Be Tolerant

Tolerance is a popular secular virtue.  The priority of tolerance is not only popular, but at times it appears to hold the same authority as the dogma of the Constitution for our country.  It seems inviolable. This tolerance says, “You must approve of what I do…You must agree with me…You must allow me to have my way…You must not offend or be offensive to me…”   

There is much about the world’s understanding of tolerance that is opposed to a biblical worldview.

And yet, there is also much about tolerance that is biblical.  Paul even says — in the context of living a life that corresponds to salvation — “show tolerance for one another in love…” (Eph. 4:2).  In other contexts, the word is used for tolerating persecution (1 Cor. 4:12; 2 Thess. 1:4), tolerating one another to the point of forgiveness (Col. 3:13), and “tolerating” sound doctrine and teaching (2 Cor. 11:1, 4; 2 Tim. 4:3).  The word means to endure and persist and even to “put up with” difficult, sinful, and ungodly behavior against one.  Others will certainly sin against us, harm us, and cost us with their actions.  And particularly when they are believers, we endure, persist, and embrace them so that we are always moving towards reconciliation and forgiveness of them. 

Notes one commentator:  “Bearing with others means fully accepting them in their uniqueness, including their weaknesses and faults, and allowing them worth and space.…[It is bearing] with others without expectation of reward so that their concerns weigh more heavily than one’s own desires for personal fulfillment and peace of mind.”

And Paul says this must be practiced repeatedly (it’s a present tense in Eph. 4:2).  We are also to practice it with “one another,” which implies that we all need to practice this endurance and that we need this endurance extended toward us — I need to practice it with others and others need to practice it with me. 

How can we do this?  We do it, Paul says, “in love.”  Love is way that we practice biblical tolerance.  We commit our will and affections to their needs and best interests, regardless of the cost to us — because we love Christ.  We bear with them and absorb the costs of the relationship with affection and not bitterness because we have been grounded in the love of Christ for us (Col. 3:17, 19). 

Here is the principle of tolerance and endurance with others — we are merely extending to others what God has extended to us in infinite grace. We will endure others because God endures us.

Retaliation and intolerance are simply not allowed. There is no place in the life of the believer for a sharp response of anger, biting retorts, or sarcastic responses. There is no place for the second word — someone says something hard to hear and “I just have to” reply in anger and intolerance.  That is off-limits for the one who wants to live worthy of Christ and His salvation (Eph. 4:1).

Because this biblical view of tolerance is hard and counter to the flesh, being tolerant begins with renewing our minds — when we are tempted to say something biting and retaliatory, we address the heart that produces the thought, and change the way we think about the individual, cultivating a mind and heart of compassion and tenderness towards the individual — “how can I bless this person instead of cursing him?” (Rom. 12:14ff). 

Such tolerance is hard.  Is it worth it?  Consider the end result of this biblical tolerance:  the unity that we have with one another as a gift from the Spirit of God is kept, protected, and preserved.  So we tolerantly endure with other believers because we want to protect the unity of Christ’s church.