Summary
God is Not Angry
The slogan "God is not angry" sounds comforting, but it raises a real theological question. Does it mean God is indifferent to sin? That He shrugs at wickedness? Scripture forbids that conclusion. Sin angers God, and God does not change.
Begin with the divine attribute of immutability. God does not change in His essence, character, or will. The psalmist declares of the Lord, "you are the same, and your years have no end" Psalm 102:27. The Lord Himself says, "For I the Lord do not change" Malachi 3:6. James adds that with God "there is no variation or shadow due to change" James 1:17. Because God does not change, His holy reaction to sin does not change either. He "is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day" Psalm 7:11, and "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness" Romans 1:18.
So where did that wrath go? Scripture pictures God's judgment as a cup—a cup of foaming wine that the wicked must drink to the dregs Psalm 75:8. On the night before the cross, in Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done" Luke 22:42. That cup was the cup of God's wrath against sin—the cup of punishment. And Jesus drank it. All of it. The spotless Lamb of God swallowed the entire judgment due to every sinner of every age. He did not leave a swallow at the bottom that He might still toss at us to keep us in line.
This is the heart of Romans 5:8–10: "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God." Justified means declared righteous—made just as if we had never sinned. Because Christ drained the cup, the wrath that sin rightly deserves has already fallen, and it fell on Him.
Paul calls this reconciliation: "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them" 2 Corinthians 5:19. The word does not describe a change of heart on our side toward God; it describes a change of disposition on God's side toward the world on account of Christ. The wrath has been laid aside because it was placed upon Jesus. This objective reconciliation, accomplished for the whole world at Calvary, is received personally through the faith God Himself gives.
So when the bumper sticker says "God is not angry," it does not mean He has grown soft on sin. It means the cross actually worked. When the Father now looks at those who are in Christ, He does not look with eyes of wrath but with eyes of love, because His Son has already borne the judgment in their place. The temptation to live in fear—"God's going to get you for that"—is answered at the cross. He already got Jesus for that. For more on this teaching, see "God is Not Angry" 6-11-23.
Video citations
- "God is Not Angry" 6-11-23 — Do you open your Bibles, please, with me, to the fifth chapter of the Book of Romans, if you're using a Pue edition, you're going to find that in the New Testament, page 136, Romans the fifth…