The word gentle in the Greek, “praus” can also be translated as meek. We live in a world where to be gentle or meek is in many ways considered to be soft. As it refers to our Savior Jesus, nothing could be further from the truth. Here is a description of this word in the Greek from the website biblehub.com.
This difficult-to-translate root (pra-) means more than “meek.” Biblical meekness is not weakness but rather refers to exercising God’s strength under His control.
While the world may consider gentleness or meekness as weakness, it is actually a greater measure of self-control. To totally understand meekness or gentleness a person needs to have power or authority, which Jesus had. Yet though he had power and authority he also knew how to exercise that power. He didn’t fly off the handle or lose control but reserved the use of that for when it was necessary. Many times, when he could have exercised his power, he responded with gentleness.
We know that Jesus was not just gentle but gentle and lowly. There is a very interesting definition of this word for lowly in the Greek. The word in the Greek is “tapeinos”. This word can also mean humble, but it speaks to a person who recognizes their need of God and who depends on the Lord rather than depending on themselves. Instead of the individual being the source of their own strength, they rest in and rely on God.
When you put these two words together in relationship to Jesus to be gentle and lowly means he had authority but knew how to control it and when to exercise it. At the same time while he walked the earth as a human, he was totally reliant on the Father which set an example for us.
