One of the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit is named longsuffering (Gal. 5:22).

The Word⤒🔗

The word “longsuffering” literally means “long in temper,” or “slow to anger.” In the Bible the expression is used of God. In Exodus 34:6 it constitutes part of the self-revelation of His character, for which the Israelites should have been far more grateful than they were. It stands in contrast to such terms as impatience or intolerance.

Longsuffering an attribute of God←⤒🔗

God’s longsuffering is that divine attribute (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 103:8, 9) which delays the punishment of wicked and rebellious men (Romans 9:22; 1 Pet 3:20). Divine justice would long ago have swept the ungodly into perdition, but the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

The purpose of God’s longsuffering is to lead men to repentance (Romans 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9, 15); but when the wicked despise and abuse it, they are punished (Matthew 24:48-51; Romans 2:4, 5).

God’s longsuffering is illustrated by the song of the vineyard (Isaiah 5:1-7).

Longsuffering exemplified by Christ←⤒🔗

In two of His parables Jesus specifically speaks about God’s longsuffering, namely, in the parable of the wicked husbandmen (Matthew 21:33-41), and the parable of the barren fig tree (Luke 13:6-9). In the parable in Luke 13 Jesus is the dresser, who pleads with the owner of the vineyard: ‘Lord, let it alone this year also, till I dig about it, and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.’ He pleads with the Father to continue being longsuffering. On the cross, while bearing the curse of God for the sins of His people, Jesus prayed, ‘Father, suffer this crucifixion to continue, suspend thy judgment so rightly deserved in order that there may be an era of grace. Keep open the door for the proclamation of the Gospel.’

God’s full wrath was burning against the sin of the whole human race (cf HC LD 37). The question was: on whom would this judgment come down? Christ said: “Father, let Thy judgment be on Me, and may men yet be spared, that, hearing the gospel of the cross, many may repent and believe. May the grace and the glory of the cross be revealed in the salvation of sinners.”

Here is the secret of why the world continues until now. That one prayer of Jesus allows the world to go on even today. If this world only knew what it owes to Jesus! Every breath we breathe on this side of God’s judgment, we have because of this prayer. But who realizes this? Do the great of the earth realize this? The Son Himself could have prayed, and at one word from His lips God the Father would have cut down the soldiers. But they continued to gamble at His feet. In a certain sense, everyone who does not believe in Christ is gambling at the foot of the cross, ignoring the gospel of Jesus Christ, whose prayer is allowing them to live.

But if they will harden themselves then their judgment will be the heavier.

In Jesus, God is longsuffering. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:16 that longsuffering is an attribute ascribed to Christ.

The Christian’s Longsuffering as Fruit of the Spirit←⤒🔗

The Holy Spirit was poured out into the church on the day of Pentecost and came to dwell in the church. Does that imply that every member of the Christian church is automatically filled with the Holy Spirit? How can you know if the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in you?

You can test yourself by the fruit of the Spirit, whether that fruit is in you as the result of God’s grace. Being hot-tempered is a manifestation of the flesh, against which the believer must struggle. When the Spirit works in your heart, then you are given the grace to endure. Then you receive something of God, who is longsuffering with man. Then you also become longsuffering. You receive the grace to calmly process the issue or situation.

Thus, the apostle Paul uses this word longsuffering to describe the spirit of endurance that helped sustain Paul himself (2 Corinthians 6:6), and to describe the nature of the believer’s character (Ephesians 4:2). In Ephesians 4, he appropriately couples longsuffering with “forbearing one another in love.” When the Holy Spirit regenerates a person and comes to work and dwell in him, then that person becomes longsuffering towards others, remembering that the Lord has been and is so longsuffering with him.

John Calvin says:

It is true that we must be grieved at the faults of our neighbours, and we must not feed them by our flattery, as the common fashion of the world is. But yet our zeal must be so moderated that we forgive a great deal (for we ourselves also have need to be forgiven).

In Ephesians 4:2 the apostle Paul is teaching us “that although we ought not to condone any evil, but rather to be moved with godly zeal to condemn such as deserve it, yet nevertheless we must not reject the feeble, as though they were utter reprobates, but labour to win them to our God.”

“Longsuffering” is a fruit of the Spirit which all believers must pray for and practice (Colossians. 1:11; 3:12) as they sow the seed of the gospel and await its growth, or when they labour under discouragement or active persecution (James 5:7-11). Where the Spirit is working, that is where people “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2).