meekness
Definition
Meekness (Greek: πραΰτης, praütès) describes in the corpus authors the condition of one who has fully surrendered the self-will to the will of God. It is not passive weakness but active yielding: the meek person is not driven by self-interest, self-defence, or self-glory, but by the will of another. Christ is the primary example (Matt. 11:29); Moses is the Old Testament parallel figure (Num. 12:3). Eschatologically, the meek are those who will inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5).
Usage variants by author
Warnock
Warnock defines meekness explicitly in anthropological terms as the divestment of self:
“The word ‘meek’ implies a total lack of self-interest… one who surrenders his own will to the will of another.” [Who Are You?, chap. 7]
Christ is the norm: precisely because He is meek, He does not need to defend Himself and is therefore regarded as weak by human standards — while His meekness is the pattern of royal authority:
“For I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls (Matt. 11:29). Because He is meek, He has no need to defend Himself; and therefore He is regarded in the eyes of men as weak.” [Who Are You?, chap. 7]
Moses as paradigm: from Pharaoh’s prince to the meekest man on earth (Num. 12:3). The path runs through forty years of humiliation in the desert:
“Moses was ‘very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth’ (Num. 12:3). He fled in fear from Pharaoh when he was a strong and mighty prince in Egypt. But forty years later he was back in Egypt… Pharaoh began to plead for mercy and asked Moses to remember him in prayer.” [Who Are You?, chap. 7]
Warnock connects meekness to eschatological inheritance: the meek rule with Christ, after the pattern of the Lamb on the throne (Rev. 3:21). Meekness is the path to reigning, not the renunciation of it.