The Force of “Ἄγει” in Romans 2:4 and Common Grace

Last updated on 3-31-2020.

I believe that Romans 2:4 is a strong verse for the notion that God wants even the non-elect to repent. He is genuinely or sincerely kind and patient with those who finally perish in their ingratitude. When quoting this verse in conversations regarding common grace, I usually use the NRSV. I believe it best captures the thought of the goal of God's longsuffering toward sinners.

NRS Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Some try to get away from the idea that God's kindness "is meant to lead" (agei) to repentance, but the conative sense is recognized by several qualified exegetes and theologians. I would argue that it best comports with the sense of the passage, as the following quotes indicate:

Ἄγει (3 sg. pres. act. indic. of ἄγω, "lead") is a conative present (R 880; T 63); the verb can carry the nuance of guiding morally or spiritually (BDAG 16c).

John D. Harvey, Romans (EGGNT; Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2017), 55.

…literally "the goodness of God is leading you to repentance." Most scholars agree that "is leading" must be taken in the sense of "is trying to lead" (many translations "is meant to lead").

Barclay M. Newman and Eugene A. Nida, A Translator's Handbook on Paul's Letter to the Romans (UBS Helps for Translators; London; New York; Stuttgart: United Bible Societies, 1994), 34.

The very kindness (to chreston, the kindly quality) of God is trying to lead (conative present agei) thee to a right-about face, a change of mind and attitude (metanoian) instead of a complacent self-satisfaction and pride of race and privilege.

A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1931), 5:335. “In English we have to use ‘begin’ or ‘try’” to convey the sense of the inchoative or conative present (A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research [London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1914], 880).

The participial clause in the last part of the verse shows that God's purpose in His kindness is not to excuse sin but to stimulate repentance. The verb agei ("lead") has a conative force: God's "goodness" (chrestos) has the purpose of leading sinners to repentance (Sanday-Headlam).

Douglas Moo, Romans 1–8 (The Wycliff Exegetical Commentary; Chicago: Moody Press, 1991), 133. "The participial clause in the last part of the verse—"being ignorant that the goodness of God is leading you to repentance"—shows that God's purpose in his kindness is not to excuse sin but to stimulate repentance" (Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans [NICNT; Cambridge, UK; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996], 133). "The Greek verb uses the present tense with a gnomic, or 'omnitemporal,' denotation and is conative: God is 'seeking to lead you to repentance' (S-H)" (Ibid., 133n42).

The present tense of the Greek is the basis of NIV leads (cf. KJV, "leadeth"). But increasingly people are understanding the verb in some sense as RSV, "is meant to lead you". This takes the present as conative, which Moule sees used "of action attempted, but not accomplished"; he understands the meaning here as "is trying or tending to lead" (IBNTG, p. 8).

Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 113n30.

is meant to lead you: this is an attempt to render what is called a conative present: ‘is seeking’, (‘striving’, etc.) ‘to lead’.

Matthew Black, Romans (The New Century Bible Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 55.

Wallace describes the Conative sense:

C. Conative (Tendential, Voluntative) Present

Definition

This use of the present tense portrays the subject as desiring to do something (voluntative), attempting to do something (conative), or at the point of almost doing something (tendential).

Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 534. On the conative present, C. F. D. Moule said, "The Present tense is sometimes used of action attempted, but not accomplished" (An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek, 2nd ed. [1959; repr. London, et al.: Cambridge University Press, 1984], 8). Moule referenced E. de W. Burton's Syntax of the Moods and Tenses in New Testament Greek, and ἄγει in Romans 2:4 as "is trying or tending to lead" (Moule, Idiom Book, 8; italics original).

Others comment:

In his attack on self-righteous Jewish piety he shows that the goodness of God is no cheap grace which is there to be made a convenience of. It should lead to a horror of one's unwillingness to repent so that God's aim of converting men to himself may be achieved (Rom. 2:4).

E. Beyreuther, "Good, Beautiful, Kind [χρηστός]," in The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, 4 vols. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986), 2:106.

Men abuse the goodness of God, because they do not rightly apprehend that instead of indicating a purpose not to punish, it is designed to lead them to forsake their sins. The goodness of God leads us to repentance, because it shows us our duty towards a Being who is so kind, and because it gives us ground to hope for acceptance. "The word agei, 'leads,'" says Dr. Wordsworth, Canon of Westminster, in his elegant and scholarly work on the Greek Testament, "intimates not only the will of God, but the will of man. God leads, but man may refuse to be led..."

Charles Hodge, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 48.

