Paths to Patience

Polycarp pt.IX in Partnership with Tim Suffield from Nuakh.uk

Feb 23, 2024

One of my biggest takeaways from the recent Reader Survey I sent out—which you can still fill out by clicking here—was that the majority of respondents read this newsletter in part to be challenged by viewpoints that differ from their own. That is not only personally encouraging to me, but also struck me as a fantastic reason for more Christians to read literature from throughout Church History. This series on Polycarp’s letter to the Philippians was born out of a shared love that Tim and I have for the early church, but also a shared love for the church in our time. We believe that this letter has so much to teach us still, not least because Polycarp isn’t afraid to challenge us. If you’ve missed the Polycarp series so far and you’d like to read along with us, you can do so by heading to this link, where you’ll find all of the articles we’ve written so far. Each of these articles is written in the form of a letter, either to Tim or myself . If you want to read more of Tim’s work, which I highly suggest you do, you can do so by heading to nuakh.uk.

Dear Tim,

Thank you so much for your gracious letter, it will come as no shock that your reminder of Jesus’ example of faithful suffering struck my heart. This exhortation has stayed with me ever since I read your letter, “[Jesus] gave us an example of how to suffer, so let’s apprentice ourselves to him in this too.”

Thank you for challenging me to imitate him again.

Here is our passage for today:

“I exhort you all, therefore, to yield obedience to the word of righteousness, and to exercise all patience, such as you have seen before your eyes, not only in the case of the blessed Ignatius, and Zosimus, and Rufus, but also in others among yourselves, and in Paul himself, and the rest of the apostles. [Do this] in the assurance that all these have not run in vain, but in faith and righteousness, and that they are [now] in their due place in the presence of the Lord, with whom also they suffered. For they loved not this present world, but Him who died for us, and for our sakes was raised again by God from the dead.”

“I exhort you all, therefore, to yield obedience to the
word of righteousness, and to exercise all patience”

The title in the translator gave to this passage was “Patience Inculcated.” Inculcated isn’t a word that we hear used very much in common parlance, but I think in this case it’s a very poignant one. The has a kind of dual meaning; it evokes a sense of a parent instilling virtues in their children that they’ll indwell for life, but it also has an element of repetition. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, and is therefore something that believers, both young and old, should expect to possess in some measure, however in order for that fruit to grow it needs to be constantly fed and watered.

I have gotten in the habit, when people have come to me for advice during times of particular personal or relational stress, of asking whether they have recently asked God to give them more patience. I have about a 90% hit rate. One of the best ways for us to grow in patience isn’t simply by being told, but rather to have regular “system updates” by meeting difficult people and situations. This inculcates the kind of patience fitting of those obedient to the word of righteousness.

It’s no wonder then that Polycarp’s passage on patience is written within the context of relation, both to the broader family of the saints, but also more specifically to those in our personal spheres. This gives us people to be patient with, and people to patiently imitate.

“[Righteousness and patience] such as you have seen before your eyes,
not only in the case of the blessed Ignatius, and Zosimus, and Rufus,
but also in others among yourselves, and in Paul himself, and the rest of the apostles.”

I’d love to hear about the people you’ve learned patience from. As a married man, my guess is that your wife is a prime example. If not, perhaps you’re less frustrating than I am! I’ve seen Mrs R grow in this the longer we’ve been together, not only towards me, but to those around her. In her work, as well as her training as a counsellor, she’s grown more Christlike, so when I think of patience such as I have seen before my eyes she’s the image my mind conjures.

In the case of the Philippians, Polycarp suggests Bishops such as Ignatius, the testimony of the apostles, but also just the other members of the church in Philippi. Who have you learned patience from amongst your congregation? In my case I’ve seen children wrestling with this in our midst. One boy in particular has grown immensely in patience, but in the growth period, he struggled against a sense of personal justice, as well as a struggle against his own anger. Learning to give each of these up to God was vital to him being able to approach difficult situations with love, seeking peace, and exercising patience.

[Do this] in the assurance that all these have not run in vain, but in faith and righteousness,
and that they are [now] in their due place in the presence of the Lord, with whom also they suffered. For they loved not this present world, but Him who died for us, and for our sakes was raised again by God from the dead.”

Ultimately, the first and final portrait to imitate is the Lord, and though next week’s passage speaks to this more specifically, I didn’t want to end without mentioning that. When Jesus commands us to render unto Caesar (Mark 12:17) what is due to him, he uses Caesar’s image upon the coin as proof. God’s image is upon us. His image denotes both our value and the end to we all hope in and for, and therefore we ought to give him our whole selves, because we belong to him. Beyond this, as Christians God image is complemented by the Spirit that indwells us, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” (Romans 8:29 ESV) Each of us is growing to be more like him, however slowly, and that gives us imitable members of the body of Christ to follow. We should seek to imitate them as they imitate Christ1.

We are called to love the church, but also the specific people in the church that he has given us to enjoy closer relationship with. When that gets hard, we need to remember the God dwells among us. We were each saved by the blood of Christ, given faith by the Father, and have been indwelled by the Spirit. This means that even in the darkest of times, even when separation or distance might be called for, that we do so prayerfully and patiently considering God’s call upon our lives to love his people.

We will not get this perfect until heaven and earth are made new, but we can do this in the assurance that [those who have gone before us] have not run in vain, but in faith and righteousness, and that they are [now] in their due place in the presence of the Lord.” What’s more, they knew how difficult this world can be, having suffered for the sake of Christ, and most certainly at the hands of brothers and sisters in Christ, but let us look to the end of time, when y the grace of God it will be said that we “loved not this present world, but Him who died for us, and for our sakes was raised again by God from the dead.”

Grace and Peace,

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