I’m going to share what I’m learning in William Barclay’s commentary on the Book of Romans because it’s too good not to share! There will be a lot so I hope you stay with me…

“THE WRATH OF GOD

Romans 1:18-23: For the wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven, directed against all impiousness and wickedness of men, who, in their wickedness, willfully suppress the truth that is struggling in their hearts, for, that which can be known about God is clear within them, for God has made it clear to them, because, from the creation of the world, it has always been possible to understand the invisible things by the created things – I mean his invisible power and divinity – and things have been so ordered in order to leave them without defense, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify God and they did not give him thanks, but they have involved themselves in futile speculations and their senseless mind was darkened. They alleged themselves to be wise, but they have become fools, and they have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the image of the likeness of mortal man, and of winged creatures, and of four-footed animals, and of creeping reptiles.”

Continuing in the commentary…”Let us try to see how Paul understood this conception. Dr. C. H. Dodd writes very wisely and profoundly on this matter. Paul speaks frequently of this idea of wrath. But the strange thing is that although he speaks of the wrath of God, he never speaks of God being angry. He speaks of God’s love, and he speaks of God loving. He speaks of God’s grace, and of God graciously giving. He speaks of God’s fidelity, and of God being faithful to his people. But, very strangely, although he speaks of the wrath of God, he never speaks about God being angry. So then there is some difference in the connection with God of love and wrath….Let us go back to the prophets. Very often their message amounted to this, “If you are not obedient to God, the wrath of God will involve you in ruin and disaster.” Ezekiel put this in another vivid way – “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). If we were to put this into modern language we would say, “There is a moral order in this world, and the man who transgresses it soon or late is bound to suffer.” That is exactly what J. A. Froude the great historian said: “One lesson, and one lesson only, history may be said to repeat with distinctness, that the world is built somehow on moral foundations, that, in the long run, it is well with the good, and, in the long run, it will be ill with the wicked.”…Continuing, “In the world we can see God. It is Paul’s argument – and it is completely valid – that if we look at the world we see that suffering follows sin. Break the laws of agriculture – your harvest fails. Break the laws of architecture – your building collapses. Break the laws of health – your body suffers. Paul was saying, “Look at the world! See how it is constructed! From a world like that you know what God is like.” The sinner is left without excuse. Paul goes on another step. What did the sinner do? Instead of looking out to God, he looked into himself. He involved himself in vain speculations and thought he was wise, while all the time he was a fool. Why? He was a fool because he made his ideas, his opinions, his speculations the standard and the law of life, instead of the will of God. The sinner’s folly consisted in making “man the master of things”. He found his standards in his own opinions and not in the laws of God. He lived in a self-centered instead of a God-centered universe. Instead of walking looking out to God he walked looking into himself, and, like any man who does not look where he is going, he fell. The result of this was idolatry. The glory of God was exchanged for images of human and animal forms. The root sin of idolatry is that it is selfish. A man makes an idol. He brings it offerings and addresses prayers to it. Why? So that his own schemes and dreams may be furthered. His worship is for his own sake and not for God’s. In this passage we are face to face with the fact that the essence of sin is to put self in the place of God.”

After I read all of the above and the parts I left out, I thought about when Jesus, God the Son, walked this earth showing us what the Father is like. Why do you think He came? And there were those who couldn’t see Who He was. Jesus shattered the wrong ideas of the Father’s love but they insisted on picking up all the broken, shattered pieces and putting them back. Broken, shattered because – that – they knew. The wrath of God is His wrath for the evil of sin and the harm it brings us. The love of God is His love for us that brings us out of the evil of sins so we don’t keep putting the broken pieces of sin back together and walking in that. What are we to do? Trust God. Don’t suppress the truth of God’s love struggling in your hearts to free you. And then glorify our Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, and let Him be your guide.