{"id":121,"date":"2021-05-17T22:42:38","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T02:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidbsloan.com\/blog\/?p=121"},"modified":"2021-06-17T21:28:29","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T01:28:29","slug":"did-jesus-experience-the-fathers-wrath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidbsloan.com\/blog\/did-jesus-experience-the-fathers-wrath\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Jesus Experience the Father’s Wrath?"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of my favorite songs is \u201cIn Christ Alone\u201d by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty<\/a>. When I was a worship leader this is one of the songs I chose most frequently, because it draws the worshiper into the depths of God\u2019s love and the power of his salvation in a way that few other songs can. I have been singing this song for twenty years, and it still brings me to tears. The song is very rich in theology, but there is one line that I always change because it expresses a popular idea that is unbiblical. In the second verse we find the words, \u201cTill on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.\u201d The idea here is that for God to be holy, he must express wrath against sin, but because God is merciful he delayed that wrath until Jesus took all these sins upon himself and then God poured out his wrath on his Son, and so \u201cthe wrath of God was satisfied.\u201d This is a very popular way of understanding why Jesus had to die, but is it biblical?<\/p>\n

The Wrath of God in Scripture<\/h2>\n

To be sure, there are plenty of verses that speak of God\u2019s wrath, including 1 Thessalonians 1:10, where Paul says Jesus \u201cdelivers us from the wrath to come\u201d (1 Thess 1:10), but neither this verse nor any other says that this deliverance happened because God placed his wrath on Jesus instead. In fact, in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 God\u2019s wrath is not <\/em>satisfied; it is still coming! Paul is speaking here of the second coming of Jesus, when \u201csudden destruction will come upon [the disobedient] as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape\u201d (1 Thess 5:3). Jesus delivers us from this wrath not by taking it upon himself but by transforming us into \u201cchildren of light, children of day. \u2026 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him\u201d (1 Thess 5:5, 9-10). It is only popular theology that causes us to think that God transferred that wrath from us to his Son. What Paul says here is that by becoming \u201cawake\u201d or by becoming \u201cchildren of day\u201d we are delivered from the coming wrath. Elsewhere Paul speaks of Christians as objects of mercy rather than objects of wrath (Romans 9:22-23). We receive \u201ceternal life,\u201d whereas those who reject the truth receive \u201cwrath and fury\u201d (Romans 2:7-8). According to John the Baptist, those who get baptized \u201cflee from the wrath to come\u201d (Matthew 3:7\/\/Luke 3:7). In none of these passages is that wrath transferred to the Son. The wrath simply is not experienced because we have changed from being self-seeking to being righteous.<\/p>\n

This is explained most clearly in Ephesians 2:1-7 :<\/p>\n

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins\u00a0in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience\u2014among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath<\/u><\/em>, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ<\/u><\/em>\u2014by grace you have been saved\u2014and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace<\/u><\/em> in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nowhere does this say that the way God did this is by turning his wrath toward his Son. This is something we simply assume. But if we look at the text more closely, we see something quite different: though we were \u201cby nature children of wrath\u201d (2:3), this is not what God felt toward us. Verses 4-5 say, \u201cBecause of the great love with which he loved us<\/em>, even when we were dead in our trespasses.\u201d God did not<\/em> feel wrath toward us, but \u201cgreat love\u201d! Our nature may have been \u201cchildren of wrath,\u201d but God viewed us differently, even while we \u201cdead in our trespasses<\/em>,\u201d that is, before Jesus died on the cross. There was no transfer of wrath onto his Son. There was love for us and love for his Son, and so God delivered us from our spiritual death just as he delivered his Son from his physical death.<\/p>\n

The Father’s Role in the Crucifixion<\/h2>\n

In fact, not only is the idea that God transfers his wrath to his Son never taught in Scripture, but it goes against the way Scripture repeatedly speaks of the Father\u2019s role in the cross. Not once is the cross described as a place where God punishes his Son. In fact, crucifixion was not a divine punishment; it was a Roman <\/em>punishment for those rebelling against the empire. The Romans, or rather \u201cthe rulers of this age,\u201d crucified Jesus, not understanding what God planned to do with this (1 Cor 2:6-10). God allowed Jesus to die so that Jesus could defeat Death (see my post on Death as mythical creature in the Bible<\/a>), not so that God could punish Jesus. Whenever we read about the Father\u2019s role in the crucifixion, it is one of handing Jesus over <\/em>rather than punishing:<\/p>\n