Our country is in a state of turmoil, and it is not Democrat against Republican or Left against Right, it is Evil versus Good. Those who think they are in power now want to promote every form of sexual deviance, they want to kill the unborn, and they want to censor and even eliminate all who oppose them, particularly Christians. Our leaders are in bed with the Chinese Communist Party. And if something doesn’t change, you had better start learning Chinese. I could go on and on but I think you get the point. I have not given up; I still believe that this illegitimate administration will be removed. Why do I believe this? I believe this because I believe that our God is Righteous.
So, for our study this morning I want to remind us that our God, Yahweh, is a righteous God. And as a righteous God, He will judge evil. To drive this into our thinking, I want us to look at Paul’s words to the Romans in chapter 1 verses 16-18.
Paul's introduction to the book of Romans covers verses 1 thru 17. This is Paul’s longest introduction. It divides into three parts: verses 1-7 is the salutation, verses 8-15 is the giving of thanks to God for the Romans, Paul’s assurance to them of his prayer for them, and the outlining of his travel plans, and verses 16-17 is the proclamation of God's righteousness.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Romans 1:16-18 ESV
I believe that verses 16 and 17 form the theme and the thesis for the Epistle to the Romans. The whole Epistle is really an expansion of what we see in these verses.
Paul starts verse 16 with "For"—this is the Greek word "gar." When Paul says "for" he is explaining what has just gone before.
So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. Romans 1:15 ESV
Paul was eager to preach the Gospel in Rome "because" he was not ashamed of the Gospel. In the Greek of these two verses Paul uses "gar" three times. The final explanatory clause expresses the deepest thing Paul wishes to say:
"For I am not ashamed"—what does Paul mean by this? To understand this, we have to know what Paul means by "ashamed." The dictionary defines "ashamed" as being "affected by shame," and shame is defined as a painful emotion excited by a consciousness of guilt, disgrace, or dishonor. I think that is how most people today view the word ashamed.
But this is not the Biblical definition of "shame." The Biblical understanding has to do with disappointment. According to Scripture, the person who is not ashamed is the person whose trust is not misplaced and who, therefore, is never disillusioned. The word "ashamed" comes from two Greek words. One is epi, which means "upon," but it really is an intensifier. The other word is aischunomai. I think it is best translated as "disappoint."
When you look up a word in Strong's or Young's Lexicon, you will find the entomology of the word; that is, the dictionary definition of the word. Oftentimes that is not how it is used in the Bible. There is another way to find out what a word means and that is by its usage. How is the word used in Scripture? In exegesis, usage always takes precedence over entomology. The reason for this is because word meanings change. So, what we want to find is usage. The way to find out usage is to get a Greek concordance and look up how the word is used in the Bible. As you find its usage, you can determine its meaning. The work is well worth it.
This meaning of "disappoint" for the Greek word aischunois is unmistakable at several important places in the Bible:
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:4-5 ESV
The CSB and the NASB say, "This hope will not disappoint us." What does hope and ashamed have to do with each other? The word translated "shame" here is kataischuno, a strengthened form of aischuno. Thayer's Greek\English Lexicon translates this as "does not disappoint." Phillips correctly paraphrases it as "a steady hope that will never disappoint us." Kittle, in his Theological Dictionary of New Testament Words, says, "Extra-biblically the word 'ashamed' was often used for disillusionment."
as it is written, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." Romans 9:33 ESV
The words "put to shame" here is kataischuno. The NASB translates this as "will not be disappointed." No one who believes in God will be disappointed:
For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." Romans 10:11 ESV
Here we find the same Greek word, kataischuno. The idea is "No one who trusts in God will ever be disappointed."
Therefore, we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true. 2 Corinthians 7:13-14 ESV
The words here for "put to shame" is kataaischuno. It would be better translated: "disappointed." Paul is saying that Titus found them to be just what he had told Titus they were.
which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. 2 Timothy 1:12 ESV
The word "ashamed" here is epaischunomai as in Romans 1:16 and should also be translated as "disappointed." Paul wasn't disappointed because he knew that God was going to deliver him through all his suffering. This is a banking metaphor. Paul is proclaiming that "God has the power to keep that which I have deposited with him, and I am not disappointed at my suffering."
