Study Focus: Exod. 32:1–14, Ps. 62:1–8, Ezek. 24:15–27, Matt. 5:43–48, 1 Pet. 2:18–25.
Part I: Overview
Biblical religion, in both the Old and the New Testaments, is characterized by meekness. Moses is known for being the meekest person on earth (Num. 12:3). David declared that “the meek shall inherit the earth” (Ps. 37:11, NKJV). The prophets announced that God will bless the meek (Isa. 11:4; Isa. 29:19; Isa. 66:2; Zeph. 2:3; Zeph. 3:11, 12). God Himself is described as meek and as promoting meekness (Ps. 25:9, Ps. 45:4, Ps. 147:6). Jesus was meek (Matt. 11:29, Matt. 21:5, 2 Cor. 10:1) and placed meekness at the foundation of Christianity (Matt. 5:5). The apostles were meek (2 Cor. 10:1) and urged Christians to be meek (Gal. 5:23, Eph. 4:2, Col. 3:12, 1 Tim. 6:11, 2 Tim. 2:25, Titus 3:2, James 1:21, James 3:13, James 4:6, 1 Pet. 3:15, 1 Pet. 5:5). While the empires and kingdoms of the earth are constructed on such values as audacity, power, and military conquest, the religion of God builds and conquers with meekness, love, and grace. However, God’s meekness does not mean that He is powerless. Rather, meekness is an essential trait of God’s character and His way of relating to the universe and to us sinners.
Lesson Themes: This week’s lesson highlights two major themes.
Meekness is essential to Christianity. However, just as essential is a correct understanding of biblical meekness and living it out in our lives. Biblical meekness does not spring out of a political calculation; rather, it is a genuine outlook on the world through the prism of God’s most fundamental attribute, love.
Christians are not meek in and of themselves. Rather, their source of meekness is in their loving, gracious Three-in-One God: the Father; the Son and Savior, Jesus Christ; and the Holy Spirit.
Part II: Commentary
Is Meekness Slave Morality?
One of the strongest attacks on Christianity and its concept of humility and meekness in the modern period came from the German existentialist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900). Not only was suffering an integral part of Nietzsche’s life, but it also was an essential area of interest in his philosophy. At a very young age, he lost his father and many other members of his family. Throughout his life, Nietzsche struggled with debilitating health issues and was eventually isolated by a mental illness during the last 11 years of his life. As he studied classical languages and philosophy, Nietzsche became especially interested in ancient Greek culture and philosophy. From this lens, he concluded that Europe had lost its ancient vigor. The culprit? None other than Christianity! Nietzsche thought Christianity had robbed Europe of its classical Greek and Roman culture of heroism, power, and nobility. The West, indeed, humanity in its entirety, according to Nietzsche, needed to redeem that classical outlook if it wanted to survive and thrive.
According to Nietzsche, there are two types of morality: the morality of the masters, of the noblemen, of the strong-willed man, and the morality of the slaves or of the weak. Master morality sets its own values, decides on its own course of actions, and evaluates them through the prism of their consequences, such as helpful (good) or harmful (bad). Thus, autonomy, power, wealth, nobility, optimism, exuberance, and courage are regarded as good, while weakness and meekness are regarded as bad. By contrast, slave morality does not generate values or actions but merely reacts to, and opposes, the values or actions set by the master morality. While master morality focuses on action, slave morality is reactionary (or, as Nietzsche would put it, ressentiment); while master morality is oppressive, slave morality is subversive and manipulative; while master morality is more individualistic, slave morality is more communitarian.
Thus, because the weak are unable to overthrow the powerful by sheer force, they resort to reinterpreting and disparaging the value system of the masters. Instead of enjoying the morality of the strong man, the weak project their situation of humiliation into the absolute, universalizing their values.
According to Nietzsche, Christianity is a religion of the weak, of slave morality. In his own words: “Christianity has taken the side of everything weak, base, failed; it has made an ideal out of whatever contradicts the preservation instincts of a strong life; it has corrupted the reason of even the most spiritual natures by teaching people to see the highest spiritual values as sinful, as deceptive, as temptations. The most pitiful example—the corruption of Pascal, who believed that his reason was corrupted by original sin when the only thing corrupting it was Christianity itself!”—Friedrich Nietzsche, The Anti-Christ, Ecce Homo, Twilight of the Idols and Other Writings, ed. Aaron Ridley and Judith Norman (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 5.
