Tolerance, in Scripture, is
the patience and forbearance
of God and of His people.
It is not the blessing of every opinion and every practice.
The Lord is slow to anger
and abounds in steadfast love,
yet He will by no means clear the guilty.
The church is called to
bear with one another in love
and to refuse what God calls sin.
The Bible speaks more often of patience, long-suffering, and forbearance than of tolerance as a modern slogan.
God endures with much patience.
- He gives time to repent.
- His kindness is meant to lead to repentance, not to confirm people in rebellion.
Jesus ate with sinners and called them to follow Him.
- He did not leave them in their sin and call it love.
The apostles told the church to
- welcome the weak in faith,
- to bear with one another, and
- to be patient with all.
- They also told the church not to tolerate false teaching, sexual immorality, or another gospel.
Revelation rebukes a church that tolerated a false prophetess and praises a church that could not bear those who are evil.
True tolerance, then, is measured by the character of God:
- slow to anger,
- full of mercy, and
- unwilling to call darkness light.
It makes room for the weak, the seeking, and the wounded.
It does not make room for what destroys the soul and denies the Lord.
- God’s patience is real, and it has a purpose: repentance and life.
- Bearing with one another is a command inside the family of faith.
- Welcoming a person is not the same as approving what God forbids.
- A church can be kind and still refuse false doctrine.
- Calling evil good is not tolerance. It is a lie.
- The Lord who is slow to anger will still judge.
- Love rejoices with the truth.
- Divine Long-Suffering – God waits and gives space to turn.
- Forbearance in the Church – Believers bear with one another’s weaknesses in love.
- Welcome without Agreement – The weak in faith are received; the gospel is not rewritten for them.
- No Tolerance for Another Gospel – A different christ or a different way of salvation is not to be endured.
- No Tolerance for Hidden Sin in the Body – What defiles the church must be exposed and put away.
- Patience with People – Correct opponents with gentleness; be slow to wrath.
- Truth and Mercy Together – Grace does not cancel holiness; holiness does not cancel mercy.
- Exodus 34:6-7 – “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty…”
- Romans 2:4 – “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”
- 2 Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
- Ephesians 4:1-3 – “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
- Colossians 3:12-13 – “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”
- Romans 14:1 – “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.”
- Romans 15:1, 7 – “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves… Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:14 – “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.”
- 2 Timothy 2:24-25 – “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.”
- Galatians 1:8-9 – “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.”
- Revelation 2:2, 20 – “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil… But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants…”
- 1 Corinthians 5:1-2, 11 – The church is rebuked for being arrogant when it should have mourned over open immorality; they are not to keep company with a so-called brother who remains in such sin.
- Isaiah 5:20 – “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…”
- 1 Corinthians 13:6 – Love “does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.”
- Jude 1:22-23 – “And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”
- John 8:11 – “And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.’”
- Matthew 7:1-5 – “Judge not, that you be not judged…”—a warning against hypocritical judgment, not a ban on discerning truth from error.
- Hebrews 12:14 – “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”
- Proverbs 15:1 – “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
- James 1:19-20 – “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
God is patient. He is not indifferent.
Bear with one another in love. Welcome the weak. Be slow to anger.
Do not tolerate another gospel. Do not bless what God calls sin.
Kindness is meant to lead to repentance. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing. Love rejoices with the truth.
A soft answer and a holy church can live in the same house.
The Lord who waits also warns. Count His patience as salvation, and do not call darkness light.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.