The Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

Understanding Gods Wrath in Romans 13

December 12, 2002 A few years ago I did a large writing in seminary. It was my final thesis for the M.Div. program. Through the first three years of my studies, I had become so fascinated by Pauls understanding of the wrath of God, and had done enough independent studying on it that I decided to put my studies into use and get a grade out of it. What came of it was a rather lengthy explanation of the fact that the wrath of God is both present and yet not yet present. God has already visiting with wrath, is visiting with wrath now, and will continue to visit in the future with His final display being eternal hell. Well, in light of our study in Romans 1 I thought I would take a few excerpts from that thesis and deliver them to you for your further study and edification,1 and in order to spur your heart on to share that power of God in the gospel that saves people from His wrath! 1. The Gospel is Revealing Gods Righteous Judgment Against Unrighteousness 1:18

A brief review of Romans 1:32 shows the first reason for God's wrath upon the Gentiles: and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death. It is obvious that this is a particular explanation for Gods wrath: those who practice the things listed in the context are worthy of death. Of this fact, Hodge stated: Men know the righteous judgment of God; they know that those who commit sin are worthy of death. As this is an ultimate truth, existing in every mans consciousness, it is properly assumed, and made the basis of the apostles argument.2 What precisely were these things they practiced? repetitive in nature, can be catalogued verse by verse:
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The list, purposely

They They They They They They

suppress the truth in unrighteousness (v. 18). sin against that which is evident within them (v. 19). sin against natural revelation (v. 20). did not honor Him as God (v. 21). did not give thanks to God (v. 21). professed to be wiser than God (v. 22).

I probably wont get any takers on this one, but Ill be glad to share the thesis with anyone who has the time and desire to study this almost completely neglected subject of Paul more in depth. I wrote it because there is to date, not one single definitive volume that has been written to explain Pauls view of Gods wrath. Mine was an incredibly feeble attempt, but at least it is a start. 2 Hodge, Romans, 35. Adult Bible Study Hour 12/8/02 Community Church

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They exchanged the glory of God for idolatry; they worshiped creation rather than Creator (v. 23). They lived in impurity (v. 24). They dishonored their bodies among themselves (v. 24). They exchanged Gods truth for a lie (v. 25). They served creation rather than the Creator (v. 25). They gave themselves to degrading passions (v. 26). They exchanged natural for unnatural (v. 26). They burned in their homosexual desires (v. 27). They committed indecent homosexual acts (v. 27). They did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer (v. 28). They did those things which were not proper (v. 28). They were filled with all unrighteousness and wickedness (v. 29). They were greedy (v. 29). They were evil (v. 29). They were full of envy (v. 29). They murdered (v. 29). They caused strife (v. 29). They deceived (v. 29). They were filled with malice (v. 29). They were gossips (v. 29). They were slanderers (v. 30). They were haters of God (v. 30). They were insolent (v. 30). They were arrogant (v. 30). They were boastful (v. 30). They were inventors of evil (v. 30). They were disobedient to their parents (v. 30). They were without understanding (v. 31). They were untrustworthy (v.3 1). They were unloving (v. 31). They were unmerciful (v. 31). They gave hearty approval to those who did the same things (v. 32).

Did Paul leave anything out? It could not be any more evident that if these things are not reason enough for Gods wrath to come upon them then what is? This is such a complete list of the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (v. 18) that man is literally left without excuse (v. 20). His mouth is shut and kept closed as the evidence is piled so high against him that there is no hope of escaping condemnation.

