Can There be Love in God's Wrath?
In the debate over Infinite Grace we have two sides, both saying they are right in their view of God. One says God is this way, and here are my scriptures to prove I am right and here are my scriptures to prove that your scriptures really don’t mean what they say. The other side does the same.
The problem is, IMO, that both sides have a point. The scriptures clearly say that God punishes (or punished depending how you look at it) the wicked. There are those whose fate is eternal destruction, and there are those whom God hates. Yet, on the other hand, there are scriptures that say God’s is love and His grace has no bounds. If this is so, how can God hate someone? If grace is infinite, how could anyone be outside its boundaries? How can all those “God saved all” scriptures really not mean all?
Some present “free will” as a solution to this problem. “We have free will,” they say. “Our will can negate the grace and love of God. If we don’t accept Christ, He will not accept us.” Yet, is this argument really a good one? Suppose there is a Muslim that hears from the day he is born that Jesus was a failed prophet, so he never embraces Christ. On the other hand, I from the day I was born hear nothing but the fact that Jesus is Lord and Savior, so I readily accept Him. If this is free will, some people’s will is freer than others.
Others say that God saves only the elect. Most are destined for Hell. That is easy for you to say. You count yourself as one of the elect. As long as you are not going to burn forever, everything is fine. It seems to me there was another group of people in Jesus day that had this same attitude. They believed there were certain people that were born to be rejected by God. There were three groups in particular that were unclean— the gentiles, the infirm, and, certain sinners like tax collectors and such. The gentiles especially were born dogs and they would die like dogs.
You may protest, and say that we try to reach the lost. Certain groups in Jesus day did not. They were clean, others were unclean, and never the two shall meet. Yet, if the idea of election is true, it really does not matter. There are those who are born dogs and will die like dogs, and this is our loving God’s will!
On the other hand, there are many scriptures which promise God’s wrath upon the sinful and unbelieving whether they are predestined for such an end or if they choose such an end. The Bible says it, dog gone it, it can’t be wrong.
Yet, if both of these arguments are true, we are left with a God who is somewhat schizophrenic. He is a God of infinite wrath and He is a God of infinite mercy. He can’t be both. Or can He?
Many folks in this debate begin with the assumption that God’s wrath and His kindness are mutually exclusive. It is either/or. We can know God’s wrath or His kindness. It is impossible to know both. However, is this very assumption the problem? Is it possible that God’s wrath is also His kindness? Is it possible that God could love those whom He hates? Could God destroy eternally, yet at the very same time save eternally? Before you say no, let us look at a few scriptures that might imply that this is in fact very possible
“…God is love.” I John 4:8
One problem that those who believe in a never ending hell have is how to reconcile non-redemptive suffering with the fact that God is love. Many believe the two ideas simply are incompatible. How could God destroy eternally those whom He loves? I believe the ideas that Infinite Grace presents solves this dilemma. Infinite Grace says that God can destroy eternally those whom He loves yet save them at the same time.
Throughout the old testament and the new we see the day of the Lord as a time of great wrath yet also a day of great deliverance. The traditional view is that this day contained only wrath for the unbelieving and no mercy, and of course the believing obtained fullness of mercy and grace. Yet, is it possible that the unbelieving received judgment and mercy? This seems to be what passages such a Romans chapter eleven seem to be saying.
How could this be so? If we see how the following could be, then perhaps we can understand how the unbelieving received both judgment and deliverance at the Parousia.
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:23-27 Of course we know that the word “life” in this passage can be translated “soul”)
“but whoever loses his soul for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” How can losing one’s soul result in its salvation? How can saving your own soul result in its loss? (It seems that this life or soul is lost one way or another) Exactly what did Jesus mean that they would have to lose their soul to follow Him, and how is this possible to do and still live?
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Gal 2:20)
How is it possible for Paul to have died yet still live? We know that the old Paul (or Saul) died with Christ at the cross, and the new Paul lives through the resurrection. Yet, what does this mean? What was lost at the cross that was so great, that Paul said he was no longer living? How could it be possible to die yet live?
The Three Types of Death
To begin to understand these things, we must realize the Bible speaks of three kinds of death. Failure to recognize all three can lead to confusion and perhaps misinterpretation on the scriptures.
There is physical death. We all understand this one. The problem is many futurists believe this is the only death the Bible speaks of. When Paul spoke of the defeat of death, they believe he was speaking of this sort of death. As we all know, this leads to all sorts of eschatological misunderstandings.
There is spiritual death. Obviously, Paul is not speaking of physical death in Ephesians chapter two. “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, (Eph. 2:1).” Preterists view this death not as physical but relational. It is separation from God or being separate from the life of Christ.
Yet, there is a third sort of death that even preterists often fail to recognize. We already saw this type of death in the passages above. Below are those passages along with a few others.
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Gal. 2:20
Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. Rom. 7:4
But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Gal. 6:14
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Rom. 6:6
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
Luke 9:23-25
This third sort of death is obviously not physical nor is it spiritual death. It is covenantal or the soul death that Jesus talked about.
When we begin to understand the covenantal or soul-death that the scriptures speak of, we begin to see how the unbelieving perished at His coming, yet were saved. If it is possible to lose one’s soul and yet live, and if it is possible to die yet live, it is possible to perish at His coming yet live.
Love and Hate?
John says that God is love. Yet, the Bible says that there are those whom God hated. How can He love and hate at the same time?
it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.” Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” Rom 9:12-13
Of course we know that Jacob was a type of the New (younger) Covenant and Esau was a type of the Old Covenant. It was that Old Covenant man that God hated. It was the old creation that was fleshly—of the potential of man—that God hated. It was that old covenant man whose righteousness was self-righteousness and who was sold into bondage to sin and who was under the reign of death and Satan that God despised.
Such was Esau. Such was Paul at one time. This was their identity. This was who they were through and through. Yet, the very thing they were had to be lost if they were to enter God’s presence. Yet, who would help these wretched men whom God hated? The very One who loved them.
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 2 Cor 5:14
That old covenant man perished at the cross. What we see from Pentecost to the Parousia was the working out and revealing of all that Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection—the death of the old creation and the birth of the new.
So, what remained for those who refused to take part in the covenant transformation that was taking place in that first generation? They experienced the perishing of the old creation at his coming as all that Jesus accomplished at the cross was revealed.
So, did they die and suffer the loss of all things? Yes, they did. They lost their souls. Yet, the God who loved them saved them, and thus “All Israel was saved.”
By Doug Reed