So, in Romans 1:16 Paul testifies that he has never been disappointed in the Gospel. Some scholars suggest that Paul used a literary device in this statement known as "litotes" (the use of a negative to state the positive assertion). In this case, by means of litotes, Paul implied that he gloried in the Gospel.
"The Gospel"—Paul has already said in his introduction that the Gospel was "promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures", it was "concerning His Son … who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom. 1:4).
To a Jew in Paul's day the word "Gospel" looked back to Isaiah. It was "Good News" to Jerusalem of deliverance from Babylon and of the personal return of Yahweh to deliver them from exile. So, to the Jews, the Good News was of the arrival of Messiah, Israel's anointed King, to bring God's people back from exile. Paul's Gospel is "Yeshua the Christ is Lord." The Jewish messiah, Yeshua the Christ, is the Lord of the world. Caesar is not Lord, but Yeshua is!
"For it is the power of God"—here we have another "gar," so here Paul explains why he is not disappointed in the Gospel. He is not disappointed because the Gospel itself is God's power for salvation. Power is the word dunamis. That is the word from which we get "dynamic," "dynamo," and "dynamite." The announcement that Yeshua is Lord is the power of God that brings deliverance.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV
The following context of 1 Corinthians 1 clarifies that the power of the Gospel lies in its effective work in calling the elect to salvation:
but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 ESV
The Gospel is not about potential salvation. It's about the power of God for salvation. The preaching of the Gospel does not merely make salvation possible, but it effects salvation in those who are the called. The connection between the power of God and election is also seen in:
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 ESV
Paul knows the Thessalonians are chosen because the Gospel came to them in power.
"It is the power of God for salvation"—when Paul refers to salvation, he especially has in mind the saving promises made to Israel in the First Covenant. So, the salvation that is available in Paul's Gospel involves the fulfillment of the promises made to Israel.
Salvation here is from soteria. It, along with sozien (to save), usually has a future sense, denoting deliverance from the eschatological judgment of God. I think Paul has in mind the final triumph of the Gospel in bringing believers to eternal safety and joy in the presence of a holy and glorious God. We see this future sense in Romans 5:9-10 where Paul talks about this future salvation as rescue from the final wrath of God:
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Romans 5:9-10 ESV
Twice Paul says, "shall we be saved." In other words, the full experience of salvation, in Paul's thinking, is still future.
Most
commentators explain salvation by saying that there is a past, present, and
future dimension to "salvation."
Past Dimension: points to
our justification in which our standing with God has changed through the power
of the Gospel. No longer are we condemned or even looked upon by God as
unrighteous.
Present Dimension: points to our
sanctification, so that the Gospel continues to work in our lives, purifying us
from the pollution of sin and delivering us from its power.
Future Dimension: points to glorification, that we live with the anticipation of eternity with Christ; hope characterizes us as we wait for the day that we are totally delivered from the presence of sin to dwell forever in Christ's presence.
So, are we looking forward to a future tense of Salvation? Paul certainly was:
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. Romans 13:11 ESV
Salvation was not a completed event in the lives of the first century believers; it was their hope. They looked forward to its soon arrival. Notice what Paul says next:
The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Romans 13:12 ESV
He equates their salvation with the "day," a reference to the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was night. "You know the time" is the Greek word kairos. It means "season, a special critical strategic period of time." It is used of a season of great importance in redemptive history. The completion of redemptive history was at hand, and with it would come salvation.
We need to understand that all through the New Testament we see two ages in contrast. "This age," and the "age to come." The understanding of these two ages and when they changed is fundamental to interpreting the Bible and to understanding eschatology.
The New Testament writers lived in the age that they called "this age." To the New Testament writers, "the age to come" was future, but it was very near because "this age," the age they lived in, was about to end. We now live in what the Bible calls, "the age to come," which is the New Covenant age. The forty-year period from Pentecost to Holocaus, was a time of transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. In this transition period, the New Covenant had been inaugurated but not consummated. It was a time of "already, but not yet." We live in the New Covenant; our salvation is complete.
