Patience and Long-Suffering, Part 2

My Bible reading today was about kindness.  One of the passages was Colossians 1:9-10.  I read the entire chapter and verse 11 says, "Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness."  Well that certainly caught my attention!  I turned to e-Sword and some of my favorite commentaries to see what they had to say about the use of these two words in the same verse.

John Wesley's Notes on the Bible:

Strengthened unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness - This is the highest point: not only to know, to do, to suffer, the whole will of God; but to suffer it to the end, not barely with patience, but with thankful joy.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible:

Unto all patience - So that you may be enabled to bear all your trials without complaining. It is only the power of God that can enable us to do that.
And long-suffering - slowness to anger or passion; longsuffering, patient endurance, forbearance. It is opposed to haste; to passionate expressions and thoughts, and to irritability. It denotes the state of mind which can bear long when oppressed, provoked, calumniated, and when one seeks to injure us.

David Guzik's Enduring Word Commentary:

As we walk worthy of the Lord, His strength is there to help us meet all of life’s challenges, and to endure and overcome problems with circumstances (patience) and people (longsuffering) with joy.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Bible:

unto all patience; to bring forth fruit with patience; to run with patience the race set before them; to bear patiently all afflictions and tribulations; to wait patiently for the things promised by God, and for the coming and appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the heavenly glory or hope laid up for them in heaven:
and longsuffering; to be slow to anger, and not easily provoked to wrath; to be ready to forgive injuries; and to bear long, and with patience, all reproaches and persecutions for the sake of Christ, and his Gospel; all which require daily fresh supplies of grace and strength, especially to endure all.

 

To be able to be patient and long-suffering, we need God's strength and glorious power.  When we have that, we can endure with joy.

Long-Suffering

I mentioned on January 1st that I would be doing a variety of Bible studies this year.  This week I started "Fresh Fruit," a study of the fruit of the Spirit.  Each day has contained a short devotion and several scriptures pertaining to that day's fruit - love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.  Reading in the app, I can read the verses that are included, but I've found that is not quite enough, so I then read the entire chapters.

I thought today's topic fell short.  The fruit for today is long-suffering.  The version of the Bible used by the writers used the word patience instead.  I don't feel that those two words are 100% interchangeable so I wanted to look at long-suffering a little more.

The Greek definition of long-suffering is longanimity, that is, (objectively) forbearance or (subjectively) fortitude: - longsuffering, patience.  Longanimity, according to Merriam-Webster is, "a disposition to bear injuries patiently, forbearance."

The Greek definition of patience is cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy: - enduring, patience, patient continuance (waiting).  *I believe many of us have learned to wait, but cheerfully waiting is still a work in progress.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible says about long-suffering, "Long-mindedness, bearing with the frailties and provocations of others, from the consideration that God has borne long with ours; and that, if He had not, we should have been speedily consumed: bearing up also through all the troubles and difficulties of life without murmuring or repining; submitting cheerfully to every dispensation of God’s providence, and thus deriving benefit from every occurrence."

Each time the word long-suffering is used in the Old Testament, it talks about God's long-suffering.  Interestingly, the word patience is not found in the Old Testament. The Hebrew definition of long-suffering is a combination of two words:

'ârêk - long: - long [-suffering, -winged], patient, slow [to anger].

'aph - properly the nose or nostril; hence the face, and occasionally a person; also (from the rapid breathing in passion) ire: - anger (-gry), + before, countenance, face, + forbearing, forehead, + [long-] suffering, nose, nostril, snout,  worthy, wrath.

When combined, it means "long of nose" (or "breathing"), and, as anger was indicated by rapid, violent breathing through the nostrils, "long of anger," or "slow to wrath." It is associated with "great kindness" and "plenteous in mercy."  Have you ever been SO angry, but instead of responding, you concentrated on your breathing, trying to calm yourself down?  Maybe you counted to 10, or even 100.  I think God's long-suffering is like that, but He probably has to count to one million, then start over, when dealing with some of us.

1 Corinthians chapter 13 is the well known "love" chapter.  One of the characteristics of charity is that it suffers long.  We can't patiently endure or be slow to anger without love.  Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible says about 1 Corinthians 13:4, "It can endure evil, injury, and provocation, without being filled with resentment, indignation, or revenge. It makes the mind firm, gives it power over the angry passions, and furnishes it with a persevering patience, that shall rather wait and wish for the reformation of a brother than fly out in resentment of his conduct. It will put up with many slights and neglects from the person it loves, and wait long to see the kindly effects of such patience on him."

Long-suffering is taking patience to the next level.  It's not just waiting.  It's waiting without being filled with resentment.  It's enduring without seeking revenge.  It's a mind that is firm, that doesn't give in to angry passions.  It takes God's love in our hearts to be long-suffering.