Well, God is loving and God is patient and God is kind. But is God also severe? Can we say that? Any perceptive Bible reader who believes in God's absolute sovereignty is eventually going to ask this question, like a listener named Tynica. "Hi, Pastor John. I'm wondering if it's wrong to say that God is severe.

Early in prayer, in a train of thought, I was led to use that exact word 'severe,' although it seemed to me to be sacrilegious. After looking it up in the dictionary, it appeared to me that some definitions of the word 'severe' are negative. In the prayer, I was thinking about God's character, that He is loving, kind, patient, and I added 'severe' to the list.

And like I said, it didn't sound right. I wondered if 'serious' or 'sober' are better words. To name a few examples that I found in the dictionary would be 'harsh,' 'unnecessarily extreme,' 'grave.' I'd love your thoughts on this, Pastor John. Is God severe?" I think maybe the reason why for Tynica, listing severity as one of God's attributes or as a definition of His character sounds awkward to us is mainly because we generally expect the attributes of God or the marks of His character to be carried through continuously in all His action.

For example, if we call Him wise, we don't mean, "Well, sometimes He's wise and sometimes He's foolish." When we call Him good, we don't mean, "Well, sometimes He's good and sometimes He's bad." And when we call Him just, we don't mean that sometimes He's just and sometimes He's unjust.

But if we call Him severe, that pattern won't work. That's why I think it sticks in her throat. What we would mean if we called God severe is that sometimes, in some circumstances, in response to some things, He is indeed severe, and other times that severity is replaced by gentleness.

So I would switch the question from, "Is God severe?" to, "Does God ever act in a severe way?" Are there particular circumstances where His wisdom, His justice, His goodness, in fact, is severe, and are there circumstances where He's not severe? So let me give you a couple examples from Scripture, and then you can decide how to say it in the situation you find yourself.

What we find is that whenever God is called severe in a particular circumstance, it's described with whatever it is that called forth the severity. For example, in Luke 12, Jesus told the story of several servants who knew their master's will and some who didn't know it, and the master responds differently to different servants.

Let me read it to you. This is Luke 12, 47. That servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will will receive a severe beating. It's a picture of the final judgment. But the one who did not know and did not deserve—did not know what deserved a beating—will receive a light beating.

Everyone to whom much was given of him much will be required. So yes, there will be a severity of judgment, and the severity is in proportion to the rebelliousness of the sin. So severity does not mark God's behavior pervasively, but only occasionally in response to particular attitudes and behaviors.

Here is the most important illustration of God's severity in the Bible, I think, because it is embedded in a context that gives us a sense of how relevant it is for us today. This is Romans 11, 19, following. You will say then—so Jesus now says to the Gentiles who are reading him—you will say, "Jewish branches were broken off so that I, I a Gentile, might be grafted in." And the picture is grafted into the Abrahamic covenant of promise.

And then Paul says, "Well, that's true. They were broken off because of their unbelief. But you stand fast through belief, through faith. So don't become proud, but fear." That is, fear falling into unbelief. Fear unbelief. "For if God did not spare the natural branches," the Jewish people who did not believe in Jesus, "neither will he spare you for your unbelief." Verse 22, "Note then," and that's a strong word.

"Look, behold, watch, hear what I'm saying. Note then the kindness and the severity." There's the word. "Note then." So he's saying to us Gentile Christians, "Hey, wake up. I want you to look at his kindness, and I want you to look at his severity." Severity, I'm still reading now, "severity toward those who have fallen," that is, the broken off branches of unbelief, "but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness." That is, keep trusting him, keep having faith in him, keep treasuring his kindness.

"Otherwise," Paul says, "you too will be cut off. And even they, if they don't continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in." The reason this text is so important is because, well, two things. One, severity is contrasted with kindness, so that we can see clearly that sometimes God acts with one, and other times he acts with the other.

In other words, severity is not an overarching quality of all God's action, like justice or wisdom is or goodness, but is one expression of his justice and wisdom and goodness. It's the counterpoint of kindness. Sometimes one is appropriate, sometimes the other. And here's the second thing that's so important about this text.

It tells us directly as Christians that we should think about. We should think about God's severity. It says, "Note well, look well." In other words, severity really matters. We should think about it. It should be part of our thinking about God. Verse 22 is a command. "Look, note well the kindness and severity of God." And he says this right after he gives the command, "Don't become proud, but fear." So fear there is fearing unbelief, fear the failure to rest in God, fear the failure to enjoy God, fear not being changed by God's kindness.

This is so important. And so contrary to the way most people think about living the Christian life, they think, lots of people think, there's no place for fear in the Christian life. But Paul in Romans 11:20 explicitly commands Christians to fear, to fear unbelief. And to make it really paradoxical, we could say, he commands us to fear the failure to be fearless by trusting Jesus.

Let me say it again. He commands us to fear what? The short answer is unbelief. But let's say it like this. He commands us to fear the failure to be fearless by trusting Jesus. Fear basing your fearlessness on pride. Base your fearlessness on faith in Jesus. And fear every other kind of fearlessness.

So I would conclude with Taneeka that when we are giving a list of God's overarching attributes, including severity, would probably be misleading. No, those don't include severity in that list. But we should say it's one of the ways that God acts in some circumstances, and it underlines the need for Christians to fear unbelief.

One of the main reasons for us to know his severity is so that we should fear the kind of unbelief that God treats so severely, and then fly, fly to the kindness that he promises to all who trust him. Amen. Yeah. Thank you, Pastor John. And thank you for this question, Taneeka.

And thank you all for listening. To search through our archives, read transcripts of episodes, or ask a question of your own, go to our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn. We are in the midst of Holy Week now, a season when we rivet our gaze on the cross of Christ, and we have several questions about the crucifixion of our Savior.

And we will address two of those questions this week. On Friday, we're going to look more closely at why Simon of Cyrene carried the cross of Christ, a curious little story with several interesting implications for us and our lives. Don't miss that episode on Friday. But next time on Wednesday, we're going to look at the role of the Holy Spirit in the crucifixion.

On the cross, the triune God is at work, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But how is the Spirit at work during Holy Week specifically? It's a great question coming in from you, Shrewd listeners, asking really great questions. I am your host, Tony Reike. We'll see you back here on Wednesday.

1. What is the Holy Spirit's role in the crucifixion of our Savior?