Kindness
Kindness
In its substantival, adjectival, verbal, and adverbial form this term occurs in the English NT in the following passages: Luk 6:35, Act 27:3; Act 28:2, 1Co 13:4, 2Co 6:6, Gal 5:22 (Revised Version only), Eph 2:7; Eph 4:32, Col 3:12, Tit 2:5 (Revised Version only), Tit 3:4, 2Pe 1:7 (Authorized Version only; Revised Version love of the brethren). In all these passages (except Act 27:3; Act 28:2, where it renders , , Tit 2:5, where it renders , and 2Pe 1:7, where brotherly kindness renders ) the original has , , . These Greek words, however, occur in several other places, where the English NT docs not employ the term kindness, viz. Mat 11:30 (easy), Luk 5:39 (Authorized Version , better, Revised Version , good), Rom 2:4 bis (goodness), Rom 3:12 (good), Rom 11:22 (goodness), 1Co 15:33 (good), Gal 5:22 (Authorized Version gentleness, Revised Version kindness), 1Pe 2:3 (gracious). These passages will have to be taken into account in determining the precise meaning of the conception.
is the verbal adjective of , use. Its primary meaning, therefore, is usable, serviceable, good, adequate, efficient (of persona as well as of things). This utilitarian sense of goodness passes over into the ethical sense in which it becomes the opposite to such words as , , . It further passes over into the more specialized ethical meaning of kind, mild. The process of the latter transition may perhaps still be observed in the phrase =good services, benefits, kindnesses.
In the NT there is only one instance where it has the sub-ethical meaning good for use, viz. Luk 5:39; here the old wine is said to be good or better. According to Trench (Synonyms of the NT9, 1901, p. 233), even here the thought is coloured by the ethical employment of the word in other connexions, = mellowed with age. This is certainly true of Mat 11:30, where Christs yoke is called because it is a figure for demands that are kind and mild. In all other instances the ethical application is explicit. The precise shade of meaning, however, attaching to the word in this sense is not easy to determine. In certain instances it may designate moral goodness in general. This seems to be the case in Rom 3:12 ( , a quotation from Psa 14:2, where is the Septuagint rendering for ). In 1Co 15:33 the proverbial saying , evil companionships corrupt good morals (or characters), has in the same general sense, the opposite here being . In all other cases there are indications that some specific quality of moral goodness is intended. Most clearly this is apparent in Gal 5:22, for here stands among a number of Christian graces and is even distinguished from , goodness. A similar co-ordination is found in Col 3:12, where occurs side by side with . Various attempts have been made at defining that conception. Jerome in his exposition of Gal 5:22 renders by benignitas (cf. the rendering by Wyclif and in the Rheims Version), and quotes the Stoic definition; benignitas est virtus sponte ad benefaciendum exposita. The difference between and he finds in this, that the latter can go together with a degree of severity, whilst it is inherent in to be sweet and inviting in its association with others. This, however, does not quite hit the centre of the biblical idea. Most shrewdly, it seems to us, the latter has been pointed out by Tittmann (de Synonymis in NT, 1829-32, i. 141) as consisting in the trait of beneficence towards those who are evil and ungrateful: bene cupit, neque bonis tantum sed etiam malis.
