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Romans And The Wrath of God
Romans And The Wrath of God
As you read through Romans you should notice that in this great book that explains the salvation that is available in Christ, Paul mentions the wrath of God some 12 times.* People speak of ‘salvation’ but many are unaware of WHAT we are saved from. Salvation loses its glory and importance unless we understand what we are saved from.
The wrath of God is not just a capricious God that is having a bad day, it is a judicial and settled anger against sin. Paul writes that "…the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth" (Romans 1:18). God's wrath is revealed against ALL such sin, even mine. God's wrath is ALWAYS revealed against such. Time doesn't change ungodliness into godliness. God's wrath is ONLY revealed against such.
Who needs to be saved from God's wrath? All who are guilty of ungodliness and sin. Paul then shows that the gentiles, though they did not have a revealed and written law like the Jews did, sinned against the knowledge that they had (1:19-32). God is no respecter of persons. If the Gentiles have sinned and face the wrath of God, the Jews, who had the revealed law of God, will also face the wrath of God if they sinned. How did they do? Chapter 3 begins with a bunch of quotes form their law to show that they had indeed sinned against God.
Paul summarizes saying that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23). The rest of chapter 3 takes us back to 1:16-17, the theme of these three chapters: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”" (Romans 1:16–17).
We are saved (justified, redeemed) from the wrath of God by the grace of God who gave His Son to die as a sacrifice for our sin. This turns away the wrath of God (propitiates) and brings us back into a right relationship with God. In Paul's words we "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith" (Romans 3:24–25). Hugh DeLong
*Romans 1:18; 2:5, 8; 3:5; 4:15; 5:9; 9:22; 12:19; 13:4,5
