The Apostle refers to her ' unfeigned faith,' by which he no doubt means that Lois had accepted Christian faith, and not merely that she cherished the ancient faith of Israel. As we find Eunice described as a ' Jewess who believed ' on the oc- casion of St. Paul's second visit to Lystra, probably both she and Lois were converted on the Apostle's first visit to the town. Timothy's knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures to which the Apostle refers (2 Ti 3^^) was probably due not only to his mother but also to Lois, whom we may regard as a faithful Jewish matron attaciied to the ancient hopes of Judaism, and who, influenced by her knowledge of the Scriptures, readily accepted St. Paul's message on his first visit to Lystra. W. F. BOYD.
LONGSUFFERING.— The word ' longsuflering ' occurs in the English NT in Lk 18^ (RV only ; AV ' bear long witii '), Ro 2^ 9-2, 1 Co 13^, 2 Co Q\ Gal 5", Eph 42, Col 1" 31% 1 Th 51^ (RV only ; AV ' patient'), 1 Ti V^ 2 Ti 310 4^, 1 P 320, 2 P 3^-^^. The Greek words corresponding to this are /j.aKp6- dvfjLos, fiaKpodv/jiia, fiaKpodvfxe'iv. These forms, how- ever, occur in the original in a number of passages, where the English Bible (both AV and RV) has as their rendering 'patient,' 'patiently,' 'patience' (Mt 18-«, Ac 26^ He G'-- ^ JaS^' «• i»). In the LXX the word occurs in the following passages : Ex 34*, Nu I418, Neh 9", Ps 86'^ 1938 1458, Pr 14^9 lo's 16^^ 19" 2515, Ec 78, Jer IS^^, Jl 2^3, Jon 42, Nah l^. In all these passages the Hebrew has d:sx ^-in, or the noun-form of tlie same word. Besides these there are four instances where the LXX renders by fj.aKpo- dv/xia other Hebrew words, oris based on a different Hebrew text, so tliat the concei^tion does not occur in the English Bible. These are Job 7'«, Pr l?-'', Is 57'^, Dn 42*. fiaKpodv/xla is a word belonging to the later Greek.
The Hebrew d^sn ii-ix and the Greek fiaKpddvfioi absolutely coincide in their verbal structure. None the less there is to be noted a difi'erence in the basic figure underlying each, which will explain the difference in usage. The Hebrew d:5x specifically means 'anger,' 'wratii,' and accordingly the 'niN 'n is one who is 'long,' in the sense of 'long- delaying ' his anger ; hence in many cases the word is rendered by ' slow to anger ' in the English Bible. On the other hand, 0u/x6s in fx.aKp66v/j.os does not speci- fically denote ' anger,' but has the general meaning of ' temper,' although it can also have the former specialized sense. A fjLaKp66vfjios is therefore he who keeps his temper long, and this can be under- stood with reference to wilful provocation by man, in which case it will mean the exercise of restraint
LONGSUFFEEING
LORD
705
from anger ; or with reference to trying circum- stances and jiersons, in wliich case it will mean the exercise of patience. The Greek term thus comes to have a double meaning whilst the HebreM' equivalent has only one, never being used in the sense of 'patience.' Jer 15^^ is no exception to this, for when the prophet here prays, ' Take me not away in thy longsuflering,' he relates the long- suffering to his persecutors, and expresses the fear that God's deferring their punishment may result in his own death.
fiaKpoOvfiia is in the NT employed in both senses — that of ' longsuflering ' and that of ' patience ' — ■with reference to both God and man. The only instance of the meaning ' patience ' in its applica- tion to God seems to be Lk 18^. Here it is said that God will ' avenge his elect that cry to him day and night (Kal fiaKpodv/xei iir avroh) although he is longsuffering over them.' The avroh does not have for its antecedent the persecutors of the elect, but the elect themselves. The meaning is that God proceeds slowly and patiently in attend- ing to their case (cf. 2 P 3^ : ^padvuei, ' the Lord is not slack concerning his promise'). In all other cases the word when used of God denotes specifi- cally the restraint of His anger and the deferring of the execution thereof (=6pyifj) ; thus Ro 2* 9^^,
1 Ti 116, 1 P 320,
This Divine longsuffering is exercised with a two-fold purpose: (a) to give its objects time for repentance (Ko 2*, 2 P ^^- 1^) ; (b) to gain time and prepare the opportunity for the execution of His purpose in other respects (Ro 9"^ ; here the ' endur- ing with longsuflering of the vessels of wrath ' is placed side by side with the purpose of God [ffiXeiv] to show His wrath, and the fiaKpo9vfiLa. does not imply a reversal or suspense of this purpose [so Weiss], but simply a delay in its execution, among other things for the reason stated in v.^^, ' that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy ').
fiaKpodvfila as exercised by men towards men may be both 'longsutteriug' and 'patience.' It is not always easy to tell with certainty which of the two is in the mind of the writer, but in a case like Col I'l, where iiironovri, ' patience,' and /laKpoOvfiia, 'long- suffering,' occur, together, the meaning is plain. Trench {NT Synonyms^, 1876, p. 191) observes that fiaKpodvfxla. always refers to persons, never to things. This is not quite correct, for He 6'^* 1° proves that it can be used in respect to circumstances or things as well as to persons. Patience can be exercised witii reference to trying persons as well as to try- ing circumstances ; and, from the nature of the case, where tlie former happens the distinction between 'longsuffering' and 'patience' will become more or less a fleeting one and the line will be hard to draw (cf. Gal 5^2, Eph 4^, Col 1" 3'^, 1 Th 5", 2 Ti 3">,