Day 325: Romans 1, 2 and 3

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven (Romans 1:18).

 

Romans 1 lets us in on the reasons for humanity’s downward spiral. Verse 29 tells how bad things have gotten: They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. We have to back up a few verses to find where things went wrong. They wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks (NLT).

The consequence of mankind’s rebellion was God’s wrath. The idea of people venting their wrath paints a picture of a mindless explosion of uncontrolled anger. But that’s not the wrath Paul writes about. Three times he states: God gave them over . . . to sexual impurity (v. 24); . . . to shameful lusts (v. 26); . . . to a depraved mind (v. 28).

This illustrates how poorly we understand wrath and grace. We have things backwards. We see God’s discipline as wrath and his permissiveness as grace, when in fact that is exactly opposite of the way things really are. According to New Testament scholar Paul Achtemeier, God’s wrath is exhibited in allowing us to continue down the sinful path we’ve chosen [1]. In other words, wrath means God takes a hands off posture, and allows us to push on deeper into sin. In this equation, discipline becomes an act of grace, as God’s loving attempt to get us back on the right track.

How does Achtemeier’s explanation of wrath impact your understanding of grace?

[1] Achtemeier, Paul J. “Romans.” Interpretation – A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville: John Knox, 1985.