Romans 2:5, commentary and pictures

A hard and unrepentant heart lays up punishment for itself against the day when God's righteous judgment will be uncovered. That storing of anger comes from despising the riches of His goodness and patience, which are meant to bring a person to repentance, and refusing to be led by them. On that day He will repay every person according to deeds without favoritism, giving eternal life and glory and peace to those who patiently continue in doing good, and indignation and anguish to those who obey unrighteousness. His long patience restrains judgment and gives every chance to turn, yet it has a limit, and presuming upon it and abusing it hardens the heart and at last exhausts forbearance so that displeasure comes unmixed with mercy. Escape is still open through humble confession and repentance and daily grace that purifies the life, so sins can be pardoned and blotted out instead of remaining charged in heaven's record.

Words and Setting

A hard and impenitent, hard and unrepentant heart stores up, treasures up wrath for itself against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, when God reveals His righteous judgment. Persistent rebellion and refusal to repent is what does this storing, as people who persist in hard-hearted, unrepentant conduct lay up wrath for the day of God's righteous judgment. That day is the day when God will judge each person according to his deeds, with evildoers receiving tribulation and anguish. That judgment is just and also merciful, for the wicked have been shown love, given knowledge of His law and offered mercy, yet have chosen to reject Him, exercising the will in revolt until incurable, so that final exclusion is their own choice when it is too late to turn from transgression to obedience.

Despising the riches of God's goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, which is meant to lead, and leads, to repentance, and refusing to be led by it, not being led by God's goodness to repentance, hardens the heart, leaves it hardened and impenitent, and causes that treasuring up of wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. A patient, forbearing Saviour invites all to light and truth and eternal glory, but many will not heed the counsel of God in His Word, though the whole world will not turn away. The warning is directed to wealthy and honored men of the world, who must be sought out, appropriately and wisely educated and taught to seek eternal glory and the eternal weight of glory, with earnest work in the highways as well as the byways giving to both rich and poor the call to the supper, by persevering determined effort compelling them to come in to the bountiful repast Christ has prepared, because if they accept Christ and use their means to open ways for perishing souls they lay up treasure beside God's throne and receive the highest honor the world can neither give nor take away. Refusing light and truth and obeying unrighteousness instead brings indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish. The same despising applies to selfishness, pride, ambition and strife about places and position and self-exaltation, as among the twelve and in the church, which grieves the Holy Spirit and leaves the soul strengthless, for the very spirit that creates ambition to desire the highest place reveals a character that will make a man lowest.

Judging another while doing the same things condemns oneself, for the man who judges another while doing the same things will not escape the judgment of God according to truth. Those who unsparingly condemn another for faulty financial management while guilty of the same kind of financial disorder themselves act with hardness and an impenitent heart, despising the riches of God's goodness and forbearance and long-suffering that should lead them to repentance, and by judging another while doing the same things they condemn themselves and treasure up wrath for themselves against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

To treasure up wrath means wrongdoing accumulates in heaven's record as wrath against the day of judgment, for evil deeds are not forgotten or excused because God does not punish them at once. Open and secret sins remain charged against people in the record, in the books of record, unless they repent, confess them to God with humility, are broken on Christ the Rock and fall on the Rock and are broken, and at the judgment the record will be opened and both the thoughts of the heart as well as the actions will be revealed, with fearful histories of unconfessed sins opened to the world in their full enormity. Continuing in secret faults while claiming to believe solemn sacred truth stores up wrath for the day of wrath, with the displeasure of God hanging like a cloud over those whose selfishness, uncharitableness, covetousness, envy, evil-surmising, falsehood, theft, robbery, sensuality, licentiousness, adultery and other sins stand registered against them, seen by pure eyes and recorded by a witness, and not blotted out unless repented. Repentance, close connection with God, and pleading in faith for Christ's sake to cancel the past can keep the seeds of evil from being extended and bring victory over sin, with pardon received and life purified through obedience to the truth by humbling self before God, ceasing to do evil, learning to do well and glorifying God by bearing fruit to His glory, while the present remains the opportunity for that preparation. When iniquity reaches the limit of God's mercy, His forbearance ends and wrath comes unmixed with mercy, a reckoning that applies to nations as well as individuals, with the crisis coming when nations unite to make void God's law.

