Introduction
There is a widespread tradition that has been passed down for hundreds of years, transcending all denominational barriers. It has caused many in the Body of Christ to go through hell and believe that God was putting them through it.
This tradition is that God sends trials and tribulations on His children in order to perfect the character of God in them. When I first became a Christian in the mid 70’s, it was widespread and preached as gospel truth from almost every pulpit. For my first few years as a Christian, I bought into it.
I started listening to the Word of Faith preachers, and they were saying something different. So I launched into my own study on the subject, to see what the Bible actually said about it. I dug deep, and this teaching was the result.
Nowadays, most Christians don’t believe that everything that happens, and especially every bad thing that happens to them comes from God with the express purpose of developing character in them. The teaching that was coming from the Word of Faith preachers (and I’m sure there were others, also) has diffused into the Body of Christ even if we don’t recognize where it came from.
So even though this tradition is not as widespread as it was in the 70’s and 80’s when I was encountering it, it is still in the back of people’s minds. And many have not heard specific Biblical teaching why it is not an accurate interpretation of the word.
It became widespread because you can pull a few scriptures out of the Bible, and with just a surface examination “prove” that it is so.
James 1:2-4 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
1 Peter 1:6-7 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
The conclusion reached by many is that trials perfect your faith. But let’s “rightly divide” the Word. That means to have an accurate interpretation.
The Two Kinds of Patience
It is the failure to distinguish between the two kinds of patience that causes Christians to go through hell and believe God is the one doing it to them.
Category #1: “Longsuffering”
μακροφμήω (makrŏthuméō) – longsuffering
υπομηνώ (hupŏmĕnṓ) – endurance
If you said “that looks like Greek to me,” you were correct. The Bible uses different Greek words that are translated “patience” in English. This first category of Greek words can best be represented by the English word longsuffering (which some people take to mean, “You gonna suffer a long time”). Here are some scripture references that use this word:
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Notice that longsuffering is a quality that God has. We can get a definition of longsuffering from the following scriptures:
1 Peter 3:9 ….not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
Matthew 5:44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”
The definition I like to use is that longsuffering is suffering abuse without resorting to bitterness or retaliation.
Category #2: “Perseverance”
ύπομονή (hupŏmŏné) – perseverance
Luke 8:15 “But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience (perseverance).”
Hebrews 6:11-12 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end,
12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience (hupomone, perseverance) inherit the promises.
Hebrews 10:35-36 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.
36 For you have need of patience, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
Perseverance means to be constant and immovable, to take a stand against when opposed, to resist, to not quit or give up.
Longsuffering and Perseverance Contrasted
Longsuffering is passive – it takes whatever comes along without putting up a fuss.
Perseverance is active – it is unchanging, and stands firm in spite of all circumstances.
Christians have gotten themselves into all kinds of trouble by substituting longsuffering when they should be using perseverance.
Knowing which type of patience is being used can completely change our interpretation and application of scripture.
James 1:2-4 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
We are to count it all joy when we know something – that the trying of our faith produces patience. This verse does not say that trials make your faith grow. It says the testing of your faith produces patience.
What this word is in the Greek, longsuffering or perseverance, will determine how we should act in the trial:
If it is longsuffering, then we should bear the trial passively without grumbling or complaining, praising the Lord because He is teaching us patience.
If it is perseverance, then we should stand against the trial, resisting it, not moving off the Word of God in spite of the circumstances.
See how they elicit two almost opposite reactions!
Here’s a clue: Verse 4 says that if you let patience have its perfect (what it was intended for) result, you will be perfect (mature, fulfilling what you were meant for) and complete, lacking in nothing.
Let’s take a typical trial: sickness. What would be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing? You can look at this verse and think it only think it is referring to your character being perfected and matured, but if you stay sick, you are still lacking something. Your health!
James 1:12, NASB and NIV Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial…
The word in the Greek is the category #2 word, perseverance.
Trials do not even “teach” us patience in the sense of creating something that wasn’t there. In James 1:3, the word translated produces is katergádzōmai, which means to bring out as a result, or trigger. Trials trigger patience, but don’t create it, just as a fire will trigger water from a building’s sprinkler system, but doesn’t “create” the water.
Think of it another way: in academics, what is the primary goal of a test? It is not to teach, although it is possible to learn something when taking an exam. The primary purpose of a test is to find out if you know what you are supposed to know. If you don’t know the material before you take the test, you are going to flunk.