So, when Paul says in Romans 1:16 that the "Gospel is the power of God unto salvation," I take him to mean that the Gospel is the only message in the world that powerfully can bring a person to everlasting safety and joy in the presence of a holy and glorious God.
"To everyone who believes"—salvation's power operates only through faith, that's all. The importance of believing is emphasized here. Where there is faith there is the power of God operative in salvation. This conflicts with the teaching of universalism which teaches that God, through the atonement of Yeshua, will ultimately bring reconciliation between God and all people throughout history. This reconciliation will occur regardless of whether they have trusted in or rejected Yeshua as savoir during their lifetime. But the gospel is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes.
John Calvin stated, "The Gospel is indeed offered to all for their salvation, but the power of it appears not everywhere." (Calvin's Commentaries, XIX, 62).
Believing is our response to the Gospel of Christ. Faith, which is the noun form for believe, is not something that we work up by strenuous effort. Faith is "an evangelical grace," it is a gift of God that comes through the regenerating work of the Spirit so that we might lay hold of what God has done for us through Christ.
"To the Jew first and also to the Greek"—Jews have priority because "salvation is from the Jews." Notice what Yeshua says to the Samaritan woman at the well:
You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. John 4:22 ESV
All salvation is salvation through God's covenant with Abraham! The Greek here reads, "to the Jew first and also equally to the Greek." There is a temporal priority for the Jews, but the Gentiles are not second-class citizens. In the Church of Yeshua the Christ Jews and Greeks are on equal footing. Our faith makes us sons of Abraham:
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Galatians 3:7 ESV
Why is the Gospel the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes? Paul explains. He says in the 17th verse:
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." Romans 1:17 ESV
The word "for" is again the Greek word gar. When Paul says "for," he is explaining what has just gone before. In other words, the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation because it is through the Gospel that the righteousness of God is revealed.
"The righteousness of God"—this phrase, which dominates the book of Romans, has been taken in two different ways in the history of the Church. In the Greek the phrase is simply, "God's righteousness." The trouble with this phrase is that Greek genitives can go one way or another. We find this in the phrase "the love of God." Does this mean God's love for u, or our love for God? Is this a subjective or an objective genitive? Is it God's own love—the subjective genitive, or our love for God—the objective genitive? So, scholars have debated whether the phrase "the righteousness of God" is God's own righteousness or whether it is a righteousness that God gives.
The mainstream view is that this righteousness that Paul speaks of here is not God's own righteousness but is a righteousness "from" God, the righteousness which God gives on the basis of faith. It is the righteous status they have because of Christ-imputed righteousness. The Bible does teach us about the righteousness that is from God. An example is Philippians 3.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Yeshua my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— Philippians 3:7-9 ESV
Paul says that this righteousness is "from" God. But in Romans Paul does not use this phrase "the righteousness 'from' God" but says, "the righteousness of God." If you trace this phrase back to its Jewish roots, you'll find it has many different connotations, but it is never used of a righteous status which is a gift of God. And in Romans 3:21-31, a righteousness from God doesn't make sense.
I think that Paul is speaking here of God's righteousness, His character. God is a righteous God. Certainly, the Scripture acknowledges God as righteous. Even Pharaoh confessed, "the LORD is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones." (Ex. 9:27).
God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. Psalms 7:11 ESV
For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face. Psalms 11:7 ESV
Righteous are you, O LORD, and right are your rules. Psalms 119:137 ESV
Our God truly is righteous. But seeing that meaning in Romans 1:17 really bothers some people. One commentator writes, "Some identify this as a reference to God's character. But if that is what Paul means, then this is a most fearful statement! Only the upright can see His face (Ps. 11:7). If we are not righteous then we cannot face Him. His righteousness then becomes a dread."
I would agree that to someone who will not come to the obedience of faith, a righteous God is a terror. But Paul is saying that the Good News reveals the righteousness of God. And I guess that's why they want to see this as a righteousness that comes from God.
Martin Luther describes his encounter with this term as he studied the book of Romans:
But up till then it was not the cold blood about the heart, but a single word of Chapter 1:17, "In it the righteousness of God is revealed," that had stood in my way. For I hated that word "righteousness of God," which, according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they called it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner. Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God [Bernhard Lohse, Martin Luther's Theology: Its Historical and Systematic Development (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999), 90, quoted from Luther's Works, vol. 34, pp. 336-37].
