What does biblical longsuffering really mean?
Recently a friend of mine asked me how long are we supposed to be longsuffering with a situation or a person. How long are we supposed to be patient? She’s been navigating a slow-moving project for several years with a lot of grace and patience, but there are also times of frustration that more progress hasn’t been made. Basically she was asking if biblical longsuffering is always good or is it sometimes not the right approach.
The Bible has a lot of things to say about our need to be patient and longsuffering with each other. In fact, longsuffering is listed as one of the fruits of the Spirit.
…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22, 23 KJV
Now that’s from the King James Version of the Bible. More modern translations often just translated the same word as forbearance (NIV) or patience (ESV).
What is biblical longsuffering?
I was talking to another friend about what biblical longsuffering meant to her and she replied she was a bit conflicted by it. She added: “It depends on how you define the word.”
So let’s look at the biblical definition for longsuffering. The Hebrew word is arek and means: patient, slow to anger
The Greek word is makrothymia.
It means: patience, forbearance, endurance, constancy, steadfastness, perseverance, longsuffering, slowness in avenging wrongs.
Those all look like pretty good ways of thinking and acting.
But I just want to add that we hear the suffering part of the word longsuffering and we think it means we’re supposed to suffer. That’s really not the essence of the word. It’s closer to the idea of patience.
God’s biblical longsuffering
It’s interesting that in the Old Testament, the few times the word is used, it usually refers to the way God responds patiently to mankind’s mistakes and constant turning away from God’s commandments.
For example:
But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. Psalm 86:15 KJV
Other translations use the phrase “slow to anger” for the longsuffering of the KJV.
In the New Testament, biblical longsuffering can refer to the way God acts, the way Jesus acts, and the way we should act.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 KJV
Modern translations like NIV, ESV, and others simply use the word patient in this passage.
Jesus’s biblical longsuffering
As I said, the New Testament also shows Jesus as being longsuffering.
Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. 1 Timothy 1:16 KJV
Here again, other translations use the word patience. Paul is saying Jesus was patient with him to show others they could also be blessed by the biblical longsuffering, or patience, of Jesus, to bring them to the truth .
Our need for biblical longsuffering
And then there are the references in the New Testament of our need to be patient or longsuffering.
I already mentioned the verse from Galatians which refers to longsuffering as a fruit of the Spirit. Here’s one from Colossians.
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Colossians 3:12 KJV
Bowels of mercies is an old-fashioned phrase that means compassion.
As a side note: I don’t usually quote so much from the King James translation, but I am this time because the word longsuffering has come down into modern usage from the heritage of the King James Bible.
I always encourage you to explore several different translations to get fresh insights and a better sense of what a particular word or passage means.
What actually is biblical longsuffering?
So let’s come back to the question at hand: What is biblical longsuffering? Is it always right to be patient with someone or some situation? Are we just supposed to silently put up with bad or harmful behavior? When is it right to be patient and supportive and when is it right to take action of your own or to encourage others to?
There are so many possible answers these questions, so let’s look at a few ways the word longsuffering is used in the Bible.
In the Bible, it is first God who is longsuffering, patient, and slow to anger with us. We may not even always realize how patient God is with us. God’s patience is very good and we are blessed by it many times over.
God’s patience with us is the standard for biblical longsuffering. God was incredibly patient over many generations with the Children of Israel and their pendulum swings between obeying God and turning away from God.
I would imagine you have felt God’s patience with you in your own life. I certainly have.
Jesus was patient with his disciples
Think of how patient Jesus was with people, especially his disciples. He epitomized biblical longsuffering.
But even Jesus’s patience was put to the test when his disciples were slow to understand something, or for example, when they failed to heal the epileptic boy.
Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. Matthew 17:17 KJV
The NLT renders this, “How long must I put up with you?” It’s the same idea.
Jesus had patiently taught his disciples the spiritual lessons they needed. He gave them the spiritual authority and power to heal in his name. But they didn’t always get it, or they were slow at getting it. They didn’t always understand and put into practice what he taught them. And, as I said, he was incredibly longsuffering in the process.
You can almost hear the frustration in Jesus’s voice. In a funny sort of way, that’s a little encouraging when you and I hit the limits of our patience.