A closer inspection of the several passages will bear this out, at least as the actual implication of the NT usage, if not as the inherent etymological force of the word. In Luk 6:35 God is said to be towards the unthankful and evil, and the statement serves to urge the preceding exhortation: love your enemies, do them good, and lend, never despairing. The passages in Romans point to the same conclusion. In Luk 2:4 the is associated with forbearance and longsuffering; it is that attitude of God by which doing good in the face of evil He leads men to repentance. In the second clause of this verse the word occurs in the form , which probably means the embodiment of the in acts. On the same principle in Luk 11:22 is the opposite of , severity; to continue in the of God means to continue in conscious dependence on this undeserved favour of God (cf. Luk 11:21, be not highminded, but fear). In 1Co 13:4 we read of love that it suffereth long (), envieth not, which indicates that a kindness is meant which overcomes obstacles. In 2Co 6:6, again, is found in conjunction with longsuffering, and in a context which emphasizes the patient, forbearing character of the Apostles loving ministration to his converts. In Gal 5:22 we meet with the same conjunction between longsuffering and , and here, by distinction from , benevolence, and , meekness, the sense is narrowed down to a benevolence which asserts itself either with a peculiar cheerfulness or in the face of peculiar difficulties. According to Eph 2:7 the Divine grace is shown in kindness; no matter whether is here taken as abstractum pro concreto=the embodiment of Gods kind procedure in the work of salvation, or whether grace be given an objective concrete sense; in either case the association of the two shows that the Divine is conceived as having for its object the sinful and unworthy. The context of Col 3:12 likewise emphasizes the forbearing and forgiving disposition required of the Christian in view of the forgiveness received from God, and the terms with which is here associated (lowliness, meekness, longsuffering) are again terms that describe benevolence over against faults observed in fellow-Christians. The of Tit 3:4 is shown by the context to be Gods kindness towards sinful, undeserving man, and held up as an example for the Christian of abstention from evil-speaking, contentiousness, and pride. It came to such as were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Finally, in 1Pe 2:8 (a quotation from Psa 34:9) the general meaning gracious seems to be indicated by the fact that the Divine is set in contrast to the wickedness and guile and hypocrisies and envies and evil-speakings, which the readers must put aside as new-born men (cf. 1Pe 1:23 and the therefore in 1Pe 2:1), and the putting aside of which is invited by their vivid experience in the new life that the Lord Himself is gracious.
Geerhardus Vos.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
KINDNESS
Civil behaviour, favourable treatment, or a constant and habitual practice of friendly offices and benevolent actions.
See CHARITY, GENTLENESS.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
KINDNESS
Like many words that indicate qualities of character and behaviour, kindness has a very broad meaning. It may be well understood through the study of a number of words closely associated with it.
In older versions of the English Bible, kindness is one of the words used to denote Gods covenant love for Israel (Mic 6:8; see LOVE, sub-heading Steadfast love). It is also used in connection with Gods goodness, patience and forbearance (Rom 2:4; Gal 5:22-23; Tit 3:4; see GOODNESS; MERCY). Christians likewise are to be kind, particularly in being patient with people and circumstances that test or annoy them (2Co 6:6; Eph 4:32; Col 3:12-13; see PATIENCE). The meekness of Christ is a demonstration of his kindness (Mat 11:28-30; see MEEKNESS).
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Kindness
KINDNESS.The NT term , which is rendered in the Authorized and Revised Versions both by kindness and by goodness (once in Rom 3:12 as good, following the LXX Septuagint of Psalms 13(14):1, 3, there quoted, in which = ), nowhere occurs in the Gospels. The quality it denotes, however, is an evangelical virtue. Like its OT counterpart , it is attributable both to God (as in Rom 2:4 et al.) and to man (as in 2Co 6:6 et al.). The adj. , Authorized and Revised Versions kind, is found once in the Gospels as referring to God (Luk 6:35). The other instances of its use in very different connexions, as applied to a yoke (Mat 11:30) and to wine (Luk 5:39), though such use is a natural outgrowth of its root-meaning, need only be mentioned.
1. The Kindness of God in the Teaching of Jesus.The passage in which God is explicitly represented as kind occurs in Lk.s version of the logion of Jesus concerning love of friends and hatred of foes (Luk 6:27-36 || Mat 5:43-48). The highest reward attendant upon a love that extends to both friends and foes and is ready to show kindness to all men without distinction, is that thereby men become sons of the Most High. Sons of your Father which is in heaven, as it runs in Mat 5:45, would appear to be the primitive phrase, but the Most High () is quite a favourite name for God with Lk., and its substitution here is probably due to this preference (see Dalman, The Words of Jesus, English translation p. 199). God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. In the Mt. parallel this benign goodness is expressed in the concrete picture of sunshine and rain bestowed equally upon the evil and the good, the just and the unjust. Clearly the expression of an all-embracing benignity can go no further so far as extent is concerned. The only enhancing possible is in connexion with the gift which betokens that benignity, and this we have in the great saying of Joh 3:16, along with the same sweep of reference, God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son. That fontal love is manifested in the kindness (cf. Tit 3:4) on which Jesus lays so much stress in His presentment of God as our Father, a kindness going far beyond the providential bounties and mercies of this life, and concerning itself with the profoundest needs of sinful men.
