What Does God’s Wrath Reveal About His Holiness and His Love? (Wrath)
When people think about God, they often emphasize His love while neglecting His wrath. Yet the Bible presents both as essential to understanding who He is. God’s wrath is not an eternal attribute like holiness or love but a disposition—His holy reaction against sin and evil. It reveals what kind of God He is: utterly holy, perfectly just, and profoundly loving. Wrath is never arbitrary or impersonal; it is always God’s free and righteous response to human rebellion.
This article explores how God’s wrath reveals His holiness and His love, weaving together biblical testimony from Genesis to Revelation. As we will see, wrath is the necessary response of a holy God to sin, but also the very proof of His love for what is good, pure, and life-giving. For more on the attributes of God as a whole, see this overview.
1. Wrath as the Holy Response to Sin
The Bible consistently shows that God’s wrath flows from His holiness. Holiness means that God is set apart, pure, and morally perfect (Isaiah 6:3). Because of His holiness, He cannot tolerate sin. Wrath, then, is His holy reaction when His moral law is violated.
Examples throughout Scripture:
Adam and Eve – expelled from Eden (Genesis 3:23–24).
The Flood – destruction of the wicked while saving Noah and his family (Genesis 6–7).
Egypt’s plagues – judgments on Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt (Exodus 7–12).
Israel’s exile – wrath poured out when His people abandoned the covenant (2 Kings 17).
Each of these moments reveals:
Wrath is purposeful, not impulsive.
Wrath protects God’s holiness.
Wrath establishes justice for the oppressed.
Importantly, wrath is not intrinsic to God’s eternal being. Unlike holiness and love, which define who God is, wrath arises in response to evil. Once sin is fully dealt with in the new creation, wrath will cease (Revelation 21:4, 27).
2. Wrath as a Revelation of God’s Love
Although wrath may seem opposed to love, the Bible presents them as deeply connected. God’s wrath flows precisely because He loves. To love good is to hate evil; to love His creation is to oppose whatever destroys it.
We see this in the covenant with Israel:
Love expressed: God chose Israel as His people (Deuteronomy 7:7–8).
Wrath expressed: exile when they turned to idols (Jeremiah 25).
Purpose: discipline meant to restore, not annihilate (Hosea 11:8–9).
In the New Testament, Paul explains the connection in Romans:
“The wrath of God is revealed” (Romans 1:18).
“God shows his love… while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Wrath and love converge at the cross.
This creates a paradox that is not contradiction:
Without wrath, love would ignore evil.
Without love, wrath would be cruel vengeance.
Together, wrath and love reveal God’s holy commitment to righteousness and redemption.
3. Wrath and the Gospel of Christ
The Gospel reveals the fullest truth about God’s wrath. At the cross, Jesus bore the wrath of God against sin. This was not because the Father turned away in hatred but because in love, He bore judgment in our place (Isaiah 53:5–6; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Key truths about wrath and the Gospel:
Wrath satisfied – Christ took the penalty we deserved.
Love displayed – God gave His only Son to rescue sinners (John 3:16).
Holiness upheld – God’s law is not set aside but fulfilled in Christ.
Hope secured – Jesus “delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
Eschatological implications:
Wrath is not just past (the cross) but future (Revelation 14:10).
Believers face not wrath but vindication (Romans 8:1).
The Day of the Lord will bring both judgment on the wicked and salvation for the righteous.
Thus, wrath is inseparable from the Gospel. It magnifies holiness, underscores love, and frames our hope in the new creation.
4. Wrath as Temporary but Love as Eternal
Holiness and love are eternal attributes of God. Wrath is not. Wrath belongs to the present age of sin, and one day it will be no more. Revelation 21–22 gives a vision of the new creation where God dwells with His people, and every tear is wiped away. There, love and holiness remain forever, while wrath disappears because evil is gone.
We can summarize the contrast this way:
Holiness – Eternal. God is holy forever; His perfection never changes.
Love – Eternal. God is love (1 John 4:8), and His love endures without end.
Wrath – Temporary. Wrath arises only in response to sin and will cease when sin is no more.
This truth is critical for understanding the heart of God. Wrath reveals holiness and love, but it does not define God in eternity. Love is what endures.
Conclusion
God’s wrath is not an embarrassing part of the Bible to be explained away. It is the necessary, holy, and loving response of God to sin. Far from contradicting His love, wrath reveals its depth. A God who loves must also judge evil, or else His love is empty sentiment.
Through the Gospel, we see wrath and love together in perfect harmony: wrath poured out on sin, and love poured out on sinners through Christ. For believers, this brings both comfort and urgency. Comfort, because wrath is no longer our destiny in Christ. Urgency, because the day of final wrath approaches, when holiness will once and for all banish sin from God’s creation.
Wrath, then, teaches us to take God’s holiness seriously and to treasure His love more deeply. It points us to the cross, where holiness and love shine most clearly, and to the new creation, where wrath will be no more.
Bible Verses About God’s Wrath, Holiness, and Love
Romans 1:18 – “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.”
Romans 5:8–9 – “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”
John 3:36 – “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
Nahum 1:2–3 – “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God… the Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.”
Exodus 34:6–7 – “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love… but who will by no means clear the guilty.”
Psalm 7:11 – “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.”
Isaiah 13:9 – “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.”
Ephesians 2:3–4 – “We were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us…”
1 Thessalonians 1:10 – “Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
Revelation 21:4 – “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more… for the former things have passed away.”
