In Ephesians 2:3 the Apostle Paul writes:
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
Or does he?
Welcome to 50-for-50. This post is part of a collection of 50 things I’m doing involving the number 5 to celebrate my 50th trip around the sun. Over the next year, I will highlight 50 things from the Bible that have most shaped my thoughts on faith and life. You can read all 50 Bible reflections here or sign up for a full 50-for-50 weekly recaps here.
The Life I Lived
For years, the NIV translation of Ephesians 2:3 sat central to both my theology and my self-understanding. Even when I shifted to other translations, like the ESV which describes us as “children of wrath,” the message seemed clear: we are all born hopelessly lost and deserved God’s rightful wrath for our innate sinfulness.
Now, if you believe that and take it to heart, it will fuck you up.
For me, it fueled a few different responses:
- all-consuming shame
- the belief that childhood abuse and bullying was deserved
- a quick dismissal of harmful behaviors because, well, what else can you expect from someone born deserving such wrath
Even the supposed release from God’s hatred of you is rather messed up. It involves God unleashing divine wrath on Jesus through the crucifixion so God can forgive you and welcome you into eternity. Otherwise, you get to experience an eternity of divine wrath in hell.
That’s right, you suck so much God had to torture Jesus in order to love you.
But is that what Paul meant?
Ephesians 2:3 in the Greek
In October of 2015, I attended a church service at Denver Community Church where Michael Hidalgo first introduced me to a textual nuance that has been nothing short of life-changing. It is something, as far as I can tell, that he picked up from the late Stanley Grenz’s book, “Theology for the Community of God” (affiliate).
In it, Grenz points out that there are two potential sources of wrath. One is God and the other is us. So, where the ESV translates Paul as, “children of wrath,” it could just as easily read, “wrathful children.” In the NIV, it would move things from, “we were by nature deserving of wrath,” to, “we were by nature wrathful.”
But which translation of Ephesians 2:3 is right? Here the history of theology proves helpful.
Salvation in History
I will admit that this history is hyper-simplified, but it covers the main strokes of mainstream Christianity’s understanding of salvation over the centuries. There is a far more detailed history in chapter 5 of “Recovering the Scandal of the Cross: Atonement in New Testament & Contemporary Contexts” (affiliate).
150 to 1100
Irenaeus of Lyon had two dominant ideas going on when it came to salvation.
One centered on recapitulation through Jesus’ Incarnation (birth as a human). He largely saw Jesus’ birth as triggering the spread of divine righteousness to all humanity.
He, along with Gregory of Nyssa, also had a strong ransom theme in his understanding of the death and resurrection of Jesus where the devil took humanity hostage and God paid the ransom price of Jesus’ life. This view is what C.S. Lewis presents in, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” (affiliate) as Aslan gives his life for Edmund’s.
It is important to notice here that, in both models, God is entirely redemptive and never wrathful.
1100-1530
After owning the salvation game for the first 1,000 years of Christian history, a focus on Christ’s victory over the forces of evil fell out of style and people began asking questions about why God became human in Jesus. Two of the more popular ideas that rose came from Anselm of Canterbury and Peter Abelard, who offered an alternative to Anselm. Sadly, Anselm won and Abelard was excommunicated.
Anselm’s model, as expressed in his book, “Why God Became a Man,” reads the Bible through the lens of feudal society. In it, God is the local lord and people are surfs. Just as a surf offending the lord requires payment to restore the Lord’s honor, so our sin requires a payment to God. Because we could never offer a worthy tribute, Jesus does for us.
It is important to notice here that God is offended and dishonored, but not wrathful.
1530-1875
With Martin Luther and John Calvin, the framework used moved from feudal society to a courtroom. Here the divine takes the role of the judge, people are the plaintiffs, and sin is the crime. While the judgment is that we are guilty, Jesus takes the punishment in our place.
Once again, God is not wrathful, but God is retributive, where (at least according to the model) the punishment fits the crime.
1875-Today (at least in the USA)
One of the leading theologians of 19th Century America was Charles Hodges, and it is through his writing that divine wrath towards sin finally takes center stage in popular Christianity.
