Understanding God without Wrath

God the Punisher?  Understanding God without Wrath.

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him

Psalms 103:10-11 (NRSV)

Time and again we find in the Bible stories of God’s wrath, God’s judgment, God’s condemnation, God’s willful destruction of another.  And we find God commanding the people to fight wars, destroy people, and even kill everything in a city – men, women, children, and livestock.  And the prevailing interpretation of Jesus’ death on the cross is that he had to atone for sinful humankind – pay the price we could not pay in order to be acceptable to God.  If you read and knew only these stories then you would have a picture of God as a vindictive, punishing, brutal, sadistic wrathful God.

But there are other stories, other passages that show God as a loving father, a brooding hen, a rock, a shepherd, a fortress, a healer, a gardener, an artist.  And look again and you would find a thread, a current that runs from Genesis to Revelation that portrays God as loving and gracious, as benevolent and kind, as patient and understanding, as forgiving and transforming.  It all depends on your outlook, what you want to see, what you need God to be, which of the many images and attributes of God in the Bible you will focus on and emphasize.

In the last 1500 years Christianity has focused upon a heaven and hell framework; the idea that the goal of human existence is to be saved so that you can spend eternity in heaven instead of suffering eternal torment in hall.  Since Christianity has focused upon this goal it has taken the Biblical stories that portray God as a warrior, a judge, a punishing father, etc and made them the emphasis; dictating that only those who are worthy will circumvent the punishment they deserve and spend eternity in bliss.  It goes on, we are at our core sinful and if something isn’t done, something we cannot do for ourselves then the only possible recourse for God is to punish us.  So Jesus comes to die, die so that the sin, the debt owed God by humankind can be paid by Godself thereby making those who affirm a core set of statements to be true worthy of God’s grace and love.

To let this be the focus of Christianity is to miss a lot of what is in the Bible and the tradition of the Church.  The words of Psalm 103 give us a sense of the alternative view I’m talking about:

[God] does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him

And the first real story of the God of grace and love taking over for the God of judgment and punishment is the story of Noah and the Ark.  You all know this story so I won’t retell it now.  But don’t miss the significance of the ending.  When the flood as receded and the Ark emptied and God is connecting with Noah something unheard of happens, something of critical importance that shows us God in a whole new light.

It is the rainbow connection.  This is a covenant, a promise made between two parties where one has more power than the other and a part of the covenant is a limiting of that power.  The Bible is full of these covenants especially between God and a human.  But this covenant, this connection is different:

1.       The covenant is not only with a human but with all humans present and future and not just with Israel or the descendents of Abraham but with all people

2.       Not only is this covenant with all people everywhere but it is also with all living things – the scope of the covenant is cosmic and universal

3.       And what is even more amazing about this covenant is that only one party speaks and only one party agrees to anything and that one party is God who covenants with all living things.  This is an act of a free and generous God on behalf of a world that didn’t ask for it or earn it or even respond to it.

This rainbow connection is a promise that God will no longer operate in creation as a warrior God, as a punishing and wrathful God.  God has hung the undrawn bow up and promised to never again take it down.

So the Flood Story isn’t about rain or animals or righteousness or humanity at all.  The Flood Story is about the rainbow, about God’s covenant to never again punish or destroy.  It is about God’s approach to humankind being one of unlimited patience and forbearance.  God promises, “Never again!” and from that point forward death, evil, and destruction ARE NOT rooted in the anger or rejection of God.  The connection between creator and creature is no longer based on retribution, now it is founded upon unqualified grace.

The undrawn bow, the weapon of God, is now hung up.  God no longer pursues an enemy.  God will no longer be provoked to use God’s weapon.  Humanity and all creation are now protected from God’s impatience with humanity.  No longer will the connection, the relationship between creature and creator be marked by hostility, it now will be marked by commitment.  God’s commitment to the universe that no matter what we do, no matter how out of step we get with God’s will and way, God will never again inflict punishment upon us.  The Flood Story is God’s response to the very real truth that we will never be able to measure up to all God desires of us, all God dreams for us.  But it shows us that what we cannot do for ourselves God will do or more accurately God will not punish us when we come up short.  Our hope is in God’s promise of grace, the hope of tomorrow being better than today, the hope that we can partner with God to transform ourselves and our world into the dream God has for all people and creation.

This story of God’s grace and love winning over God’s bent to punish and destroy is the foundation of the Gospel.  It is a critical step in the story of salvation that runs through Jesus and beyond.  What God called good in creation, now God promises to maintain and not destroy and in Jesus what God has promised not to destroy is shown the power of love and the means of grace.  God is all about grace and love.  It’s not that we aren’t loved or accepted or that God is so angry at us for what we have done.  God doesn’t care about all that.  All God cares about is that we sincerely desire to transform ourselves and that we want to help God transform the world.  God loves us as we are; period!  Grace really is true!  God is love!