Because of Our Unbelief

The idea of perseverance in this verse comes from the word “with patience.” The Greek word here is hypomonēs (ὑπομονῆς), which may be perseverance, wait with patience, or endurance, depending on the grammatical use. The majority of translations I checked translate it as “endure the race that is set before us” in this passage. Three translations—of the ones I checked—translate it as “run with perseverance the race ...” And the King James Version translates it as “run with patience the race ...”

Endure is the more prevalent translation. The definition of endure is “to continue in the same state”. While grammatically there are differences between persevere and endure—with persevere conveying the idea of continuing in an activity despite obstacles in your way; and endure conveying the idea of suffering in an activity without giving up—the idea in a race is that you remain on course. You stay on the track, and you do not let anything distract you.

I imagine if you are a weak runner here you might consider the race an endurance. You might find yourself struggling to finish the race. Or if you are a strong runner here you might persevere through the race. Either way, you are in the race. I use the word persevere because the Greek phrase conveys the idea of remaining steadfast in the race. Keeping our eyes on Jesus Christ (who really did suffer—endure—on the Cross). Either way you go with your translation, the common denominator is “remaining in the race.” In other words: Not changing states.

The Church is NOT THE CHURCH when it changes states, goes off course, or leaves the track. This happens when some new enlightenment comes along such as ‘The serpent was telling Eve the truth!’ Something that has never been taught in the two-thousand-year history of the Church (until now). Or when we teach that LBGTQIA+ is all part of God’s plan and that we should ordain LBGTQIA+ ministers. Something the Apostle Paul warned against. Or when we take all our “modern” understanding and try to use it to interpret the Scriptures in a new and improved light.

An extremely basic reason as to why you cannot force fit evolutionary theory into Genesis chapter one is because the people of the day would not have understood it that way. Moses would have written the truth exactly as the people of the day understood it. And those people—four to five thousand years ago—would have had no concept of evolution or development of the physical universe over millions or billions of years. What they would have understood is the development of the universe in six, literal, twenty-four-hour days. And that is how we are to understand it today because we are to persevere in the Faith—we are to remain steadfast in the Faith, unchanging, staying on course, paying due diligence to keeping our feet on the track.

We do not get to just magically reinterpret Scripture based off some new social construct of the day. Just because people march in the streets and demand some nebulous set of rights does not mean we can go back and make LBGTQIA+ rights suddenly appear in Holy Scripture. We cannot. Because they are not there, nor have they ever been there. Which is why we persevere, staying on course without changing. Because God’s moral line is a fixed morality that never moves. And it is the duty of the Church to remain as close to that line—without going over or under—as is humanly possible. Because that line is necessary for salvation.

The Church must also persevere in the message of Grace and Love and Faith—the Gospel of Salvation. Because when the Church goes off course with the message of Salvation, people become confused as to The Way. There are times I believe we become much too complicated in our theology and hermeneutics. We tend to preach and teach all the complicated nuances in some grand scheme to prove our understanding and grasp of the mysteries of Scripture. When the basic truth of the matter is the Bible was written to all of humanity and there are some people that will never have the education or knowledge of someone who has attended Seminary or Bible School.