God's Righteous Judgment

On the day of wrath God will render to every man according to his deeds, with no respect of persons. That rendering is the revelation of the righteous judgment of God stored up by hardness and an impenitent heart. To those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality He will give eternal life. That eternal life is a life that runs parallel with the life of Jehovah and measures with the life of God, and with it comes glory, honor and peace to every man that works good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.

To those who are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness there will be indignation and wrath. Upon every soul that does evil will come tribulation and anguish, of the Jew first and also of the Gentile. Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. That judgment is both just and merciful, for God has shown the wicked love, given them knowledge of His law, and offered mercy, but they have chosen to reject Him. Their will has been exercised in revolt until they are incurable, and their final exclusion is their own choice when it is too late to turn from transgression to obedience and from hatred to love.

He does not clear the guilty, and persecutors who abused His people and religious leaders who presumed to alter His law must answer for their guilt. On that day every case will be judged according to the things written in the books of heaven, according to the record in heaven. All who have committed sin will make confession, even though it is too late for them to receive pardon. Sin is the same whether committed by one sitting on a throne or by one in the humbler walks of life, and every transgressor of His law must at last be called to account. Once that day comes mercy will no longer plead for the sinner, and there is no second probation.

Forbearance Reaches Limit

God in long patience restrains His own power and inflicts less than sinners deserve in order to give every opportunity to repent and be converted. After He gives warnings He continues proving for a time even those who meet Him with careless, heedless disregard, bearing long with the one who chooses his own way. For that reason He will not suddenly cast off all transgressors or destroy entire nations in the extreme of His indignation while some souls may yet break away from delusion and repent. Continued hardness of heart stores up certain judgment, and the transgressor who takes might to himself and uses power opposed to God to forward transgression and injustice will certainly be punished and His righteous judgments will certainly fall.

Refusing correction and abusing that patience rather than heeding it hardens the heart even through God's goodness and mercy. Stubborn resistance to light and evidence and remaining unrepentant stores up wrath, and those who abuse long-suffering love cut themselves off from mercy, for patience does not excuse continued rebellion but the stubborn heart grows more hardened toward righteous judgment. Men heap up wrath by delaying and neglecting the great salvation every hour, saying in character that they will not have Christ to reign over them, resisting His methods of transforming character and continually refusing to yield the will to His will until He finally leaves the agent to his own choice. Then tenderness of soul and susceptibility to the Spirit's warnings, entreaties and drawings lessen more and more, as the one who refuses to incline the heart religiously and to step from the ranks of Satan to stand under the bloodstained banner of the cross stands a mournful spectacle of resistance before the world, angels and men. Those who resist grace, neglect light and privileges, and remain cold and unresponsive store up wrath, and their ingratitude and abuse of privileges are recorded in heaven, with judgment to come upon those entrusted with great light who fail to let it shine, a warning fitting a time when wickedness and contempt for law increase and the oppressed cry for justice.

Forbearance has limits determined by the light received and the response to it, and God keeps an accurate account of each person's sins, privileges and opportunities to know truth and its requirements, so that continued resistance adds to that account. When abundant mercy and light are rejected they bring judgment rather than continued favor. It is possible to presume upon forbearance so as to exhaust it, for God is in earnest.

Misusing long forbearance exercised for centuries as an excuse for going into deeper and still more marked transgression, instead of appreciating goodness and mercy, stores up divine punishment, with each century of insolence, disobedience and wicked living adding to the store. God is long forbearing and patient, yet He will not long bear with bold and violent men who take His prerogatives and compel others to violate His law. To have worn out divine patience is terrible, for then righteous displeasure is none the less terrible because He forbore so long, but falls signally and strongly without mercy, unexpectedly and fiercely with no further opportunity for repentance, until the earth is desolated. By contrast, free grace given day by day refines, purifies, ennobles and fits a person for an inheritance among the saints in light instead of leaving him under stored wrath.

