Grace and Love of God & the Wrath of Bloggers

Friends,

I am making an attempt this month to post at least one new post each day for the entire month. Part of that goal, however, is that I am not necessarily sitting down and planning what to write. I am just hopeful that something will strike me as worth my time and yours. It has happened again in a rather ironic sort of way.

You should know that a while back I removed a blog-roll link and an RSS from a horrible blog called Slice of Laodicea. At one time I was a loyal and steadfast reader of all things Slice. Once even, when the blog mysteriously disappeared, I wrote a short tribute to the blog and the author. I have since deleted it from the memory banks of my blog and I hope and pray that no one has it saved or on a screen shot. This is the brief history of my interaction with that horrible place that purports to be a place of Biblical orthodoxy and a guardian of truth. I learned the hard way that it is neither but rather a place to run down the church, christians, and to guard its own version of grace which is actually ‘un-grace.’

Well, about two months ago I swore off Slice. I simply decided that I had no use for the anger and hatred that is spewed from the keyboard of the author. So I quit. I’m glad I did. Today, however, I had a relapse and visited for the briefest of moments–just enough time to find this post linking to an article on ‘God’s wrath’ by AW Pink. Says the author of Slice: “I wonder how many pastors today would consider this material to be suitable for a sermon?” I have a couple of thoughts concerning this. (You might want to read the entire paragraph so that I am not misconstrued and so that you are convinced I have not overstepped the boundaries of interpretation with the details I provide below.) The essay by Pink is otherwise fantastic and I have no issue with the content as such except that it is devoid of any hopeful message of the Love of God and the grace of God except for a couple of passing mentions.  My problem is with the motivation behind the post and the link by the author of SOL–which is only so thinly veiled.

First, the author asks why this part of God’s character is never (her word) talked about today. My question is this: How do you know what is being preached in the thousands of churches across America each Sunday? Seriously, are we now required to report to the author of Slice our sermon topics, our Scripture references, our sermon outlines for her approval? How does the author know what is being preached and what is not? Of what concern is it to her what a man or woman called to preach the Gospel is led to preach at any given time? Furthermore, why should we preach about it when there are several blogs doing the job just fine on their own?

Second, the author opines that perhaps the reason people are uncomfortable preaching about it is because it doesn’t “comport with the God of our own creation, a God who is all love and grace and has no corollary of righteous anger.” Well, what of it? Of course people don’t want to come to worship on Sunday, most of those who happen to come to church are Christians and thus the message of God’s wrath is rather a moot point. The apostle himself said, “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Romans 5:9) Or, “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9) Why should I talk to my congregation about wrath when wrath is no longer a part of the equation for those saved by the blood of Christ? It might make sense to preach about it if I am talking to sinners in a tea house or a coffee shop or at K-Mart, but why does my congregation need to hear about it…ever? We have been saved from it!

Third, my point is not that talking about wrath should be avoided always, but that it is not the main idea of Scripture nor is it the only thing people need to hear about. Consider this. I ran some numbers using my handsome copy of Concordance to the Greek New Testament, 5th ed., ed Moulton & Geden. I looked up the Greek word for wrath (orge). I will grant that every usage of this word refers to something we call ‘God’s wrath against mankind’ (which it doesn’t), but I’ll grant it for the sake of the argument. I found that the word is used in 35 verses in the New Testament (I’m only working with the New Testament here. Also, for this exercise I am not using any derivatives or cognates. Only the root word itself.) 35 verses. One source I checked says there are a total of 7,956 verses in the New Testament and 138,020 words in the New Testament (Greek). Out of all those verses and words, ‘orge’ (wrath) appears 35 times. (See below for more.)

By way of comparison, the Greek word for ‘grace’ (charis) is used in 151 different verses and often more than once in a verse. That is more than a four to one ratio! Take it a step further and talk about the Greek word for love (agapao (verb) & agape (noun)). The verb form is used in 116 verses in the Greek New Testament. The noun form is used in another 113 verses in the Greek New Testament. That’s a total of 229 different verses. Did you know, for example, that of the 35 verses where ’orge’ is used in the NT the apostle John can be credited with 7 uses: 1 time in John 3:36 and 6 times in Revelation. He does not use it at all in any of his epistles (1, 2, 3 John). Not once! On the other hand, John uses the Greek verb for love (agapao) 54 times in his Gospel, three epistles, and the Revelation. If you throw in the noun form ‘agape’ there are 30 more verses where love appears in John. (A quick search at Biblegateway using the NIV reveals that ‘wrath’ in its purely English form appears in only 190 verses in both testaments, 161 in the Old!) John’s use of grace and love alone outweighs the entire NT usage of wrath! Would any of us say that John was neglecting his responsibilities? Would any of us say that John was a coward or missing the point?

