Now a brief summary of what we\u2019ve seen in the two passages about wrath in the Synoptic Gospels \u2026 and we\u2019ll get to John 3:36 when we get to the apostle John. When we get there, we may have to amend what we say today \u2026 we\u2019ll have to wait on that one.
\n1. The word \u201cwrath\u201d is found only twice in the Synoptics (Matt 3:7; Luke 21:23).
\n2. The word is expressed once by John the Baptist and once by Jesus.
\n3. When Jesus uses the word, it is apocalyptic and it is historical wrath: it refers to the act of God in judgment on Jerusalem because of the corruptness of its leaders. Historical wrath is a national rhetoric; the stuff of a newspaper-like broadside.
\n4. I am willing to say that both John and Jesus lived in the light of God\u2019s coming wrath against Jerusalem and Israel; that their messages were shaped by what they feared would happen to Israel if its leaders didn\u2019t respond. In this sense, then, \u201cwrath\u201d is \u201cevangelistic\u201d only in an indirect sense.
\n5. When Jesus does \u201cevangelize\u201d individual persons \u2014 take a good look at Matthew 8\u20139 and then Matthew 10 \u2014 wrath is not the language Jesus uses. Wrath is how Jesus talks to the leaders of Israel and to Israel as a nation of what may befall the nation if it does not change its ways.
\n6. Jesus does not motivate those who chose [check out, eg., Matt 4:16-20; 8:18-22; Luke 5:1-11 etc] to follow him [disciples] by the threat of God\u2019s wrath.
\n7. But, the threat of judgment is never far from Jesus\u2019 evangelistic message \u2014 and one can see this at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 7:13-27).
\nWe could say that Jesus predicted judgment on his opponents and those who chose not to follow him. Is this the same as \u201cevangelistic wrath\u201d in your judgment?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Now a brief summary of what we\u2019ve seen in the two passages about wrath in the Synoptic Gospels \u2026 and we\u2019ll get to John 3:36 when we get to the apostle John. When we get there, we may have to amend what we say today \u2026 we\u2019ll have to wait on that one.<\/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-4245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\n