This is part 2 of the previous post, One of the Most Important but Misunderstood Words in the Bible.
In Romans 2:4, Paul makes a surprising statement. He has just elaborated on how the unrepentant in the wider culture are deserving of condemnation in view of God’s justice. In his words, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” (Romans 1:18)
In verses 29-32, Paul elaborates, “29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
Then, in the next chapter, he turns to those in the church who assumed they were in God’s good graces because of their perceived good behavior in comparison to the world. In verse 1, he sends a shot across the bow to wake up the moralists in the church, saying, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” The same things? Really?
When I read that list, far more sticks than I want to admit. Even the sins of sexual immorality mentioned in verses 24-27 apply to all humans, whether that immorality is homosexual or heterosexual. Before the standards established at creation designed to govern human sexual relationships, no human is able to claim innocence. As Paul notes in Romans 3:19, the Law was given “so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.”
The point is that everyone stands in need of mercy. We are all in the same sinking ship.
Different Sins, Similar Roots
Even if the sins between two people are not exactly the same on the surface, they are rooted in the same rebellious pride. If an unbeliever’s pride expresses itself in not needing God’s wisdom to guide their lives (leading to licentiousness), the professing believer’s pride expresses itself in not needing God’s grace (leading to self-righteous Phariseeism). Tim Keller says that if the irreligious person tends to reject Jesus as Lord the religious person tends to reject him as Savior. One minimizes truth while the other minimizes mercy.
What is it that will lead an irreligious unbeliever or a religious moralist to repent of their various forms of willful pride and unbelief? We tend to think that leverage for such a change of mind and heart must be the fear of punishment. Hold people over a pit of fire by a thread, threatening to let go. That should do the trick, right?
I mentioned that in verse 4 Paul makes a surprising statement. It is not what we expect. But the more I absorb this text into my heart, the more everything about how I relate to God will change. No longer will I perceive God as an angry judge who wants to punish me but as a loving Father who longs to bless me.
The Word that Motivates Repentance
Without denying the reality of judgment for the unrepentant, in one word, Paul discloses what motivates true repentance. “Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”
Contempt is a form of minimizing. What the moralist minimizes, as we said, is mercy. “I may need to be saved by grace, but not as much grace as ________ needs.” Fill in the blank with your sinner of choice, the one you despise most.
Is the ground really level at the foot of the cross? According to Paul, it is.
So, what is it that leads to repentance? Previously, you may have responded with wrath or justice or the torments of hell as the tool used as leverage. Yes, those will motivate to a certain depth and for the short-term. But the correct answer for what drives true confession and contrition from the depth of the heart is kindness.
Kindness? How does that motivate repentance?
If you remember from this post, we made the case that repentance is a matter of being morally honest—casting yourself, without excuse—upon the mercy of the one against whom you have sinned (whether God, a spouse, a child, a parent, etc.). Repentance is not making promises of doing better but a confession, whereby I have felt the pain I’ve inflicted and am truly sorry for the harm I’ve caused. Again, no excuses. No minimizing or blame-shifting.
Guaranteed Clemency
Kindness motivates us to be honest in the same way that a criminal would be guaranteed a pardon if he just walked into the police station and confessed his offenses against the law. Guaranteed clemency? That would be hard to believe, wouldn’t it? Certainly, there must be a catch. Some string attached. A trick, right?
It just sounds too good to be true.
But that is the gospel. In God’s economy, if we will just come forward into the light of his holiness, freely exposing the full depth of our guilt, we are guaranteed to receive a limitless pardon from sin with unconditional and complete reconciliation with God.
We call this mercy.
But how can we believe that God will keep his promise? How can a just God just forgive?
Well, he doesn’t just forgive.
In order for a just God to count a sinner as forgiven, the demands of the law must be fulfilled. The good news of the gospel is that the law has been fulfilled by Jesus. It is not just that he did all the right things, but that he loved perfectly—loved God and neighbor, even his enemies. For that is what holiness is. Perfect, sacrificial, selfless love. The epicenter of this love is the cross, where Jesus served the sentence I deserved so that I could receive the kindness of God I do not deserve.
Hiding vs Believing
The question is what I will do with the kindness of God. Will I hide in the shadows, suspicious and fearful? Or will I hear the voice of God call out to me as he did with Adam and Eve in the garden when they hid in their sin and shame? When they came out, they were covered in kindness.
The fact is, I will not come out of hiding until I believe it is safe to come out. When I behold the cross, I am convinced. Justice has been fulfilled, paving the way for mercy.
Then, when I finally come out of hiding and believe the promise, I am are covered in the kindness of grace, mercy, and love. Before the law, I am a criminal. But in the gospel, looking to Jesus as my sin-substitute, heaven no longer counts me a criminal but a child—forgiven, accepted, and dearly loved by God the Father.
Yes, it is all of grace. To the praise of God’s glory. The God whose kindness leads us to repentance.