Romans 2:4, commentary and pictures

God pours out abundant kindness, patience and mercy to draw sinners to turn from sin, and that kindness must not be scorned, neglected or turned away from. That kindness is His self-sacrificing love in giving His Son to die for a lost world and in the Holy Spirit leading the soul to look to the uplifted Saviour. No one can repent by unaided power or by trying to make himself better, for every desire for truth and conviction of sin is Christ working on the mind to both pardon and lead to repentance. Hardness and an impenitent heart that abuses patience by continuing in evil and judging others stores up wrath for the day of righteous judgment when He will render to every person according to deeds with no respect of persons. His forbearance is so great that He restrains His own power and bears long with rebellion to give opportunity to repent, yet it has limits set by light given and resistance to it, and when mercy is finally exhausted protecting care is withdrawn and justice must call the transgressor to account. Those who behold that goodness are softened into contrition, crushed pride and an unforgiving spirit, and are filled with gratitude and tender sympathy that desires the same mercy for others.

Words and Immediate Context

The one who judges another for evil while doing the same things is inexcusable and will not escape the judgment of God, which is according to truth. To despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering is to turn away from what is given to lead to repentance. Hardness and an impenitent heart treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. He will render to every man according to his deeds with no respect of persons, giving eternal life and glory and honor and peace to those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek glory and honor and immortality, and indignation and wrath and tribulation and anguish upon every soul that does evil and is contentious and obeys unrighteousness.

No person has the right to measure the characters of fellow church members or to refuse faith because of their faults. Judgment has been given only to Christ because He lived humanity and alone understands human weakness and striving to attain Christian perfection. Counterfeit Christians will be in every church, but the tares and the wheat must grow together until the harvest, for the work of judgment has not been committed into human hands.

The Jews despised the riches of God's goodness and forbearance and long-suffering by transgressing His law and breaking His covenant. As repositories and stewards of His holy oracles they failed and did not appreciate the pearl of great price, not knowing that the goodness of God was meant to lead them to repentance. By so doing they treasured up wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds and give eternal life to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, for not the hearers of the law are just before God.

The riches of His goodness are the gifts of His providence, ten thousand unnoticed mercies silently falling in the pathway of ungrateful, rebellious men, with every blessing speaking of the Giver to lead them to repentance. God speaks to them through His created works and through the warnings, counsels, and reproofs of His word, and they despise His goodness when they are indifferent to His love and refuse to listen. His forbearance toward the wicked, whether idolatrous sinners like the Philistines or backsliding Israel, is very great, but when men stubbornly persist in impenitence He removes His protecting hand and is forced to speak to them through judgments.

God's goodness and forbearance are His self-sacrificing love to sinful men, working through the wonderful example of the life of Christ. That life shows matchless tenderness in entering into the feelings of the oppressed soul, weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice in His love. All who discern His grace must show the same goodness by giving sympathy liberally to others, and this example must have a deep influence on the character of all who love God and keep His commandments.

God's patience toward people is tender pity, mercy, and patient love. He does not deal with them according to their sins, but bears with their weakness and defects. His kindness and longsuffering prolong the sinner's life, sparing him by mercy and patience even while day by day he manifests disloyalty to God and chooses the way of the transgressor that secures death as the wages of sin. This sparing is to give him opportunity to see his danger, halt where he is, and turn square about.

Goodness Leading to Repentance

The abundant riches of divine kindness, tolerance and patience are given to lead people to repentance, and they must not be despised, turned from or neglected. They are the invitations of a patient, forbearing Saviour to light and truth, going out even to men of wealth and worldly honor, for while many will not heed, the whole world will not turn away. To despise them by continuing in selfishness, pride, ambition, strife about place and self-exaltation, or by judging and unsparingly condemning another for blameworthy management while guilty of the same disorder, is inexcusable self-condemnation revealing hardness and an impenitent heart. Such hardness misses that judgment is according to truth and that no judge who does the same things will escape.

That goodness is Christ revealed as Saviour dying for the sins of the world on the cross of Calvary. He is the source of every right impulse and the only one who can plant enmity against sin in the heart, so every desire for truth and purity and every conviction of sinfulness is evidence His Spirit is moving on the heart. As the sinner beholds the Lamb of God on the cross the mystery of redemption begins to unfold to the mind, and His incomprehensible love in dying for sinners softens the heart, impresses the mind and inspires contrition in the soul. That goodness is the love of God in giving His only begotten Son to save a lost race. Satan is determined that men shall not see that love, casting a shadow to hide mercy and inexpressible love manifested in Jesus Christ, and that deep, precious love must be set forth before the world by presenting Jesus as the representative of the Father, exclaiming what manner of love makes sinners sons of God and calling sinners to behold the Lamb who takes away sin, and by that presentation the shadow is dispelled so sinners see love and repent.

