In Jesus Christ, God pours out His wrath, taking it upon Himself. He thereby shows Himself just, for sin is punished in Christ, and also full of mercy, for the atonement of Christ means that He can now be propitious, or favorable, to sinners who turn from their sin and trust in Jesus (Romans 3:21–31).

The wrath of God is the response of our holy and righteous God against sin and sinners that have not been covered by the atonement of Christ. Although many people do not like to think of God as being wrathful, Scripture frequently refers to the exercise of the Lord’s wrath against wickedness. Both the Old and New Testaments amply testify that God executes wrath on unrighteousness (see Deut. 9:8; 2 Kings 23:26; Pss. 21:9; 90:11; Isa. 13:9; Mic. 5:15; Zeph. 1:18; John 3:36; Rom. 1:18; Eph. 5:6; Rev. 16:1).

Divine Wrath and the Attributes of God

God executes His wrath upon unrighteousness because of who He is. Scripture testifies that God is righteous and just (Deut. 32:4; Dan. 9:14; Rom. 1:17; Rev. 15:3). He could not be righteous and just if He did not punish evil and evildoers, so His pouring out of wrath upon sin is fully consistent with His righteous character. Sinners must pay for their crimes, and God cannot clear the guilty without executing His just wrath, lest He be unrighteous (Ex. 34:6–9). God is love (1 John 4:7–8), and one of the things He loves is righteousness (Ps. 33:5). Since God is perfect, His love for righteousness must be perfect; consequently, He must hate “the way of the wicked” (Prov. 15:9; see also Deut. 32:4).

The Lord cannot show wrath unless there is sin, and there cannot be sin without the existence of creatures who sin. Divine wrath, therefore, cannot be manifested without creation and its fall into sin. For that reason, many theologians have classified wrath as a relative divine attribute and not an absolute divine attribute. An absolute divine attribute is an attribute of God that would be evident or exercised even if the Lord had never created anything. Absolute divine attributes include such things as eternality and omniscience. Whether or not God ever created the universe, He would be eternal and all-knowing.

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