KINDNESS

Kindness is a quality that is mentioned on a number of occasions in the New Testament. If I were to define kindness, I would say this: a kind person is helpful, pleasant and considerate. That sums it up quite well, doesn't it? But the only problem with that definition, is that it is in English! And sometimes the English language can be a bit vague. And so, because kindness is a New Testament word, I am going to look at some Greek words for "kindness". And in fact, when you do look at the Greek, you begin to see that there is more to the quality of kindness than you would think. Because the Greek definition of kindness has something more to say about the way God operates.

But first of all, I am going to read a scripture that tells us something about love:

1 Corinthians 13:4 "Love suffers long and is kind."

"Love" in that scripture is agape in the Greek. And agape means more than just an emotion; it is the love of God: which means it always acts in the interests of others. In fact, God is agape love. And, as it says in that scripture, agape love is kind. And that is from the Greek verb chresteuomai, which means "to be kind". It is just one of a group of words in the New Testament, which are all connected with kindness. So, that one sentence alone says something about how God operates. Because He operates in love, which is kind.

But when you look at the basic meaning of "to be kind" in the Greek, you find that it means to be profitable, or useful, or to furnish a need. And when the reference is to people, what it means, is doing what is profitable for them.

So what it boils down to is this: to act out of kindness means that you identify what the person's needs are, and then you do what is necessary to meet those needs. And we find out that is exactly how Jesus operates.

Because He says this, in Matthew 11:28-30: "Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

The Greek word for "easy" in that scripture, is chrestos. And it belongs to the same group of words meaning "kindness". In fact that portion of scripture could be translated: "My yoke is kindly." So Jesus knows what is necessary to meet our needs, and He knows what is profitable for us. But He also does something about it, because He tells us to take His yoke, because His yoke is kindly. That is just what we need to do, when our burdens get too heavy. And so that is a good example of how Jesus operates.

So, now, kindness doesn't sound such a vague word, because when you look at the Greek, the meaning is quite specific.

Well, now that we know specifically what kindness means in the New Testament, that adds more meaning to this next scripture: Luke 6:35 says this: "But love your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil."

The unthankful and evil must be the worst kind of people. Because "evil" is poneros in Greek, and it means wicked, malicious. Poneros is a word that is sometimes used to refer to Satan, when it means "evil one".

But if God is kind to people like this, that must mean that He will do for them, what is necessary to meet their needs. And He will do what is profitable for them. Because as we are finding out, that is how God operates.

Well, what these people don't need is eternal death or eternal torment - because no one needs that. And no one could possibly profit from either eternal death or eternal torment. What they do need, whether they realise it at the time or not, is ultimately, to be rescued from the miserable state they are in.

In other words, what they need most, is to have their sins taken away, because sin only causes misery and death.

So when we know the basic meaning of kindness, we can see that the best thing, and the most profitable thing, that God can do for these people, is to save them. That is because the ultimate kindness, is to give them universal salvation - living forever, with life as God has it.

And one day, that is what He is going to do.

But Jesus did say, you have to believe in Him to have eternal life. For example, He says this: John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

And that is true - you do first have to believe in Him to be saved. But a lot of people think that means, then, that the onus is on each person, and that God leaves it up to the individual whether they are saved or not. But they only think that because they do not see the full picture.

And you can not see the full picture until you see the way God operates. And the way God operates is in kindness - which means He will always do what is necessary, to meet their needs and He will always do what is profitable for them. But first, He has to bring them to the point where they realise that they have a need. And that is called repentance - which is the starting point for each individual person.

It is what Paul told the Christians at Rome, in Romans 2:4 "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?"

The Greek word that is translated "goodness" in that scripture, is chreston. It is another of the same group of words that mean "kindness." In fact, the New American Standard Version translates it as "kindness" in that verse.

But the basic meaning of this group of words, always stays the same. It is doing what is necessary, or profitable, for the person. And as far as God is concerned, that means doing what is best for them. Because God can not do any less than the best.

And what was best for the people that Paul was addressing in Romans, was repentance.

But repentance is just the turning point: just look at what the apostle has to say about what it really means to be on the receiving end of God's kindness - and this is Paul speaking from personal experience - in Titus 3:3-7: "For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

But verse 4 says more than you would think about the way God operates:

"But when the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared..."

"Love toward man" is just one word in the Greek; what it means is "God's love of mankind." And it does not make any distinction, because God loves all mankind.