This goodness works through the Holy Spirit, who does more than invite the soul and leads it to Calvary to look upon the uplifted Saviour. The way to obtain a sense of sin and true repentance is not by trying to make oneself better and promising to amend, for this cannot remove one spot or stain of sin, but by casting oneself just as one is upon declared mercy and revealed love, with every ray of light coming from the throne of God. True repentance includes both repenting and forsaking sin, and children and youth are to be taught to repent and pray for forgiveness and pardon now, just now, while Jesus as a sin-pardoning Saviour pleads in their behalf within the veil offering the blood of His atonement for sin. Repentance does not come first by unaided human power so that Christ may then pardon, for no one can even form a thought or inclination to come to God unless Christ works through influences and the Spirit upon the mind. Any inclination toward God comes from these influences, which call for allegiance and recognition of His work, for God's favor both pardons and leads to repentance by His power, so the glory belongs to Christ.

Conversion is not brought about by human goodness; those led to repentance owe the change to God and should give Him the praise. His mercy and grace bring pardon and spiritual life, changing the sinner from death to life and enabling a new life of service and good works. Like the prodigal son, a sinner may recognize that suffering has followed his own folly and find hope in the assurance of the Father's love, and that love and the mercy and compassion shown to each endangered soul draw him back to God and move him to return. God's love still yearns over the one who has chosen to separate from Him, and He sets influences in operation to bring him back to the Father's house, giving hope even in wretchedness and constraining return toward home. That mercy and compassion is a golden chain of divine love passed around every imperiled soul, for God loves with an everlasting love and with loving-kindness draws.

God's love attracts sinners to Christ and can subdue even the hardest heart. If love will not move a rebel to yield, fear of eternal punishment will not bring that person to repentance. God's goodness leads to repentance and reformation as shown in Jacob's dream, where the ladder reaching from earth to heaven revealed the plan of salvation with Christ connecting fallen humanity with God. People ascend this ladder not by their own strength alone but with God's help, and they are not left to struggle alone.

Despising Goodness and Judgment

God's abundant kindness, tolerance and patience are given to lead people to repentance, and scorning them through hardness and refusal to repent stores up wrath for the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment. He will pay every person according to deeds, giving eternal life to those who keep doing good and seek glory and honor and immortality, and bringing indignation, wrath, trouble and anguish on every evildoer who fights against truth and obeys wickedness. Glory, honor and peace will be given to everyone who does good, Jew first and also Gentile, because He favors no person over another. The one who judges another while doing the same things is inexcusable and will not escape the judgment of God, which is according to truth.

Neglecting this invitation and remaining hard and impenitent means losing the opportunity to know Jesus and facing righteous judgment. Patience, goodness and mercy can be abused by refusing correction and treating warnings with a hardened heart, which turns goodness into an occasion for greater hardness. When the wicked are not softened by patience but grow more stubborn in rebellion, they reject the purpose of goodness and mistake delayed punishment for permission to continue in evil, becoming more hardened and despising the mercy that should soften them.

Continuing in selfishness, pride, ambition and strife about place and position and self-exaltation reveals the hardened and impenitent heart that treasures up wrath. Judging and unsparingly condemning another for blameworthy financial management while guilty of the same kind of financial disorder is inexcusable self-condemnation. Despising the riches of divine grace — goodness, longsuffering, love and wonderful forbearance meant to break the heart and lead to drinking in great salvation — through unbelief and criticism erects a barrier that shuts a person out from that salvation, and when people refuse to look upon and appreciate these favors their hearts are not broken.

Goodness leading to repentance does not remove judgment, for God waits long and manifests wonderful forbearance toward the sinner, yet He must at last call the transgressor of His law to account, since sin is still sin whether committed by one sitting on a throne or by one in the humbler walks of life. A day is coming when all who have committed sin will make confession even though it is too late for them to receive pardon. Those who repent receive immeasurable love, but those who stubbornly resist light and evidence abuse long-suffering love and cut themselves off from mercy, so justice is firm toward them and wrath follows.

