“The Grace of Wrath”

I read an article recently in “Christianity Today,” entitled, “The Grace of Wrath,” and the title intrigued me. Can grace and wrath exist side by side? Can grace be used as an adjective to describe God’s wrath?

Wrath seems to be an Old Testament concept that doesn’t compute in our modern world. We like to stress the love of God. But when we consider the holiness of God, wrath is a little easier to understand. In God’s holiness, sin cannot be tolerated. It has to be dealt with. Sin is anathema to our holy God and it must be punished.

Grace is God’s unconditional love for His children. It is unmerited favor—forgiveness given before we even know we need to be forgiven—surprising mercy—lavish love—and none of it can be earned in any way.

How can grace describe God’s wrath? Listen to Carolyn Arends, the author of the article, as she wrestles with that question:

God is love, BUT God hates sin. How does one hold those two realities in tension? I unconsciously developed a theology that intermittently had God the Son and God the Father in a good cop, bad cop routine, with the Holy Spirit stepping in as a sympathetic parole officer.

I professed that God was love all the way through, but deep down I couldn’t help assuming he was a bit like me. Even his love had to have limits. It stopped at sin and turned into wrath. Naturally.

My understanding began to change when I read Baxter Kruger’s description of God’s wrath as his love in action—his emphatic “No!” to anything that leads to our destruction. That perspective flipped a switch for my husband and me. If our daughter stepped into oncoming traffic, she might perceive our reaction (screaming “No!” and yanking her out of harm’s way) to be harsh and unloving. But in reality it would be an expression of our fiercest and purest love. Is that how it is with God?

What if God’s wrath is not a caveat, qualification, or even a counterpoint to his love, but an expression of it? What if God grieves sin less because it offends his sensibilities, and more because he hates the way it distorts our perceptions and separates us from him? “Christianity Today”, May 2008

I found Carolyn’s insights very helpful. Can you remember a time, when you were young, that your parents were really, really, angry with you? You did something so foolish, or hurtful, or irresponsible that your parents were extremely angry with you (wrath) and punished you accordingly. When it was happening to you, all you could see or feel was the anger, and it probably felt extreme and unfair. But if you could see the larger picture (and who can really do that when we are young and foolish?) you would have seen that Mom’s and Dad’s anger was really an expression of their love. They were shouting—”NO,” that is unacceptable, and it will cause you and others great pain if you continue to do it.

One of the great truths of scripture is this: God is love. God can never act in a way that is counter to love. Even His wrath is motivated by His great love for us.

There will be times in our lives when we will feel the wrath of God. It will be painful and we may even feel that God is being unfair. But in the bigger picture, it is God’s way of correcting our attitude and/or behavior. It is God’s way of putting His love into action.

God is love and because He is love, He hates our sin and how it hurts us. In His holiness He cries out “No” over and over again to all that would harm us.

There is great grace in God’s wrath, if we understand that God is always good and always loving.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Tom