#44. Romans 2:3-4 – What Causes Repentance? (Judgment Series, Part V)

 Part II: The Conduct of Humanity

Yet are you reckoning on this, O man, who art judging those committing such things, and art doing the same, that you will be escaping the judgment of God? Or are you despising the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, being ignorant that the kindness of God is leading you to repentance?

Runaway Train, Never Going Back…

Up until this point in Romans, we have seen man stand in stark contrast to God. Where man has been shown irreverent in ignorance, God is shown to be reverent in sending His Son. Where man’s actions are poor and self-centered, God’s actions are proper and other-oriented. And, as we are witnessing in chapter 2’s alternating structure, where man is at fault for injustice, God has a faultless, righteous justice.

In mankind’s present circumstance, God, being just, and being responsible for His universe, must enact one of two actions: He must either immediately correct the “Sin” situation, or, with some kind of methodology, eventually correct the “Sin” situation. God must judge, as the just Judge of the universe. We, in turn, must be corrected, as the sinners of the universe. There can be no escape for any of His creatures from His judgment. There can be no escape for any creature, lest God become equated to man in our inability to judge. If God refused to judge and condemn the marred, the insubordinate, and unfit, He would be perpetuating the acts they commit, as opposed to demonstrating their folly. To immortalize sinners would be to immortalize woe.

It is, then, all to God's glory that He has condemned all within this ruined race. It is a poor assumption on man’s end to presume that we would somehow escape the judgment of God. The morally superior/knowledgeable falsely calculate an exemption from this judgment on the grounds that they themselves are aware of what is “right” and what is “wrong.” These men (we) expect favoritism, when, in fact, they (we) are among the worst of the worst.

This is typified by God’s chosen nation, especially in the Old Testament scriptures. The prophets continually scolded the Levites (the priests of Israel) for believing that they would be exempt from God’s judgment. (Amos 6:1, Jer. 7:4.) “Evil shall not come upon us!” they cried (Mic. 3:11.) This plot point reaches its zenith in the four accounts of Jesus’ terrestrial sojourn. At this point, the stage was ripe for the ultimate murder – the pharisees were indeed on the highest horse (yes, even higher than that Trojan one I hear so much about.) Jesus called them hypocrites and vipers (Matt. 23:23-34,) while the Pharisees directly leaned on the national lineage for exemption (John 8:33-44.)

Alternatively

The trap is set. The only alternative (set forth by “or,” ay,) is that God’s kindness, forbearance, and patience are despised by you. The term “despise” in the present text is kataphroneis, here “YOU-ARE-DOWN-DISPOSing.” The word is the negative form of phroneo, a verb meaning to “be disposed” to something (we often hear this word in the form of disposition, which we will discuss in more detail later in Romans 8.) Man’s “defenses” are further flipped in these two verses. It’s either one or the other, and there is no in-between. By proclaiming one or the other, you either believe you’re too good for the judgment of God, or actively despise the positive qualities of God which humble the sinner.

This is a critical pre-requisite to God’s judgments, for He flips the ideas of man on their heads. Man would believe that, by withholding the immediate judgment, God is showing favoritism toward some (which, to them, means that they can become slack in their attitude toward Him, or that any ol’ idea that satisfies their conscience concerning God must inherently be true.) This false impression is blatant ignorance. God does not carry some slack indulgence toward man, and never has.

It is argued, of course, that God is slack toward man, and is indeed endorsing sin. This is commonly supposed because the second portion of the verse, which tells us that the kindness, forbearance, and patience of God are despised, since the kindness of God leads us into repentance, is not generally seen at present. The objection is typically framed, “Where God has been kind in the text, we have seen no repentance! Jonah had to threaten Ninevah! Cain’s ancestors stood in open opposition to God, not reverent submission!” This objection proceeds to rip Romans 1 out of its context, and throw it into this verse, saying, “The threat of God’s indignation is supposed to be His kindness? Make it make sense.”

On its surface, this seems to be a reasonable objection! But here’s the thing, strawman: the previous verse demonstrated clearly that God must judge all, for we cannot act out of accord with the very consciences He made for us without inevitable recompense. The objection seems to ignore the fact of God’s indignation being a mercy on the sinner, to reprieve them of the sin and educate them as to the alternative. It is entirely pre-supposed to assume that anything bringing relative pain, conviction, or struggle toward an individual is inherently negative (Job 38, Is. 45:7, Ecc. 1:13.) The judgment of God, the just sentence He inflicts, will not be terrible for mankind, but a light for the earth (Is. 26:9,) that its inhabitants learn righteousness.

A Brief Interlude

I’d like to take a brief moment and expound on that fact – that right now, the earth does not apprehend righteousness. This is seen in man’s religious systems, forcing eternal torment of the sinner into its declaration of righteousness. To man, the infliction of “death” is not enough in Rom. 1:32 to educate the sinner (which God Himself claims to employ at the great white throne, Rev. 20:15,) and, instead of a lecture from the Supreme, a permanent, merciless torture is in order.

