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Christianity Today, May, 2008 |

WRESTLING WITH ANGELS

The Grace of Wrath

Is there any story about God that isn't a love story?

Carolyn Arends | posted 5/12/2008 09:13AM

When Evan Almighty hit theaters last summer, some evangelicals worried that elements of the movie were sacrilegious. One of their particular objections got me thinking.

In the film, God (played by Morgan ...

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J. Sharp

Posted: May 16, 2008 12:06 PM

This article expresses the father-son portrait of God and men and there are many other biblical portraits which express the emotion of God's love toward people. No Father desires to show wrath to his son. However, the Bible is not limited to this portrait. It also gives the portrait of God as the potter and us as the clay, God as the vine-keeper and us as the vineyard, God as a man and us as a garment, etc... Each of these latter portraits convey less emotional attachment for a reason. Concerning these portraits there are many places where God is said to despise them, cast them off, dash them in peices, and abhor them. The biblical language and portraits are chosen by each biblical author in particular places in order to express the primary emotion that God is then feeling towards a person/people. We do great damage to ourselves and to the Scripture to limit ourselves to one perception of God toward men as though He were always primarily motivated to act in one emotion.

George T.

Posted: May 15, 2008 7:36 PM


This is what I call a "Usefull" aricle. I will forward it and follow up on it. Thank you for your help.

Anne P.

Posted: May 13, 2008 7:12 PM

I've been pondering this issue since reading Arends' article, because she hits on a topic I struggle with. I've always been troubled by a loving God creating something like hell. It's such a tough reality . . . . one that often keeps me from initiating discussions about my faith with unbelieving friends. It seems almost indefensible. A thought that struck me today, though, is this: God's eternal wrath only comes after people repeatedly refuse His loving advances (He doesn't really jerk people from being squashed by a car and send them directly to hell, does He?). I'm wondering whether it's accurate to say that people choose hell when they decide to refuse God's love and correction. Also, would we believe God really loves those who *do* choose Him if He allowed everyone--even those who continually reject Him--to enjoy eternity in Heaven? Would that be more defensible? Might the existence of hell have something to do with God expressing His love through fair-ness?

Tanya

Posted: May 13, 2008 3:00 PM


Excellent. I am going to forward this to a few people. :) Blessings, Tanya

Glenn

Posted: May 13, 2008 1:53 PM

My late wife always struggled with the idea that God is Love but that the Bible portrays Him as vengeful, angry, and deadly. I spent a lot of time in our conversations trying to explain to her that God's love even extends to allowing us the freedom to turn away from Him. In turning away, we instead embrace the opposite of His character: chaos instead of peace, pain instead of healing, bitterness instead of forgiveness, fire instead of the Water of Life. What love would it be if He constantly pulled us out of every potentially bad situation, instead of letting us learn on our own how only He can save us from the death we deserve for our sin? I have been reflecting recently on Exodus, and noticing how God continually hardened Pharaoh's heart against the Israelites, so that in the end, the Israelites had no choice but to see that God truly was responsible for their freedom - and that in freeing them, He was showing His undying love for them and His commitment to His covenant.

DianneA

Posted: May 13, 2008 10:24 AM


Thank you. This helps me. Now, and when I'm trying to reconcile apparently conflicting Bible stories, and present day realities.

Mark	Posted: May 13, 2008 9:57 AM

Nicely written and good as far as it goes. (Does celebrity push an item from the editor's desk to the press or screen?) This piece misses the mystery of the cross, of God's righteous wrath propitiated by Himself through the Person of His Son. There's certainly not less to wrath than God's protective love for His children; but there seems to be more, a "more" that is at the core of the full gospel -- God's love for Himself issuing in holy burning against all that "suppresses the truth in unrighteousness," especially after rejecting God's absorption of His own wrath by Himself in Jesus Christ. And we cannot afford to explain righteous wrath without this dimension of God's love. Now what I've expressed doesn't perhaps sing as Ms. Arends graceful writing does, but it conveys crucial truth that shouldn't be elided.

Dayo Adeola

Posted: May 13, 2008 3:46 AM

This article does not provide answers to my nagging curiosity. It raises more questions than answers. God is love, even in pronouncing the death sentence on man we can see his love because he did not want us trapped eternally in a body of sin otherwise salvation would be impossible. But how is this comparable with a punishment for his erring creatures in an eternal hell? It is an understatement to compare hell to a cry of ' "No!" to anything that leads to our destruction.' God has revealed to us the much we need to know about himself for our salvation. What I find disheartening is that theologians, preachers, bible scholars and the church fail to admit that we cannot fully understand God (at least not when we are in the flesh), he is far too mysterious for our senses. As versed as Paul was he admitted that the best of us only knew in part. It is also impossible to define God by a singular attribute; his wrath is as intense as his love. We must warn people desperately to accept Christ

