One’s relationship with the gods was only as a member of the tribe. A personal relationship with the gods was not considered possible-only some means of appeasing them, often by human sacrifices, including infants. Numerous local gods (most often displayed and worshipped in homes and centers of worship as countless hand-made idols) ruled all of life. The pre-civilized world consisted largely of tribal groups gathered in villages or small city-states immersed in polytheism. One of the few exceptions to that prevalent view was in ancient China or Sinim. Polytheism and pantheism were prevalent among almost all earth’s human inhabitants almost from the dawn of human history until “civilization” began. Before God chose and selected Abraham and the tribes of Israel to represent Him on earth with monotheism (belief in one Supreme God), most of the tribes, people-groups and nations on earth were polytheistic (belief in many gods) and some were pantheistic (belief that God is not a person, but, rather, the universe is God). I will address that matter for a few paragraphs. That feeling seems to be pretty basic to the thinking and feelings of most humans.īefore beginning to examine specific references in the Bible about God’s wrath, there is a little-known matter about God’s wrath as revealed in the Bible that is often overlooked by Bible scholars and theologians. We want to believe that God will ultimately punish people and pour out his wrath on them for evil, sinful behavior.
If those two conclusions are kept in mind as anyone studies God’s wrath throughout the Bible, a very clear understanding will emerge, but it will fly in the face of much western biblical scholarship.Īnother matter about God’s wrath that emerges from studying and discussing the matter with many other people through the years is this: for whatever reason, most people hold to a traditional view of God’s wrath being like human wrath because something in us wants “bad” people to get “what’s coming to them.” Most people do not want bad people to get away without punishment for their bad behavior and deeds.
My knowledge about God and the way He works among humans is very incomplete. That is the issue: what is the wrath of God and how does it “work”? I will attempt to answer that in this teaching, but bear in mind I am a fallible human and don’t know all the answers in fact, I don’t even know all the questions. The real issue is not whether God dispenses or pours out his wrath upon humans the real issue is what is God’s wrath-what constitutes God’s wrath. His unchanging nature and character is that He is good. That’s simply not the unchanging nature and character of God. Because He is unchangeable, God cannot “feel” loving, gracious, and kind toward me one moment, and then the next moment (because of something “bad” I have done) feel intense anger, rage, and fury towards me. Here’s a simple illustration of what I’m attempting to say.
God’s basic character and nature is that He is altogether good and absolutely everything He does is good (Psalm 119: 68, and many other biblical references). Since God is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, wrath as it applies to God is a figure of speech-an anthropopathism (attributing human feelings and emotions to God God does not really become angry He only appears to do so from the standpoint of humans. But when the Bible defines God’s wrath there is a great difference. In fact, the Bible contains over 200 references to wrath, making it a major theme throughout the Bible-in both the Old and New Testaments.īy definition in American English, “wrath” is “intense anger rage fury.” The Bible’s definition of human wrath is similar. The Bible is replete with references to the word “wrath” (and its derivatives) including, of course, the wrath of God.