God waits until iniquity is full and the cup of sin is filled up, as shown in Christ's bidding to fill up the measure of the fathers, and the abandoned are allowed to fill up the evil measure of their fathers until the cup is full. When men refuse His law as the rule of life, put marked contempt upon it and force conscience, the limit is reached and He interposes to work, manifesting righteous indignation in retribution. He speaks first through calamities to change the spiritual atmosphere, and if they have little effect He will not forbear but will come closer in judgments. Both the idolatrous Philistines and backsliding Israel enjoyed the gifts of providence, with ten thousand unnoticed mercies silently falling in the pathway of ungrateful, rebellious men and every blessing speaking of the Giver, yet they were indifferent to love, showing how great and how very great His long-suffering toward the wicked is. When they stubbornly persist in impenitence and refuse to listen to His voice in created works and in the warnings, counsels and reproofs of His word, He removes His protecting hand and is forced to speak through judgments, and this storing of wrath reaches fullness in national apostasy when priests and rulers restore the lost supremacy of the man of sin and rulers act on Satan's policy and rank themselves with the man of sin, which is the signal for national ruin, hastened while the blood of those slain beneath the altar for holding the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus rises to heaven.

History and Prophecy

The Jewish nation was made the repository of holy oracles and favored as the chosen people, yet by transgressing the law, breaking the covenant, and despising the riches of goodness, forbearance and long-suffering that leads to repentance, it treasured up wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment. Each century of transgression added to that stored wrath until the measure of iniquity was filled up and nothing wicked was forgotten or overlooked. When the time of retributive judgment was fully due the mandate went forth from the sacred place of the Most High for the vindication of divine honor and the magnifying of the law. That termination of long forbearance in the destruction of Jerusalem typifies the destruction of the world.

The long-suffering toward the wicked is very great, for both idolatrous Philistines and backsliding Israel enjoyed the gifts of providence while ten thousand unnoticed mercies silently fell in the pathway of ungrateful, rebellious men. Every blessing spoke to them of the Giver, yet they remained indifferent to love. When men stubbornly persist in impenitence and refuse to listen to the voice in created works and in the warnings, counsels and reproofs of the word, the protecting hand is removed and they are forced to be spoken to through judgments.

Wrongdoing is not forgotten or excused because punishment does not come at once, but accumulates in heaven's record as wrath against the day of judgment for individuals and for nations as well. A nation can wear out divine patience and store up punishment for the day of punishment, each century of wicked living adding to the store until iniquity reaches the limit of mercy and the cup of sin is full. The abandoned are allowed to fill up the evil measure of their fathers, and to have worn out divine patience is terrible, for wrath then comes unmixed with mercy, signally and strongly until the earth is desolated. The crisis comes when nations unite to make void the law, when priests and rulers restore the lost supremacy of the man of sin and rulers act on Satan's policy and rank themselves with the man of sin, and that national apostasy is the signal for national ruin.

The unrepentant mass in cities given up to satanic control likewise stores up wrath for the coming day of divine punishment. Transgressors are not suddenly cast off nor entire nations at once destroyed, but cities are punished strictly while the extreme of indignation is held back so that some souls may still break away from delusion, repent and be converted. Those who remain hardened go on filling guilt to the full until He arises speedily in authoritative power to pour out wrath upon those working by Satan's science to deceive the elect.

