Is Wrath a Divine Attribute?
Here’s an interesting quote shared on Joseph Kelly’s blog. It is from Reinhard Feldmeier & Hermann Spieckermann’s book God of the Living: A Biblical Theology:
“The combination of wrath with love and hiddenness with revelation would suggest that both involve complementary options for divine behavior. Such, However, is not the case. By no means does the God of the Bible have “two souls in his breast.” Instead, the God who is “slow to anger” is known by the characteristics that express his intention not to be angry: by his graciousness and mercifulness and his abundant love (ḥesed). Accordingly, the New Testament says that God is a God of love (2 Cor 13:11), indeed , that he is love (1 John 4:8, 16), while the contrary statement, that he is a God of wrath, indeed, that he is wrath, is inconceivable. One can even intensify this clear asymmetry between wrath and love and between hiddenness and revelation further. God hides and grows angry because of his love and for the sake of his love. It must, therefore, be asserted emphatically that God’s wrath is his reaction to injustice and defiance (see Rom 1:18), not a divine affect, not one of God’s dark sides, and certainly not a divine attribute.” (339-40)
There is also a second quote about the Bowls of Wrath mentioned in the Book of Revelation. So, be sure to check out this post: The End of the Metaphor.
