Understanding that God's love is inseparable from His holiness—and why this includes His wrath against sin.
We often project our understanding of love onto God. We take our varied experiences of love and assume that God's love is a jumbled and better version of what we know.
For instance, one easy error is to become sentimental about it. God's love is like puppies playing in a field. It is like chocolate ice cream for your birthday. It is like sunshine in your heart.
These images understate God's love. It is far richer, better, and more substantial than any of those matters.
But second, it separates love from the rest of who God is. But we cannot separate God's attributes. God is love - and as we've discussed, God is holy.
That immediately distinguishes God's love from most of what we would call love.
Because, in relationship to us, since God is love, God also exercises wrath.
The Biblical description of our wicked state is clear. Ephesians 2 says:
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in 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— among 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, like the rest of mankind."
These are hard verses to reflect on, but let's do it together. Before we knew Christ, we followed the leading of the devil. We were not sons of the Father, but sons of disobedience. We were not children of God, but children of wrath.
Because of God's holy love, his justice requires that he respond to sin and disobedience with his wrath. It is sensible and appropriate for God to exercise his wrath against us.
As David Schrock defines it, God's wrath is "the holy action of retributive justice towards persons whose actions deserve eternal condemnation."
We do not believe that on some days, God is love, and on other days, God is wrathful. No, these are joined up together as the actions of a simple, unified God who is love. A loving and holy God cannot be loving and holy if he tolerates sin.
Sin is marketed to us as being awesome. Sinfully indulgent chocolate - sign me up, that's the one I want. But sin is diabolical. It is how we harm ourselves, hurt others, and dishonor a glorious God - our good Creator and Sovereign Lord.
If we are going to know and love our First Love, we have to know and love God on his own terms.
Our challenge is to respond to God as he is, not as we want him to be.
...among 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, like the rest of mankind.
How have you seen God's love described in sentimental ways that separate it from His holiness?
The idea that God's love necessarily includes His wrath against sin can be challenging to accept. How have you wrestled with this concept? In what ways does understanding God's wrath as an expression of His holy love help you embrace this aspect of His character?
In what areas of your life might you be tempted to shape God into your own image or preferences, rather than surrendering to Him as He has revealed Himself?
Reflect on how God's holiness and love work together—neither canceling the other out, but both revealing His true character.
Get a daily, five-minute Bible study to discuss with a friend.