For Nietzsche, Christianity is another reaction of the poor and weak, designed to overthrow and control the powerful through manipulation. Christians have resigned themselves to their fate of slavery and do not have the will to become masters of their own destiny. For this reason, they hypocritically denounce as sinful what the powerful people have and exalt as virtue what Christians cannot have, imposing their new morality onto all humans. Thus, because Christians could not overpower the rich and the powerful by other means, they devised a way to control the strong with their morality. In this Christian morality, for instance, Christians would convert their inescapable weakness and submission to other people into the virtue of obedience. And the Christians’ inability to take revenge would impel Christians to invent the virtue of forgiveness. Likewise, they would design other virtues, such as piety, love, reciprocity, and equality. No matter how noble these virtues may seem to many, for Nietzsche, Christian morality was unacceptable, irrational, and repulsive, because, in his view, Christians used these virtues to reverse the morality of the strong and noble man of this world, to enslave and even oppress him. To Nietzsche, Christian morality keeps people under control, keeps them in obscurity, and makes them ordinary, unexceptional.
Obviously, Nietzsche’s criticism of Christian morality and its fundamental concept of meekness is a lamentably wrong understanding of Christianity. The Christian virtue of meekness does not spring out of powerlessness—but out of God’s power, justice, and love. When Jesus was taken to the Jewish court and one official slapped Him, Jesus demanded an answer for that unjust act (John 18:23). The Gospels make it clear that Jesus died on the cross, not because He did not have any way of escaping (Matt. 26:53) but because He voluntarily and lovingly gave His life for our salvation (John 10:17, 18; John 18:4–11; John 19:11; Phil. 2:6–9). Christian meekness is the result not of fear but of love.
Paul teaches Christians to live “with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (Eph. 4:2). Paul explains that we rejoice in our suffering and know that “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts” (Rom. 5:5, NKJV). Paul further clarifies that God manifested His love to us when we were powerless and rebellious (Rom. 5:6–8). John affirms this Bible truth when he declares, “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19, NKJV).
By describing humans as powerless, Paul does not denigrate humanity, but, rather, describes the reality of the human condition (see also Rom. 3:26, Romans 7). The Bible does not regard human powerlessness as class struggle—but, rather, depicts all humans as powerless in the face of sin and death. Also, biblical Christianity does not falsely denigrate humanity in order to deceive them into making people cry out to God for grace. Rather, the Bible realistically describes the sinful condition of human beings and portrays a God who voluntarily and lovingly humbles Himself to save an arrogant, rebellious humanity (John 1:11, 12; John 3:16).
As someone said, it takes strength to be meek! And it takes divine power to love sinful, arrogant, rebellious people! Perhaps one of the most memorable examples of Jesus’ meekness was His prayer on the cross for the people who crucified Him and were mocking Him: “ ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do’ ” (Luke 23:34, NKJV; see also Matt. 12:15–20, Acts 8:32, 1 Pet. 2:21–23). Meekness is part of the fruit of the Spirit; it is God’s empowering us to overcome the crucibles of this world.
Moses’ Meekness and God’s Wrath
How could Moses, the servant of God, be designated the meekest person ever to walk the earth, while at the same time the Bible portrays God as full of wrath? We need to understand that God’s wrath is not the opposite of meekness. The divine wrath is God’s reaction to, and His repulsion toward, sin. But God genuinely loves the sinner. If God were arrogant, He would not have waited about sixteen hundred years for the antediluvians to return to Him. Neither would He have waited for more than four hundred years for the Canaanites to fill up the cup of their iniquity. Nor would He have waited some fifteen hundred years for the Israelites to be faithful to Him. Likewise, God would not have waited some two thousand years for Christians to fulfill their mission. An arrogant god would have exterminated each of these entities immediately. But God addresses each of them in love and hope, calling them to return to a relationship with Him.
Part III: Life Application
Our God is a perfect communicator. He tells people openly and comprehensibly what He likes and what He does not like. Thus, God leaves us in no doubt as to His feelings about sin: He rejects it. At the same time, God does not humiliate the sinner with the purpose of subjugating him or her. Rather, God talks about the situation generated by sin; at the same time, He provides solutions. Yes, His reaction against sin is unequivocal, but so is His invitation to sinners to be reconciled to Him. Think of how you can be meek, yet denunciatory of sin in your life and in the lives of your family and community members.
Think about the idea that our life is a theater for the other worlds to see and learn. Share with the Sabbath School group your feelings when thinking about this idea. How does your life change when you are aware of this larger picture?
