Don’t Mistake God’s Long-Suffering for Approval of Your Sin. Heinrich Bullinger: It is as if they were saying, “If he does not leave evil unpunished, but we are evil men and women, why are you being so dishonest with us? Certainly such a long time passing without our being punished is a powerful argument that we are not the kind of people you say we are, Paul.” This is like a benign creditor whose debtor denies that he owes him anything since he has not demanded the payment of the debt for a very long time. He will answer: “Is this how you thank me for my goodness and delay, by now denying me what is owed because I, having compassion on you, have for so long put off demanding it back?” Indeed, Paul vehemently sets his oration ablaze with an interrogation, as if he were saying, “With what impudence, may I ask, do you dare to invoke the long-suffering of the most blessed God as a defense of your ungodly behavior? As if he favors your misdeeds because until now he has employed such abundant goodness toward you! He is not delaying your punishment because he is pleased with your manner of life, but rather because by his long-suffering he wishes [voluit] to call you to your senses. For in the same way that God does not desire iniquity, he also “does not desire the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live.” Commentary on Romans (1582).10Gwenfair Walters Adams, Timothy George, and Scott M. Manetsch, eds., Romans 1–8: New Testament, vol. VII of Reformation Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2019), 85.
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10 Bullinger, Commentarii in Omnes Epistolas, 15; citing Ezek 18:23.
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