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God’s attitude toward sin is expressed in the Scriptures by the concept of the wrath of God. In both the Old and New Testaments, God’s opposition to sin is expressed in terms also used in the description of human emotions of anger, indignation, and wrath. But the wrath of God should not be thought of as an unstable, capricious emotion. It is true that men’s anger is so often such an impulsive passion, usually involving a large element of fickleness together with a lack of self-control. But the wrath of God is not to be so conceived. Neither is it to be thought of as like the anger of the heathen anthropomorphic deities. The writers of the Bible have nothing to do with the pagan concepts of a “capricious and vindictive deity, inflicting arbitrary punishments on offending worshippers, who must then bribe him back to a good mood by the appropriate offerings.” [1]

The Biblical concept of the wrath of God should be thought of as the stern and settled personal reaction of God’s love against sin in man. God’s wrath must be understood in terms of God’s love. Love is that decision of a person loving to act for the good of the person loved. It is not just an emotion, an easygoing, good-natured sentimentalism or good feeling of attraction or fondness for someone. But rather it is a decision of the will. But since the will involves the emotions as well as the intellect, that is, the total person, love is a strong and intensive concern for the well being of the person loved. And it is because of this concern that love may be pictured as a purifying fire, blazing out in fiery wrath against everything evil that hinders the loved one from being the best (Psa. 119:74; Prov. 3:11-12; Heb. 12:5-10; Rev. 3:19). Because of this intense love which is jealous for the good of the loved one, God hates everything that is evil in man (Psa. 5:5; 11:5; Prov. 6:16-19; Jer. 44:4; Heb. 1:13; Zech. 8:16-17). Hence the wrath of God is not opposed to His love. But rather it is the reverse side of His love. God’s wrath is the direct personal opposition of His love to the sin that would destroy man whom He loves.

The wrath of God expresses itself in various ways. With regard to time the wrath of God has two aspects: a present aspect and a future aspect. In the present the wrath of God take various forms depending upon whether it is directed toward idolatrous nations and cultures (Psa. 2:1-6; Hab. 3:12) or idolatrous individuals (Deut. 29:20). With regard to idolatrous nations and cultures, the wrath of God may express itself in the form of famines (Deut. 32:24; Amos 4:10), pestilence (Ex. 9:15; Deut. 29:23; Jer. 9:11; 39:8; Amos 4:11), exile (Deut. 28:36, 64; II Kings 17:23; Jer. 16:13; 39:9) and extinction (Deut. 28:48; 32:26). God’s wrath is manifested in the physical world (Nahum 1:3-6) and will be turned against God’s enemies (Nahum 1:8-10) and their wicked cities like Nineveh (Nahum 3:6-7, 15). With regard to idolatrous individuals, the wrath of God may take the form of moral decline (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28), misery (Deut. 28:20, 66-67; Psa. 90:7-10; Rom. 2:9), hardness of heart (Psa. 81:12; Rom. 9:18) and finally physical death (Rom. 1:32). Moral decline is the effect of both idolatry and the wrath of God which is directed against the basic sin (Rom. 1:22-26). According to Rom. 1:18-31 the wrath of God is revealed (Rom. 1:18) in the act of God giving up (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28) those who worship and serve false gods (Rom. 1:25) to the moral consequences and implications of their false gods; that is, the basic sin of idolatry leads to other sins (Rom. 1:28-31). This negative act of God in withholding His grace, which would keep man from moral decline, demonstrates to man the true character of his false gods. It is intended to lead man to repentance and faith in the true God. In the future, the wrath of God will be climactically displayed on the day of wrath and righteous judgment of God against those who refuse to repent and who harden their hearts (Rom. 2:5). This will take place when Jesus Christ shall return again (II Thess. 1:7-9; Rev. 19:15; cf. Rev. 14:19).

The wrath of God is directed against sin in any form (Jer. 21:12; Ezek. 8:17-18; 22:29, 31; Rom. 1:18). But it is particularly directed against the sin of idolatry.

“¹⁴ You shall not go after other gods, the gods of peoples who are round about you;  ¹⁵ for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you off the face of the earth.” (Deut. 6:14-15)

(See also Deut. 4:25-26; 29:25-28; Joshua 23:15-16; Isa. 66:15-17; Jer. 11:11-13; 19:3-4; 44:2-6; Ex. 32:10, 35; Num. 25:3; Lam. 3:42-43;  Judges 2:11-15; II Kings 17:9-12; 15-18.)