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The Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

The Gospel is Revealing the Recipients of Gods Righteous Judgment The gospel not only reveals God's wrath, but also the recipients of God's wrath. Romans 1:18-3:20 divides mankind into three categories: Gentile (1:18-32), Jews (2:1-3:8), and all mankind together (3:9-20). Paul argues with great precision to prove that if each of the two categories, Gentiles and Jews, are both under God's wrath, then logically all mankind is under wrath. He begins the entire argument by proving that the Gentiles are under God's wrath, first of all. The Gentiles Are Recipients of God's Wrath: Romans 1:18 It is clear from the overall context of the entire passage (1:18-3:20) that the Gentiles are those to whom Paul refers. Though they are not mentioned specifically, the characteristics mentioned above are more characteristic of the Gentile than of the Jew, for several reasons. First and foremost is the mention of image worship in verses 23, 26, and 27, a distinct violation of Exodus 20:3-5, Psalm 106:20, and Jeremiah 2:11. The overt form of idolatry depicted here was virtually non-existent among the Jews of Pauls day but was almost routine among the Gentiles. Second, verses 19 and 20 indicate that the knowledge of God in people within this group was derived from general revelation rather than by the law from which Jews derived their knowledge of God. Third, the homosexual relations mentioned in verses 26 and 27 were frowned upon by Jews but were quite common in the Greco-Roman world. Fourth, 2:1 marks a transition to another group who, like the Gentiles are not being specifically named, but are clearly the Jews. Fifth, 3:9 proves that the apostle had been speaking about two groups all along namely Jews and Gentiles. Finally, 1:32 indicates that some smile on the sins of others, whereas 2:1 and the following verses indicate that Jews did not do this, but instead condemned the sins of others. Therefore, Paul has made a reasonably persuasive case that the Gentiles are recipients of God's wrath. The Jews are Recipients of God's Wrath: Romans 2:5, 8 & 1 Thessalonians 2:16

In chapter two of Romans, Paul switches from the condemnation of the Gentiles to the condemnation of the Jews. Verse 1 of chapter 2 indicates this transition with the second person plural pronoun you. He moves from God's condemnation on they and them to you Jews who. The gospel of Christ reveals that God's wrath was upon them as well. The judgment of God, in verses 2 and 3, is said to be according to truth. In other words there is no wrath of God except as the reaction of his justice

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The Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

and truth against sin.3 The whole argument in chapter 2 is that the Jews will not be excluded from the judgment day of God. The Jew is nothing special. God is no respecter of persons when it comes to a violation of His law and a rejection of His Son. Schreiner explains that the Jews thought that they could sin yet never face Gods ultimate judgment. Israel is only chastened for sin and judged with mercy, while Gentiles receive a stricter punishment.Paul does not dispute the idea that those who sin will be punished or that God will ultimately have mercy on his people. He simply argues here that the Jews who sin and are unrepentant will be judged.4 As a result, judgment is not based upon racial background. Rather it is based upon sin and upon all who sinned, whether Jew or Gentile, whether with or without the law. Along the same vein, it has been concluded that Romans 1:18 ff. refers to the present judgment and wrath of God upon the Gentiles.5 But now Paul turns to the Jews and says that just because God has not poured out wrath upon them to the same extent that He has done upon the Gentiles should be no confirmation of what they were doing. And it does not mean that God will never pour out His wrath upon them. Instead, God was being patient with them, as His chosen nation, giving them opportunity to repent. All the while, however, that wrath is, as it were, piling up.6 And that is precisely the point Paul is driving home in 2:5. The Jew is just as much a recipient of God's wrath as the Gentile. The Jews sins may be different, but they are violations of God's law and they are a rejection of Christ, nonetheless. Verse 13 of Romans 2 seems to add another description of those in the previous verses (those who were disobedient to the truth, etc.). They are hearers of the law and not doers.7 In other words, these are they who know the law and yet still break it, i.e. the Jews (v. 17). This is why their wrath is according to stubbornness and unrepentant attitudes, or hardheartedness. To have the law, yet break it thinking that Gods ultimate wrath will not fall upon them is hard-heartedness. In application, many if not most of those who will be judged will be those who have heard the word of God all their lives. This is the real driving force which intensifies from 2:5 and following. The Jews were simply storing or treasuring up wrath for themselves for the day of wrath when the just Judge of the universe would mete out the punishment due each individual. Paul further explicates this in 1 Thessalonians 2:16, writing about the Jewish persecutors of the Thessalonian believers. He states that wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. The recipients of the wrath here are again the Jews. Paul marks these Jews as those responsible for killing the Lord Jesus
3 4 5 6 7

Murray, Romans, 61. Schreiner, Romans, 109-10. Cf. pp. 15 ff. Hendriksen, Romans, 91. James also deals with this same issue involving the same people in 1:22 ff.