Claire

Posted: May 12, 2008 9:46 PM

We should never forget that we have now been reconciled to God through Jesus, that is why we go through him for forgiveness in that the penalty for the sin God hates has been placed and paid for by the Son God loves. All we need to do is be sorry for what we've done and lay it at the cross. They did not have that unforgetable gift in the old testament, it truly changed everything. That doesn't mean we will not sense God's correction which is, as you say, because of His great Love.. The ten commandments were given because of His great love for us, and we still understand the harm that comes when we break them. Our problem is our old nature that will dog us till we die. But it is so nice to know we have an advocate for us in Jesus Christ, who was tempted as we are. The beauty is that when we just try to understand what he would want you to do in a situation, and then try it everything works out perfecrtly and better than you could imagine. Don't ya just love Him.

pastor bill LtCol USAR

Posted: May 12, 2008 9:05 PM

Carolyn I defended your article on "Prefer. and Principles".The writer knew "sovereignty" but not God. See "River of Fire' for the Christian view of "wrath". I tire of the cliche "sovereignty". After traumas, including Vietnam, I learned I loved Christ, but the Father was a black cloud over my head. Now I could see Christ/God - an Orthodox term- the almighty, little lamb. Calvin's worst mischief was separating Christ from God! Sovereignty washes dirty feet; sorrows till we return. His wrath is against evil- never us. It's now a fallen world. Evil will be overcome; but it's absurd to try to make sense of it. And hell? Orthodoxy knows you go toward hell when you turn from love, light, and life- from God! The West has the problem: too rational. It's a lot more simple than that. I have a passionate love for my children. Where did I get that? Am I more loving than God? Once we understand this our lives will change forever. We won't be able not to love the Father! (faithswork.blogspot.)

Paul	Posted: May 12, 2008 8:58 PM


Why was there no mention of the cross of Christ? Christ was sent to the cross out of love, certainly. But the cross would have no lasting benefit for me if God had not poured out his wrath upon Christ in that event. Unless we know of how great a sinner we are, we won't understand how great a price Christ had to pay and we won't understand the greatness of God's love for us.

alison

Posted: May 12, 2008 7:57 PM

OK, this should only be one star. I got a little too optimistic for a minute. I thought this article was very unsatisfactory. The only truthful answer I can make to the question of God's love/God's wrath is "I don't know." I can't explain it. It doesn't make sense. The statement "God is love so God hates sin" is pretty shallow. I have those moments where I can clearly see that God cares for me, but the rest of the time I just have to take it by faith.

stan baldwin

Posted: May 12, 2008 5:12 PM

It's a nice thought-provoking piece but does not provide a basic answer, perhaps because none exists. You can say God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah out of love for his people to keep them from being destroyed by sin, but that still places God in the losing or unloving category so far as the people of S and G are concerned. What about his love for them? How did their eternal destruction express love for them? And if one says they were not God's people and so he didn't love them, then what happens to the God who IS love, not just does love some people. The metaphor of loving parents jerking children away from a careening automobile does nothing to address the basic issue. If jerking them away from the auto was jerking them into a burning fire from which there was no escape, would that be love?

dj	Posted: May 12, 2008 5:03 PM

I struggle with this, because even though I want to believe that God is love, I feel really uncomfortable with the idea that God's wrath is just an expression of his love. That makes me want to ask the question: If God loves us all so much, why would he allow some of us to burn in eternal torment? People always respond with the line, "because humans have free will and reject God"... but if God really loves people like they are his children, why would God punish people FOREVER? Why wouldn't God slowly "burn" away the sin until the person is clean, and then bring that person home? (I'm thinking of the "parent hating the disease" idea.) But the Bible makes it sound like God could apparently try to "burn" away our sin for eternity, and it will never work. Or, more often, God's wrath is simply seen as proper loving. But what kind of love is it to, as God, create children who you can't save, or, worse, have specifically destined for wrath? Doesn't seem so loving to me... I dunno.

Jim D.

Posted: May 12, 2008 4:43 PM


I've never really looked at it from the perspective of God loves us so much that he'll remove any obstacle including human for the well being of those who call him they're God. But if you read through the Old Testament he does this over and over. ie: Sodom and Gomorah, so their sin would'nt ensnare his people,etc.etc.

Darren King - Precipice Magazine

Posted: May 12, 2008 2:09 PM


I read once that God hates sin in the same way that a parent hates the disease that is crippling a child.

Jerome

Posted: May 12, 2008 12:04 PM


Great article, Carolyn! God is love, period. His wrath is always a reflection of that basic fact. If we think about it, this conclusion naturally flows out of His Triune nature: the Father has ALWAYS loved the Son in the abounding, beautiful fellowship of the Spirit! This relational-to-the-core God is the womb out of which humanity springs! He loves us, because that is what He has done forever!

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