4. I will reason with you and emphasize the sinfulness of
Therefore, my intention is to unlock and guide you into the treasury of outward mercies, a more familiar place, and lead you through its various rooms, all of which continuously guide you towards repentance. By reflecting on our ungrateful waste and abuse of these numerous mercies in our sinful actions, every sin, no matter how small, will appear even more sinful to us, who are less than the least of all these mercies.
Understand, then, that in addition to the unique treasure of "unsearchable riches of grace" stored up in Christ, which, when neglected and despised, contribute to our sinfulness to an extent beyond what can be described—like the vast difference between heaven and earth—there is another unspoken mine of riches that the earth is filled with, as the Psalmist states in Psalm 104:24, and as the apostle here affirms. These Gentiles only heard of this treasure, but we also partake in it just as much as they do. Just as there are inexhaustible riches of grace offered to you, there are also abundant riches of patience that have been poured out upon you, but in the end, you will deplete these riches through your actions. The cost of these riches, when calculated, amounts to an immense treasure of guilt in you and wrath in God, as these words inform us.
To assist you in understanding this matter, I will:
1. Firstly, explain what goodness or bounty, patience, and longsuffering mean in relation to God.
2. Show that these riches are bestowed upon all human beings.
3. Demonstrate how these attributes lead people to repentance.
And then, 4. I will reason with you and emphasize the sinfulness of continuing to despise these attributes through unrepentance, just as the apostle does here.
Firstly, when God is described as (1) good or bountiful, (2) patient or forbearing, and (3) longsuffering, it seems to signify three levels of His common mercies towards humanity.
(1) First, He is a good and bountiful God. Although goodness and bounty can have distinct meanings, when the abundance of goodness is mentioned, it implies the same and is synonymous with bounty.
Such is God, as all the noble and royal qualities that contribute to true goodness and beauty are present in Him, reflected in the blessings He bestows. These qualities are genuinely found in Him alone, and it is therefore true to say that there is no goodness except in God, as Christ affirms.
Now, God's bounty in general can be described as follows: It involves freely and willingly giving what is entirely His own, without expecting any recompense in return.
To elaborate on this, it is important to understand that all these conditions are necessary for true goodness, and they are only found in God.
[1] A truly bountiful individual must be a giver of good things, bestowing them as gifts, not as recompense or in response to deserving actions by the recipients. Christ states in Luke 6:33 that doing good to those who have done or will do good to us is not praiseworthy or an act of bounty. However, God is truly good because He simply and absolutely gives away everything He bestows.
He does not owe anything to His creatures nor has He received anything from them that would compel Him to give. As Romans
11:35 asks, "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?" Moreover, until God gave us existence, we were incapable of receiving any good thing from Him.
[2] The truly good or bountiful must give away what is genuinely their own. Similarly, everything that God bestows is His own. Psalm
24:1 states, "The earth is the Lord's," indicating that the ground we walk on and the places we reside in belong to Him; He is our landlord. But it doesn't end there. For a house can be the landlord's while the furniture belongs to the tenant. Therefore, the psalmist adds, "And the fullness of it is His," signifying that everything that fills the world, all its furnishings and provisions, all movable things, belong to Him. Psalm 50:11-12 declares, "The cattle on a thousand hills are mine," and the standing goods, the crops and oil that you plant, "are mine" (Hosea 2:9). Furthermore, the psalmist in Psalm
24 goes on to state that "those who dwell therein" are also His, referring not only to the house and furniture but also to the inhabitants themselves. This ownership is established through the most secure and supreme title imaginable, surpassing any form of purchase or inheritance from another, for God has created them. As David says, "All things come from you, and of your own have we given you" (1 Chronicles 29:11-12). All things not only come from Him but also exist through Him (Romans 11:36), meaning they cannot stand or subsist without Him. Even the most generous and bountiful of human kings, their generosity is akin to that of clouds, which, though they shower down abundantly, first receive all their water from the earth beneath them.
[3] True bountifulness requires giving in abundance. God is referred to as rich in goodness because He abounds in it. As we find in the comparison between Psalm 33:5 and Psalm 104:24, it is said that "the earth is full of His goodness" and "His riches." This can be understood by considering what the psalmist says in verse 27 of Psalm 104 about the provision and sustenance God provides: "All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time.
When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your
hand, they are satisfied with good." King Ahasuerus, to demonstrate his generosity, held a feast for his chief subjects, but it lasted only six months and was not open to all. A few more such half-year feasts would have nearly bankrupted him. However, God continually bestows His goodness in this manner. Even the greatest and most generous of human beings, when attempting to express the extent of their generosity, speak of giving "half of their kingdoms." However,
God bestows entire worlds and kingdoms, as Daniel says, and He gives them to whomever He pleases (Daniel 4:32).
[4] The truly bountiful must give freely and willingly. Although I am combining these aspects, they imply two distinct things. First, the giver must be a free agent in the act of giving, having the choice to give or not. The sun does much good for the world, providing abundant light that illuminates half the world at once, and all this light is its own, not borrowed like that of the moon and stars. Yet, the sun cannot be called good or bountiful because it emits light necessarily and naturally, unable to choose otherwise or control its beams. However, God is a free giver. He had the choice to create the world or not, and He can choose to withdraw His Spirit and presence, causing all to perish (Psalm 104:29). Secondly, the giving must be voluntary, without any coercion or extraction from the one being called bountiful. A willing mind in matters of generosity is more valued than the gift itself (2 Corinthians 8:12). Concerning
God, it is said in Daniel 4:32 that He gives the kingdoms of the world to whomever He wills, and no one can sway or hinder Him (verse
35). Moreover, He gives everything with delight. Psalm 104:31, after speaking of feeding every living thing and other acts of His goodness throughout the psalm, concludes with the statement that "God rejoices in all His works," meaning that He does all the good He does to His creatures with delight. It brings Him joy to see even the poor creatures being nourished.