I think that Luther's problem was that he did not understand what "God's righteousness" meant. There are several scholars, (e.g., Williams, Dunn, Kaylor, Davies, O'Brian, and Wright to name a few) who suggest that the term "righteousness of God" is referring to God's covenant faithfulness. In other words, His saving actions are rooted in His faithfulness to the covenant enacted with His people. When the phrase "the righteousness of God" occurs in Biblical and post-biblical Jewish texts, it always refers to God's own righteousness. Or we could say "God's own faithfulness to the covenant."
God's dikaiosune is that aspect of His character because of which, despite Israel's sin and consequent banishment, God will remain true to the covenant with Abraham and rescue her nonetheless. This righteousness is a form of justice; God's covenant is binding upon Him, and through this covenant He has promised to save Israel.
So, what we have in Romans 1:17 is that in the Gospel, God's covenant faithfulness is being revealed—this is in the present tense. The covenant faithfulness of God is presently being revealed in the preaching of the Gospel.
"The righteous shall live by faith"—this is a quote from Habakkuk. In that prophetic book Habakkuk mourned the problems of Israel brought on by their sin with no justice in sight (1:1-4). So, God tells the prophet that He is raising up the Chaldeans to execute justice on them (1:5-11). But that bewildered the prophet! What in the world is God doing? This is a questioning of the righteousness and justice of God. To answer this, the prophet is given a vision of the future:
For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. "Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:3-4 ESV
At that moment God's people must live by faith, trusting that God will eventually punish the wicked nation and bring salvation to Israel. And Paul, in quoting Habakkuk, is saying, "God will be faithful to His covenant with Israel, His judgment of the nations and salvation of Israel will come." They must live by faith that God will be faithful to His covenant. Believers, our God is a faithful God; He keeps His promises:
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV
Paul puts it this way,
God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Yeshua the Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9 ESV
To emphasize the concept of God's faithfulness, Paul places this word first in the Greek sentence so that literally translated it reads "faithful is God." Faithful means "trustworthy," therefore, God is trustworthy, and we can depend upon Him. The faithful God has called us into a union or partnership with His Son; He is trustworthy when He promises that this union is permanent. We will be blameless because God is faithful. Eternity lays not in my actions, but in God's faithfulness.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Romans 1:18 ESV
Notice the "for" here, which is the Greek gar. When Paul says "for," he is explaining what has just gone before. This "for" points back to "The righteous shall live by faith" of verse 17. Let's look at how Paul explains this quote from Habakkuk with verse 18 that talks about the wrath of God.
Paul in quoting Habakkuk is saying that God will be faithful to His covenant with Israel; His judgment of the nations and salvation of Israel will come. They must live by faith that God will be faithful to His covenant.
What was it that God wanted from Israel? He tells us in:
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry! Isaiah 5:7 ESV
God was looking for justice and righteousness, but it was not to be found, so He would judge His people Israel:
But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness. Isaiah 5:16 ESV
God would show Himself holy in covenant faithfulness.
In Acts 13:41, Paul quotes the serious warning of Habakkuk 1:5 at the end of his preaching in the synagogue in Antioch:
Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about: "‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’" Acts 13:38-41 ESV
To those who do not respond to Paul's Gospel message through the obedience of faith, Paul issues a stern warning. He tells them to remember the words of Habakkuk the prophet:
"Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. Habakkuk 1:5 ESV
The context of Habakkuk's words was the approach of invaders. Habakkuk warned Judah of the impending judgment that God would bring on them through the Chaldeans because of their unrepentant hearts. The implication is that just as God surely carried out that judgment upon Judah, so He would bring destruction on those who scoff at His gracious promise of salvation through faith in Yeshua the Christ.
Habakkuk speaks of the coming of an event (verse 2 & —"wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay"), but the author of Hebrews personalizes it when he quotes from Habakkuk:
For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." Hebrews 10:37-38 ESV
This prophecy was fulfilled at the Second Coming of Christ in A.D. 70 when God came in judgment on the enemies of His people (Jews), and vindicated His people (Christians) forever.
