Wislon:

Or despises thou the riches of his bountifulness, and patience, and long sufferance; not knowing that the bountifulness of God leads thee to repentance? But thou after thy hardness, and heart that cannot repent, heaps up and treasures unto thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, and of the declarations of the just judgment of God.

Timotheus.

First speak something to the method and dospositions of the text, how does it agree with the former, and of what parts does it consist?

Sil[as]. The blessed Apostle does now bend himself against the vain excuses and pretexts by which those self-condemners do deceive themselves. The first hope of impunity, by the leniency of God, giving good things out of his bounty or kindness, bearing with the abuse of his benefits out of his patience, and forbearing a great while to punish, out of his long sufferance; therefore say sinners, he will never punish. Hereupon as want children or dissolute scholars, which espy the gentleness of their governors; as birds which mark the scarecrow, not to move or hurt, wax bold and fearless: so these sinners imagine of God, that he will ever spare, because he presently strikes not, they wantonly condemn him and his kindness. The parts of the text be two: the one concerns the general goodness of God toward evil men, set down in three words. The second is, a reprehension of the abuse of his goodness, which that it might pierce deeper and move more, is set down by an interrogation, and an apostrophe: Doest thou?

Tim. What is the drift of the text?

Sil. To check such as being evil, yet thought themselves righteous and in God’s favor, because they were not punished of God, but prospered: unto these men the Apostle says, that their prosperity and freedom from punishment was a token of God’s bounty, patience, and long sufferance, but not of their own virtue and goodness.

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Daille:

I acknowledge that this is properly the crime, first, of those who reject the gospel of the Son of God, the true word brought in by the Holy Spirit; and, secondly, of them that, living under the Mosaic covenant, rebelled against the word of God preached to them by Moses and the prophets. But I affirm, that even they are not exempt from it, who have sinned, or do sin, in the darkness of paganism. For though these people do not reject the word either of the gospel or the law, neither of which is addressed to them; yet they cannot be excused of contemning that other voice of God, which makes itself heard from heaven throughout all the earth, and sounds secretly in every man’s heart, and privily calls them to repentance for their sins, to piety, honesty, justice, and rectitude. They profanely reject this sacred declaration of the Deity, without which God never left a man among the nations, no, not the most forlorn, or most desperately plunged in idolatry and viciousness, as the apostle teaches us in the Acts. They despise those admirable directions he gives them in the governing of the world, to seek him, feel him, and find him, Acts xiv. 17; xvii. 26, 27. They make light of the evidences he offers them in his administration of the universe of his eternal power and Godhead; and finally, abuse the riches of his mercy, of his patience, and of his long-suffering, by which his goodness invites and solicits all men to repentance, Rom. i. 20; ii. 4. Hence how astonishing, not only the justice, but even the gentleness and benignity, of God, who having right to punish men upon the first sin of which they are found guilty, yet does it not; but calls and invites them to repentance, and waits for them, and causes not his wrath to fall upon them, till, to the crime of their sin, they have added that of rebellion against the second way of salvation, which in his loving-kindness offers them; namely, the way of repentance. For that which the apostle says here of fornicators, and the avaricious in particular, is true of all vices in general; the wrath of Heaven comes not upon them who are guilty, but when by their unbelief and obduracy they have made themselves children of rebellion; and there is not a sinner in the world, how great and enormous soever his crimes may be, but this good and all-merciful Majesty receives most readily to mercy, provided only he repent; according to the prophet’s saying, that God wills not the death of a sinner, but that he be converted and live, Ezek. xxxiii. 11; so that henceforth it is not simply sin that condemns men, but impenitence and unbelief. And the goodness of God so much the more gloriously appears in this his procedure towards them, for, that he might have the liberty of treating thus with them, he bought it (if I may so speak) at the price of the blood of his only Son, whom he (such is the goodness to us) delivered up to the death of the cross, to preserve the interests of his justice, which opposed this way of mercy which he determined to open unto men after their falling into sin. But this very thing shows us, on the other hand, how great the corruption of men is, and how untractable the furiousness of the passion they have for vice, in that, not content to be debauched from the service of their Sovereign, (which is of itself a horrible crime, and worthy of a thousand penalties,) they are so desperately in love with sin, that, to continue in it, they despise, and even reject, with an enraged insolence, all this holy and sacred mystery of the kindness of God, and are so enchanted and bestialized by the poisons of sin, that they prefer its short, vain, and wretched pleasures before Divine grace and salvation, and less dread the wrath of their Sovereign, the society of devils, and the torments of hell, than the loss of that unworthy and shameful delight which the practice of sin, and the fulfilling of its lusts, gives them for a few days.

Jean Daille, An Exposition of The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Colossians, trans. James Sherman (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1843), 182.  [Some spelling modernized and underlining mine.]

credit to Tony for the find

Gouge:

1) Obj. Haply, thou wilt say, though I am not sure to live another day, yet, I am likely, being in good health and strength of body.

Ans. How many as strong and healthful as thyself, have suddenly by death been snatched away? And why may not thou as soon be taken away, having no lease of thy life; who then but: a fool, or a mad-man, would adventure his carnal happiness upon such an hazard? Oh therefore, as thou tenders the everlasting good of thy precious soul, put not off this great and weighty work a day longer: for who knows what a day may bring forth, Prov. xxvii. 1.

