The Very Angry God

Soon Christians from all over the world will celebrate the saving work of the cross. Unfortunately, in the understanding of many this saving work is a big pay off to an angry God. As it is perceived, God is angry at us. We have all sinned against him and because of his anger he plans to punish us all eternally in hell. It doesn’t matter how much or how less you have sinned, his wrath will be the same for all. At the same time, they believe the angry God loves us. Consequently, in order to appease his own anger, he sent his one and only Son to be punished in our place.

As you just heard, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ becomes our means to pay off God’s anger. This is what many Christians hold sacred and this why atheists rightly mock them. Why would anyone want to serve a God like this? I mean, if any human being acted like this we would deem them mentally ill or sadistic. Does God get angry????, there should be no doubt! The scriptures are clear that there will be a wrath of God and that Christ does save us from that (1Thessolians 1:10). However, the cross is by no means a payoff to a God who can’t control his anger.

St. Gregory the Theologian once asked to whom is the blood of Christ offered? He said that we were detained in bondage by the Evil One, sold under sin, and receiving pleasure in exchange for wickedness. He then asks, since a ransom belongs only to him who holds in bondage, I ask to whom was this offered, and for what cause? He then says, if this blood is offered to the Evil one it would be an outrage and asks how could the blood be offered to the Father since He was not the one whom kept us in bondage.

I think Saint Gregory the Theologian would say to those that believe Christ’s blood is for the appeasement of God’s anger: “on what principle did the Blood of His Only begotten Son delight the Father”. The fact is there is nowhere in scripture where God demands a human death to appease his wrath. This is how some pagan religions worshiped their gods and not how Christians should understand the cross. In contrast, St. Gregory the Theologian makes the point that Christ is sacrificed for the sake of humanity, not God’s anger.

Christ shed his blood not to appease the Father’s anger. He did not die to save us from an angry god’s hellish wrath.  Christ died in order to destroy everything that was keeping us from the Father. As its says in Romans 6:6, “our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin”. As it teaches, the cross is not the place where God’s anger is appeased. It is the place where our sinful nature is “done away with”.

Christ through His death ransoms us from a fallen nature so that we can become children of God. When the Father looks at the cross he sees the means by which humanity can return to Him. The truth is God does get angry, there will be a hell, and the wicked will be judged. Yes, a fallen nature can bring about all these things. But, as I said, Christ did not die for the purpose of these things. He died to destroy everything that was keeping us from God and did so on the cross(1Peter 2:24) .

Forgiveness of sin by the shed blood of Christ is not some legal action that placates God anger. Rather, it is the means for becoming a new creation. Our old fallen nature was nailed to the cross and in exchange Christ offers to us His nature. There is no angry God at the cross. There is only the one who became what we are so that we can become what He is.