The Passive Wrath of God
The Passive Wrath of God It’s long been acknowledged that there are two ways that God’s wrath manifests itself: active and passive. God’s active wrath is that anger of God expressed in his doing something to punish sin. This active wrath manifests itself in things like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and in people like Ananias and Sapphira being struck down dead. The other aspect of God’s wrath is of the passive sort. This kind of wrath is when God lets people go on in sin leading to their own suffering and destruction. God doesn’t have to do anything but sinful people themselves make their own decisions and basically self-destruct. In Romans 1:18-32 is one of the clearest texts where God’s passive wrath is shown. In it the apostle Paul explains that because people suppressed the truth (that they were perfectly aware of God) and ignored God instead by living in their own sinfulness, God gave them over. There it is. ...