Editor’s Note: This essay is adapted from Paradox People: Learning to Live the Beatitudes (P&R, 2025)
On the morning of October 7, 2023, waves of Hamas fighters stormed the border of Israel from neighboring Gaza in a bloody surprise attack. The assault was borne out of a religious, political, and geographical dispute that has raged between the two groups for generations. The attack was absolutely horrific. News coverage spread quickly around the world with the grizzly details: there were beheadings, kidnappings, bombs detonated, rockets fired, and hundreds killed as militants opened rifle fire on a crowd of unsuspecting concert-goers. One thing obviously absent from Hamas’ plan to take back this swath of land they believe is rightfully theirs? Meekness.
Of course, any land grab scheme will wisely exclude meekness from the plans. Can you ever imagine turning on the news to this report? “This just in: world domination effected entirely by meekness!” This is why we need to sit up and listen in to what Jesus says in the third beatitude: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5). If Jesus’ message was “the strong and powerful will rule the world,” we wouldn’t need our Bibles. Anyone would deduce as much. But this message of meekness is not natural and requires divine revelation and illumination for us to learn it. Could it really be that there is so much more to meekness than the world would have us think? Indeed, could it really be that there is the world to be had for those who are meek?
The power-hungry of society would never believe it, but the church is prone to doubt it as well. In the eleventh through thirteenth centuries, the church was occupied with numerous bloodthirsty crusades to “inherit” the geographical regions of the Bible. Today, the din of warfare has been replaced with the noise of Twitter rants, with many Christians taking to social media to bemoan the sins of the world, lament the obscurity of the church, and call for change.
Let me be very clear about one thing: desiring the prosperity of Christ’s church is by no means wrong. Far from it (see Ps. 122)! But we must remember that Jesus said he will build his church, and he will do so according to his wisdom and methodology, not ours. In the Sermon on the Mount (and the Beatitudes in particular) we find some of the major blueprints to Jesus’ building program, and, as counter-intuitive as it might seem to us, critical to this project is the meekness of Christ’s followers.
The What of Meekness
This third beatitude rounds out something of an initial triad in the nine. These three all have as their focus the theme of humility. Poverty of spirit is the humble recognition that there is nothing in us that can merit our salvation. Spiritual mourning is the natural response to that humbling recognition. Meekness is the proof of that humility to the rest of the world. It’s spiritual humility in its fullest and final form: I am not just lowly in my own eyes or the eyes of God, but in the eyes of others, too. Meekness is humility that flows from the heart of an individual to their hands. It produces something discernible to those who are watching. What does it look like, exactly? How does meekness inform our engagement with others? We could highlight three things.
First, the meek individual looks to the needs of others. They are not self-obsessed and allow no time for self-promotion. Just as importantly, and maybe even more difficultly, the meek are not interested in self-pity either. Put another way, God-given meekness helps us remove ourselves from the center of the universe. We see that the world does not revolve around us, and in that we rejoice. Meekness makes time for people. Meekness makes meals for people. Meekness packs boxes for people. When oxygen masks are deployed is about the only time it’s wise to help yourself first before helping others. But that’s the principle the world wants us to operate on in all of life. “Self-care isn’t selfish.” “Choose you.” “The most important thing in life is your personal happiness.” Once again, the Beatitudes come in to turn things upside down from the way we’re used to seeing them. But if we just think about it for a moment, it makes perfect sense: the Bible’s call to meekness is actually what gives society its joy. What a miserable existence life would be if we never experienced the selfless care and compassion of others!
Second, the meek individual also lives with the weaknesses of others. Oftentimes when the New Testament authors employ the word for meekness (praus) they do so to instruct believers in bearing with the sins and shortcomings of others. As one example, take Galatians 6:1, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness [praus].” This is a virtue essential for the well-being of the church. Though the church is Christ’s kingdom on earth, it is far from perfect. When he brings us into his kingdom, we bring our sins with us—but how we deal with sin is what truly sets us apart from the world. How do the meek live in a society filled with sinners? We recognize that there is no ultimate pleasure or value in retaliation. We don’t get a high by putting other people down. We don’t discard those who fail and mess up, but rather we believe in second, third, fourth—even seventy-seventh chances (Matt. 18:21–22)! When the church lives out this beatitude it proves itself to be a people who are pursuing after paradox: finding satisfaction and success not according to common sense, but according to God’s word.
Finally, the meek individual learns from the wisdom of others. Meekness tells me I don’t have all the answers and makes me ready to receive them from others—and most importantly from the Lord himself. Again, we see how this is a distinctly Christian virtue. James says, “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (Jas 1:21). Without a meek spirit, we would never listen to a thing God had to say! This means that meekness is more than a natural disposition of deference and quietness. We all know plenty of people like that: they roll with the punches, don’t draw attention to themselves, and don’t make waves. Is that what Jesus is pronouncing a benediction upon here in Matthew 5? No. With an eye to James 1, we see that this beatitude is about the Spirit-wrought change in our hearts that opens them to the soul-saving word of God. Those who are meek wait upon and are ready to do God’s will, not their own—and there is always blessing in that.
The Who of Meekness
Having sketched out a definition of what meekness looks like, we are probably even more puzzled as to how it could possibly lead to the blessing that Jesus attaches to it in the Sermon on the Mount: inheriting the earth. But we should ask ourselves, What happened to the man who exemplified these characteristics perfectly? It is not without significance that the one time in all of Scripture that Jesus offers a description of his own character he uses this idea of meekness: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle [praus—same word translated “meek” in Matthew 5:5] and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:29).
