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It is important to distinguish between ὑπομονή and μακροθυμία, -έω. Both are rendered 'patience' and 'long-suffering'; the latter once 'bear long,' and once 'suffer long.' They are found together in Col. 1: 11 and in 2 Cor. 6: 4, 6, where ὑπομονή is given as the first mark of what commends the "servants of God," as it is the first sign of apostolic power in 2 Cor. 12: 12. They are together in reverse order, 2 Tim. 3: 10, in the apostle's manner of life. James 5: 11 speaks of the 'patience' (ὑπ.) of Job, and in James 5: 10 of the prophets as an example of 'long-suffering' (μα.), 'patience' A.V.
ὑπομονή (from ὑπομένω 'to sustain') is once rendered 'enduring,' 2 Cor. 1: 6; 'patient continuance,' Rom. 2: 7; and this fully enters into the thought of the word: it is a 'patient endurance,' that does not succumb under trial and suffering. See Luke 8: 15; Luke 21: 19 (comp. Ps. 39: 7, where "what wait I for" is ὑπομονή in the LXX, 38: 8); Rev. 13: 10; Rev. 14: 12, and in the expression "he that endureth to the end," Matt. 10: 22 and Matt. 24: 13 (the verb); see also Rom. 5: 3, 4; James 1: 3, 4; Heb. 10: 36; Heb.12: 1. In Rom. 15: 5 it is traced to its divine source for us; and, though never applied to God directly, because there could be no such testing or pressure in regard to Him, the Lord Jesus in the place He has taken as Man is our perfect example in it, Heb. 12: 2, 3 (the verb), who 'endured' the cross, and the contradiction of sinners against Himself; with which may be compared 2 Thess. 3: 5 and Rev. 3: 10.
μακροθυμία is from μακρόθυμος, 'long-suffering.' What has been observed as to God in connection with ὑπομονή just serves to bring out the distinction between this word and μακροθυμία, which if a trait of grace in the saint, is most fully an attribute of God. The distinction has been put thus by Archbishop Trench: "μακροθυμία will be found to express patience in respect of persons, ὑπομονή in respect of things;" and scriptural usage, it is believed, confirms this. From Ex. 34: 6 μακρόθυμος is constantly used of God in the LXX: for μακροθυμία, in the N.T. in the same way, see Rom. 2: 4; Rom. 9: 22; 1 Tim. 1: 16; 1 Peter 3: 20; 2 Peter 3: 15; it is the verb
μακροθυμέω in 2 Peter 3: 9 'is long-suffering,' and Luke 18: 7 'bear long.' We may see much of the force of μακρόθυμος in Prov. 15: 18; Prov. 16: 32, where in the LXX it answers to our "slow to anger," though the patient restraint of spirit expressed in the word is not confined to anger. For μακροθυμέω see Matt. 18: 26, 29; James 5: 7, 7, 8, 10 ('be patient' and 'have patience' in A.V.); and more generally 1 Cor. 13: 4; 1 Thess. 5: 14 ('be patient,' A.V.). For μακροθυμία,
similarly, see 2 Tim. 4: 2; Heb. 6: 12 ('patience'). In Eph. 4: 2 and Col. 3: 12, 13, it is followed by ἀνέχομαι "forbearing one another," which would be its manifestation. Expressing then 'a long holding out of the mind before it gives room to action or passion,' it is applied to God, in His forbearance towards those who provoke Him.
ἀνοχή, 'forbearance,' the substantive, is only found in Rom. 2: 4;
Rom. 3: 25; but the verb ἀνέχομαι, as we have seen, occurs in Eph. 4: 2; Col. 3: 13, and in some other places, generally rendered 'suffer' in the sense of 'bearing with.' (It is a compound of this word with κακός that is used in 2 Tim. 2: 24 only — 'patient of ills and wrongs.') But as a substantive it has a little more defined sense, being according to classic usage an armistice or suspension of hostilities, and hence of a temporary character. Its fitness will then be seen in Rom. 3: 25, 26 to express the difference between the 'passing-over' of sins in the forbearance (ἀνοχή) of God before the cross, and the 'justification' of the believer as the result of its finished work. (See πάρεσιςand ἄφεσις, No. 10.)
ἐπιεικής (from ἐπι and εἴκω, 'to yield') is another word translated 'patient' in A.V. in 1 Tim. 3: 3 — associated there with ἄμαχος 'not a brawler,' or 'not addicted to contention,' as in Titus 3: 2, where it is 'gentle,' also James 3: 17 and 1 Peter 2: 18. In Phil. 4: 5 (in a substantive form) it is 'moderation.' See also 2 Cor. 10: 1 for the noun, 'gentleness,' and Acts 24: 4 'clemency.' Difficult to represent by any one word in English, it is 'equity' in contrast to the strict letter of the law, hence readiness to waive all rigour and severity even as to just legal redress (as Bishop Ellicot expresses it); it is the opposite of standing upon one's rights, 'mild,' 'gentle.' As compared with πρᾳότης (for which see No. 34) in the expression "meekness (πρ.) and gentleness (ἐπ.) of Christ," 2 Cor. 10: 1; the first would be more the state of the inner mind, the second must necessarily express itself in relation to others. ἐπιεικής is used by the LXX in Ps. 86: 5 (Ps. 85, LXX) of the Lord for what answers to our 'ready to forgive.'