"kissed" #2; The Doctrine of the Wrath of God defends Penal Substitution.

The Doctrine of the Wrath of God defends Penal Substitution.

"The wrath of God is really the sticking issue in the doctrine of penal substitution. Just as the wrath of God is denied by non-evangelicals and evangelicals in the eternal conscious suffering of the unsaved in the Lake of Fire, the wrath of God is rejected in the penal substitutionary death of Christ on the cross. We admit that the wrath of God is unpleasant to contemplate. But we mortals have no right to judge a doctrine in God’s Word inscribed there by means of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

"Paul begins Romans 3:21-26 with “But now” and draws a contrast with what preceded in Romans 1:18-3:20. Paul contrasted the problem which is the “wrath of God” revealed from heaven against all sinners whether they are an unrighteous pagan (Romans 1:18-32) or a self-righteous religionist (Romans 2:1-29). God’s solution is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ who died a penal substitutionary death in 3:21-26.

"Paul not only contrasts the greater context of 1:18-3:20 but he contrasts the immediate context of 3:20. The righteousness needed by all sinners cannot be found in the works of the law in Romans 3:20. No sinner can be declared righteous by the law or religious works. Paul stated that this “righteousness of God” is “apart from law.” D. A. Carson notes that “since nomou [law] is anarthrous [without the definite article, the], there may be a hint not only of the Mosaic law-covenant, but to the ‘law’ known even to Gentiles (Rom 2:13-16): The entire demand structure could not justify men and women in the past, and now God has acted to justify men and women ‘apart from’ it.”[1]

"The doctrine of the wrath of God found throughout Scripture is the reason the penal substitutionary death of Christ is necessary. Concerning the wrath of God in the Old Testament Charles Ryrie writes:

"More than twenty different words occurring about 580 times express the wrath of God in the Old Testament (2 Kings 13:3; 23:26; Job 21:20; Jer.21:12; Ezek. 8:18; 16:38; 23:25; 24:13).

"Everywhere sin constitutes the reason for God’s wrath. Idolatry especially aroused His wrath (Deut. 6:14; Josh. 23:16; Ps. 78:21; Isa. 66:15-17).

"The effects of God’s wrath included general affliction (Ps. 88:7), pestilence (Ezek. 14:19), slaughter (9:8), destruction (5:15), being delivered to enemies (2 Chron. 28:8), drought (Deut. 11:17), plagues (2 Sam. 24:1), leprosy (Num. 12:10), and exile (2 Kings 23:26-27; Ezek. 19:12).[2]

"In addition to the Old Testament presenting the need for the penal substitutionary death of Christ, so does the New Testament. Jesus spoke of God’s wrath presently abiding on all who do not believe in John 3:36. Paul described the unsaved “by nature the children of wrath” in Ephesians 2:3. John predicted that the unregenerate in the Tribulation Period would declare that “the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand” (Revelation 6:17). John also prophesied that the unsaved who receive the mark of the beast will seal their destiny and thus make the wrath of God inevitable: “If any man worships the beast and his image; and receive his mark in his forehead, or in this and, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation” (Revelation 14:9-10).

"Jonathan Edwards preached his famous Sinners in the Hands of an Angry to emphasize God’s mercy. After Paul notes the universal problem of God’s wrath revealed against all sinners, he provides the universal solution. The righteousness of God is available for all sinners through faith alone that can avert this wrath of God. [1] D. A. Carson, “Atonement in Romans 3:21-26” in The Glory of The Atonement, Charles E. Hill and Frank A. James III, eds. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 123.

[2] Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology (Chicago: Moody Press, 1986), 339.