#watchingandwaitingforjesus: Wrath of man vs. the wrath of God

It has become common for many to argue that the God of the Old Testament is a moral monster that is by no means worthy of worship.

However, biblical authors have no such problem. In fact, God’s wrath is said to be in perfect accord with God’s justice. Paul writes, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:5). God’s wrath, then, is in proportion to human sinfulness.

“God’s wrath is his love in action against sin.”

Similarly, Proverbs 24:12 says, “If you say, ‘Behold, we did not know this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?”

J.I. Packer summarizes: “God’s wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil” (Knowing God, 151).

2. God’s wrath is to be feared.

God’s wrath is to be feared because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). God’s wrath is to be feared because we are justly condemned sinners apart from Christ (Romans 5:1). God’s wrath is to be feared because he is powerful enough to do what he promises (Jeremiah 32:17). God’s wrath is to be feared because God promises eternal punishment apart from Christ (Matthew 25:46).

3. God’s wrath is consistent in the Old and New Testaments.

It is common to think of the Old Testament God as mean, harsh, and wrath-filled, and the God of the New Testament as kind, patient, and loving. Neither of these portraits are representative of Scripture’s teaching on the wrath of God.

We find immensely fearful descriptions of the wrath of God in both the Old and the New Testament. Here are just a few examples:

“God must act justly and judge sin, otherwise God would not be God.”

Behold the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. (Jeremiah 30:23)
The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. (Nahum 1:2)
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18)
From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. (Revelation 19:15)

4. God’s wrath is his love in action against sin.

This is counter-intuitive, but hear me out.

God is love, and God does all things for his glory (1 John 4:8; Romans 11:36). He loves his glory above all (and that is a good thing!). Therefore, God rules the world in such a way that brings himself maximum glory. This means that God must act justly and judge sin (i.e. respond with wrath), otherwise God would not be God. God’s love for his glory motivates his wrath against sin.

Admittedly, God’s love for his own glory is a most sobering reality for many and not good news for sinners. It is after all, “a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

5. God’s wrath is satisfied in Christ.

“In saving us from his own wrath, God has done what we could not do, and he has done what we didn’t deserve.”

Here we have the ultimate good news: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Because of Christ, God can rightly call sinners justified (Romans 3:26). God has done what we could not do, and he has done what we didn’t deserve. Charles Wesley rightly exulted in this good news:

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died he for me, who caused his pain!
For me, who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Jam 1:20 gives the reason of the exhortation βραδὺς εἰς ὀργήν: for the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God. The preponderance of authorities decides against the reading κατεργάζεται, and in favour of ἐργάζεται. From the fact that δικαιοσύνην is twice in the N. T., namely Acts 10:35 and Hebrews 11:33, joined with the simple verb, it does not follow that ἐργάζεται is a later correction (against de Wette, Wiesinger), especially as κατεργάζεσθαι is also found united with abstract substantives, as in Romans 1:27 with τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην, in Romans 2:9 with τὸ κακόν, and in Romans 7:18 with τὸ καλόν. With the reading ἐργάζεται,—and also with κατεργάζεται, when this latter, as is frequently the case (see especially Romans 2:9-10), is synonymous with the former,

For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God - Does not produce in the life that righteousness which God requires. Its tendency is not to incline us to keep the law, but to break it; not to induce us to embrace the truth, but the opposite. The meaning of this passage is not that our wrath will make God either more or less righteous; but that its tendency is not to produce that upright course of life, and love of truth, which God requires. A man is never sure of doing right under the influence of excited feelings; he may do that which is in the highest sense wrong, and which he will regret all his life. The particular meaning of this passage is, that wrath in the mind of man will not have any tendency to make him righteous. It is only that candid state of mind which will lead him to embrace the truth which can be hoped to have such an effect.

