What's the wrath of God?

[Counterpoint]

What exactly is the “wrath of God” Jesus is alluding to in the following biblical verse?

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36

 

[jaimelopez]

And… Does God punishes?

 

[Charlemagne_III]

What exactly is the “wrath of God” Jesus is alluding to in the following biblical verse?

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36

Which translation of the Bible are you using?

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops bible reads as follows.

“36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.”

Nor is it clear, according to this translation, whether the speaker is John the Baptist, Jesus, or John.

In any case, why is “the wrath of God” unclear to you?

Doesn’t “the wrath of God” mean very simply there will be hell to pay?

 

[Counterpoint]

And… Does God punishes?

Are unbelievers presently experiencing the wrath of God? Or, does that verse refer to the wrath of God that will be experienced in the hereafter? And what exactly does the wrath of God entail?

 

[LongingSoul]

Are unbelievers presently experiencing the wrath of God? Or, does that verse refer to the wrath of God that will be experienced in the hereafter? And what exactly does the wrath of God entail?

We have to attribute the meaning of ‘wrath of God’ here to the Old Testament understanding. These words were being spoken to the Jewish faithful, specifically a Pharisee named Nicodemus. The relationship that pre Christians had with God was not the personal one we have due to the birth and life of Jesus among us.

Nicodemus is befuddled by how a person can go back into a mothers womb to be ‘born again’. Jesus tells him "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”- John 3 6-8

Jesus makes it clear that believing in Him means being *born of the Spirit *as if prior to His coming, we were encased in a dark womb… unborn. This is the nature of Gods wrath from the pre Christian perspective. So not so much the type of anger that we understand within the personal relationship of people enlightened by love for one another, but more the power of a Creator over the things He created.

Jesus in effect reaches out His hand to us with His light revealing that we are no longer just creations of a Creator… we are actually loved children capable of relationship with the Lord through the free will to choose to come out of the womb and love our ‘mother’ (the Spirit), our ‘brother’ (the Son) and our ‘father’ (God). By our free will we can also reject the light and remain in the dark womb of Gods wrath.

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”

 

[Counterpoint]

We have to attribute the meaning of ‘wrath of God’ here to the Old Testament understanding.

Here’s the Old Testament understanding…

“For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” Deuteronomy 4:24

And the New Testament seems to confirm that understanding.

“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28-29

 

[LongingSoul]

Here’s the Old Testament understanding…

“For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” Deuteronomy 4:24

And the New Testament seems to confirm that understanding.

“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28-29

But God doesn’t have moods and emotions. God is spoken about in the OT in words that best illicit the response us emotional, sensitive humans relate to God by.

 

[Counterpoint]

But God doesn’t have moods and emotions. God is spoken about in the OT in words that best illicit the response us emotional, sensitive humans relate to God by.

The OT clearly teaches that God is jealous. In fact, it teaches that his proper name is “Jealous.”

“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:” Exodus 34:14

 

[Cromwell4]

No one in previous Ages would ask such a question.

Simple: Eternal Damnation with Satan and his fallen angelic hosts. It is the due punishment for un -atoned sin.

 

[Counterpoint]

No one in previous Ages would ask such a question.

Simple: Eternal Damnation with Satan and his fallen angelic hosts. It is the due punishment for un -atoned sin.

Unfortunately, there are more than a few Catholics on this forum who cannot bring themselves to acknowledge this.

 

[Contarini]

What exactly is the “wrath of God” Jesus is alluding to in the following biblical verse?

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36

It’s the effect of unrepentant sin in a universe that proceeds from a just and holy God. It isn’t a literal emotion in God or an attribute of God in the same way that love and justice, etc., are.

Edwin