Fathers

Romans 2

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Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:” to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation, oppression, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified (for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ. Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, rest on the law, glory in God, know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth. You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal? You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who glory in the law, do you dishonor God by disobeying the law? For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written. For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, won’t his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision? Won’t the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.

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What the Fathers say

Romans 2:4

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"Or despiseth thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" For after praising God's long-suffering, showing the gain thereof to be very great to them that heeded it (and this was the drawing sinners to repentance); he adds to the terror. For as to them, who avail themselves of it aright, it is a ground of safety; so to them that slight it, it is conducive to a greater vengeance. …

Homily on Romans 5 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

But if you rely on the longsuffering of God because you have not yet been punished, then this lack of punishment serves for greater punishment for you. For the longsuffering of God is salvific for those who use it for the correction of themselves, but for those who use it for the multiplication of sin, it serves as a greater occasion for punishment, not by its own nature, but by the hardheartedness of such people.

Commentary on Romans ↗

Ignatius of Antioch

The last times are come upon us. Let us therefore be of a reverent spirit, and fear the long-suffering of God, lest we despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance. For let us either fear the wrath to come, or let us love the present joy in the life that now is; and let our present and true joy be only this, to be found in Christ Jesus, that we may truly live.

Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians ↗

Western Saints

Thomas Aquinas

Then when he says do you not know, he disproves the aforementioned cause, namely the cause of contempt of the divine patience. First, he discloses the purpose of God's patience; second, the danger of contempt, at but according to your hardness. First, therefore, he says it is hard to understand your scorn: do you not know that the benignity of God in postponing punishment leads you to penance? …

Commentary on Romans ↗

Bonaventure

Through piety the incarnate Son of God assumed flesh, ascended the cross, was raised from the dead, sent the Holy Spirit upon the earth, called the Church to himself, and freed all the worthy from misery through piety. The Apostle to the Romans says: "Do you despise the riches of his goodness and patience and longsuffering? Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? …

Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 3 ↗