God’s Wrath and God’s Love – A Biblical Explanation

Introduction: The Bible reveals that God is both perfectly loving and perfectly just, which means He shows wrath against sin. At first glance, God’s love and God’s wrath might seem contradictory. However, Scripture (Sola Scriptura) shows that these attributes coexist in harmony within God’s character. Below we will examine biblical passages from the Old and New Testaments that illustrate God’s wrath toward sin and His love toward humanity. We will see that God’s love and wrath are consistent with His holy character, especially as they relate to salvation, judgment, and the cross of Christ.

God’s Character: Holy Love and Righteous Wrath

The Bible teaches that God’s very nature is love. The Apostle John wrote, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). This means love is an essential attribute of God – all His actions are loving. At the same time, God is perfectly holy and just. He cannot tolerate sin, for “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Because God is holy and loves good, He must also hate and oppose evil – this is the wrath of God, His righteous anger against sin. God’s wrath is not a temperamental flare-up, but a settled opposition to all that is wrong. These two aspects of God’s character are seen together when God revealed Himself to Moses:

“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.” (Exodus 34:6–7 ESV)

In this foundational passage, God describes Himself as overflowing with mercy, love, and forgiveness, yet also just in punishing the guilty. God’s love and God’s wrath are both rooted in His perfect holiness. He is “slow to anger” – showing that wrath is not His first resort – and “abounding in steadfast love” – showing mercy is deeply His heart. Still, He will “by no means clear the guilty”, meaning He will not ignore unrepented sin. There is no contradiction in God here: His love and His wrath are both expressions of His holy character.

God’s Wrath Against Sin (Old and New Testament)

Throughout Scripture, God’s wrath (righteous anger) is revealed against sin and injustice. In the Old Testament, we see God’s wrath in events like the judgment of the wicked in Noah’s Flood (Genesis 6–7) and the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19). Many passages explicitly speak of God’s anger toward sin. For example, “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day” (Psalm 7:11 ESV). Here, God’s ongoing anger at evil is tied to His righteousness as Judge. Similarly, the prophet Nahum declared: “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God, the LORD is avenging and wrathful… The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty” (Nahum 1:2–3 ESV). This shows that even though God is patient (“slow to anger”), He will ultimately punish wrongdoing and not leave the guilty unpunished.

Importantly, God’s wrath in the Old Testament is always directed against sin, evil, and persistent rebellion – not against righteousness or without cause. His anger is provoked by things like idolatry, injustice, violence, and unfaithfulness. Yet even as He expresses wrath, He often warns and calls people to repent so that punishment can be averted (Ezekiel 18:30–32, Jonah 3:4–10).

The New Testament just as clearly affirms God’s wrath against sin. God’s character has not changed. For example, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Romans 1:18). Likewise, Jesus taught that those who refuse to believe in Him remain under God’s judgment: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36 ESV). The Apostle Paul taught that by nature all people (since we all sin) were “children of wrath” under God’s just judgment, “like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:3).* These verses make it clear that God’s wrath is not only an Old Testament concept; the New Testament continues to warn that unrepented sin will incur God’s righteous anger. In the final judgment, God’s wrath will be fully revealed against all evil (see Revelation 19:15, 20:11–15). God’s justice demands that in the end, sin must be punished.

God’s Love and Mercy Toward Humanity

Alongside God’s wrath, the Bible emphasizes God’s love, mercy, and compassion from beginning to end. In the Old Testament, God’s love is shown in His creation of humanity, in His choosing of Israel, and in His forgiveness and patience. God often expressed deep affection for His people. For instance, God says in Jeremiah, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:3 ESV). Despite Israel’s failures, God’s love for them endured. The psalms celebrate that “the LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 103:8). In fact, “His steadfast love endures forever” is a repeated refrain in Scripture (e.g. Psalm 136). God’s mercy means He does not give us the punishment we immediately deserve: “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10). Instead, He patiently gives opportunity to repent. As the prophet Ezekiel records, God pleads with the wicked to turn from their ways and live, saying “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked… Turn back, turn back from your evil ways” (Ezekiel 33:11). This is the heart of a loving God, longing to show mercy rather than wrath.

In the New Testament, God’s love is even more fully revealed through Jesus Christ. Jesus himself taught about God’s love, and through His actions showed compassion to sinners. The most famous verse, John 3:16, highlights love as God’s motivation for saving us: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Here we see God’s love for the world (all people) led Him to send Jesus so we would not have to “perish” under judgment, but instead receive eternal life. The Apostle Paul likewise wrote, “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 ESV). This is an astounding love: God loved us even when we were in rebellion against Him.

