Back in May 2018, the Southern Baptist Convention had a series of what appeared to be #MeToo moments: accusations of an “avalanche of sexual misconduct” and alleged institutional cover-up that put the Convention squarely under the media microscope. Al Mohler wrote a confessional sort of op-ed in which he said, “The terrible swift sword of public humiliation has come with a vengeance.”
He entitled the piece “The Wrath of God Poured Out”.
The Druthers of Convention
At the time, I thought it overdramatic and a little weird. Mohler was not personally involved in any way. Can we really confess other people’s sins for them, or repent of things that have nothing to do with us? I guess Mohler probably felt the need to weigh in as president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a major figure in the denomination, but I still found it odd. The ballpark figure cited by the media of 700 accusations seems like a lot until you realize that these allegations covered a period of decades in a denomination with over 13 million members, which means the chances of any Southern Baptist being involved in any such incident in a given year is something like one in 234,522. You could go a lifetime in the SBC without ever encountering any of the involved parties. Bear in mind also that in 2018 we were in the middle of the #MeToo movement, when the media was hurling accusations like a food fight in a high school lunchroom. When the storm settled, it turned out many of these were either untrue, unsubstantiated or grossly exaggerated, but they sure beefed up the numbers.
We won’t get further into that today, though some of the specifics are relevant to this coming Tuesday’s post. What interests me this morning is Mohler’s use of the phrase “the wrath of God” to describe the public humiliation of a mixed bag of believers and hangers-on taking the name of Christ. At the time, I glossed over it. As I have continued to read through the New Testament, it struck me the phrase is more than a little inappropriate to use in this context.
The Wrath of God
Paul says this about the wrath of God in Ephesians:
“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them.”
Now, there are people in our churches, people within the evangelical community, who are comfortable taking the name of Christ while living sinful lives. That has always been the way, and it always will be. 1 Corinthians addresses that sad reality, as do the letters to the seven churches in Revelation. Like all sinners going back to Adam and Eve, when challenged about their way of living they will attempt to rationalize their behavior. Paul calls these excuses, justifications and attempts to reinterpret scripture “empty words” and attempts to deceive. “These things” — these same patterns of behavior to which deceivers cling — are the reason the wrath of God is unleashed on those who hate him.
Which Things?
Which things is he talking about? Well, Paul lists three characteristics of the “sons of disobedience”, and he wants the Ephesians to be sure these habits and patterns of living are never observed among them:
Sexual immorality: a reasonable translation of a Greek term that encompasses every form of sexual expression other than a monogamous, heterosexual married relationship with a partner who is legitimately available. Everything else is immoral.
Impurity: defilement, the opposite of holiness.
Covetousness: the greedy desire to accumulate more stuff, which usually comes at the expense of others.
These three things provoke the wrath of God, and living like this is the hallmark of men and women on their way to the lake of fire. Paul numbers these three among major offenses in other NT passages. In Colossians 3:5 they are things the believer is to mortify, or put to death. In Romans 1:29 they characterize those whom God has given up to a debased mind. Attempts to rationalize so-called Christians living like this are “empty”, vain or devoid of truth; they are not to be indulged. These behaviors blur the lines between light and darkness. The danger for the believer in engaging in them, however briefly, is not being subject to the wrath of God, but in becoming a “partner” with those who are its objects, compromising the testimony of God’s people and giving a false impression about Christians to the world.
The Children of Disobedience
Notice Paul’s phrasing here: “the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience”. He says the same in Colossians. No genuine believer is a son of disobedience. In the Lord’s parlance, it was a “generation of vipers” that needed to “flee from the wrath to come”. All but one of his disciples had already done so. When Jesus speaks of the wrath of God remaining on a man, it is the one who does not believe. Paul says the same: the wrath of God is revealed against those who “suppress the truth”. In context, these are clearly not God’s children. Those who treasure up wrath have “hard and impenitent” hearts. Believers? Never.
In fact, he says quite the opposite. Being “justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him [Christ] from the wrath of God”. Vessels of wrath are “fitted to destruction”, and we “were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind”. But that is not the case today. We have been bought by the blood of “Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come”.
In fact, there is not a single usage of the word translated “wrath” [orgÄ“] to be found in a context that unambiguously applies to Christians. It’s just not there.
Judgment, yes. It begins at the household of God.
Discipline, absolutely. Those God does not discipline are illegitimate and not sons.
Wrath, never.
Hide Us!
Small point? I don’t think so. A little richly-deserved public humiliation of a (comparatively) small number of Baptist thought leaders who got too big for their britches is not to be equated with the wrath of God. The wrath of God is a magnificent, majestic, terminal event. It is not something you can easily confuse with lesser indignities. The wrath of God and of the Lamb are mentioned six times in the book of Revelation, all of it directed against an unbelieving and rebellious world. Men and women will beg the rocks to fall on them to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. God’s wrath is associated with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, with the smiting of the nations and with the fall of great Babylon.
With you and me, whatever ugly situations we may get into in this life? Not so much. “Hide us” was the reaction of Adam and Eve. “Hide us” will be the reaction of the world. “Hide us” will never be the reaction of the believer because every use of the rod by God in our lives is for our own good and in aid of our eventual glorification.
If the Southern Baptist Convention or its members are truly the objects of God’s wrath, that says some scary things about the reality of Baptist professions. I think it extremely unlikely.
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