If explicit statements of the character of that now considered are not multiplied in our Lords teaching, it is to be pointed out that the same conception of God is necessarily implied in a considerable group of the parablesthose, in particular, that illustrate the Divine grace. The great trilogy of Luke 15, exhibiting the Divine concern for man as ; the parables which show how royally and wonderfully God pities and forgives, whether that forgiveness is gratefully realized (the Two Debtors, Luk 7:36-50) or is strangely disregarded (the Unmerciful Servant, Mat 18:23-35); the parable of the Great Supper (Luk 14:16-24), with its comprehensive welcome for the sinnerthese and other such are full of the wide-reaching kindness of God.
An OT basis for this conspicuous feature in Jesus representation of God undoubtedly exists. Whilst God was supremely known in Israel as King, His fatherly relation to Israel is not obscurely dwelt upon in OT writings, particularly in the prophets (e.g. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea). Gods goodness and graciousness are gratefully celebrated in the Psalms; witness the refrain of Psalms 107, Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness ()! Stress on this Divine quality is the great characteristic of Hosea. Hesed is the bond uniting Jahweh and Israel in one covenant relation: the hesed of J [Note: Jehovah.] to Israel being His grace, of Israel to J [Note: Jehovah.] , piety or dutiful love, and of Israelite to Israelite, love and mutual consideration. Love to J [Note: Jehovah.] and love to ones brethren are identical (cf. Hos 4:1; Hos 6:4; Hos 6:6), and both are made imperative by a right sense of J [Note: Jehovah.] s fatherly affection and kindness towards His people (see W. R. Smith, The Prophets of Israel, p. 160 ff.). This line of thought, however, regarding God was arrested in later Judaism; Gods transcendent kingly greatness was emphasized in Jewish thought in our Lords time, and His grace and loving-kindness had fallen into the background. Jesus deliberately chose this conception of fatherly kindness as the one predominant characteristic in His revelation of God, and, what is more, proclaimed this gracious God as the Father of all mankind.
No difficulty need be raised as to the reconciliation of such a conception of God with His character as Rex tremendae majestatis, or as the holy God who cannot regard wickedness with indifference. That God is gracious does not mean that He is an easy-going God. Moral distinctions cannot be obliterated. Though in Christs simple language God sends sunshine and rain upon the unjust, though He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked and they enjoy great prosperity, it cannot be other than an evil thing to be unjust, ungrateful, and wicked. And even though such blessings should appear to be withheld from the just and good, it still must be an altogether good thing to be just and good. Is it not significant that Jesus declares Gods kindness without any qualification whatever, and shows Himself all unconscious that any difficulties are thereby occasioned, that there is anything requiring to be explained and adjusted? The parable of the Unmerciful Servant displays Gods benignity; but the truculence which shows itself unaffected by an amazing experience of forgiving mercy must needs lose the boon which that benignity bestowed. The conclusion of the parable (Mat 18:35) expresses what must needs be; and Jesus presents the doom of the wicked servant as a picture of Gods dealings with men just as directly and simply as He sets forth the kindness of our Father in heaven. The one presentation is perfectly consistent with the other.
Similarly, the problem of suffering and misery, which times without number has evoked the cry Is God good?, is not allowed by Jesus to qualify in any way His declaration of the kindness of God. It is not because He ignored the problem; He is Himself conspicuous as the Sufferer. And with our Lord the Divine kindness is not involved in doubt, because, as we say, God permits so much suffering amongst men, but rather that kindness is represented by Him as specially called forth by human misery. God is particularly set forth as viewing the sufferings and sorrows of men with compassion and pity; and pity is simply kindness brought into relation to suffering and distress. God declares Himself most chiefly in shewing mercy and pity (Collect for 11th Sunday after Trinity). So also it is significant that in enforcing the lesson of Luk 6:35, Christ does not say, Be ye kind, as your Father is kind, but (V. 36), Be ye compassionate, as your Father is compassionate (). And what a vast deduction from the sum of human misery would result, and how the problem would be simplified, if everywhere mans inhumanity to man gave place to such a spirit!
2. Kindness as the Law of Human Life.Love one another is the new commandment of Jesus (Joh 13:34); and kindness is love in its practical manifestation. From what has been said above, we see that this great law of life is directly enforced by the exhibition of the loving-kindness of God our Father. This is the case notably in the comment of our Lord on the dictum, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy (Mat 5:43-48).