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The Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

(Acts 2:23; 1 Cor. 2:8), killing the prophets of past times, and driving out the apostles. They were also responsible for hindering the apostles from preaching to the Gentiles. Their jealousy of Pauls ministry, with Gentile conversion to Christianity rather than to Judaism, provoked hostility, not only towards Paul, the missionary team, and the Gentiles but also to all men. Because of the Jews intense persecution and hostility, they stood as culpable as if already judged. Their fate was sealed. Their rejection of the gospel was a rejection of Christ, and again, all who stand outside of Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, stand under God's wrath. All Mankind Are Recipients of God's Wrath: Romans 3:5 Romans chapter three continues along the same route as chapter two, and he begins to draw his argumentation to a conclusion. He begins chapter two by arguing that the Jews are under the wrath of God, being condemned by the very law which they hold as precious yet do not hold in obedience. He proceeds with the line of reasoning, beginning chapter three by arguing that since the Jews were entrusted with God's Word, being a Jew had its advantages. Even though some Jews were unfaithful to God, God was not unfaithful to them. God would always be true to His word (Psa. 51:4). Therefore, mans unfaithfulness and unrighteousness will always demonstrate and point to God's faithfulness and righteousness. Based on the reasoning in chapters two and three, the arising question can be seen on the horizon: does all of this not mean that God is unrighteous in inflicting wrath upon those who are unfaithful or unrighteous? In Pauls mind, if evil only serves to point to God's glory, then why does God punish those who do evil, since they are really serving His glory (vv. 7-8)? Their thoughts again, in Murrays words were: [that] if the unrighteousness of man serves to exhibit more clearly the righteousness of God, then God would be unrighteous in executing his wrath upon the ungodly. How can God manifest his displeasure and inflict wrath upon that which sets off his glory in more conspicuous relief, especially when we consider that the exhibition of his glory must gratify himself?8 These questions were chiefly targeted toward Jews since the Jews had both received the Word of God and lived unfaithfully in regard to this God-given light. The answer is found in a key statement in verse 5: God inflicts wrath. The verse expresses that He is not wrong to inflict wrath upon those who are sinful, even though their sinfulness still points to God's glory. Hodge says, the very fact of our being unrighteous will render his righteousness the more
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Murray, Romans, I, 96-7.

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The Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

