Paul’s letter to the Romans has always been known as a book that contains the “gospel.” It is filled with the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection and what that means for the world. In the very first chapter, Paul introduces his audience to the wrath of God. How does the wrath of the Trinity fit in with “good news?”
The Gospel of Wrath
The most important thing to know is that God’s wrath is not at odds with His happiness, love, and laughter. God is not against Himself. There is no inner conflict within God. The love of the Son did not save us from the wrath of the Father; that makes no sense and completely destroys the unity of the Trinity. The Greek word for “wrath” means “ violent passion.” The wrath of the Father, Son, and the Spirit is the violent passion to destroy that which is hurting His children. Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve and God’s passion was aroused. He would not sit back and let His kids be tormented. He has way too much glorious energy to not do anything. And so in His wrath, He prepared a way to destroy sin.
Paul is crazy enough to say that in the good news of the gospel the “wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.” Here’s the thing: the wrath of God is good news. Sin and evil needed to be dealt with. The torment, the pain, the lies of the enemy, sin, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life are all things that do damage to human beings. And so God sent His the Son into the world to destroy (literally “take away”) sin at the cross.
The Law, the Prophets, and Old Testament Wrath
God’s wrath was stirred up from the beginning. It began with Adam and Eve as they “exchanged the truth about God for a lie.” The Trinity created humans to live in the Truth of God as their Father, the Son as their Life, and the Spirit as their Helper. Instead, humans turned to idols. They worshipped and served created things instead of the Creator. Humanity, in her wickedness, developed an actual substance that the Scriptures call sin. Sin arises from a lie about God and reality, which is then followed by a bunch of perverted actions.
The whole thing was a lie from the devil to begin with. Adam and Eve were created in the “likeness” of God and the devil told Eve that if she ate of the apple she would be “like” God. It was a deception that made humanity question the gift of the Father. God had always given us more than enough. His own life was within us from the beginning.
Humans believed that we could find God through our efforts. The Tower of Babel is an example of humanity trying to climb their way back to God through their own works. The reality is, the only way humanity could find God was to reject the lies and believe God’s truth again. No amount of works could do it.
Due to humanity’s sin, God brought the Law into the world through Moses. The Law was literally a 1500-year-old lesson (from the time of Moses to Jesus) to show humanity that following rules, trying harder, and thinking correctly was not enough to bring restoration. Paul said that the Law was a tutor to teach us that we actually needed faith.
One way to look at the Law of Moses is to see it as a judgment from God. God did not approve of humanity’s sin and his attempts at self-salvation–so He gave them the law to exhaust them. It was His wrath against the lie that salvation could be achieved.
The prophets also testified to the wrath of God. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all told their audience of the wrath of God against sin. But to what end? Was it punishment just for the sake of punishment? Or was His discipline for a purpose?
Jeremiah 32-33 is quite illuminating. In the passage, God brings His wrath against His people. He was doing this because they were sacrificing their children to a false-god. Let’s stop right there: Isn’t it good news that we have a God who is against the murder of innocent children? His wrath is perfect. Remember, this is a God who existed in an intimate relationship of perfect love, joy, laughter, and freedom before the world began. The Trinity created these incredible creatures who bore Their image. And then they started killing their children… Of course the Trinity would not be happy about this!
In His kindness, He showed His wrath against this kind of behavior. And to what end? What was God’s real desire for them? Look at what it says next in Jeremiah 32:40-41: “I will make an everlasting covenant with them, never to draw back from doing good to them…I will rejoice in doing good to them, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all My heart and all my soul.”
God’s real desire and His true heart was all about an everlasting covenant with His people! This is the eternal covenant with the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world. The covenant of love, forgiveness, and new life, which was established before the world began. His heart was is to never stop doing good to His people, even to rejoice in doing good to them with all of His heart and soul. The Jews may not have understood this at the time, but His wrath against their sin was the same thing as His joy over them. His abundant joy could not and would not let them continue to kill their children. In other words, their sin was killing the party and God wanted them to learn how to have fun again.
When you think of any judgments of wrath in the Old Testament keep this in mind: His goal was always to rejoice over His people with gladness and singing. His wrath isn’t about “punishment,” but joy. His happiness is so contagious and He won’t humanity to quench it. It is a joy filled with so much energy and life that it stirs up a violent passion towards anything that stops His children from joining in the fun.
The Lamb’s Love-Wrath
The principle of a love-centered wrath that disciplines for our ultimate good is true throughout all of Scripture. When God judges in wrath, the world learns righteousness. His judgments are good. They are fully in line with His overwhelming laughter and joy in humanity. And all of this wrath is leading to the most hilarious thing: “Let the earth rejoice; let all of the islands be glad!” His wrath is making all things new and wiping away every tear in the world!
The book of Revelation has a funny and ironic phrase: the wrath of the Lamb. Think about that phrase for a moment. A lamb isn’t exactly a violent or terrifying creature. Yet the phrase makes sense when we realize that the Lamb in the Revelation is the same Lamb who gave His life for the whole world. His “wrath” guides the earth into its glorious destiny of joy, peace, and love. It’s a wrath rooted in the tender mercies of God’s Lamb-like heart. First century listeners would have found this phrase incredibly comforting in comparison to the wrath of the Roman Emperors.
All of the wrath found in the law and prophets was pointing in one direction: Christ and Him crucified. Jesus walked with his disciples on the road to Emmaus and showed how the law and the prophets pointed to His sufferings and resurrection. Peter said that the prophets all prophesied of the grace and glory to come through the death and resurrection of Christ.
The greatest display of God’s wrath was at the cross. It was there that He poured out all of His “violent passion” onto sin. All of that passion led Christ to completely take all of the world’s sin onto Himself. He took it all into His grave and buried it forever.
The good news is truly the wrath of God. We were enslaved to sin. If God didn’t have wrath against sin, we would have been lost and enslaved forever. But because of His wrath, He sent His Son to the cross to completely take it away. It is in the work of the cross that we place our faith–a faith that realizes that Christ did not die alone. In reality, we died too. The Trinity’s wrath crucified and buried our sinful nature. It is completely through His wrath (and His passionate joy and love), displayed through the work of Christ, that we were made brand new. When we receive this by faith, a fountain of joy, peace, and hope opens up within us.
In conclusion, the wrath of the Trinity is one and the same with His love and joy. His love and joy were not satisfied to leave His children imprisoned. There is no difference between the overwhelming happiness of God and His wrath. At the cross, the Father’s infinite gladness over His kids erupted into a violent passion toward sin, forever setting us free. Praise the Father, Son, and Spirit for the work of Their wrath on the cross!
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