But, if you know there is an exam coming up, and you are a good student, what do you do – you study! It is true that some students would never study if there was no exam. But then there would be no way of measuring whether they knew the material, and the school could not give their stamp of approval (the diploma). Or if they did give out diplomas without testing their students, those diplomas would be worthless.
Guess what – life is the test! Jesus said, “In the world, you shall have tribulation.” What is He saying? There is going to be a test! So we better do our studying beforehand so we can pass with flying colors!
Here is another verse that is used to say that trials cause your faith to grow:
1 Peter 1:6-7 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
What this verse does say is that trials will show whether your faith is the real deal or not. In the analogy, gold ore is melted, and since gold is heavy it stays on the bottom and the impurities, whatever is not gold, floats to the top where it can be skimmed off. Question: when this process is complete, do you have more gold than when you started? No. The fire only revealed what was already there. It purified it.
In the same way, trials will reveal what is genuine faith in your life, and what is not. When things are going well, it’s easy to keep a hopeful and positive attitude. But it’s when the pressure is on that we find out what we really believe.
When should we use each type of patience? Longsuffering is to be used in the context of persecution at the hands of men. Use longsuffering towards people, and perseverance towards circumstances.
Here’s a passage that illustrates the uses of both types of patience:
Ephesians 6:10-13 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Our battle is not with people. With people, we exercise longsuffering. But against the devil and demonic forces, we take a stand against him. That is perseverance.
James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
1 Peter 5:8-9 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
Most Christians realize that people are not our enemy, and the devil is. But they get confused when you start talking about what to do with circumstances and trials in your life.
For example, if a person gets sick they will go to doctors, take medicine, undergo surgery, and everything they can do in the natural to get rid of the sickness, while at the same time saying that maybe God sent the sickness on them for a reason and to teach them something. Well, if you think God has some purpose in you being sick, why are you trying so hard to get rid of it?
How did the Church get so mixed up about this?
I have a theory: the early church suffered lots of persecution, therefore it is mentioned a lot in scripture. As time went on, Christians became the majority rather than the minority, and the persecution stopped. Through the Dark Ages the idea of the poor, downtrodden Christian became thoroughly entrenched.
When new movements of God arose, they were usually persecuted by the institutional church – such was the case in the formation of the Protestant denominations. But as time went on, they became respectable too. Then came the Pentecostals, who were also persecuted. Now they are accepted.
There was no more persecution, yet there were all these scriptures about suffering. Therefore people substituted what I will call “spiritual persecution” – poverty, sickness, death, adverse circumstances, etc. Which, by the way, are all part of the curse of the Law that Galatians 3:13 says we are redeemed from (but that is another lesson which you can read about here). They attributed these as coming from God, and practiced longsuffering towards them.
The origin of the things I call spiritual persecution are from Satan – and we are never to bear anything from Satan passively.
Trials Not from God
In James 1:2 the Greek word translated “trials” is peirasmois, which means a temptation, test, or trial.
James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation (Gr: peirasmon); for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
The Amplified Bible in this verse says, “Blessed… is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation…” Notice the same root, peiras, in verse 2 as verse 12. This means it has essentially the same meaning, which is a temptation, test, or trial.
James 1:13-17 13 Let no one say when he is tempted (peiradzomenos), “I am tempted (peiradzomai) by God”; for God cannot be tempted (apeirastos) by evil, nor does He Himself tempt (peirazei) anyone.
14 But each one is tempted (peirazetai) when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
The form peiradzo is a verb, which means “to tempt, test, or try”. Let no one say when he is tempted, tested, or tried, “I am tempted, tested or tried by God,” for God cannot be tempted, tested or tried by evil, nor does He Himself test, tempt or try anyone.
Can you get any plainer than that?
Vs. 16: Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Other translations say “Do not err” – do not make a mistake about this.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Or in other words, only good and perfect gifts come down from God, and He is not about to change – no exceptions.
“But didn’t God judge sin in the Old Testament? Didn’t He send the plagues on Egypt, didn’t He send Babylon to take Israel into captivity?”
Of course He did. But Christians, when they talk about God putting them through trials, aren’t talking about being judged for sin (the judgment for our sin was placed on Jesus, anyway!). They are talking about being taught lessons through trials, to form their character. And this passage in James is crystal clear that God is not the source of those trials or temptations.
“Oh, but God allowed it”. That is true in the sense that He didn’t prevent it from happening. But it doesn’t mean He commissioned it, in the sense that He has the devil working for Him to create the trials (another misconception – the devil does not work for God).
To be continued…