Here human sin becomes so vile to a holy God that God can no longer draw near human beings until all of God’s just wrath is unleashed on Jesus.
Translation As Interpretation
Because the Bible was written in different languages with different grammatical rules, every translation is a first level interpretation. The NIV translation I grew up with, which is also the best selling translation in America, was commissioned by two groups deeply influenced by the work of Charles Hodges. No wonder their translation lacks room for debate about who is wrathful in Ephesians 2:3.
The Life I Live
Today, there is no doubt in my mind that we are the ones who are wrathful. Perhaps this is a consequence of the shame that comes with the Fall. Or maybe it is because we don’t feel seen, known, or loved. We might be wrathful towards God because we want our enemies to be punished. Then again it might stem from the pain of being born. Whatever the reason, God, in Christ, invites us from our wrathful existence to one of peace that surpasses understanding. It is truly an invitation that moves us from a living death to life.
Note: I realize this is not the only text in the Bible where we can see God as wrathful, it just happens to be the one that most impacted me. Changing the way I read this one verse helped reshape the way I approach all of Scripture.
It interesting your perspective.
At the first your initial response to Eph. 2:3 is emotionally strong and your thoughts of worthlessness or equating the phrase children of Wrath with your abuse I totally understand.
But keep in mind there are many voices in the universe, many gods and goddesses but they do not all have our best interests at heart nor do they seek the truth and love that is found in the Jesus Christ before whom all will stand.
In that moment any lies that we’ve tried to clothe ourselves with or that we permitted or that the deceiver has placed upon us will be gone as we stand before truth incarnate.
I can relate to wanting to self harm because of the Judgment I felt, anything to do to myself to free myself from the Judgment that was to come. And I would say I probably would fit under your misfit definition. I’ve known a lot of Misfits in my life.
But is it possible to have love without Justice?
It would have been just if someone had stood up to your and my abusers and put upon them the penalty that they deserved.
Does God punish? Ever? Was he angry with the people that abused us? Do we think he should punish ever? What things would make him angry according to us? Hitler perhaps? But God is Holy and God is God. And sin angers him because sin even the smallest sin separates us from his love. And ultimately if he is God, our attempts to create him in our fashion and image will be quickly and permanently blown away the day we see him.
There were a lot of years of Darkness and there were a lot of years of a light that was alien to the truth that was in Jesus Christ. You know the devil Comes as an angel of Light. Speaking things that sound good that are just barely a twisting of the truth. And we can pretty much identify falsehoods by what they tried to glorify, self or God?
God is love. Those thoughts that came to your head when you saw that scripture, where do you think they came from? Know when I ask this question, I’ve had a lot of similar type of thoughts throughout many years.
When you read that whole Passage it said that we were children of Wrath, (I am not getting into the argument of whether it is Children of Wrath or wrathful children) that was an indicator of what we deserved, not what God desired to give us.
But when we are constantly punished for what is not wrong, which is what abuse is, and when we are in darkness it is difficult. There were many years where I felt people were twisted and had ill intent. If suicide is an enemy, I faced death more times than I can count.
But the Jesus Christ who died on the cross and resurrected from the dead in the flesh rescues and saves today and so you are not dead and I am not dead. What we choose to do with that salvation that is given freely is up to us.
There are so many so many lies.
Lies that add to the word of God and lies that take away from it.
Did God really say you cannot eat from all of the trees in the garden? What a mean God! He doesn’t want you to enjoy anything. You can’t dance. You can’t drink. The first deception was that of discontentment and not trusting that God had given his best, not trusting that God was speaking the truth.
King David and Psalm 23 and I like the King James the best, contradicted those lies. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. I am content I have God and my relationship with him through the blood of Jesus Christ Alone is all that I need. And that is his love for us, the cross of Jesus Christ where I died to the world and the world to me. I don’t have to exalt myself. I am not my own God. He is sufficient. I am content.
God in his love put a tree in the garden.
Because a perfect garden without a choice is only a perfect prison and perfect slavery.
And a choice without a punishment or consequence is no choice at all.
