Anf-01 iii.ii.ix Pg 2
Otto refers for a like contrast between these two times to Rom. iii. 21–26, Rom. v. 20 and Gal. iv. 4. [Comp. Acts xvii. 30.]
endured, He permitted us to be borne along by unruly impulses, being drawn away by the desire of pleasure and various lusts. This was not that He at all delighted in our sins, but that He simply endured them; nor that He approved the time of working iniquity which then was, but that He sought to form a mind conscious of righteousness,310 310 The reading and sense are doubtful.
so that being convinced in that time of our unworthiness of attaining life through our own works, it should now, through the kindness of God, be vouchsafed to us; and having made it manifest that in ourselves we were unable to enter into the kingdom of God, we might through the power of God be made able. But when our wickedness had reached its height, and it had been clearly shown that its reward,311 311 Both the text and rendering are here somewhat doubtful, but the sense will in any case be much the same.
punishment and death, was impending over us; and when the time had come which God had before appointed for manifesting His own kindness and power, how312 312 Many variations here occur in the way in which the lacuna of the mss. is to be supplied. They do not, however, greatly affect the meaning.
the one love of God, through exceeding regard for men, did not regard us with hatred, nor thrust us away, nor remember our iniquity against us, but showed great long-suffering, and bore with us,313 313
Anf-01 ix.iv.xxiv Pg 30
Rom. v. 20.