I don’t know what each of us might think the wrath of God actually looks like, but Romans 1 is offering us a bit of help with that. The Bible is the story of God constantly reaching across the threshold into human history, into human lives to mend what is broken and make something new. But when God’s wrath is revealed (Romans 1:18-32), that crossing of the threshold stops taking place. The wrath of God means God is leaving the crooked human heart to the consequences of its crookedness. If the human heart is determined to worship things that shouldn’t be worshiped, God won’t necessarily step in to course correct. This is what the wrath of God looks like.
The big problem in Romans 1 is described as ungodliness, injustice, and a problem of worship. The human heart is pointing its love in all the wrong directions and idolatry goes unchecked. The world is looking for meaning, belonging, security, and joy in all the wrong places, which gives birth to all kinds of depravity. Desire that can never be fulfilled. Bottomless sexual appetites. And, oh yeah, things like murder and deceit and slander.
Later in Romans 12, when Paul calls on us to not be conformed to the present age of brokenness, we have an idea of what he means by that. The world will not run out of ways to try and charm us into giving our love to things that promise gratification. Idolatry has a lot of sneaky ways to get us looking for meaning, belonging, security, and joy in all the wrong places.
This might not be such bad news if God’s covenant partner people were truly a steadfast source of light and holiness in the world. But the people of God (be it the ancient Israelites or today’s Church) are subject to all the same brokenness as the rest of the world, which is where Paul turns his attention in Romans 2. To be God’s elect means we are called to embody his holiness in the world; it does not mean we automatically succeed at doing so. So it’s all broken, inside the Church and outside. In Romans 3, Paul reaches into the most pessimistic of scriptures to express this brokenness: “There is no one who seeks God!” (Psalm 14)
However, buried within all this bad news, a bit of good news sprouts forth. And a bit is all it takes. “What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? Of course not!” (Romans 3:3) The faithfulness of God is tougher than the faithlessness of humans. And it’s not even close. There is no ungodliness and injustice that, in the final accounting of things, can stand up to the transforming mercy of God. There is no amount of brokenness in you and me that can stand up to the faithfulness of God. Romans is a story, a story about the faithfulness of God to overcome sin, about the faithfulness of God to redeem not just humans but all of creation, and about the faithfulness of God to create one new humanity in Christ that worships as one Church in Christ and gathers around one table together in Christ.
The faithfulness of God is more than up to the task. Our brokenness is not too much for God. And the ungodliness that surrounds us in the world, it’s not too much for God. Just the opposite. God is too much for our brokenness to stand up to. I wonder, what kind of hope does that stir up in us? What joy does that stir up? What faith does that stir up?
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