And just FYI the first lust wasn’t for sex, it was for knowledge. The knowledge of Good and Evil. We were not created to make those choices. And so we died. And yes everything became horrible. And there is great depravity in the fall. But it wasn’t an individual thing, it wasn’t that you were so horrible and then you made it sound like you were not loved, but God is love. But it was at the fall was horrible and we were children of Wrath or wrathful children if you wish to call it that way. But there is wrath because we were separated and that is not where God wanted us to be.
Because the wages of sin is death. Jesus cries over Jerusalem, Jerusalem Jerusalem how I longed to gather you as a mother hand gathers her chicks, but you were not willing. Look your house is desolate. The Judgment of God with the people of God is the nervous system crying out something is wrong because of pain. Because there is eternal separation from God so God allows the temporary pain of this world and the suffering and the judgment Desiring that we will turn back to him and come back to the safe place in which we belong.
So what we choose and what God wants sadly are often two different things.
God Longs for us to choose to believe him.
And then the second lie, you will not really die if you eat from the fruit… there’s not really a hell. God really will force everyone into heaven eventually. You really don’t have a choice. But in the midst of these lies is the child so scared and the Savior reaches the nailed scarred hands down to that child to rescue at the cross, even forgiving the Blasphemous words that are twisting the judgment and love of God into something perverted.
Trying to change truth into a lie. You can have truth without lies. But it is impossible to have lies without truth.
The law came through Moses. And it shows God’s perfection. God’s holiness and his Justice.
You said, you are so screwed up that God had to torture Jesus.
But those words are not in Scripture. That is a twisting that doesn’t come from the word of God. The truth is in our fallen state, when we have no desire to seek God or to know him, yes, we are all children of Wrath. But God is just. He is not an abuser.
An abuser beats regardless of whether you are doing right or wrong. And the judgments of God in the Old Testament even or always laced with Mercy for those who Drew near to God. He said he was forgiving so many generations of their rebelliousness and their sins of those who loved him. See the battle is always been for love of God. But when we twist the fall of Man and filter it through the dark vision glasses of an abused child it is very different from the reality that is found in the scripture. The wages of sin is death. We were born into the sin. But at the moment of the Fall, God spoke hope. And even there do you not see the love of God? There’s no lightning strikes instantly killing Adam and Eve in great wrath and anger destroying the sinful children. But constant Mercy. Constant Grace.
But there must be consequences there must be punishment of sin. Defy the law of gravity and there are consequences. You are welcome to learn how to fly, but you must obey its laws.
Otherwise there are no laws and then you have lawlessness which is the Antichrist spirit and then there is no life.
Lawlessness would only produce death.
And we are watching that in this generation. We take aside the laws of God, take them out of the school system, then we take prayer out of schools.
If you look at the parallels between the dates of these things and when shootings in school start to increase, there’s a pretty good line matching the more we draw away from God and allow lawlessness in our lives, the more lawlessness takes over.
Jesus means the Lord saves.
He is bigger than the mess. And it would be wise if we would spend more time with him than with the world and our own Pride.
Adam and Eve were given a choice.
And the choice they made produced death.
Would you have given them no choice? The perfect slaves and the perfect Eden? Perhaps we and others might have chosen that route, but the love of God does not hold a gun to someone’s head and demand that they love him.
He will never Force anyone to heaven. Not even you. But the spirits of Darkness come against you and they twist the love of God and the love of people serving God and they take the darkness and the evil done to you and the evil done to me and they try to destroy the understanding of truth, kindness and the love, but above all they wish to not Hallow the name of God.
1 + 1 = 2. How many lies are there to that truth? Any slight discrepancy and the house that you build even if we have all of the other addition facts correct, will not function like it should.
God is perfect. And yes he is angry at sin.
The term children of Wrath, if you read the paragraph around that was the destination that humans have outside of God’s perfection.
