Romans 11
The Kindness and the Severity
"Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness." (Romans 11:22)
Paul is describing the relationship between Jewish and Gentile believers using the image of an olive tree. Natural branches were broken off. Wild branches were grafted in. And the warning to the grafted branches is: don’t be arrogant. Don’t think you stand by your own virtue. You were grafted in by grace. Stay there.
The kindness and the severity sitting in the same verse is noteworthy. Not one or the other. Both. God is kind. God is also serious about what happens when people turn away from that kindness.
I think Christianity experiences both extremes. One that only ever wants the kindness. That treats the severity as an embarrassing theological remnant from a less enlightened era. On the other hand, the other version only wants the severity. It uses it to police, judge and harden.
Paul holds both. And what he insists on is that the kindness is not a passive thing. It’s something you continue in. It’s a posture, a relationship, a direction of life. Not a one-time event that protects you from anything going forward.