The New Testament repeatedly declares God’s loving character. “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and “God is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us” (Ephesians 2:4). God’s love is not just sentiment; it is active and self-giving. He seeks and saves the lost (Luke 19:10) and “desires all people to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). He is “patient… not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). These scriptures demonstrate that God’s deepest desire is to rescue and restore people, not to condemn. Mercy triumphs over judgment when we turn to Him (cf. James 2:13). Every page of Scripture shows that “the LORD is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made” (Psalm 145:9).

The Cross of Christ: Where Love and Wrath Meet

The ultimate demonstration of how God’s love and wrath coexist in harmony is found at the cross of Jesus Christ. According to the Bible, the cross is the centerpiece of God’s plan to save sinners while upholding His justice. On the cross, God’s wrath against sin and His love for sinners were both fully expressed.

Out of love, God sent His Son Jesus to bear the penalty of our sins. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us… He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9–10). The word “propitiation” means a sacrifice that turns away wrath. In His love, God provided Jesus as the atoning sacrifice to absorb the wrath that we deserved. The prophet Isaiah foretold this stunning plan: “He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed… the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5–6). When Jesus suffered and died, He bore the full punishment of God’s justice against sin. On the cross Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46) – a reflection of enduring the separation and judgment our sins merited.

Why would God do this? Because of His great love for us. He did not want us to perish under His wrath, so Jesus took our place. The Apostle Paul explained, “God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by His blood… to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:25–26). In other words, at the cross God upheld His justice (sin was punished – He remained just) and demonstrated His love by justifying sinners (declaring those who believe forgiven and righteous – He is the justifier). Romans 5:8–9 ties it together: “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.” Here we see that because of Christ’s blood shed in love, we are saved from God’s wrath. Jesus drank the “cup” of God’s wrath (see Matthew 26:39) so that we could drink the cup of salvation. Thus, the cross is where God’s love and God’s wrath meet in full measure. Rather than contradicting each other, these attributes worked together to accomplish our redemption.

Salvation, Judgment, and the Harmony of God’s Attributes

Through Jesus’s sacrifice, salvation is offered to all. Those who trust in Christ experience God’s love in full – forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and eternal life. They are no longer under wrath: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). On the other hand, those who reject God’s gracious offer remain under His wrath, because sin must be judged. As Jesus said, “Whoever does not believe is condemned already” (John 3:18), and “whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36). This is not because God lacks love – He has shown love by giving His Son – but because by rejecting Christ, a person refuses the only remedy by which God’s wrath is turned aside. If someone will not accept the payment Jesus made, then they themselves will bear the penalty for their sin. In the final judgment, God’s wrath and love will be evident: He will righteously punish evil, and He will lovingly welcome those redeemed by Christ into eternal joy. Revelation describes the wrath of God against unrepentant sinners (Revelation 20:15, 21:8), while also describing the glorious fulfillment of God’s love toward His children in the New Heaven and New Earth (Revelation 21:3–4). Both outcomes glorify God – His justice in judgment and His grace in salvation.

It is crucial to understand that God’s wrath and love are not at odds or mutually exclusive. Rather, they complement each other in Scripture’s grand narrative. God’s wrath highlights the greatness of His love: we grasp how wondrous His mercy is when we realize what we justly deserved. Conversely, God’s love made a way to satisfy His wrath: He did not compromise His holiness or justice to save us, but rather met all the demands of justice through Jesus. This harmony means that, in the Bible, we are invited to both reverence and adore God. We revere Him because He is a holy Judge who “will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:7), and we adore Him because “as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:11).

Conclusion: The whole of Scripture confirms that God is both loving and righteous, merciful and just. These attributes coexist perfectly in God’s unified character. Far from being contradictory, they are two sides of the same holy nature. Because God loves good, He must oppose evil; because God loves sinners, He provides a way to rescue them from the evil they have done. The cross of Christ is the clearest proof that “mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed” (Psalm 85:10, NKJV). In Jesus, God’s justice and love are both fully satisfied. Thus, the believer can “consider the kindness and the severity of God” (Romans 11:22) and see in both the consistent, glorious character of our Lord. The Bible’s message is that through faith in Christ, we experience God’s profound love, and we are saved from God’s righteous wrath. Both love and wrath magnify the glory of God – and both lead us to worship Him for who He truly is.