Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; I. THE DIFFERENCE OF WRATH AS IT IS IN GOD AND AS IT IS IN MAN. 1. In man it is an exciting passion. It shakes him to the very centre of his being. It is seen in his countenance; sometimes in a ghastly pallor, and sometimes in scarlet fire. Not so in God; it wakes no ripple on the infinite rivers of His being. He is ever of one mind. 2. In man it is a malignant passion. It burns with a desire to make its object miserable. But there is no malevolence in the heart of God. "Fury is not in Me." "God is love"; and all His other attributes are but so many forms of His love. All His threatenings are but love raising its warning voice to prevent His creatures from falling into rum. 3. In man it is a painful passion. The man who treasures anger inflicts a greater injury on himself than he can on the object of his hate. But nothing can disturb the peace of the "ever blessed God." 4. In man it is a selfish passion. Man's wrath is excited because something has occurred which he supposes injuriously affects him in some way or other. There is nothing of this kind in the wrath of God. No creature can injure Him. II. THE AGREEMENT OF WRATH AS IT IS IN GOD AND AS IT IS IN MAN. 1. Repugnance. Wrath in man raises his whole nature against the offence, or the offender, or both. There is at once a recoil, and an antagonism. Is there nothing answering to this in the wrath of God, in relation to sin? There must. Wickedness is repugnant — (1) To His nature. He is essentially holy, and moral evil in all its forms must be necessarily disagreeable to Him (Proverbs 6:6). (2) To His procedure. The construction of the universe, the moral constitution of souls, the essential conditions of happiness, personal, social, and national, show that God's whole conduct as Creator and Governor is opposed to sin. As wrath in man separates him from his offender, wrath in God detaches Him from wickedness. He has no fellowship with wrong. 2. Retribution. There is in the wrath of man an avenging instinct. There is this retributiveness in the wrath of God. Not as a passion, but as an eternal and unalterable principle. The principle of retribution runs through the whole universe, so that the wrong never fails to meet with punishment. Thus the wicked now and here are "going away into everlasting punishment." Every sin is a step adown. Every sinful feeling is a nest where the furies hatch their swarming brood.Conclusion: This subject — 1. Corrects a theological error. The error is that Christ's death was an appeasement of Divine vengeance. Christ's mission was the effect, not the cause, of God's love. 2. Supplies a terrible warning to sinners. "Be sure your sins will find you out." 3. Urges the necessity of regeneration. The only way to avoid wrath is to avoid sin, the only way to avoid sin is by repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; |
    |