δικαιοσύνη is equivalent to τὸ δίκαιον, as is frequently the case in the O. and N. T.; see Acts 10:35 above referred to, and the frequently occurring phrase: ποιεῖν τὴν δικαιοσύνην, Genesis 18:19; Isaiah 56:1; Matthew 6:1; 1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:7; 1 John 3:10; Revelation 22:11. Θεοῦ is added in contrast to ἀνδρός for the sake of a more exact statement, so that δικαιοσύνη Θεοῦ is the righteousness willed by God[91] (similar to τὸ δίκαιον ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, Acts 4:19; Luther: “the wrath of man works not that which is right before God”); so Beza, Hornejus, Wolf, Bengel, de Wette, Bouman, and others correctly explain it. The opposite of δικαιοσύνην Θεοῦ ἐργάζεσθαι is ἁμαρτίαν ἐργάζεσθαι, chap. Jam 2:9 (comp. Matthew 7:1 : ἐργαζ. τὴν ἀνομίαν; 1Ma 9:23 : ἐργαζ. τὴν ἀδικίαν; also comp. Romans 2:10 : ἐργαζ. τὸ ἀγαθόν; Galatians 6:10). James was the more constrained to give prominence to this idea, as ὀργή itself and the words flowing from it were considered by the pharisaical disposition of Christians, against whom this warning is directed, and of whom it was said: ζῆλον Θεοῦ ἔχουσιν, ἀλλʼ οὐ κατʼ ἐπίγνωσιν, Romans 10:2, as something that was pleasing to God. With the reading κατεργάζεται this verb may also be equivalent to effect, to bring about (as Jam 1:3). Gebser, Grashof, and others understand, in accordance with this view, by δικαιοσύνη Θεοῦ: “the condition of justification before God;” but, on the one hand, an unsuitable thought is expressed by this, and, on the other hand, a mode of expressing the idea δικαιοσύνη τοῦ Θεοῦ, peculiar to Paul, is without ceremony ascribed to James. But as little is it to be justified when Wiesinger, following Hofmann (Schriftbew. I. ed. 1, p. 548 f.), finds expressed in the words of James, that “one by wrathful zeal effects not on others the δικ. Θεοῦ, i.e. that state of righteousness in which God begets men by His word of truth.”[92] Though δικαιοσύνη Θεοῦ can denote the righteousness wrought by God, yet this idea is here unsuitable, since no man could entertain the opinion that his wrath could do what can only be effected by God. Also in this case James would only emphasize an impossibility of ὀργή, whereas he was required to bring prominently forward its rejection; moreover, on others is inserted into the text.[93] The same reasons are also decisive against the explanation of Brückner (“the wrath of man works not the righteousness which God accomplishes—this generally stated both in respect to the ἈΝΉΡ and in respect to others on whom one strives to work”), in which a twofold reference is arbitrarily assumed. Brückner correctly rejects the explanation of Lange, that James speaks against “the delusion of wrath, which imagines to administer and accomplish in the world the righteousness of God especially against unbelievers,” because there is no reference to this in the context; it is, moreover, linguistically unmaintainable, as ἘΡΓΆΖΕΣΘΑΙ does not mean “to administer and accomplish.”

ἈΝΔΡΌς stands here as in Jam 1:8; Jam 1:12; it forms a contrast neither to the child (Thomas: ira fortis et deliberate non dicit pueri, qui cito transit), nor to the woman (Bengel: sexns virilis maxime iram alit), nor to ἄνθρωπος, Jam 1:19 (Lange).

10. the wrath of man shall praise thee] All rebellion against God’s will must in the end redound to God’s glory: it serves to set His sovereignty in a clearer light (Exodus 9:16). Excellently the P.B.V., ‘shall turn to thy praise.’

the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain] All that will not submit shall be subdued. The sense is good, but it is very doubtful if the verb can bear this meaning. Hence R.V., The residue of wrath shalt thou gird upon thee. But whose wrath is meant? Surely it cannot be God’s wrath, with which He girds Himself to complete the destruction of the foe, for the reference of wrath in the two clauses of the verse to different persons is awkward, and it is difficult to see what can be meant by the residue of God’s wrath. Rather it must be, as in the preceding line, man’s wrath that is meant. God girds on Himself as an ornament the last futile efforts of human wrath, turning them to His own honour: or girds them on as a sword, making the wrath of His enemies to minister to their final discomfiture. Cp. Isaiah 33:11, “Your spirit (i.e. wrath) is a fire which shall devour you.” The peculiar rendering of the LXX, “shall keep festival unto thee,” may however point to a different reading, meaning, shall honour thee. The P.B.V. ‘the fierceness of them’ is a misprint for of other, the original rendering of the Great Bible. See Driver, Par. Psalter, p. xviii.

10–12. The lessons of judgement.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee. The sentiment is general, but no doubt there is a special reference to the recent deliverance. The "wrath of man," i.e. man's wicked fury and hostility of God and his people, shall give occasion for great deeds on God's part - deeds which will bring him praise and honour. The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Either, "the unexpended fury of thine enemies, that which they have not vented, thou wilt hold in check, and prevent from doing mischief;" or else," with thine own unexpended wrath wilt thou gird thyself against the wicked, as with a weapon." (So Kay, Cheyne, and the Revised Version.) Psalm 76:10

PS 76:10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.

of man-אָדָם

אָדָם'āḏām

wrath-2534 ↑

חֵמָה חֵמָה ḥēmâ

Pro 16:14

The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it.

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