Romans has a lot to say about the wrath of God. In fact, the word is found there more than in any NT book other than Revelation. No one is surprised wrath is discussed in Revelation—but Romans? Isn’t Romans the book about God’s love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness? What’s a book like that doing talking about God’s wrath?
One answer is that Romans is wide-ranging in terms of its subject matter. It touches on a little bit of everything in its 16 chapters. It mentions the creation of the world as well as the recreation of it (1,8), idolatry and worship (1,12), the flesh and the Spirit (6-8), death and resurrection (6,8), Israel and the Gentiles (9-11), the strong and the weak (14-15), the righteousness of God and the sinfulness of man (1), and much, much more. In light of this, we shouldn’t really be surprised that it has something to say about the wrath of God, should we?
The other answer is that if we understand Romans, we’ll appreciate that we’re unable to truly grasp God’s love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness apart from His wrath.
What is wrath?
Wrath is God’s holy response to our rebellion (McGuiggan). It is judgment—God expressing His holy anger at our sin. But it is not like human anger and judgment which can be arbitrary and out of control. His anger and judgment are always justified but more important—they are always redemptive and the product of His holy love. Their design and intent are to keep us from God’s ultimate judgment—which is life away from Him forever. (And why does God bother with any of this? Because being eternally lost is a reality and He considers such a thing to be His loss!).
Another way of saying this is that the purpose of God’s temporal wrath is chastisement to produce change and repentance in us. It is meant to destroy whatever caused His wrath in the first place (Herschel). God threatened judgment on Nineveh, but they repented of their wickedness (what caused the warning of wrath), so He didn’t bring judgment upon them. Ideally God’s preference is that His kindness should lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4). That’s the way God prefers things! Sadly that doesn’t always work, so we see sterner measures like Nineveh. Even then, His warning isn’t always heeded.
King Manasseh not only practiced idolatry, he also led Judah into it. As hard as it is to imagine, this included sacrificing his own children. God spoke to him but he “paid no attention” (2 Chronicles 33:10), so in His wrath God brought the Assyrians in. They attacked Jerusalem, captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him in shackles, and led him away to Babylon. There Manasseh repented of his wickedness. God forgave him. Manasseh went back to Jerusalem and destroyed all the altars and images to other gods and restored the worship of God.
What was God’s wrath in Manasseh’s life?
It was God’s severe, saving grace at work. It was radical surgery that God performed that was made necessary because Manasseh wouldn’t respond to anything else. And that’s where many are today. They’ve gone off into sin and God’s wrath is the emergency surgery He performs in an effort to save them. He won’t hesitate to crack a chest open, do a tracheotomy, or amputate a limb if that is what is required. What we call wrath is His life saving work.
It’s worth noting that wrath is not an attribute of God, but a response based on His holiness. Our Father does not walk around with a scowl on His face and a lightning bolt in His hand. He is the epitome of love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, kindness, goodness, etc. But He will not abide the continued oppression of others or even ourselves. Love doesn’t look the other way! So out of His holy love He acts to bring about change. If He didn’t do this, He wouldn’t be God!
What have we said?
We’ve said that as a holy response to sin, as something meant to destroy what made it necessary in the first place, as the severe, saving grace of God—it’s clear that wrath is a highly unpleasant but very important aspect of God’s redemptive work. We don’t really care to think about it, discuss it, or experience in any shape, form, or fashion, but where would we be without it?
Lost.
God’s wrath should give us some insight into the sinfulness of sin. It has a greater toxicity than anything in the universe. It is our #1 enemy.
And it has been ultimately and utterly defeated by Jesus Christ!
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 