Warnings for Daily Life

The warning falls first on wealthy and honorable men of the world who despise the riches of divine goodness, forbearance and longsuffering meant to lead to repentance, and who by hardness and an impenitent heart store up wrath for the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment when every man will be rendered to according to his deeds. Rich, proud, self-indulgent men who do not live as accountable to God exalt self, keep land and wealth for themselves instead of distributing to the poor, rob God by neglecting Him as rightful Owner and great Proprietor of all, fail to relieve suffering and the oppressed, misuse their means, and worship themselves rather than God. His searching eye is upon them through life, He weighs all in His scales of eternal justice, He loves righteousness and hates iniquity, and He will judge every unfaithful steward who puts away justice and mercy for avarice and strife and reward every man according to his works. Yet the same warning carries encouragement for earnest work in highways as well as byways for both rich and poor, seeking out this class, appropriately and wisely educating them to seek eternal glory, giving them the call to the supper Christ has prepared and by persevering determined effort compelling them to come in, for a patient forbearing Saviour invites all to light and truth though many will not heed, and if they accept Christ and use their means to open ways for perishing souls they lay up treasure beside the throne and receive the highest honor the world can neither give nor take away, a life measuring with the life of God and a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while refusal brings indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish.

Selfishness, pride, ambition and strife about places and position and self-exaltation, as seen among the twelve and in the church, despises that same goodness meant to lead to repentance, grieves the Holy Spirit and leaves the soul strengthless. The very spirit that creates ambition to desire the highest place reveals a character that will make a man lowest, and God will render without respect of persons eternal life and glory, honor and peace to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek glory and honor and immortality and work good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, but indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul that does evil and is contentious and obeys unrighteousness instead of truth, of the Jew first and also of the Gentile. In the same way those who unsparingly condemn another for faulty financial management while guilty of the same kind of financial disorder act with hardness and an impenitent heart, despising the goodness, forbearance and longsuffering that should lead to repentance, and by judging another while doing the same things they condemn themselves and treasure up wrath for themselves.

Those who refuse the gospel invitation and for years neglect to know God store up wrath by hardness and an unrepentant heart and will be rendered to according to deeds, losing Jesus and the strength that comes from following Him step by step onward, upward, heavenward, and missing the light of the world on a path of disobedience. They throw away the opportunity to be grafted into the living vine, to share the divine nature and to bear fruit to the glory of God, saying in character every hour that they will not have Christ to reign over them by delaying and neglecting the great salvation. Resisting His methods of transforming character and grace and continually refusing to yield the will to His will hardens the heart until He finally leaves the agent to his own choice, with less and less tenderness of soul and less susceptibility to the Spirit's warnings, entreaties and drawings, refusing to incline the heart religiously and to step from the ranks of Satan to stand under the bloodstained banner of the cross, a mournful spectacle of resistance before the world, angels and men. Those who set themselves to oppose appointed plans in times of religious declension such as at Battle Creek likewise store up wrath and will be dealt with according to works, for judgment comes upon those living in rebellion who refuse merciful messages sent to ennoble and save, who despise and insult the Redeemer by cherishing bitterness and wrath and hatred and evil, and who despise sanctifying light until eyes are blinded and spiritual discernment perverted.

Many professing followers of Christ store up wrath for the day of judgment by selfish schemes and contrivances and by unchristlike words and deeds that grieve His loving heart and shut Him out, so that churches are not what they should be, the work does not advance rapidly and the family of God on earth remains small. Continuing in secret faults while claiming solemn sacred truth leaves His displeasure hanging like a cloud, for selfishness, uncharitableness, covetousness, envy, evil-surmising, falsehood, theft, robbery, sensuality, licentiousness, adultery and other sins stand registered against them, His pure eyes see and a witness records every open and secret sin with thoughts of the heart as well as actions to be revealed when fearful histories of unconfessed sins are opened to the world, and unless sinners humble themselves, repent and confess before God, cease to do evil, learn to do well, fall on the Rock and are broken and glorify God by bearing fruit, their sins remain charged in the books of record and are not blotted out. Those who have had light for years yet choose the society of those who daily dishonor God and turn from Christ also treasure up wrath, for by unholy companionship they crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to open shame, show contempt for the One they were taught to love and respect, count His sacrifice unworthy of attention before the heavenly universe and fallen men, and His blessing cannot rest upon them.

