Problem: The Bible teaches that God is love (1 Jn. 4:8). However, Paul claims that God is wrathful and angry. Critics argue that this gives God an anthropomorphic quality—being “mad” or “angry.” Is this the case?
Solution: As creatures made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27; Jas. 3:9), we have a capacity for love and anger, because God has imbued them into us. Therefore, the critics have it all wrong. We don’t impose these qualities on God; instead, we receive these qualities from him. F.F. Bruce observes, “The idea that God is angry is no more anthropopathic than the thought that God is love.”[1]
Regarding the notion that God can be both loving and wrathful, we need to remember that God’s wrath is a function of his love. In order for God to be loving, he needs to be just. If God looked lovingly at human sin, he wouldn’t be loving. Instead, he looks wrathfully at human sin, which is the loving thing to do. For instance, imagine if your grandmother was beaten to death by a group of thugs. The gang of men is brought before a Judge, and they plead guilty. The Judge looks lovingly at the men, and he says, “You boys look really sorry for what you did. I’ll give you 20 hours of community service. Case closed…” Imagine the horror you would feel! If that Judge didn’t sentence the men with punishment, you wouldn’t be able to respect that Judge. In fact, you would probably want to kill that Judge! In the same way, if God didn’t judge human sin, we wouldn’t be able to respect, love, or worship him. This would be like respecting and loving a cruel dictator, who turns his back on the tyranny going on in his nation.
Clearly, evil exists. There is no doubt about that. But, who is responsible for it? Sin needs to be someone’s fault. If God doesn’t hold humans responsible, then that must mean that he is responsible for it. God has never sinned, and has no category for being tainted by sin (Hab. 1:3; Jas. 1:13). Sometimes, a really vile sin has the ability to make our skin crawl (e.g. torture, genocide, rape, etc.). But, for God, every sin is this way. While certain sins make our stomach turn, every sin affects God. One of the reasons that we do not understand the wrath of God is that we do not understand the severity of sin.
Finally, God’s wrath and our wrath are different in multiple ways:
[1] Bruce, F. F. Romans: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 6). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. 1985. 90.