Notes
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Key Text: Matthew 5:5
Study Focus: Exod. 32:1–14, Ps. 62:1–8, Ezek. 24:15–27, Matt. 5:43–48, 1 Pet. 2:18–25.
Part I: Overview
Biblical religion, in both the Old and the New Testaments, is characterized by meekness. Moses is known for being the meekest person on earth (Num. 12:3). David declared that “the meek shall inherit the earth” (Ps. 37:11, NKJV). The prophets announced that God will bless the meek (Isa. 11:4; Isa. 29:19; Isa. 66:2; Zeph. 2:3; Zeph. 3:11, 12). God Himself is described as meek and as promoting meekness (Ps. 25:9, Ps. 45:4, Ps. 147:6). Jesus was meek (Matt. 11:29, Matt. 21:5, 2 Cor. 10:1) and placed meekness at the foundation of Christianity (Matt. 5:5). The apostles were meek (2 Cor. 10:1) and urged Christians to be meek (Gal. 5:23, Eph. 4:2, Col. 3:12, 1 Tim. 6:11, 2 Tim. 2:25, Titus 3:2, James 1:21, James 3:13, James 4:6, 1 Pet. 3:15, 1 Pet. 5:5). While the empires and kingdoms of the earth are constructed on such values as audacity, power, and military conquest, the religion of God builds and conquers with meekness, love, and grace. However, God’s meekness does not mean that He is powerless. Rather, meekness is an essential trait of God’s character and His way of relating to the universe and to us sinners.
Lesson Themes: This week’s lesson highlights two major themes.
Meekness is essential to Christianity. However, just as essential is a correct understanding of biblical meekness and living it out in our lives. Biblical meekness does not spring out of a political calculation; rather, it is a genuine outlook on the world through the prism of God’s most fundamental attribute, love.
Christians are not meek in and of themselves. Rather, their source of meekness is in their loving, gracious Three-in-One God: the Father; the Son and Savior, Jesus Christ; and the Holy Spirit.
Part II: Commentary
Is Meekness Slave Morality?
One of the strongest attacks on Christianity and its concept of humility and meekness in the modern period came from the German existentialist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900). Not only was suffering an integral part of Nietzsche’s life, but it also was an essential area of interest in his philosophy. At a very young age, he lost his father and many other members of his family. Throughout his life, Nietzsche struggled with debilitating health issues and was eventually isolated by a mental illness during the last 11 years of his life. As he studied classical languages and philosophy, Nietzsche became especially interested in ancient Greek culture and philosophy. From this lens, he concluded that Europe had lost its ancient vigor. The culprit? None other than Christianity! Nietzsche thought Christianity had robbed Europe of its classical Greek and Roman culture of heroism, power, and nobility. The West, indeed, humanity in its entirety, according to Nietzsche, needed to redeem that classical outlook if it wanted to survive and thrive.
According to Nietzsche, there are two types of morality: the morality of the masters, of the noblemen, of the strong-willed man, and the morality of the slaves or of the weak. Master morality sets its own values, decides on its own course of actions, and evaluates them through the prism of their consequences, such as helpful (good) or harmful (bad). Thus, autonomy, power, wealth, nobility, optimism, exuberance, and courage are regarded as good, while weakness and meekness are regarded as bad. By contrast, slave morality does not generate values or actions but merely reacts to, and opposes, the values or actions set by the master morality. While master morality focuses on action, slave morality is reactionary (or, as Nietzsche would put it, ressentiment); while master morality is oppressive, slave morality is subversive and manipulative; while master morality is more individualistic, slave morality is more communitarian.
Thus, because the weak are unable to overthrow the powerful by sheer force, they resort to reinterpreting and disparaging the value system of the masters. Instead of enjoying the morality of the strong man, the weak project their situation of humiliation into the absolute, universalizing their values.
According to Nietzsche, Christianity is a religion of the weak, of slave morality. In his own words: “Christianity has taken the side of everything weak, base, failed; it has made an ideal out of whatever contradicts the preservation instincts of a strong life; it has corrupted the reason of even the most spiritual natures by teaching people to see the highest spiritual values as sinful, as deceptive, as temptations. The most pitiful example—the corruption of Pascal, who believed that his reason was corrupted by original sin when the only thing corrupting it was Christianity itself!”—Friedrich Nietzsche, The Anti-Christ, Ecce Homo, Twilight of the Idols and Other Writings, ed. Aaron Ridley and Judith Norman (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 5.
