Kind? Or Nice?

I am thinking about two terms:  nice and kindness.

On the surface they seem to be the same.  As a matter of fact they are used in both list of synonyms for the other.

However I want to challenge that popular thinking.

When I began to think about all of this, a few mornings ago, I found that without some help from dictionaries I was stumped. 

So I went to my favorite sources for a bit of help.

Then I looked in the concordance, for nice and kind. 

Did you know nice, except for one reference, can not be found?

Don’t you think that is interesting?

Yet, though out history there has been a common understanding that church-goers are suppose to “be nice.”

So since I was aware that nice was not a common word in scripture; I googled information in the Greek and Hebrew.  

In the Hebrew I found references to nice as: lovely, charming, delightful, pleasant and desirable.

In the Greek the references are:  pretty, likable, engaging, pleasant, pleasing, agreeable in nature or appearance.

Now lets look at the Greek and Hebrew meanings for kind and kindness:

Here we find an interesting contrast.  

Kind brings the sense of 
                                   “good, 
                                            loving,
                                                     useful, 
                                                              excellent.  

In particular reference to human character the understanding is: worthy, decent, honest, morally upright, gentle and genuine.” (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament pages 1320-1321)

Those two term tug at my imagination.  

I invite you to read them again for yourself.

In my mind there is a huge — but subtle — difference between nice, and kind/kindness.

I invite you to comment on your impression.

Then I will leave you with this question: Does Jesus ever say directly, In the Gospels, to be nice?