22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)
I am going to start a series on my blog on the Fruit of the Spirit. I am going to take one per entry. This entry is on Forbearance.
According to BibleGateway.com the word forbearance is used 3 times in the NIV and 2 times in the KJV. I also decided to check the Amplified Bible and it shows the word 7 times in the Bible.
According to dictionary.com forbearance means refraining from, patient endurance and abstaining.
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood —to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished (Romans 3:25)
Side note from BibleGateway: The Greek for sacrifice of atonement refers to the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant (see Leviticus 16:15-16).
forbearance can be patience as the Amplified Bible says, shown below in Galatians 5:22-23 (the verse at top of this blog entry is in the NIV) …
22Â But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness,
23Â Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence).Â
The word patience is used 34 times in the Amplified Bible, 16 times in the New International Version (NIV) and 33 times in the King James Version.
As I stated forbearance means to turn away from. That includes if someone does evil to us. We are to not pay them back with evil.
8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For,
“Whoever would love life
    and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
    and their lips from deceitful speech.
11Â They must turn from evil and do good;
    they must seek peace and pursue it.
12Â For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
    and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. (1 Peter 3:8-12)38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. (Matthew 5:38-41)
We are to be patient and wait on the Lord. The best way to describe forbearance is patience.
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. (Psalm 37:3)
So don’t try to do wick to get ahead because you see them getting away with it. In due time it will catch up, might not be now, but wait until judgement day. It will come out.
Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly (Proverbs 14:29)
A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel. (Proverbs 15:18)
Don’t get mad! Don’t get upset! If you are patient you will gain understanding and also will quiet the argument.
One of my favorites is found in 1 Corinthians 13:4 where it shares that “love patient”!
We are to wait for the Lord patiently. He will have a great reward for us when we do. Showing a Christ type love toward another, shows patients, or forbearance. So when you see forbearance, think of the word patient.
Check out the complete Fruit of the Spirit Series.
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O, may the Good Lord help us grow in this grace.
It is the quality of love to bear all things (1Cor13:7) Peter says it covers a multitude of sin (1Pet.4:8).
We know we are saved because we love. (1Jn3:14)
The carnal heart can not forbear, since it cannot truly love. it instead keeps the record of wrong though it may not proceed to take it's revenge against them immediately.
I long to increase in it.