Wrath among the perfections of God's life

An overview of biblical, historical, practical, and systematic approaches to the topic of God’s wrath establishes the need to rethink the matter from within the framework of systematic attention to the perfection of God’s life. This is shown to be a timely task given the renewal of interest and vitality in the doctrine of the divine perfections among contemporary theologians. The thesis is stated – namely that wrath belongs to God as a redemptive mode of his righteousness – and the plan and limits of the argument are detailed. Chapter two offers a constructive account of the subject matter of the doctrine of the divine perfections. The task of the doctrine is characterised as a fundamentally descriptive one, a ‘following after’ the self-revealing Lord who is living, triune and eternal. The argument is particularly attentive to the irreducible distinction between the life which God has from himself and the life which God has for and among his creatures. Chapter three gives further specificity to the task of the doctrine of the divine perfections by inquiring into the arrangement by which the perfections are most adequately presented. Principally what is sought is a more nearly adequate account of the inner relationship between form and content. To this end, three representative doctrines are analysed; those of Francis Turretin (1623-87), Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834), and Karl Barth (1886-1968). The last of these, we propose, while eminently attuned to the manner in which divine love and freedom themselves provide the form and content for the doctrine, nonetheless invites further nuance. Chapter four offers the first of three detailed studies on the relationship between the wrath and righteousness of God through sustained engagement with the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Through the vineyard imagery of Matthew 20:1-16 and Isaiah 5:107, the foundational work of God’s righteousness is explored. God does what is worthy of himself both by providing every good to creatures and by extirpating sin in its opposition to God. Chapter five offers a theological exposition of God’s wrath through the central testimony of Romans 3:21-26 and Exodus 34:6-7. As a mode of divine righteousness, God’s wrath does not spring automatically and uniformly into effect as an immanent feature of the cosmos. Rather it is identical with the utterly free presence of God as he both opposes human sin and graciously renews covenant fellowship. Wrath, therefore is subject at every point to the unfolding of God’s eternal plans. Chapter six concludes through close examination of the end which God’s wrath serves. We draw out the redemptive depth proper to the announcement of final judgement in Revelation 14:14-20, paying special attention to the unity of cross and final judgement which it intimates as well as the evangelical importance of such prophecy.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo