Section 5
magnify. We should not separate chapter four from the rest of the book.
In chapter two Paul presents Christ as our unique pattern. Certainly, forbearance must be related to Christ as our pattern. This means that forbearance must involve the experience and the expression of Christ as the pattern revealed in chapter two.
As we have pointed out, in chapter three we have Christ as our goal. With Paul, we must pur sue toward this goal. Christ as the goal toward which we pursue must include forbearance. Since Paul speaks so much of Christ in the first three chapters of the book, what he says in chapter four must also be related to Christ. Therefore, we be lieve that the forbearance in 4:5 is Christ.
MAKING OUR FORBEARANCE KNOWN
Forbearance is Christ as our living. The Christ whom we live becomes the forbearance we exer cise and make known. If we see this, we shall realize that forbearance is a matter of great sig nificance. It is by no means an isolated virtue in the Christian life. On the contrary, forbearance is actually a synonym for Christ in our Christian living. On the one hand, we may say that our Christian life is Christ. On the other hand, we