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Wrath
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rath (('anaph) to snort, to be angry)
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Easton's Bible Dictionary
(no entry)
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
(no entry)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(no entry)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
rath, roth, rath ('aph, from 'anaph, "to snort," "to
be angry"; orge, thumos, orgizomai):
Designates various degrees of feeling, such as sadness (Psalms
85:4), a frown or turning away of the face in grief or anger (2
Chronicles 26:19 ; Jeremiah
3:12), indignation (Psalms
38:3), bitterness (Judges
18:25), fury (Esther
1:12), full of anger (Genesis
4:5 ; John
7:23), snorting mad (Genesis
27:45 ; Matthew
2:16).
1. Divine Wrath:
Wrath is used with reference to both God and man. When used of God it is to be
understood that there is the complete absence of that caprice and unethical quality
so prominent in the anger attributed to the gods of the heathen and to man. The
divine wrath is to be regarded as the natural expression of the divine nature,
which is absolute holiness, manifesting itself against the willful, high-handed,
deliberate, inexcusable sin and iniquity of mankind. God's wrath is always regarded
in the Scripture as the just, proper, and natural expression of His holiness and
righteousness which must always, under all circumstances, and at all costs be
maintained. It is therefore a righteous indignation and compatible with the holy
and righteous nature of God (Numbers 11:1 - 10 ; Deuteronomy 29:27 ; 2 Samuel
6:7 ; Isaiah 5:25 ; 42:25 ; Jeremiah 44:6 ; Psalms 79:6). The element of love
and compassion is always closely connected with God's anger; if we rightly estimate
the divine anger we must unhesitatingly pronounce it to be but the expression
and measure of that love (compare Jeremiah 10:24 ; Ezekiel 23 ; Amos 3:2).
2. Human Wrath:
Wrath, when used of man, is the exhibition of an enraged sinful nature and is
therefore always inexcusable (Genesis 4:5 , 6 ; 49:7 ; Proverbs 19:19 ; Job 5:2
; Luke 4:28 ; 2 Corinthians 12:10 ; Galatians 5:20 ; Ephesians 4:31; Colossians
3:8). It is for this reason that man is forbidden to allow anger to display itself
in his life. He is not to "give place unto wrath" (Romans 12:19 margin), nor must
he allow "the sun to go down upon his wrath" (Ephesians 4:26). He must not be
angry with his brother (Matthew 5:22), but seek agreement with him lest the judgment
that will necessarily fall upon the wrathful be meted out to him (Matthew 5:25
, 26). Particularly is the manifestation of an angry spirit prohibited in the
training and bringing up of a family (Ephesians 6:4 ; Colossians 3:19). Anger,
at all times, is prohibited (Numbers 18:5 ; Psalms 37:8 ; Romans 12:19 ; Galatians
5:19 ; Ephesians 4:26 ; James 1:19 , 20).
3. Divine Wrath Consistent with Love:
Wrath or anger, as pertaining to God, is very much more
prominent in the Old Testament than in the New Testament. This is to be accounted
for probably because the New Testament magnifies the grace and love of God as
contrasted with His wrath; at least love is more prominent than wrath in the revelation
and teaching of Christ and His apostles. Nevertheless, it must not be thought
that the element of wrath, as a quality of the divine nature, is by any means
overlooked in the New Testament because of the prominent place there given to
love. On the contrary, the wrath of God is intensified because of the more wonderful
manifestation of His grace, mercy and love in the gift of His Son Jesus Christ
as the Saviour of the world. God is not love only: He is also righteous; yea,
"Our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29); "It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). No effeminate, sentimental
view of the Fatherhood of God or of His mercy and loving-kindness can exclude
the manifestation of His just, righteous and holy anger against sin and the sinner
because of his transgression (1 Peter 1:17 ; Hebrews 10:29). One thing only can
save the sinner from the outpouring of God's righteous anger against sin in the
day of visitation, namely, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the divinely-appointed
Redeemer of the world (John 3:36 ; Romans 1:16 - 18 ; 5:9). Nor should the sinner
think that the postponement or the omission (or seeming omission) of the visitation
of God's wrath against sin in the present means the total abolition of it in the
future. Postponement is not abolition; indeed, the sinner, who continually rejects
Jesus Christ and the salvation which God has provided in Him, is simply 'treasuring
up' wrath for himself "in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment
of God; who (one day) will render to every man according to his works: .... to
them that .... obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, .... wrath and indignation,
tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil" (Romans 2:5
- 9 ; 2 Peter 3:10 ; Revelation 6:16 , 17 ; 16:19 ; 19:15).
