When asked what kind of God God is, people may more or less come up with this answer: God is a God of love. However, love is not the only attribute of God. God’s wrath is often mentioned in Scripture. How should God’s wrath be reconciled with his love? Kevin Kinghorn and Stephen Travis raise a solution to this question in their book But What About God's Wrath? The Compelling Love Story of Divine Anger. They propose that “God’s wrath is entirely an expression of God’s love, in specific contexts” (2).
Kinghorn and Travis first define what God’s wrath is in chapter 1. God’s wrath is an emotion in an analogical way, but it is more than this. God performs different kinds of acts to manifest his wrath, and God’s attributes influence his acts. To clarify God’s reason for wrath, Kinghorn and Travis investigate God’s essential attributes in chapter 2. They argue that love is God’s only essential attribute because the three persons of the Trinity are in a robust relationship of love before the creation of the world. In contrast, other attributes, such as mercy, holiness, justice, and wrath, are related to sin or situations that emerged after the creation of the physical world, and for this reason they are not God’s essential attributes. Since God’s essential attribute is love, God wills and pursues all human beings’ flourishing. Thus, God’s wrath can only be motivated by God’s love and his desire for the flourishing of everyone (God’s ultimate goal).
In chapter 3, Kinghorn and Travis deal with two counterexamples to the proposal that God’s love is his only motivation for wrath. These counterexamples are the extinguishments of the Canaanites in the Old Testament and Romans 9:22-24. Kinghorn and Travis argue that God manifests his wrath in the two cases to redirect people to the correct road. Therefore, God’s love is still the only reason for God’s wrath.
Nevertheless, God’s glory, holiness, and justice are also important attributes of God. These three attributes seem to motivate God’s wrath as well. However, in chapter 4, Kinghorn and Travis argue that the three attributes “are actually subsumed under, or included within, benevolent love” (62). God’s love implies or includes the three attributes. Therefore, God’s love remains the ultimate motivation of God’s wrath.
Finally, in the remaining chapters (5-8), Kinghorn and Travis delineate how God’s wrath contributes to the flourishing of every human: God’s wrath is God’s last resort to wake people from their self-deception (82, 96). Some people are trapped in sin and deny the truth that they are sinful and need God’s salvation. Thus, God prompts these self-deceived people to face the miserable situation of their life (116). The process of facing the truth of one’s life is extremely painful, and it is often experienced as God’s wrath (122-24). When suffering from God’s wrath, people may finally repent and return to God. As a result, God exerts his wrath “precisely because he is a God of love” (154).
Kinghorn and Travis have done a fantastic job reconciling God’s love and wrath. Their work helps readers understand how God’s wrath operates and what God’s wrath achieves under the premise that God is love. They have made our understanding of God’s nature more complete. Besides, this book also helps shape the readers’ spiritual life by emphasizing that God’s wrath is real and terrible to experience. Despite these merits, the book is not without problems.
The first problem is about the definition of God’s essential attributes. According to Kinghorn and Travis, God’s mercy, holiness, and justice are not his essential attributes because these attributes are related to sin or things that did not exist before creation. Take mercy, for example: “God can only extend mercy if there is something else in the unhappy circumstance of needing forgiveness or relief of some kind” (28). Being merciful is not an essential divine attribute because God does not have any objects to be merciful toward before creation. However, God can be merciful even if he does not have any opportunities to exhibit his mercy. It seems that Kinghorn and Travis have confused the manifestation and the possession of an attribute.
Second, the claim that all of God’s attributes can be subsumed under God’s benevolence is questionable. And if there are multiple essential divine attributes, then God’s wrath may be an expression of one of these other attributes. For example, in certain accounts of Jesus Christ’s atonement, God has fully exerted his wrath on Christ for the sin he takes from believers. God’s wrath toward Christ at this point does not serve the goal of redirecting or reforming a person. Instead, God has satisfied his holiness and justice by exerting his wrath and just punishment on Christ. If this is the case, God’s love would not be the only reason or motivation for God’s wrath.
Finally, Kinghorn and Travis acknowledge the reality of hell, the final end for people who turn away from God (142-49). But a God of love who is always seeking everyone’s flourishing, as Kinghorn and Travis claim, would seem to be able to prevent people from ending up in hell. Even if some people choose not to repent, God could still create a limbo, which would be much better than hell to reside in. At least, God could exert his power to alleviate the suffering of the damned. However, according to traditional understandings of hell, God shows no mercy to the damned. Kinghorn and Travis’ description of God is thus inconsistent with the traditional doctrine of hell.
Despite these problems, this book offers a valuable exploration of the causes and functions of God’s wrath. Readers curious or confused about God’s wrath, as well as those interested in the doctrine of God more generally, can benefit from this book.
Han Jen Chang is a PhD student in philosophy at the University of Birmingham, UK.
Han Jen Chang
Date Of Review:
August 24, 2022