The True Meaning of GRACE
The concept of God’s “grace” is thrilling beyond words. It shines its brightest, however, against the seemingly dark backdrop of another aspect of our Creator’s nature — that of sacred wrath . The Wrath of God The most common Greek word for “wrath” is orge . The term occurs 36 times in the New Testament ( Rom. 1:18; 2:5). Another expression denoting “wrath” is thymos (18 times; Rev. 16:19; 19:15). Most scholars make some distinction between the terms. Some suggest that thymos is “boiling” anger, whereas orge reflects an “abiding and settled” state of mind. Perhaps the two terms in concert denote the intense and sustained disposition of God towards evil and those who abandon themselves to it. But wrath, as used of God, does not suggest an impulsive, emotional reaction, as the term frequently does with humans. Rather, divine wrath is the reflection of a deliberate and measured reaction of a perfectly holy Being toward sin — a response that is entirely consistent with the rig...