Why was Jesus patient?
I think it’s important here to take a step to the side and ask: Why was Jesus so patient? Why was he so longsuffering with his disciples? And what about with the religious leaders, who for the most part, didn’t understand Jesus’s teachings at all?
The simple reason Jesus could be longsuffering is because he saw God be longsuffering and patient.
I quote the following Bible verse often here on the podcast, but I never saw the connection between God’s patience and Jesus’s patience until now.
Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” John 5:19 NIV
Because Jesus saw God be patient, he was patient as well. And that’s the only basis for you and me to be longsuffering or patient with others and ourselves. It’s because we are made in the image and likeness of God.
The kind of biblical longsuffering Jesus practiced is not something you can do on your own. It can only come because you are empowered by God to be that way.
Job’s example of biblical longsuffering and patience
If anyone in the Bible, other than God or Jesus, is an example of patience and longsuffering it’s Job. There’s a reason for the phrase, “the patience of Job.”
Job dealt with one tragedy and loss after another. He never lost his faith in God. He endured the judgmental attitudes of his friends over and over. But at some point he asked God some deep and honest questions. And he listened to God’s answers. And God had some questions for him, which put things in perspective.
There are so many lessons in the book of Job, but one of the things that stands out to me as a result of Job’s incredible example of biblical longsuffering was that he grew spiritually from the experience. He got a better perspective of his place in God’s creation and a deeper understanding of God’s glory and power.
Now, I hope you never experience the losses that Job did. But whatever the circumstances are that require of you the same biblical longsuffering Job had, there will be a blessing to the degree you turn to God for the solution.
Suffering turns us to God
We don’t usually like the idea of suffering, but when we give up all our feeble efforts to find a solution from someone or something besides God, it does bring a blessing. The sooner we turn to God, the sooner the suffering is over, the sooner the blessing comes.
But in turning to God, we have to give up our own agenda, our own will, and our own opinions about how things have to work out. As long as we argue for our way instead of surrendering to God’s way, we aren’t really being patient, even if it looks like we are on the surface. We haven’t reached the standard of biblical longsuffering.
Biblical longsuffering on its deepest level is a recognition of God’s authority and control in your life, in someone else’s life, and in events. It’s submitting to His will, His plan for your life, which is always good, and always better than anything you may have imagined for yourself.
Is too much patience a bad thing?
Now you may be wondering: Hey James, I understand what you’re saying about the importance of biblical longsuffering, but is patience ever a bad thing? What if I’m just putting up with someone or something that’s annoying or harmful but nothing changes and I get more annoyed and harmed?
That’s a great question. The spiritual essence of biblical longsuffering is always good. Unfortunately, sometimes the human mind changes God’s approach to things and exaggerates or ritualizes it. The human mind wants a formula to follow that requires no real spiritual effort or growth.
When the human ego gets a hold of longsuffering, it becomes a self-righteous martyr or a hopeless complainer, neither of which fit the definition of biblical longsuffering and patience. There’s no effort to seek God’s will. There’s no effort to yield to God’s will. There is self-justification and sometimes an odd sense of negative delight in being seen by others to suffer so much, while putting on the appearance of being patient.
Where do you draw the line?
So where do you draw the line between being patient, longsuffering, and supportive of some person or situation and not putting up with something or someone else’s inappropriate behavior?
Does biblical longsuffering mean we’re just supposed to put up with something that’s wrong and let people get away with bad behavior without saying or doing anything about it?
There is certainly a time to be patient with someone or in a given situation, Like a parent teaching toddler to walk. A teacher helping students master a skill. But the Bible is clear that there’s also a time to take action when others delay or say something to someone to correct or even rebuke them.
Jesus gives some pretty straightforward counsel:
If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established. If he doesn’t pay attention to them, tell the church. Matthew 18:15-17 CSB
Jesus does not expect you to put up with or be patient with something offensive. He gives us the most loving, but sometimes difficult way of dealing with someone who has done or said something inappropriate.
Discerning someone’s motives
And your words and actions will take on a different tone depending on the motives of the person you’re dealing with, whether it’s being patient with their shortcomings and mistakes or correcting, even rebuking, their inaction or misdeeds.
