“You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12 GNB).
Colossians 3:12 identifies compassion as the first characteristic that should be associated with those who claim to follow Christ. This word refers to the qualities of pity and mercy as well as the ability to sympathize with others in their sorrows. Romans 12:15 reinforces this idea by encouraging us to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”
The second characteristic is kindness, a word that reflects the qualities of benevolence, graciousness, and good will. This word describes the type of person who is always doing good things for others, much like the Biblical example of a woman named Dorcas in the New Testament book of Acts (see Acts 9:39)
Next comes humility. Humility can be defined as, “A freedom from arrogance that grows out of the recognition that all that we have and are comes from God… Biblical humility is not a belittling of oneself, but an exalting and praising of others, especially God and Christ.” (1) Humility represents a positive personal characteristic that involves courtesy, respect, and a modest self opinion. We act in our own best interest when we practice humility for the Biblical book of Proverbs tells us, “Humility and reverence for the Lord will make you both wise and honored” (Proverbs 15:33 TLB).
Humility is then followed by meekness (ESV) or gentleness (HCSB). This characteristic refers to “…a humble opinion of one’s self, a deep sense of one’s (moral) littleness, modesty, lowliness of mind.” (2) While meekness is often equated with weakness, it is more accurately defined as “power under control” and describes a person who chooses to defer to an authority instead of insisting on his or her own way.
Jesus serves as the personification of this quality for He, “…being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death- even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-9 NIV).
Meekness is a characteristic that stands in opposition to the negative qualities of egotism, arrogance, and/or self-centeredness. To such people, Jesus makes the following promise: “Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).
(1) Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., & Harrison, R. K., Thomas Nelson Publishers (Eds.). (1995). In Nelson’s new illustrated Bible dictionary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.
(2) Kenneth S. Wuest, Word Studies in the Greek New Testament [note on Colossians 3:12-13] Copyright © 1942-55 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.