Praise God for His Wrath

Today, I looked into another of God’s attributes that we as Christians don’t often like to look at. One of God’s attributes is wrath. That’s a loaded word because we think of it in terms of human anger. But, although we are made in God’s image, we humans are not automatically the same as God. This is true for all our attributes, but especially in the ways we see as negative or bad. I think J.I. Packer put it better than I could in Knowing God:

“. . . when Scripture speaks of God anthropomorphically, it does not imply that the limitations and imperfections which belong to the personal characteristics of us sinful creatures belong also to the corresponding qualities in our holy Creator; rather it takes for granted that they do not. Thus, God’s love, as the Bible views it, never leads Him to foolish, impulsive, immoral actions in the way that its human counterpart too often leads us. And in the same way, God’s wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. God is only angry where anger is called for. Even among men, there is such a thing as righteous indignation, though it is, perhaps, rarely found. But all God’s indignation is righteous. Would a God who took as much pleasure in evil as He did in good be a good God? Would a God who did not react adversely to evil in His world be morally perfect? Surely not. But it is precisely this adverse reaction to evil, which is a necessary part of moral perfection, that the Bible has in view when it speaks of God’s wrath.” (p. 136 – 137)

God’s wrath is tied closely to His judgment. It is always right and judicial. It’s the execution of His judgment. Some view this as cruelty, but it is not cruel in the same sense that man can be cruel. Cruelty involves being immoral and God’s judgment is never immoral or designed to assign unwarranted harm to anyone. In fact, God’s judgment is meted out based on man’s own responses to the knowledge and gifts God has given him. For example, God will judge those who have been given much more harshly than those who have been given little (Luke 12:47f). If man chooses to respond in obedience, God’s wrath will be limited. It’s up to each man to choose the path he will follow. And as a result, that choice will determine the extent of God’s wrath upon each individual.

I know it’s hard to praise God for something that seems so cruel. But with God it is not cruelty. It’s justice. As Packer said, what kind of God would God be if He allowed evil to go unpunished? He would not be righteous, holy, or perfect. God’s wrath is a necessary part of Who He is. Without it, there would be no need for a Savior.