FOR GOD HAS NOT DESTINED US
FOR WRATH: hoti ouk etheto (3SAMI) hemas o theos eis orgen:
(1
Thessalonians 1:10;
3:3;
Exodus 9:16;
Proverbs 16:4;
Ezekiel 38:10-17;
Matthew 26:24;
Acts 1:20,25;
Acts 13:48;
Romans 9:11-23;
2 Timothy 2:19,20;
1 Peter 2:8;
2 Peter 2:3;
Jude 1:4)
For (3754)(hoti)
means since, because, for (this reason) here introduces the reason
that as believers, we must put on our armor, especially the helmet,
the hope of salvation.
Still the
small inward voice I hear,
That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Still the atoning blood is near,
That quenched the wrath of hostile heaven.
-- from Charles Wesley's
And Can It Be That I Should Gain?
Destined (5087)
(tithemi) means first to set, to place or to put. Here it is
used figuratively to mean appoint. Our salvation proceeds from God's
appointment. It is connected with the past act and deliberate purpose
of God. The use of the
middle voice
indicates that that God thus acted in His own interest, while the
aorist tense
indicates this event occurred in the past and was a completed event.
God, Who acted according to His own will and good pleasure, has
destined believers to salvation as His gracious intention for us.
This is a cause for rejoicing for believers do not have an
"appointment" with God's wrath! Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus, the Lamb
of God Who bore our deserved wrath.
In His message to the church at
Philadelphia Jesus declared...
'Because you have kept the word of
My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that
hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who
dwell upon the earth. (cf note
Revelation 3:10) (Comment:
Many commentators take this as a promise promise that believers will
be delivered from the time of the Great Tribulation that will come
upon the entire earth Mt 24:14-21).
Wrath (3709) (orge
from orgaô = to
teem, to swell) from the idea of a swelling which eventually bursts,
orge then applies more to an anger that proceeds from one’s
settled nature
Hiebert makes the important
point that...
God wills not our destruction but
our salvation. He has no intention that we should become the subjects
of His wrath, fall under its punitive action, when the day of "sudden
destruction" (see note
1Thessalonians 5:3)
falls upon the unsaved. He cherishes no angry purposes toward His
redeemed children; the divine wrath against sin was diverted from us
when by faith we were united with "the Son of his love" (see note
Colossians 1:13).
Wrath is the destiny of Christ rejecting souls. (Ibid)
Orge in this verse describes God's holy, righteous wrath, which
is not an uncontrollable anger His settled opposition to and
displeasure with sin. God’s wrath is his holy hatred of all that
is unholy, His righteous indignation against everything that is
unrighteous. The picture of the orge of God is an
inner, deep resentment that seethes and smolders.
If indeed the
Day of the Lord commences at the midpoint of the last 7
years and the Great Tribulation begins with bowl
judgments filled with God's wrath, it would appear that the wrath Paul
is referring to here is that described in Revelation 6-19, although obviously
it all culminates in the Lake of fire which is a manifestation of His
eternal wrath. Either way this truth by Paul is good news...we are
delivered (the meaning of the word soteria translated "salvation")
from the wrath to come (cp see note
1Thessalonians 1:10, 2Th 1:7-9).
Orge represents
God's settled indignation and controlled passionate hostile
feeling toward sin in all its various manifestations. "Settled"
indignation means that God’s holiness cannot and will not coexist with
sin in any form whatsoever. Orge is not the momentary, emotional, and
often uncontrolled anger (thumos) to which human beings are prone.
Orge as used of God
refers to His constant and controlled indignation toward sin, while
thumos (which originally referred to violent movements of air,
water, etc., and consequently came to mean “well up” or “boil up”)
refers more to a passionate outburst of rage. Thumos type anger
represents an agitated, vehement anger that rushes along relentlessly.
The root meaning has to do with moving rapidly and was used of a man’s
breathing violently while pursuing an enemy in great rage!
Orge of God describes the strongest kind of
anger which builds and builds until it reaches the end of God’s patience and tolerance
with unregenerate, unrepentant mankind and swells into His final,
furious anger which He pours out on all those who have persistently
rebelled against Him.
William Barclay writes
that...
The Greeks defined thumos
as the kind of anger which is like the flame which comes from straw;
it quickly blazes up and just as quickly subsides. On the other hand,
they described ogre as anger which has become habitual...Orge
is anger which has become inveterate; it is long-lasting, slow-burning
anger, which refuses to be pacified and nurses its wrath to keep it
warm...To the Christian the burst of temper and the long-lived anger
are both alike forbidden." (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press
or
Logos)
Larry Richards in
describing God's anger writes that...