The ideal of a relation of kindness between man and man is, however, not altogether an original and peculiar feature in our Lords teaching. In the OT (as, e.g., in Hosea) hesed is presented as the right characteristic of human relationships, even as it denotes Gods graciousness to men; and as a term belooging to common life it indicates that those who are linked together by the bonds of personal affection, or of social unity, owe to one another more than can be expressed in the forms of legal obligation (W. R. Smith, op. cit. p. 161). And Jesus quotes Hos 6:6 with approval, I desire mercy (hesed) and not sacrifice (Mat 12:7)a passage which makes that quality of kindness of greater importance than worship, and worship vain without it. In heathen religions and philosophies, too, ideas are found corresponding more or less to such a conception of the social bond.
Further, it is true that our Lord very emphatically insisted on the application of the principle of kindness as a law of life to relations of men with men in general, and not merely those of co-religionists and people of the same tribe or country. What can equal the parable of the Good Samaritan as helping to a definition of the neighbour to whom the service of kindness is due?
Yet the OT and other forms of teaching are not without traces of a wider view than the scribes of Christs day would allow. The duty of kindness to the stranger in the land (as in Lev 19:9 f., Deu 10:18 f. et al.), and of kindness to enemies, with readiness in forgiving injuries (as in Exo 23:4 f., Pro 24:29; Pro 25:21 f. et al.), is explicitly set forth in the OT. We get one glimpse (among many) of this wider humane feeling, from a very different quarter, in the Indian saying, I met a hundred men going to Delhi, and every one of them was my brother.
Our Lords exposition of this law of kindness is pre-eminent and sui generis. And the newness of His teaching in this respect appears in His having established this duty on a firm religious basis and given it an essential place in the moral consciousness of men (Wendt, Teaching of Jesus, i. p. 332). It is significant that the judgment of men in Mat 25:31 ff. is made to turn on the performance or neglect of the acts of mercy or kindness. The kindness inculcated, also, extends to all creatures: and it is to express itself in the little courtesies of life (Mat 5:47; Mat 10:12).
A view of Christs ethical teaching as a whole makes it clear that the stress thus laid on the duty of kindness favours no loosening of obligation to justice and fidelity in the manifold relationships of men, nor does it do away with the duty and need of punishment when that obligation is violated. The maintenance of just and faithful dealing does not necessarily involve severity and harshness; rather it is itself part of the law of kindness rightly considered. Love of neighbour and of enemy is as truly reconcilable with the claims of justice on the human plane as is Gods benignity with His righteous government. And Christ makes us see once for all that love is the only satisfactory basis for human relationships, and indeed the only possible bond in the perfected social state. See also artt. Love, Neighbour.
3. The Kindness of Jesus.The perfect embodiment of this kindness in human life is seen in Jesus Himself. As I have loved you is the Johannine counterpart (Joh 13:34; Joh 15:12) of the Synoptic as your Father is compassionate in the enforcement of the Law of Love. The whole Gospel portraiture shows us that in Jesus the kindness and pity of God fully dwelt. His dealing with sickness and suffering in all forms, His attitude towards sin, His sense of social disorder, His regard for men as men and indifference to class distinctions, His whole demeanour, His gracious speech (Luk 4:22)all proclaimed the Divine kindness. His fiery denunciation of scribes and Pharisees (see Matthew 23) presents no exception; for His wrath is the wrath of love, and the denunciation must be read in the light of the yearning lament over Jerusalem (Mat 23:37 ff.)Jerusalem in which Pharisaism and scribism were specially entrenched. The key to this perfect life of kindness and love is found in His own wordsThe Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many (Mar 10:45). The declaration of vivid and loving remembrance is that He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil (Act 10:38).
J. S. Clemens.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Kindness
KINDNESS.The pattern of all kindness is set before us in the Bible in the behaviour of God to our race. He gives the sunshine and the rain, and fruitful seasons and glad hearts, food and all the good they have to the just and the unjust alike (Mat 5:45; Mat 7:11, Act 14:17). But the exceeding wealth of His grace is shown unto us in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:7). Gods glory no man can look upon and live. It is a light that no man can approach unto. It is inconceivably great, incomprehensibly grand, unimaginably exalted above the grasp of mans mind. But the kindness of God is Gods glory stooping to mans need. It is Gods power brought within mans reach. It is Gods mercy and Gods love and Gods grace flowing through time and through eternity, as broad as the race, as deep as mans need, as long as mans immortality. The Bible reveals it. Jesus incarnated it. In His life the kindness of God found its supreme manifestation (Tit 3:4-7). All the children of God are to be like the Father in this regard (Mat 5:48, Rom 12:10, Col 3:12-14). The philanthropy of God (Tit 3:4) is to be reproduced in the philanthropy of men (2Pe 1:7).