Fourth, I also checked the essay by AW Pink that the author of Slice references and links to. In this short essay, or sermon, there are a grand total of 2,698 words. Of those, 2 are grace. If I counted correctly, there are 58 uses of the word ‘wrath.’ Please don’t misunderstand me, there is a time and place to talk about wrath, but it doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that Pink’s ratio of wrath to grace is far worse than is the New Testament. (BTW, ‘love’ appears all of four times in Pink’s sermon.) I’m not criticizing Pink for the sermon which is well thought out and almost exegetically sound. I will say this, however: Who on earth wants to hear only the bad news? If the NT authors, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit wrote about love and grace 380 times and wrath 35…well, what does that suggest about what our ratio should be when we preach and teach?

I wonder why the apostle John was so ‘uncomfortable’ writing about God’s ‘wrath’? Jesus himself, in John’s Gospel, talks of wrath only 1 time! (3:36). Was Jesus uncomfortable? In Matthew, the word ‘orge’ is never attributed to Jesus. In Mark it is never attributed (used) by Jesus. In Luke only 1 time, Luke 21:23. (See Matthew 3:7, Luke 3:7 where it is attributed (used) to John the Baptizer.) Well, my question is this: “Why is it that this part of God’s character [was never talked about by Jesus when He walked the earth among us]?” Was Jesus ashamed of this aspect of God’s character? He came from the same stock that produced the OT so why didn’t Jesus regularly spout off about God’s wrath? Had Jesus created his own comfortable God all about love and grace who possessed no corollary of righteous anger?

You see, this is the problem with armchair theologians and self-righteous judges who have blogs. They don’t know what they are talking about. I also checked the sidebar of SOL where ‘categories’ appears. You know what I found? You guessed it: Not one listing for the category ‘grace’ and not one listing for the category ‘love.’ I gave the author the benefit of the doubt and went to her other site, Hope in Laodicea. There the categories listing includes exactly 1 entry for love and exactly Zero for grace (I don’t know how to do screen shots, so it may change after this is published but as of right now, those are correct figures.) The apostle Paul wrote that ‘the wrath of God is being revealed’ (Romans 1:18). In other words, we don’t need to dwell on it because it is evident! It is all around us! It is being revealed, made manifest. What we need to be doing is preaching about the grace of God that saves people from the emptiness and shallowness and devastation that is all around us. In other words, people need some good news! We need to tell people how to be saved from wrath–I hardly think people need such detailed expositions of what wrath is when it is so clearly, plainly seen.

This is the problem with people who think they are making a point by referring to some stalwart of a generation gone by. Pink wrote that article in 1917 and what did it prove? Nothing. He wrote in the midst of a war that led to another war that was followed by still more war and even now more war. Pink was no pillar of anything and days were not better and the church was not better just because he managed to sit down to his typewriter and bang out an article on wrath to fill journal space. Was the world better off in 1917 because he did that? I think not!!! “Do not say, ‘why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.” (Ecclesiastes 7:10). I am sure Pink was masterful in his time, and, to be sure, we can learn from him, but if he had not love in his heart while prattling on about wrath, then I suspect he was nothing more than a whistle in the wind.

The author of SOL would do well to add the categories ‘grace’ and ‘love’ to her sidebar and to write some essays about how God’s grace saves us from wrath. To paraphrase her: a blog of all wrath and indignation and no love and grace is just a clanging cymbal in the wind, an empty chime bellowing out meaningless notes to a hollow people. Why is the author of SOL so terribly afraid of grace and love? I’ll remind her of another preacher who had the chance to lash out one time and instead wrote this:

 1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

All of her wrath and indignation will amount to nothing in this world or the next because the author of Slice has not love. I stand by that. Jesus said we even have to love our enemies, to love those who hate us, to love those who mistreat us. Where is the love? Where is the grace? Why is there no category in your life or your blog for grace and love? Why are you content with a God of wrath and misery and so terrified of the God who has forgiven me my sins as well as yours?

Anyhow, today I felt like writing about Grace. I have been consumed by it, overwhelmed by it, filling my cup under a waterfall, sitting at a table prepared for me in the presence of my enemies, living as someone for whom God is very fond. God’s message is not devoid of wrath, but I dare say that the message of wrath is overwhelmed by the message of God’s grace. A God whose character is devoid of love and grace is no god I can worship. A God who is all wrath and anger with no corollary of love and grace is nothing more than a tyrant and a deity, frankly, not fit to worship.

That’s my response to that horrible, terrifying paragraph at SOL. I hope the author learns about grace and love. I write this and post it in the hopes that maybe she will know grace and love and respond to God in love instead of fear. Finally, my question is this: I wonder if preachers have the nerve to find the love and grace of God to be a suitable subject for their preaching? I wonder what would happen if Christian preachers started preaching God’s love and grace? I wonder…

Soli Deo Gloria!

PS–this post has 2489 words. Not including the Greek transliterations, I used the word grace 26 times, the word love 37 times and the word wrath 31. About 2:1.