NOTES for Pe1 2:23

Jesus is really "gentle and humble of heart" ( Matt.11:29). It is difficult for us to understand what gentleness is. I once heard such a definition: "gentleness is tenderness of the powerful one". It is the quality of the one who is strong, and not of the one who is weak. Jesus is not weak, He is strong enough, but He does not apply this strength, He shows love. The apostle Paul wrote of this in the epistle to the Philippians (Ph. 2:6-8).

We encounter constantly in this life with evil - what is objectively evil, and what we present as evil. And we want all the time "to resist", we want to set against this evil power a counter-power - in such a way that the power of resistance is not less, than the power of action. But both apostles unanimously give us for example the Christ, suggesting not to return evil by evil, suggesting not to set against power with power, but to overcome evil with good, genuine love - not of course towards evil, but towards people being under the power of evil.

Surely, we are not able of this by ourselves; it is intrinsic for us to react to the pain caused to us. That is why the apostles speak very often about the necessity of putting on Christ, in God's armor, so that I won’t be the one to act in a critical situation, but Christ in Whom I indwell.