The wrath of God is directed particularly against the sin of idolatry because it is the basic sin. But more fundamentally it is directed against this sin because of the effect that a false god has upon the one who chooses it as his god. A false god puts its worshippers into bondage by reducing and ultimately destroying their freedom of choice. It reduces his freedom of choice by limiting his options as well as his reasons for his choice. Some false gods totally eliminate some areas of life from its followers consideration. Thus a false god circumscribes and restricts the freedom of choice of the person who chooses it as his god; it acts as a frustrating limitation, a ball and chain upon the exercise of the freedom of its worshipper. But a false god also destroys the freedom of its worshipper by denying his freedom. Since a false god has limited or no freedom (no power of choice or self-determination), such a god implicitly and/or explicitly denies the reality of its follower’s freedom of choice. Thus having used his freedom to give this god his ultimate allegiance, the worshipper finds his freedom denied to the point of extinction and himself bound in a miserable slavery. As long as the false god remains his ultimate criterion of decision, he will not have the grounds for rejecting that god, since that god has not allowed him to have freedom of choice to do so. His power of choice having been effectively taken away from him; he is unable to reject the false god and free himself from its bondage. This is the bondage of sin (John 8:34; Prov. 5:22). Man becomes a slave of sin when he gives his ultimate allegiance and devotion to a false god. In fact, the false god is sin personified as a slavemaster (Rom. 6:16).

The true God, on the other hand, preserves and fulfills the freedom of the one who chooses and worships Him. Since the true God is a living God (Jer. 10:5-15; I Thess. 1:9), that is, a being that has the power of self-determination, with unlimited freedom, He can preserve His worshipper’s freedom. When this Being who has such freedom is made the ultimate criterion of one’s decisions, one’s freedom of choice may be exercised without restriction or frustrating limitation. His freedom is not denied or taken away from him. But more importantly, the true God not only preserves the freedom of the one who chooses and worships Him but also fulfills the freedom of the one who commits and devotes himself to Him. This He does by loving him; that is, by acting toward him for his highest good. Now man’s highest good is the true God; He alone can preserve the freedom of the one who chooses Him. For when a man chooses the true God as his god, he has found his highest good and obtained true happiness (Prov. 16:20; Psa. 40:4; 84:12; 144:15; Jer. 17:7, etc.). Because the true God is love (I John 4:8, 16), He acts toward man in such a way as to bring man to the choice of man’s highest good, that is, the true God, and hence the fulfillment of his freedom. One way He does this is by directly opposing (i.e., the wrath of God) man’s choice of a false god (the sin of idolatry). Since idolatry not only destroys man’s freedom but is an obstacle to God’s love which would fulfill man’s freedom, the wrath of God is directed against this particular sin.

But wrath is not the only way that God in His love deals with man’s sin. The wrath of God is not the only nor the last word about what God has said or done concerning man’s sin. God’s wrath is His strange work.

“The Lord will rise up as on Mount Perazim, he will be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon; to do his deed — strange is his deed! and to work his work — alien is his work!”     (Isa. 28:21)

Wrath is that act of His love that is alien to the way God wishes to act. He desires to act toward man in mercy and grace (Psa. 103:9-12; Micah 7:18-19). In mercy, He desires to turn away His wrath and forgive man’s sin (Psa. 85:2-3). And in grace, He desires to remove the sin which causes His wrath. Grace is the other way that God in His love deals with man’s sin. Thus, God deals with man’s sin in two ways: in His wrath He opposes the sin, and in His grace He removes it. The grace of God is the love of God in action to bring man salvation (Titus 2:11; Eph. 2:4-9). In this second way, God fulfills man’s freedom; He removes the idolatry which would destroy man’s freedom. And this He does by removing the cause of sin — death — through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus God sets man free from the bondage of sin, the slavery to a false god, and brings him into the freedom of righteousness, the righteousness of faith. Faith in the true God is righteousness because it relates us rightly to Him (Rom. 4:3-5). In this right relationship to the true God, man’s freedom is fulfilled and man is truly free. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)

As we have seen, the wrath of God is not opposed to His love. But rather it is one of the two ways in which God in His love deals with man’s sin. God’s wrath as well as His grace is an expression of His love. There is no eternal principle of divine retribution (justice) in God which causes His wrath. Since God is love, the wrath of God must be understood in terms of His love as the direct personal opposition of His love to sin that would destroy the one whom He loves. Wrath is the reaction of His love to sin. The cause of God’s wrath is not in God; it is external to God and in the sin of man. And as long as man remains in sin, so long does the wrath of God remain upon him (John 3:36).

Man is under the wrath of God because of his sin of idolatry; that is, the wrath of God is caused by sin (Rom. 1:18-25); it is a direct consequence of each man’s own sin. But since man is a sinner as a consequence of Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:19a), then the wrath of God is also a result of Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:18a; note that condemnation is the same as wrath). But it is only indirectly, not directly, a result of Adam’s sin. For all men are sinners only indirectly as a consequence of Adam’s sin. They are sinners directly because of the spiritual death (Rom. 5:12d ERS; Gal.4:8), which they have received from Adam (Rom. 5:12c; I Cor. 15:22). Sin is the direct consequence of spiritual death and hence only an indirect consequence of Adam’s sin (only the spiritual and physical death came directly from Adam). And since man is a sinner as an indirect consequence of Adam’s sin, then the wrath of God (condemnation) is also an indirect consequence of Adam’s sin. Condemnation is not the direct result of Adam’s sin; that is, man is not condemned because of Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:14) but because of his own personal sin, his own personal choice of a false god. The cause of the wrath of God is the sin of each individual man (Ezek. 18:1-4, 14-20).

