33. PATIENCE. LONG-SUFFERING. FORBEARANCE
33. PATIENCE. LONG-SUFFERING. FORBEARANCE
It is important to distinguish between and , – . Both are rendered ‘patience’ and ‘long-suffering’; the latter once ‘bear long,’ and once ‘suffer long.’ They are found together in Col 1:11 and in 2Co 6:4; 2Co 6:6, where is given as the first mark of what commends the “servants of God,” as it is the first sign of apostolic power in 2Co 12:12. They are together in reverse order, 2Ti 3:10, in the apostle’s manner of life. Jam 5:11 speaks of the ‘patience’ (.) of Job, and in Jam 5:10 of the prophets as an example of ‘long-suffering’ (.), ‘patience’ A.V.
(from ‘to sustain’) is once rendered ‘enduring,’ 2Co 1:6; ‘patient continuance,’ Rom 2:7; and this fully enters into the thought of the word: it is a ‘patient endurance,’ that does not succumb under trial and suffering. See Luk 8:15; Luk 21:19 (comp. Psa 39:7, where “what wait I for” is in the LXX, 38:8); Rev 13:10; Rev 14:12, and in the expression “he that endureth to the end,” Mat 10:22 and Mat 24:13 (the verb); see also Rom 5:3-4; Jam 1:3-4; Heb 10:36; Heb 12:1. In Rom 15:5 it is traced to its divine source for us; and, though never applied to God directly, because there could be no such testing or pressure in regard to Him, the Lord Jesus in the place He has taken as Man is our perfect example in it, Heb 12:2-3 (the verb), who ‘endured’ the cross, and the contradiction of sinners against Himself; with which may be compared 2Th 3:5 and Rev 3:10
is from , ‘long-suffering.’ What has been observed as to God in connection with just serves to bring out the distinction between this word and , which if a trait of grace in the saint, is most fully an attribute of God. The distinction has been put thus by Archbishop Trench: ” will be found to express patience in respect of persons, in respect of things;” and scriptural usage, it is believed, confirms this. From Exo 34:6 is constantly used of God in the LXX: for , in the N.T. in the same way, see Rom 2:4; Rom 9:22; 1Ti 1:16; 1Pe 3:20; 2Pe 3:15; it is the verb in 2Pe 3:9 ‘is long-suffering,’ and Luk 18:7 ‘bear long.’ We may see much of the force of in Pro 15:18; Pro 16:32, where in the LXX it answers to our “slow to anger,” though the patient restraint of spirit expressed in the word is not confined to anger. For see Mat 18:26; Mat 18:29; Jam 5:7; Jam 5:7-8; Jam 5:10 (‘be patient’ and ‘have patience’ in A.V.); and more generally 1Co 13:4; 1Th 5:14 (‘be patient,’ A.V.). For , similarly, see 2Ti 4:2; Heb 6:12 (‘patience’). In Eph 4:2 and Col 3:12-13, it is followed by “forbearing one another,” which would be its manifestation. Expressing then ‘a long holding out of the mind before it gives room to action or passion,’ it is applied to God, in His forbearance towards those who provoke Him
, ‘forbearance,’ the substantive, is only found in Rom 2:4; Rom 3:25; but the verb , as we have seen, occurs in Eph 4:2; Col 3:13, and in some other places, generally rendered ‘suffer’ in the sense of ‘bearing with.’ (It is a compound of this word with that is used in 2Ti 2:24 only – ‘patient of ills and wrongs.’) But as a substantive it has a little more defined sense, being according to classic usage an armistice or suspension of hostilities, and hence of a temporary character. Its fitness will then be seen in Rom 3:25-26 to express the difference between the ‘passing-over ‘ of sins in the forbearance () of God before the cross, and the ‘justification ‘ of the believer as the result of its finished work. (See and , No. 10.)
(from and , ‘to yield’) is another word translated ‘patient’ in A.V. in 1Ti 3:3 – associated there with ‘not a brawler,’ or ‘not addicted to contention,’ as in Tit 3:2, where it is ‘gentle,’ also Jam 3:17 and 1Pe 2:18. In Php 4:5 (in a substantive form) it is ‘moderation.’ See also 2Co 10:1 for the noun, ‘gentleness,’ and Act 24:4 ‘clemency.’ Difficult to represent by any one word in English, it is ‘equity’ in contrast to the strict letter of the law, hence readiness to waive all rigour and severity even as to just legal redress (as Bishop Ellicot expresses it); it is the opposite of standing upon one’s rights, ‘mild,’ ‘gentle.’ As compared with (for which see No. 34) in the expression “meekness (.) and gentleness (.) of Christ,” 2Co 10:1; the first would be more the state of the inner mind, the second must necessarily express itself in relation to others. is used by the LXX in Psa 86:5 (Psa 85, LXX) of the Lord for what answers to our ‘ready to forgive.’