Kindness

Civil behaviour, favourable treatment, or a constant and habitual practice of friendly offices and benevolent actions.

See CHARITY, GENTLENESS.

Being Kind

Rom_12:10; Eph_4:32; Col_3:12.

The Kindness Of The LORD

Psa_63:1-3; Psa_89:26-33; Psa_117:2; Isa_54:10; Isa_63:7; Tit_3:3-5.

The LORD Being Kind

Neh_9:16-17; Joe_2:12-13; Luk_6:35.

Those That Are Kind

2Pe_1:1-11.

Those That Are Not Kind

2Pe_1:1-9.

KINDNESS.—The NT term χρηστότης, 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 χρηστότητα = טוֹב), nowhere occurs in the Gospels. The quality it denotes, however, is an evangelical virtue. Like its OT counterpart חֶסֵד, 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. χρηστός, 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’ (ὕψιστος) 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 Lord’s teaching, it is to be pointed out that the same conception of God is necessarily implied in a considerable group of the parables—those, in particular, that illustrate the Divine grace. The great trilogy of Luke 15, exhibiting the Divine concern for man as τὸ ἀπολωλός; 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 sinner’—these 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). God’s 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 (הַסרּוֹ)!’ 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 one’s 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; God’s transcendent kingly greatness was emphasized in Jewish thought in our Lord’s 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 Christ’s 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 God’s 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’ (οἰκτίρμων). And what a vast deduction from the sum of human misery would result, and how the problem would be simplified, if everywhere ‘man’s 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 Lord’s teaching. In the OT (as, e.g., in Hosea) hesed is presented as the right characteristic of human relationships, even as it denotes God’s 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 Christ’s 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 Lord’s 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 Christ’s 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 God’s 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 words—‘The 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.

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). God’s 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 man’s mind. But the kindness of God is God’s glory stooping to man’s need. It is God’s power brought within man’s reach. It is God’s mercy and God’s love and God’s grace flowing through time and through eternity, as broad as the race, as deep as man’s need, as long as man’s 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.

kı̄nd´nes (חסד, ḥeṣedh; χρηστότης, chrēstótēs): “Kindness” in the Old Testament is (with one exception) the translation of ḥeṣedh, “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.); ṭōbh, “good,” is once so translated (2Sa 2:6). In the New Testament chrēstotēs, “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. Philanthrōpı̄a, “love of mankind,” is translated “kindness” Act 28:2), and philadelphı̄a, “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.

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 öéëáíèñþðùò, öéëáíèñùðßá, Tit_2:5, where it renders ἀãáèüò, and 2Pe_1:7, where ‘brotherly kindness’ renders öéëáäåëößá) the original has ÷ñçóôüò, ÷ñçóôüôçò, ÷ñçóôåýåéí. 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 ÷ñçóôüôåñïò, ‘better,’ Revised Version ÷ñçóôüò, ‘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.

÷ñçóôüò is the verbal adjective of ÷ñÜù, ‘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 ðïíçñüò, ìï÷èçñüò, áἰó÷ñüò. 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 ôὰ ÷ñçóôÜ =‘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, ÷ñçóôüò = ‘mellowed with age.’ This is certainly true of Mat_11:30, where Christ’s yoke is called ÷ñçóôüò 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 (ðïéῶí ÷ñçóôüôçôá, a quotation from Psa_14:2, where ÷ñçóôüí is the Septuagint rendering for èåֹá). In 1Co_15:33 the proverbial saying öèåßñïõóéí ἤèç ÷ñçóôὰ ὁìéëßáé êáêáß, ‘evil companionships corrupt good morals’ (or ‘characters’), has ÷ñçóôüò in the same general sense, the opposite here being êáêüò. 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 ÷ñçóôüôçò stands among a number of Christian graces and is even distinguished from ἀãáèùóýíç, ‘goodness.’ A similar co-ordination is found in Col_3:12, where ÷ñçóôüôçò occurs side by side with ðñáὔôçò. Various attempts have been made at defining that conception. Jerome in his exposition of Gal_5:22 renders ÷ñçóôüôçò 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 ÷ñçóôüôçò and ἀãáèùóýíç he finds in this, that the latter can go together with a degree of severity, whilst it is inherent in ÷ñçóôüôçò 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: ‘÷ñçóôüò 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 ÷ñçóôüò 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 ÷ñçóôüôçò 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 ôὸ ÷ñçóôὸí ôïῦ èåïῦ, which probably means the embodiment of the ÷ñçóôüôçò in acts. On the same principle in Luk_11:22 ÷ñçóôüôçò is the opposite of ἀðïôïìßá, ‘severity’; ‘to continue in the ÷ñçóôüôçò 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 (÷ñçóôåýåôáé), envieth not,’ which indicates that a kindness is meant which overcomes obstacles. In 2Co_6:6, again, ÷ñçóôüôçò is found in conjunction with ‘longsuffering,’ and in a context which emphasizes the patient, forbearing character of the Apostle’s loving ministration to his converts. In Gal_5:22 we meet with the same conjunction between ‘longsuffering’ and ÷ñçóôüôçò, and here, by distinction from ἀãáèùóýíç, ‘benevolence,’ and ðñáὔôçò, ‘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 ÷ñçóôüôçò is here taken as abstractum pro concreto=the embodiment of God’s 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 ÷ñçóôüôçò 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 ÷ñçóôüôçò is here associated (‘lowliness,’ ‘meekness,’ ‘longsuffering’) are again terms that describe benevolence over against faults observed in fellow-Christians. The ÷ñçóôüôçò of Tit_3:4 is shown by the context to be God’s 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 ÷ñçóôüôçò 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.

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 God’s covenant love for Israel (Mic 6:8; see LOVE, sub-heading ‘Steadfast love’). It is also used in connection with God’s 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).