With a renewed sense of determination and conviction, I sit at the computer with pen, paper, and Bible in hand. Flipping to a short list of verses pertaining to the One Word, James 3:13 for some reason stands out. "Perfect," I think to myself. "Let me see what James has to say. I love James. He is so blunt and there's so much meat to his short little book." Turning in my trusty Bible, the one I got early in my walk with Jesus, I find the verse:
"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom."
Huh. Where's the gentleness? It's not there. Or is it?
So I do something which is totally out of character for me. I look to find what the original word in its original language was. [I have never really done this before, which is ironic given my love of languages, but I am nothing if not a paradoxical creature.] First, I mistakenly assume that James wrote his epistle in Hebrew, and find the Hebrew word for gentleness. Suddenly, it dawns on me that he may not have written in Hebrew, but perhaps Greek. So a quick search confirms that I need to find the Greek word in this verse.
Prautes
What is that? A little more digging, and I discover that the word I have chose to work on, to use to draw nearer to God, the upon which to meditate and center my life over the next year, this word I have spent such time praying to appear, agonizing over its rightness in my life and in God's vision, this word of words. All I can say is that I had a Princess Bride moment.
That's right folks, the word prautes doesn't actually have a direct English equivalent. So it doesn't actually mean gentleness. It's nearest approximation is gentleness. Apparently, it is some sort of untranslatable metaphysical state, much like umami of Japanese, ennui of French, saudade of Portuguese. William Barclay writes that it is "the quality of the person whose feelings and emotions are under perfect control." An ancient Greek philosopher, Andronicus Rhodius says it may be defined as " serenity and the power, not to be led away by emotion, but to control emotion as right reason dictates." Cue the Marty McFly moment.
What do I do? I go to my key verse for the project to find out what its original Greek says.
Epieikes
So what does it mean anyway? According to Strong's Concordance, it is equitable, yielding, gentle, mild, forbearing, reasonable or moderate. I'm not entirely sure that I like the sound of this any better. I do the next most logical thing. I look up what exactly all the dictionaries around the interwebs say that gentleness actually means.
Amiable. Not severe, rough, or violent. Moderate. Gradual. Respectable. Mildness of disposition.
So I guess epieikes does fit after all. I think that's the kind of gentleness I was after when I selected this word and began this quest. Perhaps I'll file away prautes for another year when I'm feeling a little more ambitious. Although I must say, I really do love the term and the idea of achieving that perfect balance. That precise mental state of being where you can unleash some righteous indignation on the wicked, to be so in control of one's own emotions that the right reasons dictate the appropriate emotional response in lieu of being controlled by one's emotions. To flip the tables in the Temple, or remain calm and silent in face of false accusations and ridicule.
Perhaps I do want that kind of gentleness after all.
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