conspicuous; and consequently it would be unjust in him to punish us for what glorifies himself. This is the thought.9 The argument is drawing to a close as verses 9-20 explain the final reasoning. Their (unfaithful Jews) condemnation is just (v. 8). The reason why God can inflict wrath on the unfaithful Jews, even though they are Jews, is because Jews and Greeks both are under sin (v. 9), none are righteous (v. 10), none understand and none seek for God (v. 11), they have all turned aside, having become useless (v. 12), their speech is utterly sinful (vv. 13-14), their lifestyle is murderous, destructive, miserable, and without peace (vv. 15-17), and they do not fear God at all (v. 18). Therefore, Gentile, Jew, and all of mankind universally are in the bonds of sin and under God's wrath and condemnation. As 2:9 echoes, there will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.10 To whom is the message of God that calls a person to faith communicated? Who is the one justified by Gods righteousness? It is the Greek who worships the idol, who is driven to insanity by erotic desire and, who like a predator, endangers all fellowship and tears it apart. It is also the Jew who hides the transgression of the law behind a boast about keeping the law, and it is the world condemned to sin and death from its beginning, as well as the individual who has to obey the lust of the flesh and is the captive of his body. This is the miracle of grace, made manifest in the existence of the community, the work of the Son of God.11 The individual experiences the work of God in terms of the execution of justice that causes him to perish. This is what lends the offer of salvation its profound meaning. Before God salvation is required for the individual, but how can he save himself before God? Salvation before God is available only from God.12 The Gospel is Presently Revealing Gods Righteous Judgment Perhaps the most decisive passage which determines the present aspect of God's wrath is Romans 1:18. There, God's wrath is being revealed (avpokalu,ptetai) against all ungodliness and wickedness of men. That this clearly indicates a present aspect has verification from several contextual supports. Moving backwards through the context, the first argument is based on the previous parallel in verse 17, which indicates that the righteousness of God is being revealed (avpokalu,ptetai) from faith to faith. There also the present aspect is used. The connection Paul is emphasizing is that God's
Hodge, Romans, 72. Emphasis added. 11 Schlatter, 28. 12 Ibid, 29.
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wrath runs parallel to Gods righteousness, that is, His wrath is manifested at the same time as His righteousness. The overall point is that the gospel he preached revealed Gods wrath which was the background to Gods present revelation of His righteousness. The second argument to support a present aspect is found in verse 16, where subject of the context is the gospel (to. evuangge,lion). Therefore, when verse 17 indicates that in it (evn auvtw|/) God's righteousness is being revealed, Paul is teaching that the in it is in the gospel (of verse 16). Verse 18 follows the same thought by proclaiming that God's wrath is also being revealed in the gospel. Therefore, the clear parallel here between God's righteousness and God's wrath is that both are being revealed in the gospel. The gospel proclaims that the revelation of God's wrath is most certainly present or contemporary. When the gospel is being proclaimed God's righteousness is also being revealed and equally true the wrath of God is revealed. In summary, the force and point of the text is that both righteousness and wrath are manifested whenever the gospel is preached. As concluded, the parallelism between vv. 17 and 18 indicates that the most natural way of taking v. 18 is to understand Paul to mean that ovrgh. qeou/ is being revealed in the gospel. Cranfield sees this in the on-going proclamation of the gospel and he recognizes that behind, and basic to, this revelation of the wrath of God in the preaching, is the prior revelation of the wrath of God in the gospel-eventsThe two revelations referred to in these two verses are then really two aspects of the same process.13 In other words, Cranfields position is that the gospel reveals the wrath of God. How then does such an understanding square, with Murrays view that God's wrath is actually being revealed dynamically, effectively operative in the world of men;14 or with Scotts view that His wrath is taking effect in the experience of menIt is not a fact which is being revealed [sic.] but an experience which is being gone through?15 Cranfield advocates the proclamation of the gospel as the background to the wrath of God which is revealed, whereas Murray and Scott advocate the wrath of God in mankind is the background to the righteousness of God proclaimed in the gospel. If there can be unity between both views it would lie in the present aspect of the preaching of the gospel which is common to both. In other words, the preaching of the gospel as the means by which Gods wrath is revealed (as Cranfield proposes), and the wrath of God as the background by which Gods righteousness in the gospel is seen (as Murray proposes), share the common theme in which Paul originates his text the gospel. In the gospel, therefore, man is presented the truth about his sin and the truth about the consequences experienced from his sin. His experiencing
C. E. B. Cranfield. Romans 1:18, SJT 21 (Spring 1968): 334. John Murray. The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 35. 15 Charles A. Anderson Scott. Christianity According to St. Paul (Cambridge, England: The University Press, 1961), 63.
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The Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

Gods wrath through the consequences of his sin is a truth only completely presented via the proclamation of the gospel, which when presented, also presents the righteousness of God as the only solution for sin. This experience of sin and its consequences leads back to the original line of argumentation. The third argument for a present aspect of Gods wrath in Romans 1:18 is based on the present manifestations of the revelation of Gods wrath. In other words, if Gods wrath is presently being revealed, then there should be some present manifestations as to its revelation. These do appear in verses eighteen and following. The thrice used pare,dwken (gave them over, to be discussed in detail later) is an aorist indicating consequences as a result of a previous action. The point is that God's handing or giving them over entails simply the results He permits them to experience. That is, their own insistence to pursue present sinfulness is met with Gods response to give them over to their self-chosen sinfulness. Therefore, their sinfulness and unrighteousness and suppression/exchanging of the truth is a revelation that God's wrath is already at work in the world.

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