01.6.4. The Righteousness Of God's Judgment
Chapter 6vi - The Righteousness Of God’s Judgment
God’s judgment is righteous: “Or are you treating with contempt the kindness and the forbearance and the longsuffering of His wealth, not knowing that the kindness of God is leading you to repentance? But on the basis of your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up for yourself punishment in a day of punishment and revelation of a righteous judgment of God” (Romans 2:4-5 -translation). “...Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). “...for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity” (Psalms 98:9). The Greek verb for “treating with contempt” (kataphroneis) in Romans 2:4 is a present active indicative of kataphroneo, a compound verb made up of the preposition kata, meaning down, and the verb phroneo, meaning to think or judge. To think down means to have low or degrading thoughts about God. The Psalmist, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, vividly described Christ’s second advent in Psalms 50:1-23. The mighty covenant God shall cease to be silent at His time. Between the introduction (Psalms 50:1-6) and the conclusion (Psalms 50:22-23), God is disclosed as judging His people (Psalms 50:7-15) and condemning the wicked (Psalms 50:16-21). God’s judgment always begins with His people, whether they are from national Israel under the old covenant or from professing Christendom in the age of the assembly. God’s people are given credit for what they do (Psalms 50:8), but they shall be blamed for the way they do (Psalms 50:9-13) what should be done (Psalms 50:14-15). How horrendous that those in whose midst Christ’s miracles were performed were the very people who crucified the Son of God as an imposter. Furthermore, they challenged Christ to work miracles in support of His claim, but he refused. (See Matthew 12:38-39; Matthew 16:1-4). The wicked are described in Psalms 50:16-21, and the climax of the wicked religionists is given in Psalms 50:21 -“These things you have done, and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you...” (NASB). This is a Divine commentary on Romans 2:4 -“Or are you treating with contempt the kindness and the forbearance and the longsuffering of His wealth...” (translation). Religionists today who look down on God are those who say God was a man, Christ was peccable, and God cannot do anything for man until man first exercises his will. All these have degrading thoughts about the sovereign God of Holy Scripture, and they shall not escape God’s punishment.
Three Greek nouns were used by Paul to define characteristics of God about which the hypocrites were having degrading thoughts:
(1) He used the noun chrestotes, which means kindness or that which is right, six times in reference to God (Romans 2:4; Romans 11:22-23 times; Ephesians 2:7; Titus 3:4). In all these references “kindness” seems to be the better translation.
(2) The noun anoche, which means forbearance or toleration, comes from the verb anechomai, made up of the preposition ana, up or above, and echomai, to hold back or delay (Romans 2:4; Romans 3:26).
(3) The noun makrothumia means patience, patient enduring of evil, or longsuffering. It comes from the verb makrothumeo, which is derived from makros, distant or far off, and thumos, a strong passion or emotion of the mind, anger, or wrath. Although God is slow to become angry, His punishment is sure. Paul understood God’s longsuffering from personal experience, “But because of this [chief of sinners- 1 Timothy 1:15] I was shown mercy, in order that in me as chief Jesus Christ may demonstrate all longsuffering [makrothumia], for an example of the ones destined to believe on Him because of eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:16 -translation). Every Christian can relate with Paul in his recognition of God’s longsuffering to the elect.
Subsequent to discussing the hypocrite’s intelligence, reasoning, and understanding in his degrading thoughts about God, Paul showed that God’s judgment grows out of what man by nature is and does (Romans 2:5). Man’s depraved nature is actively engaged in evil. The depravity of the heart is described by the noun “hardness” (skleroteta, accusative feminine singular of sklerotes, hardness or stubbornness). Ezekiel described the unregenerate person as having “a heart of stone” (Ezekiel 36:26). Such a heart is cold, impenetrable, and unyielding to spiritual things. Although the religious hypocrite may not be wallowing in the mire of some of the sins of Romans 1:24-27, he is twice dead: “These men are hidden rocks in your love feasts, feasting together with you feeding themselves without fear, waterless clouds being carried by winds, fruitless autumn trees having died twice who have been uprooted, wild waves of the sea foaming up their shames, wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever” (Jude 1:12-13 -translation). The statement “having died twice” refers first to what man is naturally in Adam and then to what he is by vain profession. Therefore, the Pharisees “encircle sea and land to make one convert, and when he may become one, you make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23:15 -translation). The natural knowledge of spiritual things increases blindness; hence, there is a double measure of punishment for those who die this double death.
Paul not only gave the Bible’s description of the hardness of the heart, but he also showed by using the adjective ametanoeton that the heart is unrepentant. This adjective is accusative feminine singular of ametanoetos, which means unrepentant, obstinate, or admitting no change of mind. It is derived from the Greek words a, which negates repentance, the preposition meta, which means with, and the verb noeo, which means to think, consider, or think on. This adjective is used to describe the fact of human depravity. Hence, man is not depraved because he is hardened or impenitent, but he is hardened and impenitent because he is depraved. Therefore, man is condemned because of his depraved nature. In the light of this, man is not condemned for the lack of remedy but in consideration of his innate sinful nature. Man began with a sinful nature when he began to be: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalms 51:5 NASB). The truth of the inborn sinful nature destroys the frequently repeated religious theory, “It is not the sin question but the Son question.” The heart of depraved man is not only hard and impenitent, but it also treasures up wrath-punishment-by its activity in evil. The heart is more than the center of one’s nature; it is the whole of his personality: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). As the natural consequence of the cultivation of moral excellence is moral excellence, the natural consequence of indulgence in sin is sin. This is a warning to sinners. These are common expressions: “Sin and enjoy it because you live only once”; “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may die”; “get all the gusto you can because you go around only once.” However, Scripture teaches that the greater degree to which one sins, the greater his punishment will be in eternity. “...you are storing up for yourself punishment in a day of punishment and revelation of a righteous judgment of God” (Romans 2:5 -translation). The verb “store up” is thesauridzo, and it means to store up, treasure up, or accumulate.
Christ used both the verb (thesauridzo) and the noun (thesauros) forms for “store up” in Matthew 6:19-21 -“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves dig through and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where thieves do not dig through nor steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (translation). Peter used the verb in 2 Peter 3:7 -“But the present heavens and earth have been stored with fire are being kept for a day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (translation). The correct attitude toward a precious deposit (thesauros) can come only from a new heart. A new heart means there has been a change in the whole inner nature of man. Thus, the intelligence, darkened by depravity, has been enlightened. The affections, cold, insensitive, and unyielding to spiritual things, are made tender, sensitive, and yielding to spiritual things. The will which was selfish has been changed from self-will to the desire for God’s will.
Every Christian can relate with the statement, “No one will ever go to heaven whose heart has not been there before,” because his citizenship is in heaven (Php 3:20). The only true investment for one who has everlasting existence in his heart must be in the eternal kingdom. Conversely, all who live for themselves and the pleasure of sin are not only accumulating a greater degree of punishment, but the present heavens and earth have also been permanently stored with the fire of judgment for their punishment.