Salvation from Wrath

In Rom 5:1-11, Paul twice mentions salvation as a future experience for the believer (vv 9, 10). The salvation he has in view is particularly rescue from the wrath of judgment, which might have either an historical or eschatological focus. The just are like Noah, who are “saved” when God destroys the world; the first-century just will be saved from the wrath poured out on Judaism in the first century. This same pattern would also be evident in the final judgment: Those who have been justified by faith and stand in God’s favor will be saved from the eschatological wrath of God. Because Jesus is the living One (v 10), He will see us through the final judgment.

Against the background of Rom 1:18-32, however, salvation from wrath takes on an additional nuance. In Rom 1, wrath has not only to do with punishment for sin but also with working out the wages of sin. Wrath is revealed in the fact that sinners are “delivered over” from one form of sin and degredation to a more intense form of sin and degredation. Wrath is not only a response to the disorder of sin, but a cause of the disorder. To be saved from wrath, then, means not only to be saved from punishment, but also to be saved from the moral and social chaos to which God has delivered sinners. Salvation from wrath is thus salvation TO Shalom, a ordered and fruitful world of harmony and peace.