See RETRIBUTION, 5.
God's anger while slow, and not easily aroused (Psalms 103:8 ; Isaiah 48:9 ; Jonah
4:2 ; Nahum 1:3), is to be dreaded (Psalms 2:12 ; 76:7 ; 90:11 ; Matthew 10:28);
is not to be provoked (Jeremiah 7:19 ; 1 Corinthians 10:22); when visited, in
the present life, should be borne with submission (2 Samuel 24:17 ; Lamentations
3:39 , 43 ; Micah 7:9); prayer should be earnestly made for deliverance from it
(Psalms 39:10 ; 80:4 ; Daniel 9:16 ; Habakkuk 3:2); it should be the means of
leading man to repentance (Isaiah 42:24 , 25; Jeremiah 4:8).
Certain specific things are said especially to arouse God's anger:
(1) continual provocation (Numbers 32:14),
(2) unbelief (Psalms 78:21 , 22 ; Hebrews 3:18 , 19),
(3) impenitence (Isaiah 9:13 , 14 ; Romans 2:5),
(4) apostasy (Hebrews 10:26 , 27),
(5) idolatry (Deuteronomy 32:19 , 20 , 22 ; 2 Kings 22:17 ; Jeremiah 44:3),
(6) sin in God's people (Psalms 89:30 - 32 ; Isaiah 47:6), and it is manifested
especially against
(7) opponents of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Psalms 2:2 , 3 , 5 ; 1 Thessalonians
2:16). |
4. Righteous and Unrighteous Anger:
There is a sense, however, in which anger is the duty of man; he is to "hate evil"
(Psalms 97:10). It is not enough that God's people should love righteousness,
they must also be angry with sin (not the sinner). A man who is incapable of being
angry at sin is at the same time thereby adjudged to be incapable of having a
real love for righteousness. So there is a sense in which a man may be said to
"be .... angry, and sin not" (Ephesians 4:26). Anger at the sin and unrighteousness
of men, and because their sin is grievous to God, may be called a "righteous indignation."
Such an indignation is attributed to Jesus when it is said that He "looked round
about on them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their heart" (Mark
3:5). When anger arises because of this condition, it is sinless, but when anger
arises because of wounded or aggrieved personality or feelings, it is sinful and
punishable. Anger, while very likely to become sinful, is not really sinful in
itself.
We have illustrations in the Scriptures of wrath or anger that is justifiable:
(1) Jesus (Mark 3:5),
(2) Jacob (Genesis 31:36),
(3) Moses (Exodus 11:8 ; 32:19 ; Leviticus 10:16 ; Numbers 16:15),
(4) Nehemiah (Nehemiah 5:6 ; 13:17 , 25); |
of sinful anger:
(1) Cain (Genesis 4:5 , 6),
(2) Esau (Genesis 27:45),
(3) Moses (Numbers 20:10, 11),
(4) Balaam (Numbers 22:27),
(5) Saul (1 Samuel 20:30),
(6) Ahab (1 Kings 21:4),
(7) Naaman (2 Kings 5:11),
(8) Herod (Matthew 2:16),
(9) the Jews (Luke 4:28),
(10) the high priest (Acts 5:17 ; 7:54). |
William Evans
Tags:
7 things that invoke God's wrath, anaph, anger, bible commentary, bible reference, bible study, define, divine wrath, history of, sinful anger, wrath
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