More thoughts on God’s wrath

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:34 pm by Morgan Guyton

More thoughts on God’s wrath 2014-07-17T14:34:49-05:00 Morgan Guyton

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What exactly is God’s wrath? I raised the question in my last piece about misconceptions in popular penal substitution theology. Many evangelicals think God’s wrath is simply the anger God “feels” when people are disobedient to His rules. Based on what I’ve learned from scripture and the teachings of the ancient church, I think this is an oversimplification.

For most of the church’s history, Christians have understood that the aspects of God’s nature can only be described by imperfect analogy to human personality traits. In the more recent era of Biblical literalism, we have lost the notion that we are limited to imperfect analogy in describing God and have effectively made God into a really big invisible human being. I think this has resulted in a Disney cartoon image of God’s wrath that is easily dismissed by postmodern people when a more compelling description is possible.

In my last post, I shared two New Testament uses of wrath in which it seems to mean something different than just anger. Ephesians 2:3 says that all people start out life as “children of wrath by nature” whose life is defined by “following the desires of the flesh and senses.” Wrath seems to be connected not to any emotion on the part of God but rather the turmoil within a life of slavery to the flesh. The NIV tries to “fix” this “problem” by translating it “children deserving of wrath” but there is no justification for this in the Greek: τέκνα φύσει οργής.

The use of wrath in Romans 1:18-32 seems to resonate with the way it is described in Ephesians 2:3. God’s “wrath against ungodliness and wickedness” is revealed not in a punitive response to sin but rather through the innately degenerative process of sin itself. God’s wrath seems to describe the inherent violence created by living out of step with the precepts of God’s created order.

I read an essay once by Walter Benjamin, an early 20th century Jewish philosopher, in which he provided an interesting definition for divine violence. He considered the riots of the European working class to be manifestations of divine violence not in the sense that God was necessarily “taking the side” of the rioters, but rather in the sense that the mob was articulating a primordial rage within the universe that came from beyond their conscious agency. The society in which they were living had inflicted enough invisible violence against God’s natural order that nature exploded through a mob of humans. I’ve noticed this phenomenon on a much smaller scale when my two sons act out and misbehave because our family’s chemistry is off (like if my wife and I are having an ugly argument); I feel like there’s a way that my boys are agents of God’s wrath in those circumstances. When we understand God’s wrath as a force that articulates itself through creation in response to the attacks against shalom in God’s created order, then we can get past the image of God as a mean, sanctimonious middle school gym teacher that is easy for postmodernity to dismiss. We’re not “compromising” our understanding of God’s wrath to deanthropomorphize it.

The way that modernity imagines God is different than the way that ancient Christians imagined God. We tend to treat Him as an individual being just like we are beings who lives outside of our reality and periodically reaches in to intervene. He’s become a giant, perfect, omnipotent, invisible human. This is not entirely inappropriate since Jesus is the primary source of our knowledge about God and he was and is fully human. But Jesus is not only the man who came to Earth as God’s Word made flesh. He is also the eternal Word who is “before all things and in [whom] all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). When He is the basis for our existence, the boundaries of His agency and our agency overlap to such a degree that it becomes inappropriate to talk about Him as an individual being who acts upon the world from a vantage point completely external to our being.

In ancient times, Christians understood God to be the source of our existence, the one in whom “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). In the ancient conception, existence and goodness were synonymous. God is the only one who exists of His own accord. All other things in the universe exist on the basis of God’s existence. To be evil is to be out of sync with existence and thus to exist less and less the more evil you are.

When you live against the grain of God’s will for the universe, you will receive a wrathful response, just like if you jump off the roof of your house, the ground will “angrily” break your leg. I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong to say that God’s wrath is analogous to human anger, but it creates a genuine stumbling block for so many people today to talk as though God’s “anger” has priority over His love suggesting that these qualities oppose one another. And I feel like some Christians are far too cavalier in their response to the objections that are raised. I prefer to say that God loves with such intensity that it is wrath to those who are fighting against it.

In any case, the wrath is very real (I have lived under it before and have often stepped back into it). It’s not because God is picky and mean. It’s because He wills perfect shalom in all things and He has created a universe that groans after the shalom of His new creation. To oppose the destiny of the universe is about as intelligent as driving the wrong way on an interstate highway. Even if you don’t realize that’s what you’re doing, you will smash into a wrath that hurts.

Previous Post

June 20, 2012

Four Cringe-worthy Claims of Popular Penal Substitution Theology

Next Post

June 23, 2012 What are you saying when you don't take communion?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Beauty Will Save the World Bible Big Picture: Ephesians Bloggers Book Christian salvation and the Beautitudes Culture Daily Office Danceable Homiletics Deadly Sins Deep Roots: Genesis Devotions Dominican Republic May 2011 El Principio Misericordia (The Mercy Principle) Five verses God tattooed on my heart Fundraising FutureGospel Good Biblical Words Henri Nouwen Interview Jennings' Christian Imagination Jesus inside the beltway Jesus Is My Candidate Jesus vs the Pharisees Jesus vs. Plato Journey to Eternity Looking Back on 2012 Love Actually Monday Merton Monday Merton Music Occupy the manger On Earth As It Is In Heaven Original Sin Podcast Poetry Politics Prayer Psalm 119 Radical Jesus 101 Reviews Sermon on the Mount Sermons Spanish Bible study Special Series Spiritual but not religious Synchroblog Theology Things that made me think Thomas a Kempis Ugliness Into Beauty Uncategorized Viaje Dominicano 2013 Walking in the Valley (Lent) Welcome: It's More than a Mat Wild Goose 2013 Wrestling

Select a Month March 2022 January 2022 December 2021 September 2021 April 2021 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your ____.

Select your answer to see how you score.

Heart Mind Spirit Actions