Sin, Holiness and Wrath

The following are excerpts taken from John Stott's book "The Cross of Christ", from the chapter entitled The problem of forgiveness.


"The Bible takes sin seriously because it takes man (male and female) seriously... To say that somebody 'is not responsible for his actions' is to demean him or her as a human being. It is part of the glory of being human that we are held responsible for our actions. Then, when we also acknowledge our sin and guilt, we receive God's forgiveness, enter into the joy of his salvation, and so become yet more completely human and healthy. What is unhealthy is every wallowing in guilt which does not lead to confession, repentace, faith in Jesus Christ and so forgiveness."

"That God is holy is foundational to biblical religon. So is the corollary that sin is incompatible with his holiness. His eyes are 'too pure to look on evil' and he 'cannot tolerate wrong'... Closely related to God's holiness is hi wrath, which is in fact his holy reaction to evil."

"What is common to the biblical concepts of the holiness and the wrath of God is the truth that they cannot coexist with sin. God's holiness exposes sin; his wrath opposes it. So sin cannot approach God, and God cannot tolerate sin. Several vivid metaphors are used in Scripture to illustrate this stubborn fact."

1) Height - "Frequently in the Bible the God of creation and covenant is called 'the Most High God', and is personally addressed in several Psalms as 'Yahweh Most High'. His lofty exaltation expreses both his sovereignty over the nations, the earth and 'all gods', and also his inaccessibility to sinners... The 'high' exaltation of God is not literal, of course, and was never meant to be taken literally... The biblical writers used height as a symbol of transcendence, just as we do. It is more expressive than depth... When thinking of the great and living God, it is better to look up than down, and outside than inside ourselves."

2) Distance - "God is not only 'high above' us, but 'far away' from us also. We dare not approach too close." Examples include, the curtain in the temple/tabernacle, Moses putting limits for the Israelites from approaching Mt Sinai. "Sinners cannot approach the all-holy God with impunity. On the last day, those who have not found refuge and cleansing in Christ will hear those most terrible of all words: 'Depart from me'."

3 & 4) Light and Fire - "'God is light', and 'our God is a consuming fire'. Both discourage, indeed inhibit, too close an approach. Bright light is blinding; our eyes cannot endure its brilliance, and in the heat of the fire everything shrivels up and is destroyued. So God 'lives in unapproachable light' ; 'no-one has seen or can see' him. And those who deliberately reject the truth have 'only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God... It is a dreadful thing to fall in the hands of the living God.'"

5) Vomiting - "The fifth metaphor is the most dramatic of all. It indicates that the holy God's rejection of evil is as decisive as the human body's rejection of poison by vomiting. Vomiting is probably the body's most violent of all reactions... When Jesus threatens to 'spit' the lukewarm Laodicean church people out of hi mouth, the Greek verb literally means to 'vomit' (emeo) The picture may be shocking, but its meaning is clear. God cannot tolerate or 'digest' sin and hypocrisy. They cause him not distate merely, but disgust. They are so repulsive to him that he must rid himself of them. He must spit or vomit them out."

"All five metaphors illustrate the utter incompatibility of divine holiness and human sin. Height and distance, light, fire and vomiting all say that God cannot be in the presence of sin, and that if it approaches him too closely it is repudiated or consumed."