A closer look at the Love Chapter.

by R. Herbert

Have you ever noticed that in his famous description of the nature of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, the apostle Paul begins and ends his list with the same trait? It is patience: “Love is patient, . . . it . . . always perseveres.” Although Paul uses two different Greek words, showing different aspects of this important quality, they both mean patience.

Patience with people

The first word is makrothymia, composed of the Greek for our terms far away and anger — in other words, to put one’s anger far away. This involves patience with others, particularly in restraining anger, when patience is often needed most. It does not connote the patience of those who cannot do anything about a situation but of those who have the power to act against the object of anger — perhaps even to exact revenge or punishment. This is the patience of those with power to affect others. It is the patience of those who could react with negative action but choose not to do so.

Husbands need this patience with their wives and wives with their husbands, and parents need it with their children (and sometimes children with parents). Employers sometimes need such patience with employees, and even employers need it for those in authority above them.

It is the patience we should have when someone irritates or hurts us in any way, and we feel a desire to retaliate. It is the kind of patience that every Christian must develop and that we may need many times in a given day. Paul had this kind of patience in mind when he wrote, “be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).

No matter how much we may feel love toward others, the good that might come from that attitude is short-circuited if we do not express it through patience when we interact with them. Love is patient precisely because patience with others requires us to put the needs of others before our feelings.

So it is probably not coincidental that this is the first quality Paul tells us love consists of — patience when provoked or irritated and full of restraint. That is why Paul also links patience with kindness (2 Corinthians 6:6). Makrothymia patience is a primary quality that love for others cannot function without.

Patience with circumstances

The second form of patience closes Paul’s “love list”: hypomonē, which fuses the Greek words translated “under” and “remaining.” This word connotes the idea of remaining under, suffering, or difficult circumstances. In the New Testament, the word is often translated “persevering” (cf. Romans 5:3, 4), but it is a particularly rich word with a wide range of meaning.

For example, in Luke 21:19, we find it translated “Stand firm, and you will win life” (emphasis mine). The King James Version translates this verse less clearly as “In your patience possess ye your souls.”

This kind of patience represents the attitude of those who are not in a position of strength but of weakness, unable to do anything to change the situation they are enduring. It is the patience of the Christian undergoing persecution for their faith, whether the persecution comes from the individual’s government, job, neighbors, or even their own family. Those dealing with long-term illnesses, injuries, poverty, loneliness, depression, grief, or any other kind of ongoing suffering display this kind of patience.

If it is not coincidental that Paul begins his list of love’s qualities with patience (what we must have with individuals), it is also likely that he ends his list with endurance, the patience we must have with situations. If we cannot love others without the first type of patience, it is probable that we cannot love God without the second kind. And we certainly cannot continue in the way of love without that perseverance. Just as patience with others is an act of service or love, patience with events is an act of trust or faith.

Practicing patience

At the most obvious level, we need patience with others in order to serve them. Working with children provides constant examples of this. Whether it is our response to endless small requests or the hundredth time we have to remind a child about a family rule, we must choose whether we respond patiently or impatiently, whether we are helpful or unhelpful.

Of course, this truth does not apply to just our interactions with children. In any situation, only through patience can we override our own natural inclinations and embrace what has so well been called “the holy inconvenience of service.”

In many other ways, exercising patience is an act of love that helps us as well as others. And for those of us who know we need to work on developing patience in our lives, this area can be particularly profitable to meditate on: When, how, and why do we need to apply patience with others?

Pivotal quality

Carefully looking at 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, we see that love begins with and ends in patience, and that this quality is pivotal to effectively loving others and loving God. A number of scriptures show that God is a God of patience, both with people and with events (Romans 2:4, 15:5; 2 Peter 3:9, 15, et al.). If we are to become like God, we must strive to develop patience — in its two forms — with His help. As Paul, the apostle of patience, wrote (using both of the two Greek words for patience), if we do our best and ask God for the extra help we need, we will find ourselves “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might” to “have great endurance and patience” (Colossians 1:11, emphasis mine).