Love vs. Wrath

This past month I gave a two-week sermon series on what is famously known as The Parable of the Prodigal Son. While I had a lot to say about this parable, the main theme that ran throughout both weeks had to do with how the father showed reckless and extravagant love toward both of his sons. The father consistently put aside his own rights and honor for the sake of relational reconciliation. We see this throughout the story. The father is the real prodigal. After the first weekend, where I predominately focused on the relationship between the father and his younger son, an individual approached me to state his disapproval with my exclusive emphasis on God’s love. He argued that the God of the Bible is predominately concerned with his own glory and that when we emphasize how much God loves us we can take the focus off of God and put it onto ourselves. The end result, he argued, was that we lose sight of God’s wrath. This critique (which is not an uncommon one) raises an important question: Do God’s love and wrath conflict in any way? And how do these two balance out anyhow?

When it comes to the question of God’s love and wrath, it is important to be aware of some common pitfalls. In my reading, I’ve noticed three. The first is to dismiss the concept of God’s wrath entirely. Some people are so uncomfortable with the concept of God’s wrath that they simply do away with it altogether. And this simply will not do. While I think that we need to understand God’s wrath rightly, we can’t simply ignore it because it doesn’t fit into our pre-existing theological categories. The second pitfall is to overemphasize God’s wrath whereby his love becomes incomprehensible. In some Christian circles, especially the more reformed ones (which are becoming increasingly popular), God’s wrath is so emphasized that understanding God’s love becomes almost impossible. This will not do either. Over accentuating God’s wrath will lead to a distorted picture of who God is and how he relates to humanity. The final pitfall is to hold God’s love and wrath in co-equal status. The problem here is that it creates a duality in God that is not found in the Bible. This will not do either.

While there is much to be said on this subject (and I won’t say it all here), I believe a way forward begins with understanding who God is at the core of his being. The Bible makes it clear from Genesis to Revelation that love is a primary and permanent attribute of God. Love is not just a verb that God does, it is the noun that he is. “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8). Love is the essence of God’s character. It’s not merely an emotion he experiences. It’s not merely a feeling he has. It is who he is! When God reveals his glory – who he is – to Moses, he does so by proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished” (Exod. 34:6-7). And this is precisely how God is described as Scripture continues to unfold until love takes on flesh in Jesus Christ (Num. 14:18; Deut. 4:31; Neh. 9:17; Ps. 86:15, 103:8, 145:8; Joel 2:13). Love defines who God is. And Jesus is love personified (1 Jn. 3:16). Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory – the exact representation of who God is (Heb. 1:3). Jesus reveals what God is like. And Jesus demonstrates God’s love for us by giving his very life away (Jn. 3:15; Rom. 5:8).

None of this is to deny that God has other attributes. For he most certainly does. But the important thing to understand (and yes, J.I. Packer gets this wrong in Knowing God) is that wrath is not one of them. Wrath simply is not an attribute of God. And because of this, it cannot and should not be considered co-equal with his love. Whereas love is an eternal and permanent attribute that defines who God is, the wrath of God exists only as a potential response to sin. Without sin there would be no wrath. God’s wrath exists because sin exists. God’s wrath is a response to the breaking of covenant relationship. A right response at that. But if humanity had never broken covenant relationship with God, there would be no place for his wrath. Great damage is done when we draw conclusions about God’s wrath apart from this covenantal context, which, rather unfortunately, is what those who emphasize God’s wrath the most tend to do.

Now this last point is very important to understand because some people might be inclined to think that I’ve overlooked God’s justice. But this is only because they tend to equate justice and wrath—a move that I think is entirely inappropriate. It is true that justice, like love, is a permanent and eternal attribute of God. It is 100% true that God is just. It is even true that wrath could be considered an extension of God’s justice. (Although one could just as easily argue that God’s wrath should be considered an extension of his love). Still, we must be careful not to equate the two. And the reason why is because justice can exist apart from wrath given the absence of sin. But the same thing cannot be said about wrath. Wrath is always a response to the breaking of covenant relationship.

The final point of consideration that I believe is noteworthy is that love ultimately wins (no, that is not a Rob Bell endorsement). It is just that God’s love has the final word over and against his wrath. It always has. In Exodus 20:5-6, for example, God states that the consequences resulting from covenant breaking will continue on to a father’s children to “the third and fourth generations.” Immediately following this, however, the covenant consequence is contrasted with God’s unfailing love that will extend “to thousands.” Apparently, God’s wrath in the form of justice extends four generations, whereas His love continues for thousands. Micah 7:18 makes a similar contrast stating, “He [God] does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love.” Once again God’s love takes precedence over and against God’s wrath because it flows from His unchanging nature. Without a doubt, the greatest indicator of God’s predisposition towards love is ultimately revealed by Jesus’ self-sacrificial death on the cross for us. Although all of humanity was alienated from God due to sin (i.e. the breaking of covenant), Jesus took our covenant consequences upon himself by dying on a cross and thereby restoring right relationship between humanity and its Creator. Wrath was silenced on Calvary. Love gets the last word.

“One cannot genuinely encounter the Christian God and not encounter love – first as love received and subsequently as love returned.” – David Benner