“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness; because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, (even) his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse: because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves: for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working unseemliness, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due. And even as they refused to have God in (their) knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting” (Romans 1:18-28, ASV).
God’s Word speaks not only of the love of God, but also of “the wrath of God” (Rom. 1:18). In Romans 11:22, we also read: “Behold then the goodness and severity of God…”
But there are those who tend to note or consider only the “goodness,” kindness, or the love of God. Because of 1 John 4:8, which says, “God is love,” they regard that it is a contradiction for Him to manifest great anger. (Perhaps, they could easily accept there is no contradiction in the doctrine that there is one God in three Divine Persons.) They find it hard to believe that God could even hate the unrepentant sinners.
We should not overlook the attribute of God that is emphasized in His Word: He is Holy.
We read in Isaiah 6:3, “"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory" (NIV). We also read in Revelation 4:8, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come" (NIV).
Not only His people and His angels acknowledged His Holiness, but He Himself claimed it. He instructed Moses to tell the Israelites:
“I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground. I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy” (Lev. 11:44-45, NIV).
And notice Revelation 15:4, “Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy” (NIV).
“Who will not fear you, O Lord…?” And the next sentence says, “For you ALONE are holy.”
His Holiness makes Him unique, distinct, separate and above than His creation. We see our lowliness, insignificance, nothingness in His Holy Presence (Isa. 57:15; Ex. 15:11).
His Holiness makes Him to hate the wicked (Psalm 11:4-5) and to “pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath…” (Rev. 16:1, NIV) in giving of judgment (Rev. 16:1-5).
We say that God hates the sin and not the sinners, but the Holy God cannot overlook the sinner in judging sin.
Psalm 5:5-6 states, “The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors” (NIV).
Also we read in Psalm 11:5, “The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates” (NIV).
There are those who will protest that those quotations are from the Old Testament. But, if we believe and accept the declaration of David that so great is God’s love for those who fear Him (Psalm 103:11), then we should also accept that God hates “the wicked and those who love violence.”
Paul quoted from the Old Testament, which reads: “Just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’" (Rom. 9:13, NIV). The Hebrew word “hated” in Malachi 1:3 is “TO HATE (PERSONALLY)” (Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.).
When Paul wrote it in Romans 9:13, surely, he did not mean that “…Esau I no longer hated”!
God does not change (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8). If He is Loving and Merciful today, it was also true during the time of Moses and David. And if He was Holy before, His Holiness does not diminish during our time.
One may give the interpretation that Esau represents the Jewish nation and, therefore, God will not hate the said nation. But “the wrath of God” is not only for the Jewish nation. It’s for all people, for all nations!
Our text says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven AGAINST ALL UNGODLINESS AND UNRIGHTEOUSNESS OF MEN…” (Rom. 1:18, ASV.)
Besides, is the Jew better than the non-Jew?
Paul, who was a Jew, wrote:
“What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? NOT AT ALL! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one" (Rom. 3:9-12, NIV).
No nation or any single person could meet the standard of the righteousness of the Holy God.
We read in Isaiah 64:6, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and ALL OUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS ARE LIKE FILTHY RAGS; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away” (NIV).
Each one of us deserve the wrath of God.
We are just like rest , who “…glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things” (Rom. 1:21-23, ASV).
We may not get a stone or wood to carve the image of God, but we tend to carve His Image according to our own imagination and preference! We try to define and picture Him according to our own human reasoning and interpretation!
We could not claim that we are not stubborn, or less stubborn than the rest.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:3, “ Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath” (NIV).
But from among the Jews and non-Jews, along with the other believers, God led us to repentance (Rom. 2:4). Paul wrote, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions…” (Eph 2:4-5, NIV)
God gave the believers His Spirit. He gave them repentance and forgiveness. He gave them His righteousness through His Son. He gave them eternal life.
But the rest? The unrepentant sinners? Those who do not fear God?
“God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness…” (Rom. 1:24, ASV.)
“God gave them up unto vile passions…” (Rom. 1:26, ASV.)
“God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting” (Rom. 1:28, ASV).
They are storing up wrath against themselves for the day of God’s wrath (Rom. 2:5). They are “the objects of his wrath -- prepared for destruction” (Rom 9:22, NIV).
But if we are one of those who are “the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory” (Rom. 9:23, NIV), may we realize the sweetness and the beauty of the words of David, as quoted in Romans 4:7-8:
“Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him" (NIV).
May we continue to seek and embrace the Truth about God and do all things for His Glory.
PRAYER: Our Holy God – our Merciful and Loving Father – we kneel before Your Holy Presence with great gladness in our hearts for not giving us up… We thank You so much for giving us Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. In His Name, we pray. Amen.
