⁴ Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

Do not underestimate the kindness of God. God is rich in every way. His glory is described as rich (Rom 9:23), and His wisdom and knowledge are abundantly rich (Rom 11:13), as is His grace (Eph 1:7). We become wealthy as we grow in “the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself…” (Col 2:2). We can be rich in Christ even though we may suffer the reproach of the world (Heb 11:26). God is indeed wealthy in every way. Therefore, we should not marginalize His kindness even one iota.

The trouble with religion is that church leaders often use fear of hell as the most important motivator for getting people into heaven. Yet Scripture is abundantly clear: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love” (1 John 4:18). The message of justification, the great theme of this book of Romans, is not about harnessing fear to bring people to submission. Rather it is about God’s solution to the problem of our justly deserved condemnation.

If we understand correctly that we are completely and unconditionally sinners deserving of God’s angry judgment, then why doesn’t God close the book on us? Why is He being patient and forbearing with us? Why not just destroy us, banish us forever right now? That is the conundrum, the paradox Paul is dealing with. Man-made religions have it all wrong. There is nothing we can do to reverse the course that our rebellion against God has laid out in front of us. We desperately need God to intervene. But why would He?

He would and He does because of His kindness! And that is so foreign to our fallen, sinful minds. We tend to control other people’s behavior like they are small children, using fear of punishment to bring them into conformity. The trouble with that thinking is that children have the opportunity to grow and improve their lives, as far as living wisely and in community with others. But as humans before a holy and righteous God, we have already blown it, and no amount of fear-motivated behavior will reverse the damage already done. Jesus put it this way: “He who does not believe has been judged already” (John 3:18).

God bridges the divide because He is kind to us, while we are sinners (see Romans 5:8). He doesn’t send us immediately to hell, because He is patient, not willing for any to perish (2 Peter 3:9). That is being richly kind.

Father, Your kindness exceeds the most fantastic imagination any human might conceive. You want to trump Your own anger with the wealth of Your kindness.