Thoughts on Love and Wrath
“They wanted to know how a loving God could let people go to hell.”
What kind of love would seek to prevent or pervert justice? It’s very common for parents to blindly defend their children when they’ve committed grievous acts, but is that right of them? At the same time, if a parent does agree with the need for their children to be brought to justice and yet does so without any sadness something is also wrong.
In the end the idea that true love would seek to pervert or ignore injustices is a violation of love itself in that by denying someones responsibility to act justly you deny them the dignity that God bestows upon them as bearers of His image.
True love does call for justice, but not before calling the unjust to the God who loves them.
“For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”
-Ezekiel 18:32
Behold! The God of wrath and mercy in Christ takes on the one to provide the other!
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
-2 Corinthians 5:18-21
