitude before God, and allows Him as God to do all . . . Humility is not a something which we bring to God, or He bestows; it is simply the sense of entire nothingness, which comes when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all. When the creature realizes that this is the true nobility, and consents to be with his will, his mind, and his affections, the form, the vessel in which the life and glory of God are to work and manifest themselves, he sees that humility is simply acknowledging the truth of his position as creature, and yielding to God His place.
Meekness and lowliness of heart are to be the distinguishing feature of the disciple as they were of the Master. This humility is not a thing that will come of itself, but that it must be made the object of special desire and prayer and faith and practice. Let us study the character of Christ until our souls are filled with the love and admiration of His lowliness. And let us believe that, when we are broken down under a sense of our pride, and our impotence to cast it out, Jesus Christ Himself will come in to impart this grace too, as a part of His wondrous life within us.
Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Meekness
Definition: Mild, forbearance, humble. Primarily it does not denote outward expression of feeling, but an inward grace of the soul, calmness toward God in particular. It is the acceptance of God's dealings with us considering them as good in that they enhance the closeness of our relationship with Him. Christ uses it of His own disposition. It consists not in a person's "outward behavior" only; nor yet in his relations to his fellow-men. Rather, it is an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting; it is closely linked with the word humility, and follows directly upon it. Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:12.
It is only the humble heart which is also the meek, and which, as such, does not fight against God and more or less struggle and contend with Him. This meekness, however, being first of all a meekness before God, is also such in the face of men, even of evil men, out of a sense that these, with the insults and injuries which they may inflict, are permitted and employed by Him for the chastening and purifying of His elect. It is difficult to find a rendering less open to objection than ‘meekness'; ‘gentleness' has been suggested, but meekness describes a condition of mind and heart, and as ‘gentleness' is appropriate rather to actions. It must be clearly understood, that the meekness manifested by the Lord and commended to the believer is the fruit of power.
The common assumption is that when a man is meek it is because he cannot help himself; but the Lord was ‘meek' because He had the infinite resources of God at His command. Described negatively, meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest; it is equanimity of spirit that is neither elated nor cast down, simply because it is not occupied with self at all.
The word for the Christian virtue of humility was not used before the Christian era, and is distinctly an outgrowth of the Gospel. This virtue is based upon a correct estimate of our actual littleness, and is linked with a sense of sinfulness. True greatness is holiness. We are little because sinful. For the sinner humility involves the confession of sin, inasmuch as it involves the confession of his true condition; while yet for the unfallen creature the grace itself as truly exists, involving for such the acknowledgment, not of sinfulness, which would be untrue, but of creatureliness, of absolute dependence, of having nothing, but receiving all things of God. And thus the grace of humility belongs to the highest angel before the throne, being as he is a creature, yea, even to the Lord of Glory Himself. In His human nature He must be the pattern of all humility, of all creaturely dependence; and it is only as a man that Christ thus claims to be lowly; His human life was a constant living on the fulness of His Father's love; He evermore, as man, took the place which was fitting for the creature in the presence of its Creator.
Synonyms: of a soothing disposition; forbearing, humble
Antonyms: irascible, anger as a disposition; anger, savage, fierce; perilous, difficult
Sources:
Andrew Murray, Humility (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literatire Chrusade, 1980), 14-16.
M.R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (Wilmingtonk, DE: Associated Publishers and Authors, 1972), 45.
W.E. Vine, M.F. Unger, W. White, Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985), 401.
Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary, New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1992) 1208, 1209.