We cannot properly understand the concept of spiritual meekness unless we look for it in Christ. And when we look to Christ, we see not only one who was meek, but also one who has inherited the earth. Paul’s grand Christ-hymn of Philippians 2 is our guide:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:5–11)
What do we see here? A mission that is marked by quietness, obscurity, and weakness ends in something entirely different. He who was once despised by the world will be hailed by it: every tongue confesses his kingship, every knee bows in submission. Jesus knew this was where he was headed, as he prayed to the Father before his crucifixion, “glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh” (John 17:1–2), or even as he tells his disciples before the ascension, “all authority on heaven and earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18).
That’s one reason why he didn’t fall prey to Satan’s tempting offer to have the kingdoms of the world—he knew they were already his, and he would enjoy them in God’s timing and in God’s way. Jesus clearly understood that meekness was in no way an abdication of his authority, but it was the God-ordained path to exercising and enjoying it. Now nothing is beyond his rule or reign. As the author of Hebrews says, “Now in putting everything in subjection to [Christ], [God] left nothing outside his control” (Heb. 2:8).
This trajectory in the life of our Savior establishes a pattern that Jesus is speaking of in the beatitudes. More than that, Jesus has simply received what God promised mankind from the very beginning. “The meek shall inherit the earth” is actually where humanity started. From the very earliest days of creation, mankind was privileged to steward and rule over God’s world (Gen. 1:26–28). The only requirement was a meek and humble submission to the Lord. All Adam had to do was obey the simple commands: guard, keep, and not eat. If he did this all the world would be his, but in pride he refused, desiring more than what was offered him. Though the nation of Israel was also given a chance to inherit this blessing (Gen. 17:8), it is not until Christ that we find the perfectly submissive servant of God who receives the reward promised the whole way back in the Garden.
If we think meekness and world inheritance are two contradictory concepts and impossibly linked, if we’re prone to doubt Jesus’ pronouncement of blessing on his mild, self-forgetful followers, then we only have to look to his own life for the proof. This is the way God works: “God opposes the proud but give grace to the humble” (Jas 4:6; Prov. 3:34). That’s not an empty platitude; it’s proven to be true in the very life of our Savior.
The How of Meekness
In this, then, is the answer to that question we began with: how is it that the meek can possibly claim to themselves something like world inheritance? How is that those whom the world tramples over will one day have it all? The answer is found in Christ. Quite literally, in Christ—it is our union to the eternal Son of God, the crowned prince of the universe, that ensures our inheritance of it one day. The gospel tells us that, by faith, we will share in all that is rightfully Christ’s. We are “fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom. 8:17). So, how does meekness get us such an inheritance? Because it gets us such a Christ.
When Jesus says that the meek will inherit the earth, he is not hinting at some future uprising. It’s not as though the meek will inherit the earth because one day they will rise up against their enemies, pitch forks and torches in hand, under the rallying cry, “We aren’t gonna take it anymore!” That would be to inherit the earth by abandoning their meekness. But the key here is to understand that meekness is a feature, not a flaw, in Christ’s kingdom. Christians inherit the earth, not despite their meekness, but because of it. Again, this is the pattern established by Jesus himself. The meekness that took him to the cross and then the tomb is the same meekness that took him to the throne in heaven. Likewise, through our meekness—our willingness to accept the word of God by faith and rejoice in a servant-Savior who conquers through crucifixion—believers enter into the majesty and reign of him who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16). And what we are inheriting is something so much greater than this fallen earth—something better than the Middle East, something better than the Garden of Eden, even. We are receiving a fully renewed, fully restored world—we will reign with Christ over the new heavens and the new earth. That’s what meekness gets us! Sohere’s what we need to remind ourselves: to be meek isn’t to accept defeat; it’s to receive ultimate and total victory.
What’s your response to that reality? How are you going to let that shape your life in the here and now? Paul says this theology should actually help settle Christian disputes. “When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?” (1 Cor. 6:1–2). Paul is saying, “You will rule the world—can’t you figure out how to get along with each other? Why argue over petty things when you have it all!”
It should also put into perspective the losses we incur in this life. What is loss, after all, to the one who has “all things” in Christ (1 Cor. 3:21)? Therefore, in the face of the troubles and trials of life, the meek Christian is the confident and calm Christian. Even in the face of evil opposition, meekness holds its ground. Some in the church today feel a sense of panic or dread as society continues its push to sideline Christianity. The promise of this beatitude should challenge any instinct to clamor for control. Is your impulse to fear the unknown of tomorrow? Jesus actually quotes from Psalm 37 in this beatitude, which is about godly response in the face of wickedness:
For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace. (Psalm 37:9–11)
The meek do not fight, they do not fear—they trust in the Lord, for whom all things are possible. They stand confident in the Lord and what he has promised to give them.
Conclusion
This understanding will transform the way you live in this world. There is no need to throw elbows and push our way to the top when we’re already there. There is no need to seek the approval of the world when we have the approval of God. There is no need to fear loss in this life when gain is promised us in the next. We have no need to posture for power; in Christ we already have it. “If we endure, we will also reign with him,” Paul reminds us (2 Tim. 2:12). In other words, we can afford to be demeaned. We can afford to be ignored. We can afford to not get our way. It’s no loss to us, since nothing can threaten the unshakable promises of God or the unfading inheritance that is ours in Christ Jesus.
