Forbearing One Another

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye” (Colossians 3:13)

“With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2-3)

“Forbearing” literally means to “hold up”. We are to hold up, sustain and support each other. It also has the element of endurance included with it. We are to support and sustain each other. It’s what God wants us to do.

Forbearing is the effect. The cause to this effect is love, humility and the need to keep us in harmony with the Holy Spirit of God.

This is important. The unity of the Spirit has nothing to do with the Spirit, but with us. The Holy Spirit is fine. It is we who must harmonize to it. The first step is for each of us to accept the Holy Spirit into our life and allow it to guide and influence our very being. This requires a lowly and meek soul, for the prideful will certainly rebel against it.  True meekness comes from one who has a good understanding of his own morality, mortality and relationship with God.

Once we have solidified our relationship with the Spirit, then we can move on, through the Holy Spirit into our relationship with others.

There is one Spirit that bonds us together. This Spirit will guide us to, and through, the one way, truth and life. The attributes and characteristics of that one Spirit include love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance (Galatians 5:22-23). Anything inconsistent with those attributes not only does not come from the Spirit, but diminishes its presence and influence in our life.

To “keep the unity of the spirit” requires each of us to bear, and to be, those attributes. It is simply impossible for the Spirit of God to flow freely in an environment of discord or through things not of it.

Works of the flesh are inconsistent with the Holy Spirit. These works include adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness and revellings. They which do such things are not of the Spirit, cannot maintain the unity of the Spirit with others, and, “shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21).

Now, is it possible to forbear one another without the Holy Spirit? Yes it is. Any gracious act or good deed can be done by the devil himself, including belief in God (James 2:19). This can be confusing for some, but “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (1 Corinthians 11:14).

But since forbearance is an attribute of the Holy Spirit, it will naturally flow from the child of God and will do so freely, willingly, and with no other motivation other than love.

James asks, “Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh” (James 3:12). A Spirit filled man will bear the fruits of love towards his fellow man.

In addition, James also points out, “Faith without works is dead…. by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. (July 2: 20, 24). True faith will truly be made manifest through the Holy Spirit. You can’t stop it.

Love of God and love for your fellow man is the greatest commandment of them all. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to motivate us towards fulfilling this commandment. Forbearing and forgiving one another in love epitomizes this command.

Bill Hitchcock