Lord’s Day, Vol. 4 No. 16
The Fruit of the Spirit is Longsuffering
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Longsuffering (makrothuméo) describes the believer as exhibiting patience, forbearance, longsuffering, slowness in avenging wrongs inflicted by others. It is the quality of a person who can avenge himself yet refrains from doing so. It is patience in respect to persons whereas another word often translated patience (hupomonḗ) describes one’s enduring attitude towards things or circumstances (Luke 8:15, 21:19; Romans 2:4, 5:3, 4).