The OT clearly specifies what human
actions provoke God to anger. The NT treats wrath as a basic
relational state, showing that the unsaved are under God's wrath. But
God never acts capriciously in his anger. He always acts in full
harmony with his character as a loving, forgiving, compassionate, and
just person." (Richards,
L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency)
Arthur Pink defined God’s
wrath as...
His eternal detestation of all
unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Divine
equity against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity
against sin” (Arthur W. Pink, The Attributes of God, p83).
Bishop Trench defines
orge as
a wrath of God who would not love
good unless He hated evil, the two being inseparable, that He must do
both or neither.” Trench adds that
orge
is an anger “which righteous men not merely may, but as they are
righteous, must feel; nor can there be a surer and sadder token of an
utterly prostrate moral condition than the not being able to be angry
with sin—and sinners” (Trench,
R. C. Synonyms of the New Testament. Hendrickson Publishers. 2000)
Orge
is used of our Lord when, after healing the man with the withered
hand, He observed the hardness of heart of the Pharisees, and looked
upon them with anger (Mk 3:5).
C H Spurgeon writes that...
The wrath of God does
not end with death. This is a truth which the preacher cannot mention
without trembling, nor without wondering that he does not tremble
more. The eternity of punishment is a thought which crushes the heart.
You have buried the man, but you have not buried his sins. His sins
live and are immortal. They have gone before
him to judgment, or they will follow after him to bear their witness
as to the evil of his heart and the rebellion of his life. The Lord
God is slow to anger, but when He is once aroused to it, as He will be
against those who finally reject his Son, he will put forth all his
omnipotence to crush his enemies." He adds that "I am certain that to
preach the wrath of God with a hard heart, a cold lip, a tearless eye,
and an unfeeling spirit is to harden men, not benefit them...The
conscience of man, when he is really quickened and awakened by the
Holy Spirit, speaks the truth. It rings the great alarm bell. And if
he turns over in his bed, that great alarm bell rings out again and
again, "The wrath to come! The wrath to come! The
wrath to come!...There is no trouble like genuine conviction of
sin. Racks, scorpions, death—these are troubles to be laughed at, as
compared with the weight of guilt pressing on the conscience, the
sight of an angry God, and the fear of the wrath to come."
J. I. Packer sounds a sad
note writing that
the subject
of divine wrath
has become taboo in modern society, and
Christians by and large have accepted the taboo and conditioned
themselves never to raise the matter (Knowing God, p. 149).
Vine has an interesting
insight writing that...
The subject of the
wrath
of
God
recurs throughout the first part of the Epistle
(2:5,
8; 3:5; 4:15; 5:9; 9:22). In this Epistle, which treats
especially of the gospel, the differing attributes of God are set
forth in a manner which reveals His character as a whole. While the
gospel reveals Him as infinitely merciful, His mercy is not
characterized by leniency toward sin. The Scriptures never reveal one
attribute of God at the expense of another. The revelation of His
wrath is essential to a right understanding of His ways in grace." (Vine,
W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson
or
Logos)
The Shaw Pocket Bible
Handbook has the following note on "God's Wrath"...
In Scripture, God’s strong and
vigorous opposition to everything evil. There is a Greek verb that can
be used both of anger and of the swelling of buds as the sap rises. It
points to the kind of anger that results from a settled and consistent
disposition, and not to a losing of one’s temper. God’s wrath is
like that, rather than like human anger on a grand scale. With us,
wrath always has elements of passion, lack of self-control, and
irrationality. The wrath of God does not." (The Shaw Pocket Bible
Handbook, Walter A. Elwell, Ed, Harold Shaw Publ., Wheaton , IL; 1984)
The respected expositor
Albert Barnes writes that ...
It is clear that when we think of
the word “wrath” as applicable to God, it must be divested of
everything that is like human passion, and especially the passion of
revenge. It is one of the most obvious rules of interpretation that we
are not to apply to God passions and feelings which, among us, have
their origin in evil. [God’s wrath] is the opposition of the divine
character against sin; and the determination of the divine mind to
express that opposition in a proper way, by excluding the offender
from the favors which He bestows on the righteous. We admire the
character of a father who is opposed to disorder, vice, and
disobedience in his family, and who expresses his opposition in a
proper way. We admire the character of a ruler who is opposed to all
crime in the community, and who expresses those feelings in the law.
Why shall we not be equally pleased with God, who is opposed to all
crime in all parts of the universe, and who determines to express His
opposition in the proper way for the sake of preserving order and
promoting peace?
A W Tozer said that...