D. A. Hayes.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Kindness
kndnes (, hesedh; , chrestotes): Kindness in the Old Testament is (with one exception) the translation of hesedh, kindness, favor, mercy, etc., used chiefly of man but also of God (Gen 20:13; Gen 40:14; 1Sa 15:6; 1Sa 20:14, 1Sa 20:15; 2Sa 9:3; Neh 9:17; Psa 141:5; Isa 54:8, Isa 54:10, etc.); tobh, good, is once so translated (2Sa 2:6). In the New Testament chrestotes, usefulness, beneficence, is rendered kindness 4 t in the King James Version (2Co 6:6; Eph 2:7; Col 3:12; Tit 3:4, and in Gal 5:22 the Revised Version (British and American)); see GENTLENESS; GOODNESS. Philanthropa, love of mankind, is translated kindness Act 28:2), and philadelpha, love of the brotherhood (2Pe 1:7, the English Revised Version love of the brethren, the American Revised Version margin Gr, love of the brethren).
For kindness (Psa 31:21) the Revised Version (British and American) has lovingkindness, and the American Standard Revised Version in other places where the reference is to God; for shew, shewed kindness (Jos 2:12) deal, dealt kindly; for The desire of man is his kindness (Pro 19:22) the American Standard Revised Version has That which maketh a man to be desired is his kindness, the English Revised Version The desire of man is (the measure of) his kindness, like the American Standard Revised Version in m; for merciful kindness (Psa 117:2) the American Standard Revised Version has lovingkindness, the English Revised Version mercy ; both have lovingkindness (Psa 119:76); for of great kindness (Neh 9:17; Joe 2:13; Jon 4:2) the American Standard Revised Version has abundant in lovingkindness, the English Revised Version plenteous in mercy; the Revised Version (British and American) has kindness for mercy (Gen 39:21); for pity (Job 6:14); for goodness (Pro 20:6); favor and kindness the American Standard Revised Version, for grace and favor (Est 2:17). See LOVINGKINDNESS; MERCY.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Kindness
General references
Lev 19:34; Deu 22:1-4; Psa 112:5; Pro 14:21; Pro 19:22; Pro 31:26; Isa 11:13; Zec 7:9-10; Mat 5:7; Mat 5:42; Luk 6:30; Mat 25:34-36; Luk 6:34-35; Act 20:35; Rom 12:15; Rom 15:1-2; Rom 15:5; 1Co 13:4-7; Gal 6:1-2; Gal 6:10; Eph 4:32; Col 3:12; Col 3:14; 1Ti 5:9-10; Heb 5:2; 1Pe 3:8-9; 1Pe 4:8; 2Pe 1:7; 1Jn 3:17-18
Instances of:
– Pharaoh to Jacob
Gen 45:16-20; Gen 47:5-6
– Pharaoh’s daughter to Moses
Exo 2:6-10
– Rahab to the spies
Jos 2:6-16
– David to Mephibosheth
2Sa 9:1-13
– Joab to Absalom
2Sa 14:1-24
– Ahab to Ben-Hadad
1Ki 20:32-34
– Elisha to the woman whose son he restored to life
2Ki 8:1
– Evil-Merodach to Jehoiachin
2Ki 25:28-30
– Jehoshabeath to Joash
2Ch 22:11
– Jews to the people
Neh 5:8-19
– Mordecai to Esther
Est 2:7
– Nebuchadnezzar to Jeremiah
Jer 39:11-12
– Joseph to Mary
Mat 1:19
– Centurion to his servant
Luk 7:2-6
– Jews to Mary and Martha
Joh 11:19; Joh 11:33
– John to Mary
Joh 19:27
– Felix to Paul
Act 24:23
– Julius to Paul
Act 27:3; Act 27:43
– Onesiphorus to Paul
2Ti 1:16-18