If someone is trying their best to do what’s right it’s much easier to express the biblical longsuffering I’ve been talking about. You’re patient with them. You do whatever you can to encourage and support them.
But when someone, from selfish motives, focuses on doing whatever they want with no regard to obeying God or loving their neighbors, it’s really not appropriate to turn a blind eye and ignore their bad behavior. That is not biblical longsuffering. That is ignoring evil.
Biblical longsuffering is not ignoring evil
And when evil is ignored, like weeds in the garden you don’t pull up, it multiplies.
The Bible never tells us to sit idly by while evil walks all over us. And there are many different levels of this sort of thing, both on an individual basis and on a larger, national or international scale.
Now, I realize that sometimes the evil influences in the world appear on the surface beyond our control. For example, when an institution or government does something illegal or harmful to society or a portion of society. Sometimes situations are just outside of your own personal sphere of influence.
But does that mean we are just to be patient, not do anything, and wait for things to sort of work themselves out? How can biblical longsuffering actually help us deal with these kinds of things?
You may be led to get personally involved in some way to support a right cause and bring resolution to a situation. But as I mentioned earlier, when challenges come up, whether in our personal lives, or on a larger scale, true biblical longsuffering opens our eyes to see that we cannot solve the problem on our own. We have to depend completely on God for the solution.
Our God-given tools
And God has given us tools, the most powerful of which is prayer. I’m not talking about a wishy-washy prayer, uncertain of God’s willingness and ability to heal a situation. But a strong prayer of conviction.
Paul talks about the power of this kind of prayer.
… the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4, 5 CSB
On the surface this bold language of spiritual warfare doesn’t really sound like biblical longsuffering or patience at all. In fact, it sounds like just the opposite.
But the only way for you to actually accomplish what’s described in these two verses from 2 Corinthians—waging spiritual warfare and bringing every thought captive to obey Christ—is to put all your trust in God instead of yourself or others, in institutions or government policy.
The highest form of biblical longsuffering
And that is the highest form of biblical longsuffering: waiting on God, trusting God to resolve the problem. It’s not just a blind or feeble hope, but a deep spiritual conviction that God is supreme in heaven and earth and will do what is right.
Think back to what Jesus said about being able to do whatever he sees the Father do. The question that needs to be asked is: What can you see the Father do? Or maybe another way to ask it is: What is God doing and how much of that can you see Him doing?
When you see what God is doing, you no longer have a need to try to do something on your own. And that, in its essence, is biblical longsuffering, seeing what God is doing and not trying to solve the problem on your own.
It’s not waiting idly for something to happen, hoping for the best. It’s not trying to make something happen. Biblical longsuffering is actively discerning what God is doing and moving in tandem, in sync, with Him.
Are you at the end of your patience?
So, what if you’re in a situation that feels like you’re at the end of your ability to be longsuffering? You’ve been patient for as long as you can be. Well, you do still need to try with everything in you, to be loving and patient with someone and supportive of their efforts to do what’s right, even if it doesn’t seem like they’re making much progress.
But on a deep spiritual level, you are not dependent on what someone else does or doesn’t do.
These situations give you an opportunity to remember you’re not personally responsible for making something happen. God is.
When patience is being required of you, it’s a time to ask God what you can do within your own sphere of influence. And ask: what can you see God doing? What do you feel God is calling you to do?
Biblical longsuffering is not putting up with or ignoring inappropriate attitudes or behavior. It is becoming more and more conscious of how God has empowered you to think and act. And most of all, it’s seeing and rejoicing that God is actively involved in your life, and seeing and trusting He is working in the lives of all His children.
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and church mentor. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by learning to think, pray, and love like Jesus. Contact him here.
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Bible References
Galatians 5:22, 23 KJV
22 …the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Psalm 86:15 KJV
15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
2 Peter 3:9 KJV
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
1 Timothy 1:16 KJV
16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.
Colossians 3:12 KJV
12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Matthew 17:17 KJV
17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
John 5:19 NIV
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
Matthew 18:15-17 CSB
15 If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother.
16 But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established.
17 If he doesn’t pay attention to them, tell the church.
2 Corinthians 10:4, 5 CSB
4 … the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments
5 and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.
