Salvation and Wrath Revealed

Paul presents his Gospel to the assemblies of Rome, a message about God’s righteousness or wrath for all men, Jews and Gentiles alike.

Paul described the Gospel message in his Letter to the Romans. It was the “power of God for salvation” to all men who accepted it. Due to our sin, two forces are at work in the world, righteousness and wrath. God provides the solution to our plight through Jesus and the announcement of his Good News. His salvation is available to all men and women through the “faithfulness of Jesus Christ.”

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Both processes are unveiled whenever the Good News is proclaimed to men. Its proclamation produces either “righteousness” or “wrath,” depending on how men and women react to its offer of salvation.

• (Romans 1:16-19) – “For I am not ashamed of the good news, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, both to Jew first, and to Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is being revealed from faith for faith; even as it is written: But the righteous man from faith will live. For there is being revealed the wrath of God from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who possess the truth in unrighteousness.”

The “righteousness of God is being revealed from faith for faith.” The Greek verb translated as “being revealed” is in the present tense, signifying an ongoing process. Likewise, the “wrath of God” is being revealed from Heaven. “Wrath” or “righteousness” is manifested when the Gospel is preached. The latter is evident whenever Jews and Gentiles respond with faith. Thus, there is a present aspect to “righteousness” and “wrath.”

“Wrath” is “revealed” against those “who possess the truth in unrighteousness.” The two processes occur whenever the Gospel is proclaimed, and they affect the Jew or Gentile alike based on how the person responds. Ethnicity does not determine which result an individual will receive. Repentance and faith do.

The “wrath upon ungodliness” is the negative counterpart to the “righteousness of God.” Anyone who embraces the Gospel is empowered to receive salvation, but “wrath” falls on everyone who rejects it.

Elsewhere, Paul links “wrath” to the final judgment. In this passage, he describes it as a present reality or process. The sins delighted in by those who reject the Gospel prove they are under God’s “wrath” even now – That they are destined to receive His wrath on the “Day of Wrath.” Their continuing transgressions are part of the “wrath from Heaven” - (Romans 1:22-25).

SIN

God delivers rebellious humanity to the very sins for which it lusts, even though sinners “acknowledge the righteous sentence of God, that they who practice such things are worthy of death.” Ignorance is no excuse. Men and women know full well that they are violating the righteous demands of God.

Humanity wallows in its idolatrous sins because of the “wrath of God,” sins that demonstrate mankind is under His “wrath.” This is the plight of all men, both Jews and Gentiles, and this reality is highlighted by our idolatry, worshipping anything and everything except the one God who created all things.

This unhappy condition is not due to Divine “predestination,” nor does it violate human free will. God gives sinful men exactly what they want and therefore deserve, though every man and woman is free to choose a different way and fate.

Sin is the Great Equalizer. Jews and Gentiles fall short of the righteousness requirements of the Law; therefore, both stand under the just “sentence of God.” Everyone is “without excuse” due to sin, and everyone stands or falls before God on the same basis – faith and obedience, or unbelief and disobedience.

Without Divine intervention, every man stands condemned because of sin, whether “within the law” or “apart from the law.” Without exception, the rebellious sinner will experience condemnation and expulsion on the coming “Day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”

That Day will be the consummation of a process that is already underway. God “will render to each one according to his works.” In Chapter 2 of Romans, Paul stresses the future aspect of “wrath” instead of wrath as a current process. Without repentance and faith, men and women presently under wrath are moving inexorably toward the final Day of Wrath - (Romans 2:16, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).

In contrast, believers are “declared righteous through his blood.” They “will be saved through him from the wrath.” The current process of “salvation” will be consummated when Jesus raises his people from the dead - (Romans 8:21-23).

“Death” is the universal consequence of sin for all men, “saved” or not. However, for everyone who embraces the Gospel, condemnation for sin becomes a thing of the past, and right standing before God is a present reality. Though death still awaits them, they will be saved from the coming “wrath.” They will not endure the “Day of Wrath”; instead, they will be raised from the dead and receive everlasting life.

For everyone who continues to “possess the truth in unrighteousness” and rejects the “Gospel of God,” not only will they face death, but afterward, they will experience the “wrath of God” on what will be their ominous final day.

Thus, the Gospel proclaimed to the nations by the Apostle Paul is the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” But in it, the wrath of God is also “being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.”

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RELATED POSTS:

• His Covenant Faithfulness - (The “righteousness of God” refers to His faithfulness in fulfilling His promises. This is demonstrated above all by the salvation He provided through Jesus)

• From Faith For Faith - (Men are not set right before God from the works of the law but from the faith of Jesus Christ)

• The Gospel Message - (Jesus summoned his disciples to proclaim the Good News of his Kingdom to every inhabited corner of the Earth)