As I considered in Rom. 1:17, this is a tragic miscalculation as to God’s order of affairs, and no properly translated text indicates such an idea. The same is true here in Rom. 2:4. We have seen no indication of “eternal torment,” whatsoever, in the letter so far. As I’ve said before, if this changes with the following verses, I will adjust this study accordingly, but spoiler alert, it doesn’t.

Judgment Teaches Righteousness

On that note, Romans 1:17 told us directly that the evangel of God reveals His righteousness. The evangel of God, as we learned in Rom. 1:3, is concerning His Son. Since it is concerning His Son, and the components of the evangel (here’s another spoiler) concern us with the death, entombment, and resurrection of His Son according to the scriptures (1 Cor. 15:3-4,) it follows that the cross is aptly perceived as the judgment of sin (more on the bells and whistles of this concept as Romans is unfolded to us.)

This is why it is critical for us to dwell on the cross of Christ – its preparation, its action, and its consequences. If the evangel of God concerned us solely with “acceptance” of God, then there is no ability for us to apprehend righteousness, for righteousness would “be displayed,” so to speak, in your ability to choose Him (making you the just one in the transaction.)

Such an idea is backwards, however, because of what we have considered here in Romans 1:18-32, and considering the actual righteous One’s need to correct these matters. The wicked (1:29,) in being shown grace, typically fail to perceive righteousness (Is. 26:10.) As we considered in chapter one, the word “wicked” in Greek, is ponêria. Its element is “MISERY-GUSH.” The beauty of the word is that it occurs regardless of morality; misery GUSHES out of these bodies of sin, whether we wish for it or not. This opposes grace, sadly.

The Kindness of God

In this, we see that the objection loses footing in presuming that “kindness” must inherently mean “feel good emotion.” Oftentimes, kindness shines in great hurts, afflictions, and even threats to maintain peace. The term should not be mistaken with “humility” or “meekness,” for these are separate Greek terms with their own meanings.

Kindness is first used here as a noun, chrêstotêtos, and its element is “USE-.” The term only appears as a noun within Paul’s letters. It is a fruit of the spirit (Gal. 5:22,) it is identified with His grace (Eph. 2:7,) appears in Christ (Tit. 3:4,) and is lacking in humanity (Rom. 3:11.) Apart from Christ, true kindness is an impossibility, for kindness apart from love is imposed in self-interest. One of its opposing terms is “useless”, achreion, for those not able to act in kindness have no immediate use to a God Who uses grace properly (Rom. 3:11.)

The Forbearance of God

In considering the riches of God’s forbearance, the objection we are considering is firmly laid to rest. This term appears in this form only twice in Holy Writ – the second time in direct consideration of the deliverance of the race which is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:25.) This deliverance is so powerful, that, as was alluded to in Rom. 1:16 (and is directly proclaimed in Rom. 5:18-19,) it will reach all in due time.

Prior to the death of Christ, many who acted clearly in unrighteous acts have not immediately had the necessary penalty inflicted. Even today, most do not receive immediate judicial action for their acts, and, as previously stated, many suffer unjust penalties for actions that they have not even committed! Such a travesty of human judgment can never be fully understated. And yet it is this very tragedy that contrasts the just judgment of a just Judge. The forbearance of God’s judgment does not mean God lacks judgment, nor does it mean that He does not care enough to judge. These are more human assumptions lacking foundation.

The objection in consideration assumes that repentance must take place prior to the judgment of God. In truth, there is no evidence that God’s riches inherently lead one into repentance immediately. We see, even on Judgment Day, that many who believe themselves in the right on divine matters are not yet ready to repent (Matt. 7:21-23,) but must face the penalty of correction inflicted at the great white throne.

…Did you catch it?

…Yes, that’s right! Through the great white throne judgment, man repents.

I mean, what else are they going to do? Sure, they’ll complain, but that’s one of the reasons for the penalty – that they learn to stop complaining, yeah??

With this, the pattern behind God’s judgments reveal itself. Sooner or later, every man who is judged in this fashion repents of their prior conduct. God gives us a specific experience of evil, to show us how every attempt at life apart from the Life-giver fails. As we learn, He forbears His judgment, saving it for a future event (Rom. 2:5, Rev. 20:9-15.) Like any good disputant, God will have used this time in forbearance to prepare His argument for you, specifically. He has given the structure for His argument, in Rom. 1:18-32, but in Rom. 2:1-5, your evil experience is the proof.

This will make everyone, in retrospect, shake in their boots.

The Patience of God

And through it all, He is truly patient. “Patience,” makrothumia, is not merely forbearance. In “forbearance,” God reveals that He simply has to deal with things as they were whilst He builds His case. But patience carries the elements “FAR-FEELING,” bringing an element of emotion into the mix, as well as an element of distance. So as He “forbears,” He feels for His creatures, even as they disrespect Him. This feeling from an all-powerful Deity should indicate for us that God has something more in view than “turn or burn,” but, in relation with kindness and time, has compassion for the unjust individual.

Such a statement also displays an immense power on God’s end. For us, it’s hard enough having patience with even one person for a few minutes! But here’s God, not only perpetually feeling for those who seek to usurp His glory (3:23,) but simultaneously blessing them with the experience that will ultimately teach them (5:18-19.)

- GerudoKing