After warnings He continues proving for a time even when met with careless heedless disregard, bearing long with one who chooses his own way and giving every opportunity to repent, but continued hardness stores up certain judgment. He will certainly punish the transgressor who takes might to himself and uses power opposed to God to forward transgression and injustice, and His righteous judgments will certainly fall on those who go on in hardness. Ingratitude and abuse of light and privileges are recorded in heaven, and judgment will come upon those entrusted with great light who resist grace, remain cold and unresponsive, neglect what was given, and fail to let it shine to the world. Yet no one has the right to measure fellow men or to judge church members for faults as an excuse for not being a Christian, for judgment has been given only to Christ who lived humanity and alone understands human weakness and striving to attain perfection, the work of judgment has not been committed to human hands, and counterfeit Christians must be left with the true with tares and wheat growing together in the militant church until the harvest.

Way to Escape

Evil deeds treasured up as wrath against the day of judgment need not keep extending their seeds, for repentance with close connection to God and pleading in faith for Christ's sake to cancel the past brings victory over sin. Continuing in secret faults while claiming solemn sacred truth stores up that wrath, which is the displeasure of God hanging like a cloud over selfishness, uncharitableness, covetousness, envy, evil-surmising, falsehood, theft, robbery, sensuality, licentiousness, adultery and other sins standing registered against the sinner. His pure eyes see and a witness records every open and secret sin, and unless sinners repent and confess before God and fall on the Rock and are broken, their sins remain charged in the books of record and are not blotted out, to be opened with fearful histories of unconfessed sins and with thoughts of the heart as well as actions revealed at the judgment. Misusing long forbearance exercised for centuries by making patience an excuse for deeper and still more marked transgression stores up divine punishment for the great day of God now nigh, when righteous judgment will be revealed and righteous displeasure will prove none the less terrible because He forbore so long.

God's free grace given day by day instead refines, purifies, ennobles and fits a person for an inheritance among the saints in light rather than leaving him under stored wrath. Unconfessed sins remain charged and will be revealed in full enormity and seriousness on the day of God's wrath, but the present opportunity is for confessing and repenting with humility, receiving pardon, purifying life through obedience to the truth, ceasing to do evil, learning to do well, glorifying God by bearing fruit, and then sins can be pardoned and blotted out. Impenitent hearts are now treasuring up wrath that will soon break upon them in the day when the judgment sits and every case is judged according to things written in the books of heaven, and carelessness, indifference and disobedience to God's requirements are fatal because that stored wrath is certain. When it falls mercy will no longer plead and there is no second probation, so persistent refusal of present invitations must give way to choosing whom to serve today without hardening the heart, lest the last invitation of mercy pass.

Despising the riches of goodness, forbearance and longsuffering meant to lead to repentance and remaining hard and impenitent treasures up wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment when God will render to every man according to his deeds, yet a patient forbearing Saviour still invites all to light, truth and eternal glory, and while many will not heed counsel the whole world will not turn away. That warning therefore gives encouragement for earnest work in the highways as well as the byways for both rich and poor, seeking out wealthy and honorable men of the world, appropriately and wisely educating them and teaching them to seek eternal glory, giving the call to the supper and by persevering determined effort compelling them to come in to the bountiful repast Christ has prepared. If they accept Christ and use their means to open ways for perishing souls they lay up treasure beside God's throne and receive the highest honor the world can neither give nor take away, a life that measures with God's life and a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while refusing light and truth and obeying unrighteousness brings indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish.

Patience and forbearance do not excuse continued rebellion, for a stubborn unrepentant heart grows more hardened and faces righteous judgment, and this warning fits a time when wickedness and contempt for God's law are increasing and the oppressed cry out for justice, calling for prevailing prayer. In the time of probation every person is deciding eternal destiny daily, while the righteous lay up treasure in heaven the impenitent daily add to the measure of iniquity. They sink deeper into mire and greater darkness through selfishness, eager pursuit of wealth and rebellion against God as transgressors of His law, with every transgression of the decalogue increasing guilt and storing up punishment for the day when righteous judgment is revealed.