ON BEING SWEET AND REASONABLE

Let your sweet reasonableness be apparent to everyone —Philip. 4:5

On the Lord’s day following Thanksgiving at our church here in Denton we had a sharing session in which various ones said a word about what they were thankful for. I told them of my continual search for ideas, of how I search out ideas as one might search for gold. I am thankful for ideas!, I said, and inasmuch as Philip. 4:5 had been read earlier, I told them of an exciting idea I had come upon in reference to that verse, which is usually translated “Let your forbearance (or gentleness) be known to all men.”

Since the Greek term appears only twice in the NT there is some disagreement as to what it means. The KJV renders it: “Let your moderation be known unto all men.” Phillips’ rendition is helpful: “Have a reputation for gentleness.” Luther translated it with the German word Lindigkeit, which the dictionaries define as mildness or gentleness, but they say it is particularly beautiful in German.

I explained to our assembly that Matthew Arnold came up with the great idea of that passage when he rendered it sweet reasonableness. S. T. Bloomfield, one of my favorites among the old commentators, claims that in this passage the apostle calls for that “reasonableness of mind that holds complete control over the passions,” and yet it is a reasonableness touched by sweetness and gentleness. So that is the idea: Let your sweet reasonableness be apparent to everyone. And what a great idea that is, a gold nugget if ever there was one! Bloomfield also sees in the admonition “an equanimity or holy indifference to the things of this world” which is reflected in a gentle, kind way of life. That is almost too much to take in. How exciting. It shows how a single line from Scripture can blow one’s mind and change one’s life.

R. C. H. Lenski, who has a way in his commentaries of saying about all that can be said about a passage, notes that this Greek term denotes a yielding disposition toward others, and so he renders it: “Your yieldingness, let it get to be known to all men!” Paul is referring to more than an inner quality, Lenski insists, but to the way others are to be treated. We are to yield to others in a sweet and reasonable way.

Some people are sweet but dumb, dumb in the sense that they just won’t think even when they can. Others are the very epitomy of reason, even bursting with logic, but are mean and insensitive. Many others come up very short on both counts in that they are neither sweet nor reasonable. To be both sweet and reasonable is to approach the divine, and surely we cannot attain such excellence without the presence of God in our lives.

We do so many irrational things, even those of us who should know better, such as arguing on and on with our implacable friends. Jonathan Swift was wise in advising us that “It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.” Most people’s beliefs are rooted in tradition, emotion, prejudice, or habit rather than in reason. We must first motivate people to think before they will do any serious questioning about their way of life. This is where the yieldingness and the sweetness comes in. We must love them rather than argue with them, which may express itself in authentic listening. Sweetness of spirit is listening with yieldingness.

There is a dear old man here in Denton, a brother of the non-Sunday School persuasion, who loves to argue. He reminds me of the old Scotsman, who said to his pastor when he visited at his bedside, “Oh, no, let’s not pray, let’s argue!” Realizing that it is past time to argue with my aged brother, I play dominoes with him. That may be sweeter than it is reasonable, but at least it isn’t unreasonable. I now and again make specific commitments to God. On a given morning, for instance, I may commit myself to be more diligent that day and to get more done. One of my commitments is never again to argue with anyone about anything. Reason, yes, but not argue.

It is also unreasonable to complain and fuss and whine as if the east wind were in our voice. Samuel Johnson was right that the usual result of complaint is that it excites more contempt than pity. The one who is pleased with finding fault is usually displeased with finding virtue. But the strongest case against “the whining yelp of complaint,” as Robert Burns put it, is that it is neither sweet nor reasonable. It does not qualify for the yieldingness to which the Scriptures call us.

Few things are meaner and more unreasonable than negative, destructive criticism, carping being the word for it, if not slander. While we might cautiously indulge in honest criticism of others, we should be eager to accept criticism of ourselves, even if it is not always constructive. If others are not sweet and reasonable in their evaluation of our efforts, we must nevertheless manifest that spirit in our judgment of others— if indeed we have to judge at all.

The plea for reasonableness is an affirmation that the mind matters. When Jas. 1:19 says “Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” it is telling us to think, that the mind matters. The Bible calls us to “the renewal of the mind” (Rom. 12:2), which at least means that we are to rise above nonsense. And it is nonsense that pervades many of the “issues” that cause “wars and fightings among you,” to quote James again.

There is the proposition “the authority of the silence of the Scriptures” that is laid on us for everything from plurality of communion cups and Sunday school to instrumental music and societies. In the name of reason, how can there be authority in silence, whatever be the system of law or jurisprudence? How can one break a law on which the law is silent? In all the history of hermeneutics there is no such principle of interpretation as “the authority of silence.” The nonsense of the argument becomes clear to anyone who trys to be consistent, for the Scriptures are “silent” in things that one practices as well as in things that he does not. When an anti-instrument brother laid it on one who uses the organ with “Where is instrumental music mentioned in the New Testament?,” his reply was, “In the same place that it mentions the Sunday school.” If instrumental music is wrong — or anything else— reason would demand that the wrong be based on more than the silence of Scripture, if indeed it is silent on the subject, a proposition that can be questioned. If the Bible is silent on any subject, no conclusion can be drawn except that the Bible is silent on that subject.

Then there is talk about the heresy of “unity in diversity” and even “the unity-grace heresy,” which is something like referring to a “water is wet myth.” In all our various fellowships (a euphemism for sects!) we have diversity. Any two people are diverse in numerous ways, including their interpretations of the Bible. To speak of unity not being diverse is to be unreasonable since there can be no other kind, and how can any meaningful plea for unity and grace be heretical?

But Philip. 4:5 is not talking about cold-blooded logic that has no heart. Reason is to be immersed in love and forbearance, and it is to be yielding. Sweet reasonableness! It is surely one of the great liberating truths of the Bible. It is liberating because one comes to see that he does not have to have his way even when he knows he’s right. Nor does he have to be frightened of being wrong so long as his is an honest search. It is the secure person that can yield.

Sweet reasonableness should start at home. What is sweeter than to listen with quiet love, and what more reasonable? And to yield. “Yieldingness, let it be evident to all!” is the divine imperative that will change our lives and homes. And our churches? The day we take sweet reasonableness to church with us, and sprinkle it along the way as we go, is the day that real unity will begin. —the Editor