So, Paul using this quote from Habakkuk in Romans 1 is saying God will be faithful to His covenant, which involves judgment of the covenant breakers—those who reject the Gospel of Yeshua the Christ. God is faithful to the covenant and part of that involves wrath against the covenant breakers. So, from the quote in Habakkuk, Paul launches right into the wrath of God:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Romans 1:18 ESV
The Bible teaches that God is a God of wrath. But if you ask the average Christian to tell you about God, what is the first thing they will tell you? God is love! Is that true? Yes, it is absolutely the truth:
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8 ESV
To say that God is love is the truth, but is it the whole truth? No! Love is one attribute of God, but He has many others: holiness, mercy, grace, justice, omniscience, immutability, sovereignty, and on and on we could go.
God's attributes are His characteristics, excellencies, or qualities exercised visibly in His work of creation, providence, and redemption. We call them attributes, not because we add them to the essence of God, but rather because they inhere in Him. They were and ever will be His. They tell us something about God's substance, His invisible essence.
Apart from an objective standard, we can make God to be anything we want Him to be. What is our objective standard? The Bible! The Bible is the self-revelation of God. If we are going to know God, we must learn of Him from the Scriptures. The problem is that most everyone believes in a "god" of their own invention. They have made up a "god" that they are comfortable with—a "god" who is only love. He loves everybody and puts up with everything. He's just a nice gentle old man! This is not the God of the Bible!
Most people do not want to think of God's wrath at all, preferring to think and speak only of God's love. Those who do believe God is a God of wrath as well as a God of love prefer to think of His wrath in the past tense. Many seem to believe God's wrath is an Old Covenant truth, and that with the coming of Christ, we are now safe to think only in terms of God's love. This is wrong thinking about God.
A. W. Pink observes:
Yes, many there are who turn away from a vision of God's wrath as though they were called to look upon some blotch in the Divine character, or some blot upon the Divine government. But what saith the Scriptures? As we turn to them, we find that God has made no attempt to conceal the fact of His wrath. He is not ashamed to make it known that vengeance and fury belong unto Him. A. W. Pink, The Attributes of God (Swengel Pa.: Reiner Publications, 1968 [Reprint]), p. 75).
The wrath of God is a prominent truth in the Scriptures. A study of the concordance will show that there are more references in Scripture to the anger, fury, and wrath of God than there are to His love and tenderness.
What is God's wrath? First, we must understand that God's wrath is not like ours. Wrath to us may suggest a loss of self-control, an outburst that is partly, if not wholly, irrational. God's wrath in the Bible is never capricious, self-indulgent, or irritable. God's wrath in the Bible is always judicial. It is the wrath of a judge administering justice. Each person gets exactly what he deserves.
Wrath denotes God's resolute action in punishing sin. It is the active manifestation of His hatred of irreligion and moral evil. God is Holy, and His holiness demands that He not tolerate unholiness.
God's wrath is being revealed "against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men"—the word "ungodliness" is from the Greek word asebeia which focuses on the relationship to God. God's wrath is revealed toward those who are not rightly related to Him.
"Unrighteousness"—is from the Greek adikia. It has to do with our treatment of fellow men. When Yeshua was asked by the lawyer what the great commandment was, Yeshua said:
And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39 ESV
Since this is the greatest commandment, it seems logical that God's wrath would be expressed toward those violating these commandments.
"Who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth"—the word, "suppress," here is the Greek word katecho which means "hold the truth." It could be translated as "hold in the sense of believe" or it may mean "hold in the sense of hold down or suppress." In this context it is best translated as: "suppress." It is present tense because they were doing it in Paul's day. Who in Paul's day had the truth but was suppressing it? We see this throughout the book of Acts. It was Israel and only Israel!
The doctrine of the wrath of God instructs us not to fret over the wicked. While they may appear to be getting away with evil, they will come under the wrath of God.
Let us take the doctrine of God's wrath seriously. We should neither neglect nor conceal it. Let us regard it as a part of the goodness and glory of God. May the doctrine of God's wrath be an incentive to evangelism and the proclamation of the Gospel of grace. To the glory of God and our own good, may this doctrine be the basis for a grateful life demonstrated by holy living.