What is the Wrath of God? ["Not merely an Old Testament Concept"]

Archdiocese of Washington ^ | Jan 4 2010 | Msgr. Charles Pope

[GonzoII]

Not long ago I saw a bottle of hot sauce with the creative name “Wrath of God!” Now that’s gotta be some hot sauce! But what is God’s wrath? It is spoken of often in the scriptures and it is a concept with which we have to be careful. On the one hand we cannot simply dismiss the concept as contradictory to the fact that God is love. But neither can we fail to see God’s wrath apart from his love.

As a followup from yesterday’s blog it seems worthwhile to consider some aspects of the very complicated and reality of the wrath of God. There is not enough space to cover the whole topic in the post but the comments stay open as always for your additions and subtractions. What are some ways that we can explain and understand the wrath of God? Let me propose a few.

The wrath of God is not merely an Old Testament Concept. In fact we find it mentioned quite frequently in the New Testament as well. For example consider the following:

1.Jesus said, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him. (John 3:36)

[GonzoII]

[SnakeDoctor]

“Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!” “Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...” “The dead rising from the grave!” “Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!”

SnakeDoc

[Razwan]

its a pretty cool Magic the Gathering Card

[hellbender]

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 1:7)

[BipolarBob]

Amen. The wrath of God is no laughing matter.

[sten]

it'd be kinda like this:

but a whole lot worse

[hellbender]

God is best thought of as a loving parent. A parent will forbid anything which leads ultimately to bad consequences for his children, whether it is running into the street, playing with strange dogs, or stealing from others. Even the dietary laws of the ancient Hebrews make sense in that context. Only the Satanically-inspired libertine Left wants us to believe that God’s laws are intended to deprive us of pleasure or “fulfillment.”

[svcw]

And it will be worse than any of us can imagine. Just be ready.

[dfwgator]

Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, “biblical”?
Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

[Just mythoughts]

I do not understand why there is this idea that the ‘old’ Testament is called a concept when it is from the writings of the predestined ‘holy’ prophets penned the WORDS that Christ said I have foretold you all things. Christ was there ‘In the beginning’ Genesis specifically symbolized by that ‘tree of life’ in the midst of the garden. Now IF one is to have the understanding of what even so called ‘new’ Testament wrath means, is, one must need to have the primer of what was ‘foretold’ which Christ's took ownership as His own.

When is there to be a reconciliation of all those souls that passed through their journey in this flesh age before the death and all those that came after? The instruction that Lazarus was in Abraham's bosom says that Abraham would be among those that accepted, chose and believes in Christ. (And apparently many many more did so, according to Peter's own words.)

[Ken4TA]

But what is God’s wrath? It is spoken of often in the scriptures and it is a concept with which we have to be careful. On the one hand we cannot simply dismiss the concept as contradictory to the fact that God is love. But neither can we fail to see God’s wrath apart from his love.

God's GRACE and His WRATH are opposites. Grace is God's friendly disposition towards man, and His wrath is His unfriendly dispostition towards man. These definition are the basic meaning of the terms Grace and Wrath.

God can, at the resurrection, show his grace to a man and give him an immortal life with a newly created "spiritual body." Or, God can, at the resurrection, show his wrath to a man and completly destroy him - our God is an all consuming fire. He is the "potter" and we are but the "clay" in His hands. "What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath - prepared for destruction?" (Rom. 9:22).

2 Peter 3 is a chapter everyone should read, for it tells us of God's mercy and wrath - both for man and for the world we live in.

[circlecity]

Anyone who thinks the Wrath of God isn’t a NT concept, has never read the first three chapters of the book of Romans. In very blunt terms, his description is much more harsh than anything in the OT. (short version: it’s eternal and we are all under it.)