Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
Why is God kind? Why is He patient with us? Why does He allow us to continue failing but does not destroy us?
There are some who live as if any wrong step will release the lightning of God’s wrath for immediate judgement. There are others who live as if His wrath and judgement are things of legend used to control the unsuspecting, religiously devout. Paul thinks differently.
Romans 2 opens with a warning to those who feel that they do all of the right things and meanwhile judge others for falling short.* In Paul’s context, this was the Jewish people. In my context, this was me.
Paul first assures the Jews in Rome that they are as guilty as the Gentiles that they were looking down on and judging. It wasn’t because they were committing all of the same sins that Paul listed in Romans 1, but because they were guilty of committing some sins, and that is enough to invite the wrath of God.*
What the Jews in Rome at the time of Paul did not understand, and what many do not understand today, is that the lack of God’s wrath in the present does not mean the wrath will be absent in the future.* Those Paul spoke to were using God’s patience, kindness, long fuse (as opposed to a short fuse) as a sign that they were in right standing with Him and as permission to continue sinning.*
It was common in Paul’s day for Jewish people to see themselves as the community of Jews.* Because they were a part of the community, they were in right standing with God.* This disregarded any emphasis on personal responsibility and accountability.* Paul was letting them know that what they did mattered to God…. a lot.
As I’ve shared before, I was the king of doing some things right and judging others for doing them wrong all while ignoring the things that I was doing wrong. Boy was I, well, wrong.
Paul tells us that to live as if we are perfect, ignoring our wrong doing either because we think that God doesn’t care or because we don’t want to see it, we are disrespecting God. By taking advantage of His kindness, goodness, and patience, we are missing the point: He is kind, good, and patient so that we will repent.*
Repentance is not the same as remorse.* Remorse feels bad for doing wrong. This is not enough. Repentance is not turning away from sin; that’s only part of it. Repentance is feeling remorseful, turning away from sin, and then turning toward God.* God is kind, good, and patient with us so that we will repent. He wants us to turn toward Him.
Maybe you have repented and turned away from your sin and toward a loving God who forgives. Maybe you have found yourself fallen back into a sin or bad habit that places a wedge between you and intimacy with God. Today is a good day to lean into His goodness, kindness, and patience.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to ask Him if there is an area in your life that doesn’t please Him. Perhaps today is the day to repent. Maybe today God wants you to stop taking advantage of His goodness, kindness, and patience to sin; perhaps He wants you to take advantage of it to turn back to Him.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a water break… we all get thirsty.
Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!
*Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 59-63). InterVarsity Press; Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 107-114). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press; Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; pp. 119-123). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos; Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (pp. 71-73).