The activity of the wrath of God is not an impersonal law of retribution or the inevitable moral effect of sin, as advocated by C. H. Dodd. [2] The wrath of God is God’s personal reaction to man’s sin. This is seen in the Old Testament writers’ use of strong personal terms when speaking of the wrath of God.

“¹ O God, Thou has rejected us. Thou hast broken us; Thou has been angry; … ² Thou hast made the land quake; … ³ Thou hast made Thy people experience hardship; Thou hast given us wine to drink that make us stagger.”     (Psa. 60:1-3 NAS)

“²⁷ Behold, the name of the Lord comes from a remote place; Burning is His anger, and dense is His smoke; His lips are filled with indignation, and His tongue is like a consuming fire;  ²⁸ And His breath is like an overflowing torrent, Which reaches to the neck, To shake the nations back and forth in a sieve, And to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads to ruin …


³⁰ And the Lord will cause His voice of authority to be heard. And the descending of His arm to be seen, And in the flame of a consuming fire, In a cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones, ³¹ For at the voice of the Lord Assyria will be terrified, When He strikes with the rod.”     (Isa. 30:27-28, 30-31 NAS)

“The anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart; …” 
(Jer. 23:20 NAS)

“⁸ Now I will shortly pour out My wrath on you, and send My anger against you, judge you according to your ways, and bring on you all your abominations. ⁹ And My eye will show no pity, nor will I spare. I will repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the Lord, do the smiting.”     (Ezek. 7:8-9 NAS).

The psalmist and prophets could hardly have expressed more strongly the personal aspect of God’s wrath. The wrath of God in these passages is definitely not an impersonal, inexorable law of moral retribution. God personally wills His deeds of wrath against man’s sin.  And because God is so personally active in His deeds of wrath, He can exercise His mercy, allowing His wrath to be turned away.

“⁹ He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever. ¹⁰ He has not dealt with us according to our sin, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. ¹¹ For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him;  ¹² As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”     (Psa. 103:9-12 NAS)

“² Thou didst forgive the iniquity of Thy people; Thou didst cover all their sin.  ³ Thou didst withdraw all Thy fury; Thou didst turn away from Thy burning anger.”    (Psa. 85:2-3 NAS)

“¹⁸ Who is a God like Thee, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in lovingkindness.  ¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. Yes, Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depth of the sea.”     (Micah 7:18-19 NAS)

(See also Exodus 34:6-7; Numbers 14:18; Neh. 9:17; Psa. 30:5; 86:15; 145:8; Isa. 57:16; Lam. 3:22-23; Joel 2:12-13; Jonah 4:2; Nahum 1:2-3.)

That God will have mercy, turning away His wrath, is not contradicted by the statement that “the anger of the Lord will not turn back” (Jer. 23:10), for this does not mean that He is implacable, only that He is not diverted from His purposes by puny man. “The anger of the Lord will not be turned back until He has performed and carried out the purpose of His heart…” (Jer. 23:20). This statement is just a denial of the pagan idea that God will accept a bribe to appease His anger. [3]

The means by which God’s wrath may be turned aside involves the purging of the sin. This may be done, for example, by completely destroying the offending city (Deut. 13:15-17), slaying those who had sinned as at Baal-Peor (Num. 25:4), releasing captives (II Chron. 28:11-13), putting away heathen wives (Ezra 10:14). The putting away of sin involves a change of heart attitude, repentance (Jonah 3:7, 10), humbling oneself (II Chron. 12:7), circumcising the heart (Jer. 4:4) and doing judgment (Jer. 21:12). It is the absence of this inward change of heart and attitude and the corresponding outward change in actions that brought about the rejection and condemnation by the psalmists and prophets of the divinely appointed system of offerings and sacrifices.

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.”     (I Sam. 15:22)

“¹⁶ For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt offerings.  ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.”    (Psa. 51:16-17 NAS)

“For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”     (Hosea 6:6 NAS)

(See also Psa. 4:5; 40:6-8; 50:7-23; 69:30-31; Prov. 15:8; 21:3; Isa. 1:11-17; Jer. 7:21-26; Amos 5:21-24; Micah 6:6-8.)

These divinely appointed offerings and sacrifices were intended to be a means of turning away God’s wrath, but the absence of a correct inward heart attitude and the corresponding correct outward actions made them into an empty ritual and an abomination to God. Without repentance and faith they ceased to be an atonement or means of propitiation. [4] But these Old Testament sacrifices could never take away sin (Heb. 10:4, 11), that is, they could not bring about repentance and faith, because they could not make alive (Gal. 3:21). They could not take away death, the cause of sin; they could not give life, the cause of righteousness of faith; they could not reconcile man to God.

Salvation must be not only from death to life and thus from sin to righteousness, but also from wrath to peace. Man needs to saved from wrath as well as from death and sin. But man needs to be saved from sin to be saved from wrath and he needs to be saved from death to be saved from sin. Thus salvation must be primarily from death to life, then secondarily from sin to righteousness and thirdly from wrath to peace.