Genesis chapters 1 and 2 are a paradise but things start to unravel in chapter 3. Next, we see a pattern that begins by God telling humanity what He expects. (As image bearers, we have the capacity to connect with God and to respond). The response is an active rebellion as humanity proceeds to do the things God tells us not to do and to not do the things we should be doing. Then comes judgment and consequences. When speaking of these consequences, “wrath” is a word that often comes to mind. Wrath implies emotion but what we are seeing are simply the natural repercussions that result from this rebellion.
The thing to keep in mind is that even as the consequences are unfolding, there is also an infusion of grace. This pattern continues throughout the rest of the Bible with judgment always being part of it. In Genesis 7 and 8, the flood is a judgment resulting from the utter evil and depravity from all but eight people of the human race in the time of Noah. Nevertheless, at the end of chapter 8, we see the grace in the covenant God gives to Noah.
A problem we have is that judgment tends to be a finger pointing thing rather like the Pharisee and the Publican (or tax collector, in some translations). Until the last part of the twentieth century, we had a sense of ourselves as sinners in need of redemption and as a result, are sensitive to fire and brimstone (judgment) sermons since they simply confirm what we already know about ourselves. This can lead to a sense of desperation by thinking that God hates us. From there, we might try to evade God which causes us to miss His love.
The question is whether the mindset of being sinners in need of redemption still holds true in our current day? If not, it creates a problem because if we don’t know what we need saving from then the Gospel message is meaningless. So judgment, at least as practiced by humans, can be a dicey proposition. As culture invades into Christian faith, there has been a movement (coined Moral Therapeutic Deism by authors Christian Smith and Melina Lundquist Denton in their 2005 book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers) toward an almost form of Christian faith. As these teenagers from early in the millennium have grown up, they have retained these beliefs and in many places they are supplanting traditional Biblical Christianity. The central tenets of MTD are:
1. A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.
See: https://www.gotquestions.org/Moralistic-Therapeutic-Deism.html for more.
In this world, we don’t expect judgment other than after we die or at the end of the age. We also don’t want God to interfere but this is not the God we are seeing in Genesis.
Exodus 34: 6 Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, 7 maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” BSB
The dilemma is how to hold these two thoughts together as how can God be both this and that? In 1John, we are told that God is love but that comes toward the end of the argument. The first thing we see is that God is light without darkness. The discussion then goes to the problem we have with sin which leads to these verses:
1John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. KJ
Many modern translations use “atoning sacrifice” or “expiation” rather than propitiation. Jesus is the atoning sacrifice or expiation for our sins while propitiation also includes what goes on in God’s heart. For example, if your daughter wrecks your car, you can forgive her but you are still left with a wrecked car (and probably feeling a little distressed and exasperated about it). For a God who is holy and just, something also has to also happen on His end to allow our sins to not only be forgiven but also forgotten. God has to do this for Himself and it was accomplished by the death of Christ on the cross. This is propitiation.
We can go to numerous places in Proverbs and Psalms (or any book of the Bible for that matter) and see both a holy God and a loving God. Given the conflicting nature of these two attributes, we tend to gravitate to one side or the other – some like a holy God and others like a loving God. Regardless of our own preference, God is both holy and loving.
Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a young man, I loved him like a son, and I summoned my son out of Egypt. 2 But the more I summoned them, the farther they departed from me. They sacrificed to the Baal idols and burned incense to images. 3 Yet it was I who led Ephraim, I took them by the arm; but they did not acknowledge that I had healed them. 4 I led them with leather cords, with leather ropes; I lifted the yoke from their neck, and gently fed them. 5 They will return to Egypt! Assyria will rule over them because they refuse to repent! 6 A sword will flash in their cities, it will destroy the bars of their city gates, and will devour them in their fortresses. 7 My people are obsessed with turning away from me; they call to Baal, but he will never exalt them! 8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? I have had a change of heart! All my tender compassions are aroused! 9 I cannot carry out my fierce anger! I cannot totally destroy Ephraim! Because I am God, and not man – the Holy One among you – I will not come in wrath! NET
Martin Luther described these two concepts as furious opposites with our task being to keep them both furious and opposite. For example, when looking at problems in the world do we destroy the person causing the problem or do we look to redeem people on both sides? Our goal, as Christians, is to try and redeem both the oppressed and the oppressor no matter how unlikely a proposition this appears to be. This is radically different than the viewpoint of the world that surrounds us (and it sets us apart from that world).
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 18 The one who believes in him is not judged, but the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil…..36 Whoever believes in the Son has everlasting life, but whoever refuses to believe in the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” NHEB
In the final analysis, judgment comes from how we respond. We can continue to walk in darkness or chose the path of light. This doesn’t mean that we will suddenly become sin-free, shining examples of love and devotion or that our lives will be suddenly changed so that they are now without strife and struggles. Jesus’ statement on the cross of “It is finished” doesn’t mean that sin has been eliminated nor has the work of judging sin completed. Yet once we begin that walk in the light, things will start to look different and our lives will be gradually transformed.