In his Monday On the Square , Timothy George takes square aim at those who would sanitize biblical language about the holy anger of the world’s judge: ” Sin , judgment , cross , even Christ have become problematic terms in much contemporary theological discourse, but nothing so irritates and confounds as the idea of divine wrath.”
If we forget divine wrath, we not only indulge an ancient heresy dating back to Marcion in the second century, we also render Jesus’ sacrifice unintelligible:
But God’s ways are not our ways, and God’s wrath is not like our wrath. Indeed, in his brilliant essay, “ The Wrath of God as an Aspect of the Love of God ,” British scholar Tony Lane explains that “the love of God implies his wrath. Without his wrath God simply does not love in the sense that the Bible portrays his love.” God’s love is not sentimental; it is holy. It is tender, but not squishy. It involves not only compassion, kindness, and mercy beyond measure (what the New Testament calls grace) but also indignation against injustice and unremitting opposition to all that is evil.
Read the full column here .
