From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

The therapeutic pseudo-gospels preached in many churches today use terms such as "mistakes", "failures", and "lifestyle choices" to describe what the Bible calls sin. God's holy anger against sin, and the certainty of eternal punishment for those who do not repent, are hardly ever mentioned lest the church offend someone. But God's anger with sin is a major theme in the Bible, mentioned hundreds of times. Why is God angry with sin? Are you safe from the wrath of God?

God's Absolute Holiness

God's anger with sin stems from the fact that He is absolutely holy (Exodus 15:11, Isaiah 57:15). Both the Hebrew and Greek words for holiness (qedosh and hagiazo) mean "to be set apart," "separateness," or "otherness." The God of the universe is the holy God (Psalm 22:3). The Bible speaks of all three persons of the Godhead specifically as holy (John 17:11, Hebrews 7:26-27, Romans 1:4). God in His infinite perfection is set apart from His entire created order (2 Samuel 22:31, Matthew 5:48).

Fellowship with the holy God demands holiness on the part of those who would approach Him. God says repeatedly, "Be holy, for I am holy" (e.g., Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, 20:7; Matthew 5:48; 1 Peter 1:15-16). God's holiness is absolutely inviolable; He cannot for one moment condone sin or have any relationship with it (Psalm 11:4-6, Habakkuk 1:13). Sin is the violation of God's law, which is the standard of holiness by which men may approach Him.¹

Our first parents, in their un-fallen, holy state enjoyed unbroken fellowship with God (Genesis 2). But their first sin broke that fellowship for themselves and introduced sin and its effects into the creation (Genesis 3:16-19; Isaiah 59:2; Romans 5:12 & 18, 8:20-22). Because of their sin, they and all mankind became the objects of God's holy wrath (Romans 1:18, 2:5; Ephesians 2:3).

The "Consuming Fire"

The wrath of God - His anger against sin - is essential to His holy nature. It is not a mere emotional matter, but is His just indignation against anything or anyone who violates His holiness. God is not indifferent to the poison of sin that has thoroughly polluted the perfect universe He created. More than twenty Hebrew words refer to the wrath of God in the Old Testament, and those words are used over 580 times. The wrath of God is not merely an Old Testament concept, but figures prominently in the New Testament as well, especially in Jesus' teachings in the Gospels, Paul's exposition of the doctrine of justification by faith in Romans, the explanation of the fulfillment of the Levitical types by Christ in Hebrews, and the judgments prophesied in Revelation.

Scripture repeatedly speaks of the holy God as "a consuming fire" (Exodus 24:17; Deuteronomy 4:24, 9:3; Hebrews 12:29). The prophet Isaiah, when he saw a vision of the glory of God, said, "Woe is me, for I am undone (Hebrew damah, cut off or destroyed); because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5). Later Isaiah asks, "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with the everlasting burnings?" (33:14). The breaking forth of God's anger against man in his sin is as natural as the burning of flax when it is exposed to fire.

The Objects of God's Wrath

The wrath of God is revealed against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, without exception (Romans 1:18). Scripture speaks frequently of God's wrath against individuals (2 Chronicles 32:25, Psalm 38:1-3), against groups (Ezra 10:14, Psalm 78:31), and against nations (Numbers 16:20-40, Deuteronomy 9:7-8, 2 Chronicles 32:26, Psalm 9:17).

The Old Covenant - Averting God's Wrath

It is a divine principle throughout Scripture that "without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin" (Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22). Under the Old Testament covenant, those who sought fellowship with God were required to bring the blood of animals as an atonement for their violations of His holy law (e.g., Leviticus 3:1-6:7). And once a year, the Levitical high priest entered the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle on the Day of Atonement with the blood of a spotless lamb, "which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance" (Leviticus 16, Hebrews 9:7).

But the sacrifices of the Old Testament were merely a covering for sin. The book of Hebrews makes it clear that the Old Testament sacrifices could only avert the wrath of God temporarily by covering sin, but they could not take away sin permanently. The words of the original language testify to this. The Hebrew word translated "atonement" is kaphar, which speaks of "covering over" sin in order to avert God's wrath and bring about reconciliation.² David writes in Psalm 32:1, from the perspective of the old covenant, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (Hebrew kasah, concealed³).

The New Covenant - Propitiating God's Wrath

Hebrews also makes it clear that all of the old covenant sacrifices were symbolic of, and looked forward to, the coming of Jesus Christ as the perfect Lamb of God who would take away sin once and for all (Hebrews 9:6-10:18).

Sin is the "bad news" about the human race and the entire universe. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed the "good news" that God Himself has dealt with the problem of sin. God in love sent His Son Jesus Christ to suffer the just wrath of God's holiness in the place of sinners (Romans 3:25-26, Colossians 1:20). Jesus is "the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 2:2, see also Romans 3:25, 1 John 4:10). Propitiation (Greek hilasmos) means that Christ as the perfect sacrifice for sin appeased the wrath of God on sinners' behalf.⁴ "Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Romans 5:9).

Hebrews 10:10-18 tells us that Jesus Christ has offered "one sacrifice for sins forever" - "once for all" - and therefore "there is no longer an offering for sin." In contrast, the false teaching of the Roman Catholic church is that in each Mass that is said, bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ, and a new sacrifice for sin is offered. In Roman Catholic teaching, the wrath of God has not been dealt with "once for all" through Christ's "one sacrifice for sins forever." But John 19:30 tells us that when Jesus had made full and final atonement for sin on the cross, He shouted in triumph, "It is finished" (Greek tetelestai - "it is complete, paid in full"). No further sacrifice for sin is necessary - no further sacrifice is permitted. All that is necessary is faith in the One whose perfect sacrifice has satisfied the righteous demands of God once for all.

Are You Safe From God's Wrath?

The wrath of God remains, and will eternally remain, upon those who persist in unbelief apart from Christ (John 3:36, Ephesians 5:6, Colossians 3:6, Revelation 20:11-15, 21:8). But those who place their faith in Christ alone, apart from works (Romans 3:28), are "justified by His blood...saved from wrath through Him" (Romans 5:9). If you have never placed your faith and trust fully in the Lord Jesus Christ as your only Savior from the wrath of God, we encourage you to do so now. And once you have done this, we would like to hear from you so that we can provide materials that will help you grow in your new-found faith. Click this link if you would like to contact us.

References:

1. For further discussion of the Biblical definition of sin, see the article, Is Sin Merely a "Mistake"? on this website.

2. James A. Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains: Hebrew, entry 4105 (Logos Research Systems, 1997).

3. Swanson, entry 4059.

4. Some translations inaccurately render hilasmos as "sacrifice" or "atoning sacrifice" which obscures the force of the meaning in context, which is the satisfaction of the wrath of God.

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