What is the difference between PATIENCE and PERSEVERANCE? Stop for a minute before you continue reading and think about it. "Patience" implies a waiting upon God, hoping in Him, and trusting Him to fulfill His promises in His appointed time. The word "perseverance", on the other hand, causes us to focus on our own strength, efforts, and ability to overcome difficulties.
In the King James Bible, as well as the older Bible versions like Tyndale, the Geneva Bible, and even the Revised Version and the American Standard Version, the noun form of the Greek word hupomone is most often translated as "PATIENCE". In fact, this word is translated as "patience" some 31 times in the KJB New Testament, and never is rendered as "perseverance". There is a word translated as perseverance found in Ephesians 6:18 "praying always...and watching thereunto with all perseverance supplication for all saints", but this is an entirely different Greek word. Prayer is not easy and it does require personal effort; therefore the word "perseverance" is used rather than "patience".
The word hupomone is translated as patience 31 times in the KJB; the NKJV likewise translates this word as "patience" most of the time but 8 times has rendered this word as "perseverance". (See Romans 5:3,4; 8:25; 2 Cor. 12:12; 2 Tim. 3:10; James 5:11; 2 Peter 1:6 -twice). The NASB and NIV both have rendered it as "patience" only once, and all the other times they translate it by such terms as "perseverance, endurance, or steadfastness".
In Romans 8:25 we read: "But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with PATIENCE wait for it." The RV, ASV, Spanish (paciencia), Tyndale, Geneva, and even the NIV (only time in the NIV), all say we wait with patience. However both the NASB and the NKJV say: "we eagerly wait for it with PERSEVERANCE."
Notice how the emphasis has been totally changed in Romans 5:3-4. "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh PATIENCE; And PATIENCE, EXPERIENCE; and EXPERIENCE, hope." In other words, as we go through trials in our Christian walk, we wait upon God to see us through our difficult times and we learn by the experience of His repeated delivering us in the past that we can trust Him to do so in the future as well. Both "patience" and "experience" are the readings found in the KJB, Tyndale, Geneva Bible, Young's, Darby, Bible in Basic English, Lamsa's translation of the Syriac Peshitta, Webster's 1833 translation, the KJV 21, Green's Modern KJV, and the Third Millenium Bible. The Spanish Antigua Versi n likewise reads " y la paciencia, experiencia", and the Italian Diodati has the same with: " e la pazienza sperienza".
But notice how the meaning has been altered in such versions as the NKJV, NIV, and NASB. In Romans 5:3-4 they unite in saying: "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces PERSEVERANCE, and PERSEVERANCE, CHARACTER, and CHARACTER, hope." - NKJV. Instead of patiently waiting upon God and experiencing His deliverance, these new versions focus our minds on our "persevering" and on our "character"! The meaning is not at all the same.
Revelation 14 speaks of the coming judgment upon Babylon and tells us that if anyone worships the beast and receives his mark he will suffer the wrath of God. Then in verse 12 we read: "Here is the PATIENCE of the saints; here are they that KEEP the commandments of God and THE FAITH of Jesus." This is the reading found not only in the KJB, but also in the NKJV, RV, ASV and many others. We are to trustfully wait upon God and His time to judge the wicked, guard and hold onto His commandments and His truth, and not be drawn away by the false religion of antichrist. To KEEP something is to guard it, hold on to it and not let it go. THE FAITH is the doctrine concerning the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Compare Galatians 1:23 "they heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth THE FAITH which once he destroyed". See also Jude 3 "ye should earnestly contend for THE FAITH which was once delivered unto the saints."
However the NASB reads here: "Here is the PERSEVERANCE of the saints who keep the commandments of God and THEIR faith IN Jesus." There are no words in any Greek text for "their" or "in". The NIV is worse yet with: "This calls for PATIENT ENDURANCE on the part of the saints who OBEY God's commands and REMAIN FAITHFUL TO Jesus." This is a paraphrase that changes the meaning of the verse and puts words in the sentence that are not found except in the mind of the translators.
Read again the KJB and then compare it to the NIV. How does your spirit react to each reading? Are you trusting in God Who cannot fail and holding onto His word, or are you relying on your own strength and trying to do the best you can hoping you will stay faithful and make it through?
I will close this section of the study with one more example of the word "patience". In Luke 21, Christ is telling us of the last days before His return. There will be a terrible time of tribulation and persecution. He says: "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. IN YOUR PATIENCE POSSESS YE YOUR SOULS." Luke 21:19. This is the reading of the KJB, NKJV, Tyndale, Geneva and many others. The word "patience" is also found in the earlier RV and the ASV. In the midst of all these trials, we can keep our sanity and remain confident that our God is coming to judge the wicked and to take us home.
However, again, many modern versions change the meaning of this verse. The NASB keeps on changing both its texts and translations from one edition to the next. In the 1960-1972 editions the NASB read: "by your PERSEVERANCE YOU WILL WIN your SOULS", but then in 1977, 1995 they changed this to read: "by your ENDURANCE YOU WILL GAIN your LIVES." The NIV does the same thing from edition to edition as the NASB. The NIV of 1977 says: "BY STANDING FIRM YOU WILL SAVE YOURSELVES", then the NIV of 1978 and 1984 says: "BY STANDING FIRM YOU WILL GAIN LIFE.". Now, I don't know about you, but I gained life by the substitutionary death and sacrifice of my blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on the cross; certainly not by my standing firm or by my perseverance.
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