October 20, 2026
The Communal Nature of Patience
1 Thessalonians 5:14, Ephesians 4:2, 1 Corinthians 13:4, Colossians 3:12-13
Have you ever thought about patience as communal? Probably not. When it comes to the fruit of the Spirit, we typically are thinking about it from the perspective of how the Spirit is solely working in us, but the Spirit not only works in the Christian heart, but also in the communal Church’s heart. The work of the fruit of the Spirit should impact our individual lives, but also the Church as a collective. The idea of patience becomes even more necessary and urgent when we realize that the Church, as an image-bearing community, benefits and grows as we allow the fruit of the Spirit to reign in our hearts and shape the way we live with one another.
“We need to also recognise the communal nature of patience. Makrothymia in the New Testament is predominantly not about resisting impatience in order to sustain one’s own peace of mind but rather to build up a harmonious community. In 1 Thess 5:14, Paul urges the believers to “be patient with everyone,” and Eph 4:2 combines patience with love (“be patient, bearing with one another in love”) in the same way as 1 Cor 13:4 does: “love is patient.” Finally, Col 3:12–13 also emphasises the need to forgive: “Clothe yourselves with…patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.” Winward (Stephen F. Winward) captures the essence of such forbearance well when he considers it “an aspect of caring; it’s one of the colours in the spectrum of love. It’s the way in which a loving person responds to, and deals with, trying and difficult people.”
- Zoltán Dörnyei, The Psychology of the Fruit of the Spirit
Reflection
Reflect on a time when a member of the community showed you patience or when you saw a church or community collectively demonstrating this makrothymia patience. After this time of reflection, answer this question: how might my church and community benefit by my submission to the Spirit in patience?