The holiness of God, the wrath
of God and the health of the creation are inseparably united. Not
only is it right for God to display anger against sin, but I find it
impossible to understand how He could do otherwise
One of the great tragedies of
modern Christianity, which sadly has crept into much of
evangelicalism, is the failure to preach and teach the wrath of God
and the condemnation it brings upon all with unforgiven sin.
Instead how often does one hear a truncated, sentimental gospel that
is frequently presented today falls far short of the gospel that Jesus
and Paul proclaimed. Examine any 19th century Psalter and you will note
that many of the psalms in those hymnals emphasize the wrath of God,
just as much of the book of Psalms itself emphasizes His wrath. It is
tragic that few hymns or other Christian songs today reflect that
important biblical focus. Both the Old and New Testament consistently
emphasize God’s righteous wrath.
Ray Pritchard has the
following note on the forgotten doctrine of God's wrath declaring
that...
It is truly a forgotten doctrine,
even in the evangelical church. I’ll dare say that many of you have
never heard a sermon on God’s
wrath—that
is, not a full sermon devoted to this one topic. The reasons for this
apparent neglect are not hard to find. Most of us would rather hear
about love and grace. I know I would rather preach about God’s grace.
After all, to speak of the
wrath of God
makes us appear narrow-minded, judgmental, and God help us,
fundamentalist...God’s
wrath is difficult to
comprehend, so in some ways, this is a doctrine that is easy to
overlook. The thought that nice people we know might someday go to
eternal hell is so overwhelming—and so disheartening—that we’d much
rather not think about it at all." (Forgotten
Doctrine: The Wrath of God)
(Bolding added)
BUT FOR OBTAINING SALVATION
THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST: alla eis peripoiesin soterias dia tou
kuriou hemon Iesou Christou: (Romans
11:7,30;
2 Thessalonians 2:13,14;
1 Timothy 1:13,16;
2 Timothy 2:10;
1 Peter 2:10;
2 Peter 1:1)
But for obtaining - This
strong contrast introduces the positive aspect of God's intention for
believers - for obtaining salvation. This
could be rendered but for the purpose of experiencing salvation.
Note that he does not say "attain" but "obtain" for we can do nothing
to attain salvation.
Obtaining (4047) (peripoiesis from
perí = acquisition + poiéo = make) means literally to
make around and the idea is the obtaining of something in its
completeness. It describes the act of
obtaining something or the experience of acquiring something for
oneself. The idea in 1Thes 5:9 is of the possessing of salvation
as our present property! It refers to the experience of an event or
state which has been acquired.
Salvation (4991) (soteria
from
soter = Savior in turn from
sozo = save, rescue, deliver) (Click
here or
here for in depth discussion of the
related terms, the noun Savior or
soter and the verb, to save or
deliver,
sozo) describes the rescue or
deliverance from danger, destruction and peril. "Salvation"
is a broader term in Greek than we often think of in
English. Other concepts that are inherent in soteria include
restoration to a state of safety, soundness, health and well being as
well as preservation from danger of destruction.
The idea of salvation is
that the power of God rescues people from the penalty of sin, which is
spiritual death which is followed by eternal separation from the
presence of His Glory. Salvation delivers the believer from the
power of sin (see discussion on Romans 6-8 beginning at
Romans 6:1-3)
Salvation
carried tremendous meaning in Paul’s day, the most basic being “deliverance,”
and it was applied to personal and national deliverance. The emperor
was looked on as a "savior" as was the physician who healed you of
illness.
It is interesting that Collin's
(secular) dictionary defines "salvation" as
"the act of preserving or the state
of being preserved from harm...deliverance by redemption from the
power of sin and from the penalties ensuing from it."!
In short, this so great a
salvation is not just escape from the penalty of sin but includes
the ideas of safety, deliverance from slavery and preservation from
danger or destruction.
In addition, this so great a
salvation includes the idea of what is often referred to as the
Three Tenses of Salvation
(justification = past tense salvation = deliverance from sin's
penalty, sanctification = present tense salvation = deliverance from
sin's power and glorification = future tense salvation = deliverance
from sin's presence). It follows that the discerning student will
check the context to determine which
of the three "tenses" a given use of soteria is referring to.
Here in 1Thessalonians 5:9 soteria
refers to future tense salvation as well as meaning #3 below.
The meaning of soteria can be
summarized by the following 3 aspects...
1) A physical deliverance -
rescue from danger deliverance, preservation, safety. For example the
writer of Hebrews records that...
By faith Noah, being warned by God
about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the
salvation (soteria) of his household, by which he condemned the
world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to
faith. (see note
Hebrews 11:7
