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The Longsuffering of God

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by Iconoclast, Oct 8, 2020.

  1. Iconoclast

    Iconoclast Well-Known Member
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    In 2 Pet3:9-18 we read about the longsuffering of God resulting in salvation;
    9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness;
    but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

    10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

    11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

    12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

    13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

    14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

    15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

    16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

    17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

    18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.


    http://www.bunyanministries.org/expositions/attributes/07_Longsuffering.pdf

    146 THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD B. THE NATURE OF GOD’S LONGSUFFERING

    . By definition, God’s longsuffering is that patient, breadth of love, His forbearance that withholds judgment so that grace and mercy might be offered to sinners. Further, this endurance magnifies the grounds of condemnation and eventual abandonment of sinners as being never be more certain.

    a. It means that God is slow to anger and restrained in temper. “17 They [Israel] refused to listen, and did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them; so they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But You are a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; and You did not forsake them” (Neh. 9:17; cf. Isa. 30:18).

    b. It is God’s waiting love, or patience in the face of provocation to judgment. “Remember, do not forget how you [Israel] provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.” (Deut. 9:7). Yet God’s persistence will eventually bring forth Israel’s circumcised hearts, restoration and prosperity (Deut. 30:1‐14).

    c. It is God’s restraint and postponement of judgment that is instantly merited. Thus, for a time, He passes over sin that ought presently to be condemned (Rom. 3:25; Acts 17:30). “10When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.” (Jonah 3:4‐10; cf. Nah. 1:1, 14; Rom. 3:25).

    d. It is God’s forbearance that allows Him to persist with offered forgiveness. In Christ’s parable on forgiveness, a servant pleads for patience so that he might pay his large debt. Better than forbearance, he receives a full pardon. However the same servant lacks patience when asked by a debtor for time to pay a small debt. Christ declares that this servant merits judgment because his heart did not respond with forbearance and grace. He was a phony believer (Matt. 18:21‐35).

    2. God’s longsuffering or endurance is directed towards sinner and saint. Even now the longsuffering of God poured out upon the United States is without discrimination, except that the sinner arrogantly repudiates it while the saint both gives thanks for it and takes advantage of the opportunities it provides for service.

    a. To the sinner, God defers judgment, even as has been the case since Adam’s fall (Gen. 3:3, 15). “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to THE LONGSUFFERING OF GOD 147 make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?” (Rom. 9:22; cf. 2:4; 3:25).

    b. To the saint, God defers judgment before salvation (I Tim. 1:16) and discipline after salvation. “The Lord is not slow about His promise [3:4], as some count slowness, but is patient toward you [1:1], not wishing for any to perish [3:7] but for all to come to repentance [3:10‐17]” (II Pet. 3:9).
     
  2. Iconoclast

    Iconoclast Well-Known Member
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    ibid;
    2. Longsuffering in the New Testament. The Greek ὑπομονή, hupomonē, means “a waiting, enduring under,” particularly for the believer, although it also refers to “the word of My [Christ’s] patience” (Rev. 3:10).

    In parallel with the Hebrew for “longsuffering” is μακροθυμία, makrothumia, similarly meaning “long [rather than short] temper,” with reference to God (Rom. 2:4; I Pet. 3:20) and His child (II Cor. 6:4‐6; Gal. 5:22).

    a. The longsuffering of God the Father “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? 5But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Rom. 2:4‐5).

    “The patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah” (I Pet. 3:20).

    b. The longsuffering of God the Son. “1 Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself” (Heb. 12:1‐3).

    c. The longsuffering of the Christian. “4 But in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, 5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, 6 in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love” (II Cor. 6:4‐6); “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, piece, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness” (Gal. 5:22).
     
  3. Iconoclast

    Iconoclast Well-Known Member
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    Romans 9 Barnes' Notes

    Endured - Bore with; was patient, or forbearing; Revelation 2:3. "And hast borne, and hast patience, etc." 1 Corinthians 13:7, "charity, (love) beareth all things." Luke 18:7, "will not God avenge his elect. though he bear long with theme?"

    With much long-suffering - With much patience. He suffered them to live while they deserved to die. God bears with all sinners with much patience; he spares them amid all their provocations, to give them opportunity of repentance; and though they are suited for destruction, yet he prolongs their lives, and offers them pardon, and loads them with benefits. This fact is a complete vindication of the government of God from the aspersions of all his enemies.

    Vessels of wrath - The word "vessel" means a cup, etc. made of earth. As the human body is frail, easily broken and destroyed, it comes to signify also the body. 2 Corinthians 4:7; "we have this treasure in earthen vessels." 1 Thessalonians 4:4, "that everyone of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor" - that everyone should keep his body from the indulgence of unlawful passions; compare Romans 9:3. Hence, also it means "the man himself." Acts 9:15, "he is a chosen vessel unto me, etc." compare Isaiah 13:5. In this place there is doubtless, allusion to what he had just said of clay in the hands of the potter. The phrase "vessels of wrath" denotes wicked people against whom it is fit or proper that wrath should be shown; as Judas is called "the son of perdition," see the note at John 17:12. This does not mean that people by their very creation, or their physical nature, are thus denominated; but people who, from long continuance in iniquity, deserve to experience wrath; as Judas was not called "son of perdition" by any arbitrary appointment, or as an original designation, but because in consequence of his avarice and treason this was the name which "in fact" actually described him, or suited his case.

    Fitted - κατηρτισμένα katērtismena. This word properly means to "restore; to place in order; to render complete; to supply a defect; to fit to, or adapt to, or prepare for;" see Matthew 4:21, "Were mending their nets." Galatians 6:1, "restore such an one, etc." In this place it is a participle, and means those who are suited for or "adapted to" destruction; those whose characters are such as to deserve destruction, or as to make destruction proper. See the same use of the word in Hebrews 11:3, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed" - beautifully suited up in proper proportions, one part adapted to another - "by the Word of God." Hebrews 10:5, "a body hast thou prepared for me;" suited, or adapted to me; compare Psalm 68:10; Psalm 74:16. In this place there is not the semblance of a declaration that "God had prepared them, or fitted them for destruction." It is a simple declaration that they were in fact suited for it, without making an affirmation about the manner in which they became so.
     
  4. Iconoclast

    Iconoclast Well-Known Member
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    Romans 9 Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

    Romans 9:22
    What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
    22, 23. What if God, willing to show—"designing to manifest"
    his wrath—His holy displeasure against sin.

    and to make his power—to punish it

    known endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath—that is, "destined to wrath"; just as "vessels of mercy," in Ro 9:23, mean "vessels destined to mercy"; compare Eph 2:3, "children of wrath."

    fitted for destruction—It is well remarked by Stuart that the "difficulties which such statements involve are not to be got rid of by softening the language of one text, while so many others meet us which are of the same tenor; and even if we give up the Bible itself, so long as we acknowledge an omnipotent and omniscient God we cannot abate in the least degree from any of the difficulties which such texts make." Be it observed, however, that if God, as the apostle teaches, expressly "designed to manifest His wrath, and to make His power (in the way of wrath) known," it could only be by punishing some, while He pardons others; and if the choice between the two classes was not to be founded, as our apostle also teaches, on their own doings but on God's good pleasure, the decision behooved ultimately to rest with God. Yet, even in the necessary punishment of the wicked, as Hodge observes, so far from proceeding with undue severity, the apostle would have it remarked that God "endures with much long-suffering" those objects of His righteous displeasure.
     
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