His Gentleness Is Power

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. MATTHEW 11:29

A man on his way to martyrdom might be forgiven for thinking rather highly of himself. Christians came out from city after city to see him. Bishops travelled to greet him. His chains were honoured like jewels. Ignatius knew the danger. Some of the most searching passages in his letters are about humility and gentleness, and they are all the more striking because of the pressure he was under to forget them.

A convict writing to free men

Ignatius’s humility shows first in the way he speaks about himself. He does not write as a great bishop issuing commands. “I do not command you, as though I were somewhat,” he tells the Ephesians. “For even though I am in bonds for the Name’s sake, I am not yet perfected in Jesus Christ.” He speaks to them “as to my school-fellows”, and says he ought to be trained by them. To the Trallians he says he did not think himself competent, “being a convict”, to order them “as though I were an Apostle.” To the Romans he draws the contrast plainly: Peter and Paul “were Apostles, I am a convict; they were free, but I am a slave to this very hour.”

He calls himself “the very last” of the faithful in Syria, not worthy to be called a member of the church he had led, and “an untimely birth” — the very phrase Paul used of himself.

For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:9

Some modern readers have wondered whether this is only a conventional modesty. It does not read that way. It reads like the humility of a man who knows how far he still has to go, and who is honestly afraid of failing at the last.

The danger of praise

Ignatius was acutely aware that praise was dangerous to him. In the letter to the Trallians he writes: “I have many deep thoughts in God: but I take the measure of myself, lest I perish in my boasting.” He must not give heed to those who would puff him up, he goes on, “for they that say these things to me are a scourge to me.”

It is a remarkable confession. The people who praised him were, he said, a whip to him. He felt the pull of their admiration and knew it could ruin him. He even feared that his own desire for martyrdom might be tainted: “though I desire to suffer, yet I know not whether I am worthy.”

Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. PROVERBS 27:2

Every Christian who has been given any kind of prominence, in the church or elsewhere, knows something of this danger. Ignatius’s remedy was to take the measure of himself — to see himself honestly before God, and to be afraid of the flattery that would inflate him.

Gentleness defeats the devil

The next sentence in the same passage is one of the most striking things Ignatius wrote. “So then I crave gentleness, whereby the prince of this world is brought to nought.” We might expect a man at war with the devil to ask for strength, or courage, or zeal. Ignatius asks for gentleness. He believed that meekness, not force, is what overthrows the enemy.

This is the logic of the cross. Christ did not defeat the powers of evil by overpowering them but by suffering meekly at their hands. And the same weapon is given to His people.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. MATTHEW 5:5

The same thought appears in his praise of the bishop of Tralles, Polybius, whose “very demeanor is a great lesson, while his gentleness is power”. And he tells the Trallians, when they are threatened by false teachers, to “arm yourselves with gentleness”. Gentleness is armour. Gentleness is power.

Meek towards those outside

Ignatius applied this to the way Christians should treat people who were hostile to them. In the letter to the Ephesians he wrote a passage of great beauty: “Against their outbursts of wrath be ye meek; against their proud words be ye humble; against their railings set ye your prayers; against their errors be ye steadfast in the faith; against their fierceness be ye gentle.”

Each clause takes a form of hostility and answers it with its opposite. It is the Sermon on the Mount put into practice, and it was written by a man who had every reason to be bitter.

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. MATTHEW 5:44

He goes on to urge them to show themselves the brothers of their persecutors “by our forbearance”, and to be imitators of the Lord, “vying with each other who shall suffer the greater wrong, who shall be defrauded, who shall be set at nought.” It is an upside-down competition, and Ignatius means it.

Gentleness in the pastor

Ignatius’s counsel to Polycarp carries the same note. He tells the younger bishop that it is no great thing to love the good disciples: “Rather bring the more pestilent to submission by gentleness.” And he ends with a charge to the whole church: “Be ye therefore long-suffering one with another in gentleness, as God is with you.”

That last phrase is the root of all Christian gentleness. We are to be gentle with others because God is gentle with us. We have been borne with, forgiven and patiently led; we must bear with, forgive and patiently lead.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. EPHESIANS 4:32

A caution and an encouragement

It must be admitted that Ignatius did not always practise what he preached. Some of his language about the false teachers — “mad dogs”, “wild beasts in human form” — is anything but gentle. He was a man under terrible strain, fighting for the life of the churches, and his words sometimes run hot. We should not copy that. But the ideal he set out, of humility before God and gentleness towards others, is the ideal of Christ Himself, and he knew it. He even warned the Ephesians not to be zealous to imitate their opponents by returning like for like.

The encouragement is that Ignatius knew his own weakness and was not ashamed to say so. That is the beginning of humility. The man who has taken the measure of himself before God has no need to be harsh with others, and no reason to be proud.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. JAMES 4:10

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Take the measure of yourself before God today. Where are you tempted to think more highly of yourself than you ought?

2. Is there someone whose praise you have come to depend on? Ask God to free you from needing it.

3. Choose one person who has been hostile to you, and answer their hostility this week with its opposite — meekness, humility, prayer or gentleness.

4. Think of the most difficult person in your church or family. Pray for grace to treat them with the gentleness God has shown you.

5. Read Matthew 5:38–48 and ask how Christ’s gentleness might overcome evil in one situation you face.

A PRAYER

Lord Jesus, You are meek and lowly in heart, and by Your gentleness You overcame the prince of this world.

Forgive me for my pride, my love of praise and my harshness towards others; show me the true measure of myself.

Make me gentle with those who oppose me, patient with those who try me, and humble before You.

Bear with me as You always have, and teach me to bear with others as You bear with me. Amen.