Is there any reasonableness?

 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. Philippians 4:5

            Paul writes those words in the context of pursuing peace: peace in the church and peace with those outside the church. One ingredient necessary for a tasty peaceful pie is reasonableness according to Paul. Some translations translate this Greek term with the word “gentleness.” The KJV translates it “moderation.” The ESV translates it “reasonableness.” Ralph Martin, in his commentary on Philippians, quotes L.H. Marshall to help define this term. The term is described as “fairmindedness, the attitude of a man who is charitable towards men’s faults and merciful in his judgment of their failings because he takes their whole situation into his reckoning.”

            Did you catch that? Read it again and notice some key terms: charitable, merciful, their whole situation. Now couple that with another commentator's insight.

           Hawthorne notes the following about this term, “Aristotle contrasted it with ἀκριβοδίκαιος, “strict justice.” For him it meant a generous treatment of others that, while demanding equity, does not insist on the letter of the law. Willing to admit limitations, it is prepared to make allowances so that justice does not injure. It is a quality, therefore, that keeps one from insisting on one’s full rights.”[1]

            Did you catch those phrases? A generous treatment of others, willing to admit limitations, justice does not injure, not insisting on one's full rights.

            Matthew Arnold coined the phrase “sweet reasonableness” to convey the meaning of the term. I like that phrase–sweet reasonableness. “Let your sweet reasonableness be evident to all.” Don’t be quick to jump to conclusions. Don’t be quick to condemn. Take into consideration the whole story and the fallibility of humanity. Be reasonable in the way you treat others.

            This exhortation to the church in Philippi hits to the heart of our current cultural climate. In today’s cancel culture environment we see everything but sweet reasonableness. The societal mob can take an honest mistake or even something that is true but not culturally acceptable and turn it into a capital offense worthy of character and career assassination.

            Here are some examples. Boeing communications officer Nial Golightly was pressured to resign his position because of an article he wrote 30 years earlier. The article indicated his belief at that time that women in the military should not serve in combat. His opinion had changed in the intervening years but that didn’t matter. The fact that he ever thought that in his life was enough to force his resignation.

            Meyers Leonard, a 7-foot NBA center for the Miami Heat, used a Jewish racial slur while streaming a video game he was playing. Afterward when he was confronted about the slur, he immediately apologized and stated that he didn’t know what the word meant or the history behind it. He spent time meeting with local Jewish leaders and educating himself about their history. He was fined by the NBA, traded by the Heat and eventually waived by the Oklahoma Thunder. It is uncertain whether any team will pick him up.

            Maya Forstater, a tax expert, was a visiting fellow at the Centre for Global Development (CGD), an international thinktank that campaigns against poverty and inequality. She did not have her contract renewed because of “offensive and exclusionary” language in tweets opposing government proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act that would allow people to identify as the opposite sex.

            What was she saying that was so offensive? She was sharing her belief that “sex is a biological fact and is immutable. There are two sexes, male and female. Men and boys are male. Women and girls are female. It is impossible to change sex. These were, until very recently, understood as basic facts of life by almost everyone.” She appealed her contract cancellation to an employment judge, but the judge found in favor of the Centre.  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/dec/18/judge-rules-against-charity-worker-who-lost-job-over-transgender-tweets

            This is our society today. Does any of that sound like sweet reasonableness? No grace. No forgiveness. Ignore truth. Rush to judgment. No margin for error past, present, or future. Paul exhorts the church in Philippi and the church today in America to let your “sweet reasonableness” be evident to all. Don’t rush to judgment. Recognize people make mistakes. Forgive even as you have been forgiven. Paul is not suggesting that people ignore bad behavior and injustice. But he is saying we need to recognize that we live in a fallen world with fallen people and need to consider those factors in dealing with others. We will make mistakes, sometimes unintentionally.

If the church does not demonstrate reasonableness, I don’t know where else we will find it today. I don’t want to live in a culture that has decided there is no longer room for grace and forgiveness. Such a place is more like Hell than Heaven.

I’ll conclude with the final phrase of verse 5 that I didn’t quote at the beginning: “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.” We can be reasonable and gracious and willing to withhold snap judgments because God’s got it under control. He’ll make sure wrongs are righted and justice is carried out. We can be reasonable, patient, and gracious because God is at hand and knows the whole situation. 

The world desperately needs reasonableness today. May the church rise up and let that reasonableness be evident to all.



[1] Hawthorne, G. F. (2004). Philippians (Vol. 43, p. 244). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

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