Limits of Divine Forbearance

God's forbearance is so great as to cause marvel when the continuous insult to His holy commandments is considered. The Omnipotent exerts a restraining power over His own attributes, putting constraint upon His power and keeping silence for centuries while His holy law is broken, prostrated and trampled underfoot by a rebellious people giving themselves to work evil. This restraint does not mean punishment will never come, for He will certainly arise to punish the wicked who so boldly defy the just claims of the Ten Commandments. Though abundant, His goodness, forbearance and longsuffering have limits beyond which they will not reach.

The limit is decided by the degree of light given, for account is taken of light given and of resistance, disregard and rejection of that light. When abundant mercy is despised and rejected it is changed into wrath, and long-deferred vengeance comes upon the disobedient, unthankful and unholy. A register of the sins of every individual and of nations is kept with unerring accuracy, and the figures rapidly accumulate where privileges and opportunities to obtain knowledge of truth and of God's will and requirements are shunned and the heart is given to evil practices. When vast numbers pass the boundaries a terrible punishment is realized. He means to bring men to repentance, and He sees the world in need of cleansing which will come in the very near future, at first in a limited degree and then with greater and still greater power, till men will see that His purpose in it is to bring them to repentance.

After warnings are given, He bears long with the one who chooses his own way, continuing the proving for a time even when there is careless, heedless disregard, and giving every opportunity to repent. Those who go on in hardness of heart will certainly face His judgments, and He does not leave sin unpunished. Any might that is opposed to God and used to forward transgression and injustice will certainly bring punishment on the transgressor. Forbearance includes shielding protection, and when it is exhausted protecting angels withdraw their guardianship and providence no longer shields from Satan's power, leaving the sinner exposed to loss of life.

That goodness is shown in giving Christ to the world, in which one gift all the treasures of heaven were given and nothing was held back, so no greater work can be done to bring men to repentance and no means for salvation is held in reserve. He bears long with rebellion and apostasy even when mercy is despised and love is scorned and derided, bearing until the last resource for leading to repentance is exhausted. Those who to the end resist the Spirit and continue in obstinate rebellion have protecting care removed, having sinned away their day of grace with no second probation afterward to gain heaven. It is possible to presume upon forbearance until it is exhausted.

He speaks through calamities to change the spiritual atmosphere, and if they have little effect He will not forbear but will come closer in judgments, for He is in earnest. Judgment lingered for months for Nebuchadnezzar to lead him to repentance, but he did not repent; he let pride grow, lost confidence in the dream's interpretation, and mocked the fears he had felt. Toward idolatrous sinners like the Philistines and toward backsliding Israel forbearance is very great, yet when men stubbornly persist in impenitence He removes His protecting hand and is forced to speak through judgments. God's long forbearance toward a person calls for repentance and humility before Him, for its time is an opportunity to prepare for eternal life and serve God.

Transformed Life and Mission

Seeing divine goodness and mercy brings repentance and creates a longing to possess that same spirit, bringing the soul into sympathy with God. That repentance crushes pride and strikes a death blow to everything revengeful, cold and unforgiving, filling the pardoned heart with gratitude for pardon through Christ's sacrifice and with tender, pitying sympathy reaching out to fellow sinners who have sinned and need pardon as oneself does. It gives clear discernment to see the good in the character of others and love for those needing forgiveness, a view of Christ as a sin-pardoning Saviour, with hope and confidence that pardon stands written over against one's sins, and a desire that the same work be done for associates. That goodness and forbearance is self-sacrificing love toward sinful people, and all who discern such grace must display the same goodness by giving sympathy liberally to others. It works through the wonderful example of Christ's life and His matchless tenderness in entering into the feelings of the oppressed, weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice in His love, an influence that must shape deeply the character of all who love God and keep His commandments.

The riches of goodness, forbearance and longsuffering are the invitations of a patient, forbearing Saviour to light and truth, given to lead to repentance and never to be despised. Those invitations go to all, including people of wealth and people honored by the world, and while many will not heed God's counsel in His Word, the whole world will not turn away from it. That certainty gives encouragement to make every effort to save those honored by the world, to seek them out and wisely educate them to seek the eternal weight of glory. They are to be taught to lay up treasure beside the throne of God by employing their talents to open ways for the salvation of souls ready to perish. If those so honored accept Christ they will receive the highest honor, which the world can neither give nor take away, a life that measures with the life of God, and exceeding great reward in keeping the commandments.

The goodness, mercy and long forbearance of the heavenly Father toward humanity calls for thankfulness. Though people often disappoint the expectations of their Redeemer, He has provided through His infinite sacrifice every needed grace sufficient to supply every emergency. That forbearance must not be presumed upon. Instead husband and wife should kneel before Him together and ask for His grace, His love and His peace, so that they may be to one another what God desires them to be.