Had thou been taken away in the state thou art in, how sad had thy case been? where had thou been at this hour? Certainly thou art not able to conceive the dreadfulness of that misery thou should now have been in. And hast thou lived all this while in so great danger, and wilt thou live in it still? God forbid! Hath a miracle of mercy kept thee out of hell so long; and wilt thou yet continue securely in such danger of it? Oh ungrateful wretch! Questionless, if thou had any ingenuity in thee, thou would be ashamed thus to abuse the patience, and long-suffering of God towards thee; which should have led thee to repentance. Thou should rather take up a resolution, and say, Though I have hitherto abused the patience and long-suffering of God, I will abuse it no more. Though I have often slighted and rejected the gracious invitations of Jesus Christ, yet, through the grace of God, I will reject them no more, but close with them, and give up myself into Christ, from henceforth to be ruled and governed by him.

God hath allotted to every man, A who lives in the bosom of the church, a certain day of grace, and time of repentance; which, whosoever neglects, can never be saved. Ah sinner! as therefore thou would not neglect thine own salvation; neglect not thy day of grace, neither let slip the season of mercy ; but, as the Apostle exhorts, Heb. iii. 15. To-day, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Behold! now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation: If that be once past, there is no recovering of it. Thomas Gouge, “A Word to Sinners, and a Word to Saints, in The Works of The Latin Reverend and Pious Mr Thomas Gouge, (Albany: George Lindsay, 1815), 31-32.

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Burkitt:

THEREFORE thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest, doest the same things.

Lest the Jews should swell and be puffed up with pride, by hearing what the apostle said in the former chapter, of the detestable wickedness of the Gentiles, and the heavy displeasure of God against them for the same, St. Paul in this chapter pronounces the Jews to be guilty of the same sins, of which he had accused the Gentiles, affirming that the Jews had offended as much against the law of Moses, as the Gentiles had offended against the law of nature; and consequently their censuring and judging others, when they did the same thing themselves, would render them totally inexcusable at God’s tribunal: Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, that Judges another, and by doing the same things condemns thyself. Learn hence, 1. That it is too usual and common a practice to condemn that sin in another which men practice themselves. 2. That when persons commit themselves the sins which they censure and condemn in others, they are totally inexcusable, and pronounce sentence against themselves.

2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth, against them which commit such things. 3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

As if the apostle had said. We that are Jew know, by the light of the scripture, what the Gentiles knew imperfectly by the light of nature, that the just God judges uprightly, according to truth, and not according to appearance. It is equitable that he should, and certain that he will, deal with men according to his word, and reward every man according to his work. Think not then, O Jew! who judges the Gentiles for doing such things against the law of Moses, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God, which they have so severely felt. Learn hence. That such is

God’s hatred against sin, and such is the impartiality of his justice towards sinners, that no offenders can expect escaping the judgment of God for presumptuous sinning, Think thou, O man, that thou shall escape the judgment of God? No affection, or nearness of relation, can blind God, or put out the eye of his justice. If Gentile or Jew sin together, they shall suffer together 5 for there is no respect of persons with God: God will judge men in truth and righteousness, and condemn every sinner, whatever his knowledge or profession be. Learn, 2. That no man’s zeal in condemning sin in others will justify or save him, if he lives in sin himself: Think not, O man, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God.

4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 5 But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart. treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

Observe here, 1. The indulgent carriage of Almighty God towards poor sinners, discovered in the vast expense of the riches of his goodness and bounty upon them, and in the patient exercise of his forbearance and long-suffering towards them. Observe, 2. The gracious end and design of God in this expense of his goodness, and in the exercise of his patience and forbearance ; namely, To lead sinners to repentance. The end of goodness is to oblige and engage persons to love and serve their benefactor; this is the most natural and unconstrained consequence that the mind of man can infer from God’s bounty and sparing mercy: The goodness of God leads to repentance. Observe, 3. The unanswerable and undue returns which sinners make to God for the exercise of so much goodness and forbearance towards them: they despise the riches of his goodness and long-suffering. They despise it by being unthankful for it, and not improving of it; and by misimproving or sinning against it, they melt the mercies of God into bullets, and shoot them at the breast of the Almighty. Observe, 4. The sad and fatal consequence of these undue returns made to God by sinners: hereby they treasure up wrath against the day of-wrath. As if the apostle had said, “The more patience God expends upon thee, if perverted and abused by thee, the greater wrath is treasured up for thee; which, the longer it has been treasured up, will break forth the more fiercely and violently to consume thee.” Observe, 5. The description given by the apostle of the day of judgment; he calls it, a revelation of the righteous judgment of God. The judgment of God is righteous now, but it is not always revealed and openly made manifest now; therefore a time shall come, when there shall be a revelation of his righteous judgment fully. From the whole, note, 1. That the goodness of God is a natural and genuine motive to repentance. 2. That not to be persuaded by, is in God’s account to despise, his goodness. Note, 3. That this despising of goodness by delaying our repentance, is the treasuring up of wrath against the day of wrath. As sinners have treasures of sin, so God has treasures of wrath for sinners. Note, lastly, That the day of judgment will be a day of revelation, a day in which the righteousness of God’s proceedings shall be universally manifested and magnified: then will all the divine attributes be conspicuously glorified; his wonderful clemency sweetly displayed; his exact justice terribly demonstrated; his perfect wisdom clearly unfolded; all the knotty intricacies of providence wisely resolved; all the mysterious depths of divine counsels fully discovered; and the injured honor and glory of Almighty God visibly cleared and repaired, to the joyful satisfaction of all good men, and to the dreadful consternation and confusion of the wicked and impenitent world: O how well might the apostle call this day. The revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

William Burkitt, Expository Notes With Practical Observations on the New Testament (Philadelphia: Published by Thomas Wardle, 1835), 2:13-14. [Some spelling modernized, italics original, and underlining mine.]