For Nietzsche, Christianity is another reaction of the poor and weak, designed to overthrow and control the powerful through manipulation. Christians have resigned themselves to their fate of slavery and do not have the will to become masters of their own destiny. For this reason, they hypocritically denounce as sinful what the powerful people have and exalt as virtue what Christians cannot have, imposing their new morality onto all humans. Thus, because Christians could not overpower the rich and the powerful by other means, they devised a way to control the strong with their morality. In this Christian morality, for instance, Christians would convert their inescapable weakness and submission to other people into the virtue of obedience. And the Christians’ inability to take revenge would impel Christians to invent the virtue of forgiveness. Likewise, they would design other virtues, such as piety, love, reciprocity, and equality. No matter how noble these virtues may seem to many, for Nietzsche, Christian morality was unacceptable, irrational, and repulsive, because, in his view, Christians used these virtues to reverse the morality of the strong and noble man of this world, to enslave and even oppress him. To Nietzsche, Christian morality keeps people under control, keeps them in obscurity, and makes them ordinary, unexceptional.
Obviously, Nietzsche’s criticism of Christian morality and its fundamental concept of meekness is a lamentably wrong understanding of Christianity. The Christian virtue of meekness does not spring out of powerlessness—but out of God’s power, justice, and love. When Jesus was taken to the Jewish court and one official slapped Him, Jesus demanded an answer for that unjust act (John 18:23). The Gospels make it clear that Jesus died on the cross, not because He did not have any way of escaping (Matt. 26:53) but because He voluntarily and lovingly gave His life for our salvation (John 10:17, 18; John 18:4–11; John 19:11; Phil. 2:6–9). Christian meekness is the result not of fear but of love.
Paul teaches Christians to live “with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (Eph. 4:2). Paul explains that we rejoice in our suffering and know that “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts” (Rom. 5:5, NKJV). Paul further clarifies that God manifested His love to us when we were powerless and rebellious (Rom. 5:6–8). John affirms this Bible truth when he declares, “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19, NKJV).
By describing humans as powerless, Paul does not denigrate humanity, but, rather, describes the reality of the human condition (see also Rom. 3:26, Romans 7). The Bible does not regard human powerlessness as class struggle—but, rather, depicts all humans as powerless in the face of sin and death. Also, biblical Christianity does not falsely denigrate humanity in order to deceive them into making people cry out to God for grace. Rather, the Bible realistically describes the sinful condition of human beings and portrays a God who voluntarily and lovingly humbles Himself to save an arrogant, rebellious humanity (John 1:11, 12; John 3:16).
As someone said, it takes strength to be meek! And it takes divine power to love sinful, arrogant, rebellious people! Perhaps one of the most memorable examples of Jesus’ meekness was His prayer on the cross for the people who crucified Him and were mocking Him: “ ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do’ ” (Luke 23:34, NKJV; see also Matt. 12:15–20, Acts 8:32, 1 Pet. 2:21–23). Meekness is part of the fruit of the Spirit; it is God’s empowering us to overcome the crucibles of this world.
Moses’ Meekness and God’s Wrath
How could Moses, the servant of God, be designated the meekest person ever to walk the earth, while at the same time the Bible portrays God as full of wrath? We need to understand that God’s wrath is not the opposite of meekness. The divine wrath is God’s reaction to, and His repulsion toward, sin. But God genuinely loves the sinner. If God were arrogant, He would not have waited about sixteen hundred years for the antediluvians to return to Him. Neither would He have waited for more than four hundred years for the Canaanites to fill up the cup of their iniquity. Nor would He have waited some fifteen hundred years for the Israelites to be faithful to Him. Likewise, God would not have waited some two thousand years for Christians to fulfill their mission. An arrogant god would have exterminated each of these entities immediately. But God addresses each of them in love and hope, calling them to return to a relationship with Him.
Part III: Life Application
Our God is a perfect communicator. He tells people openly and comprehensibly what He likes and what He does not like. Thus, God leaves us in no doubt as to His feelings about sin: He rejects it. At the same time, God does not humiliate the sinner with the purpose of subjugating him or her. Rather, God talks about the situation generated by sin; at the same time, He provides solutions. Yes, His reaction against sin is unequivocal, but so is His invitation to sinners to be reconciled to Him. Think of how you can be meek, yet denunciatory of sin in your life and in the lives of your family and community members.
Think about the idea that our life is a theater for the other worlds to see and learn. Share with the Sabbath School group your feelings when thinking about this idea. How does your life change when you are aware of this larger picture?
Notes