The assertion that the goodness of God leads to repentance must not be weakened to mean merely that it points us to repentance. The word "lead" must be given its true force of conducting (cf. 8:14; I Cor. 12:2; I Thess. 4:14; II Tim. 3:6). The apostle is not saying that every one who is the beneficiary of God's lovingkindness is led to repentance. The presupposition of his indictment against the unbelieving Jew is quite the reverse; this Jew was the partaker of the riches of God's lovingkindness and forbearance and longsuffering and was nevertheless impenitent. Neither is the apostle dealing with that inward efficacious grace which brings forth the fruit of repentance. But he is saying that the goodness of God, including without doubt the forbearance and longsuffering, is directed to the end of constraining repentance (cf. II Pet. 3:9).

John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 59–60. Note Murray's reference to 2 Pet. 3:9.

The verb "lead" (ἄγει) is a "conative" present, referring to action that the subject is attempting to accomplish. It effectively portrays God as desiring the repentance of those from whom he is withholding the final expression of his wrath.

Frank Thielman, Romans (ZECNT; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018), 128. Thielman then goes on to reference the parallel idea in 2 Pet. 3:9, as does Colin G. Kruse (Paul's Letter to the Romans, 121n129), David G. Peterson (Commentary on Romans [Biblical Theology for Christian Proclamation; Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2017], 138), John Murray above, and Matthew Poole (1624–1679).

That τὸ χρηστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς μετάνοιαν … ἄγει (in the sense of being intended and designed to produce it) was a well-established truth in Judaism is clear from, for example, Wisd[om] 11:23; 12:10, 19; but the tendency was to recognize this with regard to the heathen but to fail to see that it was applicable also—and indeed particularly—to the Jew.

C. E. B. Cranfield, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, 2 vols. (London; New York: T&T Clark International, 2004), 1:145.

There is not only a gracious disposition (χρηστότης) in God, that makes Him willing to lead sinners to repentance: the same gracious quality embodied in God's dealings (χρηστόν) has a real action in leading to repentance even those who nevertheless do not repent: God's leading is as real as man's resistance to being led.

E. H. Gifford, The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans (London: John Murray, 1886), 72.

Abernathy sums up what the exegetical commentaries say:

Question—What is the significance of the present tense of the verb ἄγω 'leads' in the phrase μετάνοιάν σε ἄγει 'leads you to repentance'?

The present tense is used in the conative sense, referring to what God intends by this action [AB, BECNT, Gdt, HNTC, ICC1, ICC2, Mor, Mu, NAC, NICNT, St, TH, TNTC, WBC]. It means to bring about or to induce repentance [ICC2, Mu]. God's kindness is calculated to induce repentance, not simply to point towards repentance; however, not all who benefit from God's kindness actually repent, as the example of the Jews in this context demonstrates [Mu]. The intent of God's longsuffering is to induce people to repent [ICC1]. Repentance is the goal of God's kindness [St]. God's goodness affords an opportunity to repent as well summoning people to do so [ICC2]. The word implies the power of man to resist as well as to yield to the influences on him [Gdt].

David Abernathy, An Exegetical Summary of Romans 1–8, 2 vols., 2nd ed. (Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2008), 1:132.

The truths in Romans 2:4, used in conjunction with Matthew 5:44–45, constitute strong arguments in favor of common grace. They underline the important truths of God's love for all mankind (by implication), the active nature of the revealed will of God, and that He wants all to repent unto salvation. These truths do not negate the biblical facts regarding God's secret will, so they must be viewed side-by-side. Great errors occur when one seeks to nullify the revealed will of God by the secret will (via exaggerated Calvinism), or vice versa (Arminianism).

Elsewhere, I stated that there is a conceptual connection between common grace and the universal aspect of the atonement. Here's the connection:

1) Common grace is based in intentional love (see Matt. 5:44–45).

2) Common grace is granted in order that men might be encouraged to repent (see Romans 2:4).

3) Repentance is salvation or justification (Acts 3:19, 16:31).

4) Salvation can only occur by means of a blood satisfaction available in Christ (Acts 4:12; Heb. 9:22).

5) Common grace is intentional love (point #1) granted to all men so that they might be encouraged to repent (point #2) and be saved (point #3) by means of Christ's satisfaction (point #4).

Higher Calvinists cringe when reading this because the biblical facts regarding God's revealed will have been eclipsed by an overemphasis on his secret will in their thinking. One of the purposes of my blog is to help restore the full implications of the revealed will of God among Calvinists (even in myself as I meditate on these truths). In other words, I wish they would return to something more akin to Calvin's own theology (or like the early Reformers and/or the moderates at the Synod of Dort such as Davenant). Most of them fear doing so, but God may bring a change among us.

In light of the above documentation, it is worth noting that the Geneva Bible comment on Gen. 6:3, Thomas Watson, Jonathan Edwards, R. M. McCheyne, and D. M. Lloyd-Jones (see also his sermon on Rom. 2:4) all spoke of God “trying” to save some who ultimately perish.