{"id":4240,"date":"2008-05-20T00:10:38","date_gmt":"2008-05-20T05:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/"},"modified":"2008-05-20T00:10:38","modified_gmt":"2008-05-20T05:10:38","slug":"wrath-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Wrath 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Well, after our conversation yesterday we\u2019re ready to dive in. To be honest, this is the sort of issue that could take about fifty directions, one of which would be to canvass the Old Testament on \u201cwrath.\u201d Readers of that First Testament, in John Goldingay\u2019s terms, know just how prevalent wrath is in those pages. (I typed in \u201cwrath\u201d into the TNIV and found 160 hits in the OT.) Because I have no desire to do a series for months and months on this topic, I\u2019ll examine enough references in the New Testament to give us all we need.
\nBy the way, I just pulled down two books from my shelves \u2014 Vanhoozer\u2019s exceptional The Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible<\/a>\"\"<\/em> and John Corrie\u2019s new Dictionary of Mission Theology<\/a>\"\"<\/em>. Neither of which had an entry on \u201cwrath.\u201d
\nWhat I will do is proceed by author through the New Testament and I will do so in a roughly chronological manner. Which means John\u2019s Gospel will be treated later rather than earlier because its singular reference bears strong resemblance to the Apocalypse of John \u2014 but we\u2019ll wait until then to examine how John uses the idea of wrath. So, I will begin with Jesus in the Synoptics, Paul, Hebrews and John.
\nAnd, to keep this from getting too big, we\u2019ll focus on two words: wrath (thumos<\/em>) and anger (orge<\/em>). We could expand this dramatically by including every reference to any kind of historical judgment \u2014 eg Mark 13\u2019s prediction of Jerusalem\u2019s downfall \u2014 but we\u2019ll only bring such texts in when necessary.
\nMatt 3:7 and Luke 3:7 \u2014 from the lips of John the Baptist: \u201cBut when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: \u201cYou brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? (Matt)
\nJohn said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, \u201cYou brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?\u201d (Luke)
\nJB believes God\u2019s wrath is about to come upon the Land of Israel and its corrupt rulers (?). It is hard to know why, but one good suggestion is because Israel (John picks, as yoiu know, on Herod Antipas and on the Pharisees and Sadducees) has been unfaithful.
\nWhat does wrath mean here? To know the specifics, one has to assume the content of the Old Testament \u2014 so I would propose that John has in mind the impending doom on Israel at the level of a historical judgment (historical wrath). John\u2019s language sounds like the OT prophets warnings of impending judgments on the nation, eg the Assyrian or Babylonian captivities. Which means John has in mind the Romans or something similar.
\nIs this \u201cimpersonal\u201d? That is, is this just the inevitable, time-space, historical consequences of stupid complicities with Rome or is this an act of God? I think the old \u201cimpersonal\u201d theory of wrath (AT Hanson and others) doesn\u2019t cut it. Yes, historical wrath is the time-space consequences of stupid behaviors (take drugs, you suffer; suffering is then seen as God\u2019s wrath for bad behaviors). But, if God made the world of consequences then historical wrath is also connected to God.
\nIs John\u2019s usage \u201cevangelistic\u201d? Well, it might seem so at first, but I\u2019m not so sure. Is John warning those who come to him to repent or experience God\u2019s wrath? Not clear to me. What he is doing is showing surprise that Jewish leaders are coming to him for baptism and he asks them a simple question: Who warned you to flee from the wrath? That\u2019s not quite an evangelistic usage but it\u2019s close.
\nWhat do you think?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, after our conversation yesterday we\u2019re ready to dive in. To be honest, this is the sort of issue that could take about fifty directions, one of which would be to canvass the Old Testament on \u201cwrath.\u201d Readers of that First Testament, in John Goldingay\u2019s terms, know just how prevalent wrath is in those pages. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[337],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nWrath 2<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Well, after our conversation yesterday we're ready to dive in. To be honest, this is the sort of issue that could take about fifty directions, one of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wrath 2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Well, after our conversation yesterday we're ready to dive in. To be honest, this is the sort of issue that could take about fifty directions, one of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-05-20T05:10:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jescre-20&l=ur2&o=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/\",\"name\":\"Wrath 2\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-05-20T05:10:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-05-20T05:10:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Well, after our conversation yesterday we're ready to dive in. To be honest, this is the sort of issue that could take about fifty directions, one of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Wrath 2\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wrath 2","description":"Well, after our conversation yesterday we're ready to dive in. To be honest, this is the sort of issue that could take about fifty directions, one of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wrath 2","og_description":"Well, after our conversation yesterday we're ready to dive in. To be honest, this is the sort of issue that could take about fifty directions, one of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2008-05-20T05:10:38+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jescre-20&l=ur2&o=1"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/","name":"Wrath 2","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-05-20T05:10:38+00:00","dateModified":"2008-05-20T05:10:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"Well, after our conversation yesterday we're ready to dive in. To be honest, this is the sort of issue that could take about fifty directions, one of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/05\/20\/wrath-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Wrath 2"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}