I appreciate so much Paul’s statement, at the beginning of the book of Romans, that

…the kindness of God is leading you to repentance.
— Romans 2:4

This is just after he has described, in chapter 1, the unspeakable evils of fallen human beings. So, how does God show such ones His kindness? It is not by overlooking their sin; as we saw in a recent note, He cannot do that, for that would be to deny His holy nature (2 Tim. 2:13; see “He Cannot Deny Himself”). Instead, in His kindness, He is leading them to repentance.

Fallen sinners often feel that, if God truly is good, He should give them this or that, take care of so many of the world’s problems (and their own), and make people happy in one way or another; or perhaps, He should just put an end to this entire evil age right now.

God’s view, however, is so much higher. As Paul goes on to show us in the book of Romans, He wants to save sinners to be one with Himself, as those who are fully conformed to the image of Christ in glory; this is how, in His thought, “all things work together for good to those who love God” (Rom. 8:28-30), even in this fallen world.

But first, they must come to repentance, and that is why God is arranging their circumstances, and indeed the world situation as a whole, as He is.

In a very similar way, the apostle Peter tells us,

The Lord does not delay concerning His promise, as some count delay, but is patient toward you, not desiring that any should be lost, but that all should come over to repentance.
— 2 Peter. 3:9

God surely could put an immediate end to all the evil we see in the world today, but He has a much higher purpose than simply ending all our sufferings: He is working to bring so many to repentance and salvation in Christ. And this, rather than simply overlooking our sins, is how His love is manifested in His kindness to fallen sinners.

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—  29 August 2024 —