Jonathan Habakkuk 3:2
2 Lord I have heard of your power, I have feared the greatness of your works. You give a respite to the wicked if they convert to your Law. But if they do not convert but provoke your anger in the midst of the years you have given them to live, then it will be that you make your power known in the midst of the years when you have said that you will renew the world and will take vengeance on the wicket who have transgressed your word. But with mercy you will remember the righteous who have done your will. When God gave the Law to His people, He was revealed from the South and the Holy one from Mount Paran. The heavens were opened through eternal power at the splendor of His glory, and the earth was full of the words of His praise.
Romans 2:4
2 Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! 6 He will reward each one according to his works:
Notes and References
"... In this connection we cannot avoid the discussion of the early Christian interpretation of Habakkuk 3:2 because the text has played a significant role in Christological argumentations. The earliest Christian interpretation of Habakkuk 3:2 is presented in Irenaeus’s Adversus haereses III 16,7. He quotes the latter part of the Septuagint translation of the verse (“By this Thou shalt be known when the years have drawn nigh; Thou shalt be set forth when the time comes; because my soul is disturbed by anger, Thou shalt remember Thy mercy”) and argues that the life, passion and death of Jesus were preordained by God ... Origen connects Habakkuk 3:2 with Isaiah 6:3 and uses them both as arguments for Christology and, in fact, also for the Holy Triad. Second he is dependent on some early Jewish-Christian material which was mediated for him by his Hebrew Master and which clearly represents an orthodox variant of Christology. That Origen has transmitted an early Jewish Christian interpretation of Habakkuk 3:2 in De Principiis seems reasonable because in his Commentary on Romans (III 8,2–8) he interprets Habakkuk 3:2 otherwise by connecting the verse to Exodus 25:22 and argues – as we have done here – that the two living creatures refer to Cherubim on the Ark. Only then does he make his own Christological implications by emphasizing that at this time the mercy-seat (Romans 3:25) is Jesus and the Word and the Spirit representing Cherubim manifesting themselves in and through Jesus. That Habakkuk 3:2 has played a central role in Christian mission proclamation in the area of Jerusalem receives support from the sermons of Cyril of Jerusalem who refers to this text in his Catechetical Lectures ..."
Laato, Antti "Yahweh Manifests Himself between Two Cherubim: An Approach to the Reception History of Hab 3:2" in Rammelt, Claudia, et al. (eds.) Encounters in Past and Present: Contributions to the Conversation; A Festschrift for the 60th Birthday of Martin Tamcke (pp. 55-64) LIT, 2015