“For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men”.
Rom 1:18

“But according to your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”
Rom 2:5

An upheaval is imminent

The apostles and the first believers lived in a very different time than we do. What is “common” today was probably “unknown” and even “unimaginable” back then – and vice versa. Then, as now, there were certain assumptions about God and the world.

Paul was able to speak – as if in passing – about God’s wrath and about a righteous judgment of God. For the audience, these were familiar thoughts. For us, they may not be, but that should not bother us. We can take some interest in these contexts and gain a better insight into the biblical stories.

Wrath of God, God’s judgment, the Day of the Lord – all these terms were familiar to Paul’s audience. The prophets of Israel had coined these terms. Paul lectures on familiar ideas. That’s why he doesn’t have to explain everything. It is quite enough if he puts references here and there. We, however, have to think about these references first. We are not very familiar with these terms.

What is it about? With regard to the future, all the prophets – and also the writers of the New Testament – anticipated a time of upheaval. God will set everything straight once before moving on. A righteous judgment is not necessarily a final judgment, and thus the end of all things, but it is an intermediate judgment, the end of this age (Mt 24:3), which passes through judgments (Mt 24 and Mt 25) into a new age. That is why Jesus often spoke of this age (this aeon) in contrast to age to come (the coming aeon) (Mark 10:30 and others). Between this time and the coming time lies a time of upheaval.

How is this upheaval taking place? Through a court of law, things are set straight. The injustice of that time cannot simply be carried over into a new time. It takes a day to set crooked things straight (cf. Lk 3:4-6).

About these familiar ideas and the function of a court time is the subject of this article. This also clarifies some things in understanding the Letter to the Romans – the series of topics in which this article appears.

The day of the Lord

The wrath of God is a concomitant of the Day of the Lord. This day of the Lord was one of the prophets’ predictions of the judgment of the nations (Isa 13:6, Isa 13:9, Ezek 30:3, Joel 1:15, Joel 2:1, Joel 2:11, Joel 3:4, Joel 4:14, etc.). Paul refers to this.

Only a few years have passed since the death and resurrection of Jesus. For the believers at that time, this was alive and just experienced. Today, we are 2000 years further on and usually no longer have this imminent upheaval in mind. Paul expected God’s intervention in this world, just as Jesus spoke of it and the other apostles also expected it (Acts 1:6). This day of the LORD is mentioned several times in the New Testament, and also by Paul (Acts 2:20 1Th 5:2 2Th 2:2 2Pet 3:10).

So to speak of a wrath of God coming “down from heaven” is nothing new. The assumption is this: First comes the wrath over the unrighteousness of mankind and after that comes the Messianic Kingdom. The Day of Wrath marks the transition from this time to the time to come.

Wrath comes “from heaven” (Rom 1:18), and the Day of the Lord is preceded by “signs in the sun and moon” (Acts 2:20). Therefore, wrath is not about a final judgment somewhere outside the earth or in the hereafter, but it is about God’s action here on earth.

This wrath on the Day of the Lord is also one of the important themes in the Book of Revelation. For John says concerning the time when he was caught up, “I was in the Spirit in the Lord’s day” (Rev 1:10 KNT, gr. ἐγενόμην ἐν πνεύματι ἐν τῇ κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ).

The just court

The goal of anger and judgment is neither anger nor judgment. These are merely a means to an end. It is a transitional period, just as labor is the transition to birth. Wrath and judgment are painful, but necessary, because otherwise we cannot go on. Wrath and judgment serve a purpose within the framework of a historical development.

What does the court have to do there? The idea is this: It is chaotic around us and the whole world is in need and longs for deliverance (Rom 8:19-22). This liberation is coming, but it also requires a restoration of justice. Otherwise, no new time can begin. When God restores order here below, it is “just” and necessary. This is why Paul can speak of the revelation of God’s righteous judgment (Rom 2:5).

So this kind of righteousness is something completely different from what he wrote about a few verses earlier in Romans. We need to distinguish two things. On the one hand, there is the righteousness of God, and on the other hand, there is the righteous judgment of God. The two things are different.

Indeed, Paul had just previously declared that in the gospel the “righteousness of God” is revealed (Rom 1:16-17). This righteousness of God is based on the cross and resurrection. For God Himself, everything is in the clear (2 Cor. 5:14-21). But there is also the experience of this world, where things have gone wrong.

Romans 1:18-32 is therefore about righteous judgment, and God’s wrath coming down from heaven. The judgment of wrath is about the unrighteousness of people brought to light by the righteous judgment of God. Righteous judgment is not the goal, but it is the cleanup before moving on.

God’s righteousness, on the other hand, is the foundation for God’s action. It is the foundation for His once being able to absolve all men, for the justification of life (Rom 5:18). The righteous judgment of God and the wrath of God are never in conflict with this ultimate goal, but are steps toward it.

God’s wrath is revealed against the “unrighteousness and unrighteousness of men” says the Letter to the Romans. You could also say: “We brought this on ourselves”. So you cannot hold God responsible for that. Man is judged here according to his own actions. Man’s unrighteousness is the contrast to God’s righteousness.

The day will reveal it

There is another passage that we can look at here. The expectation that once everything will be “straightened out” is clearly given with the apostles. This even applies to the deeds of believers. For example, Paul writes the following in 1 Corinthians:

“According to the grace given by God, I, as a wise master builder, lay the foundation, but another builds on it. But let each one take care how he builds on it! … […] … each one’ s work will be revealed; for the day will make it manifest, because it will be unveiled in fire”.
1Cor 3:10-13

This is about how we live as believers. After all, it does matter how we live our lives. When Christ comes and we are revealed before Christ’s judging stage, then useless stuff will be exposed and stripped away. One’s own mistakes and shortcomings do not have the potential to cross over into a new era. So when the day comes for Christ to return, our lives will also be judged. All the works, or everything we have done in our lives, will be revealed: “The day will set it forth manifestly.” Then what has no value will be sorted out.

So also at this point the idea that there is a day when the useless is dismissed. In a figurative language the apostle writes:

“For the day shall make it manifest, because it shall be revealed in fire. And what kind of work each one does, the fire will test. If any man’s work shall remain, which he hath built upon it, he shall receive reward. If any man’s work should burn, he shall forfeit it: but he himself shall be saved, but only as through fire.”
1Cor 3,13-15

Rescue is not in question here. In the context of this consideration, however, it becomes clear that without this purification process (“as through fire”), it will not continue. But what comes through, however little, has eternal value. What remains is what has made it across into the new era. There can even be comfort in that! That which has no value is in fact stripped away. Then you can also definitely leave old things behind.

A purification process

If we now read the Epistle to the Romans, and in it about the wrath of God, then this background plays a role in it. For those who will experience the wrath of God, it is not a bed of roses. But it is about their own unrighteousness – just as it will be with the community one day. For the world as a whole, this time is a time of judgment, but also a process of purification. It is the transition from this time to the next time.

Before God, the last word is still not spoken.