Should God not be angry at the one who harmed us? Should we not be angry at American greed that bemoans World poverty while sipping our Starbucks🤷♀️😪? The waste in this country alone could stop World poverty. I would say there’s quite a bit to be angry at and hence the Judgment Day when you and I will stand before the Living God . And the Nations will rise up from all of time and there will be a conversation . And I confess a part of me is more scared for my wealthy Christian friends then for the Christians in Afghanistan right now so yes you and I are Misfits together but you need Jesus, the real Jesus who walks with people where they are at even when we sip our Starbucks. He still loves them, and you, though you boast and blaspheme, claiming his love but having no fear to speak against his people. And he loves me even though I still talk too much and he forgives our pride, if we will only admit it and confess it and turn to him for help.
His heart cried for you on every hurt as he did for me on every one of the abuses that I endured.
So the interesting conclusion that you made was because you had those thoughts and the abuse in your life and those were your thoughts about that scripture, even though those were not God’s thoughts and unless you had a whole bunch of wolves in sheep’s clothing for pastors which I doubt strongly – or worse if you found that you yourself were a wolf in the sheep’s clothing, not yet healed from the abuse not yet free from Pride and so giving advice to the sheep that actually turned them away from God instead of to him, and if it brings you any Solace I had a pastor threaten multiple times over years to kill me if I left their service, so know I speak as one Misfit to another, but now you blame the entire Lutheranism for the suffering that you endured at the hand of the devil instead of admitting your own guilt a need for a savior and confessing your own sin. I cannot agree with your conclusions. Because Jesus does save and if there is no judgment and obviously you don’t need to judge Lutherans.
And certainly lutherans are not perfect, neither are Catholics or Baptists or non-denominationals, but do you have the power to see that your theology is equally flawed?
And that you need to come also to a Savior, one who yes has been reaching out to save you for many years, but you do have to receive him and confessing sin and turning from it wouldn’t hurt you or me.
In humility admitting your own damnable sins, but if you come before God that offers no justice, then you have no need of the cross, if you have no need of the Cross, then you have no need of Christ or Christianity.
So then why stay? Pride is a horrible horrible slave driver.
And I would say that you stay close to the fire but not too close because you know there’s nothing outside of God’s power and truth and Grace that can save you.
But I pray for the demons to be removed from you, little by little and that you might give up, as the Apostle Paul did, all of your great knowledge for the cross of Jesus Christ.
You are much loved of God, but our sin is hated, and there is Justice and judgment, both for the righteous and for the unrighteous and you somewhat understand that but you need deliverance and healing.
And if you are willing to hear a strong voice contrary to your own, you shouldn’t be in a position of trying to teach other people until you yourself are free.
Because the word of God is all true beloved.
And there is justice and there is judgment both for the righteous and for the unrighteous.
But his Justice is not at all like the abuse you or I endured. It is fair. We can read clearly in the scriptures where the lines are drawn.
Right in this moment I pray for your healing Joe Burnham.
Spirit soul mind and body.
That Christ Jesus himself might break through the darkness and that you might Truly Come Home to the one who yes, who bore the Wrath that was due sinful human beings because it wasn’t an individual thing based on abuse or some false scale of Justice by our abusers, but on the truth of the laws of God that like the law of gravity must be obeyed.
Because God does desire that we learn how to fly, but stepping off of a 20-ft building with a couple of cardboard Wings does not put us into alignment with the law of gravity. And neither do our own arguments and great theology and wonderful intellect get us to the throne of God. Nor does bad-mouthing an entire group of his people. Are they perfect? No. But I will say one thing I really like about the Lutheran Church is they understand their need for a savior. But I have friends across the board. Jesus is Lord of his church. And every word in the scriptures is true, every word of Grace and love and every word of judgment. In the Lutheran Church the purpose of Law and judgment is for people to see their sin and their need for grace and love and the savior. Because the battle has always will be for love of God. The Book of Job is a prime example. Just take away everything Job has, says the accuser, and he will just curse you to your face. I love the Book of Job it became one of my favorite books through a time of intense suffering. One of the things I love most is how it got here our cries and answers them when we are honest and in truth with him trusting him for his salvation. Job cried out oh that my complaint might be written in a scroll for all eternity. You are a better scholar than I am, Joe. So how many thousands of years ago was that written? 5,000 I don’t know. But God heard that prayer and inscribed his complaint in the immortal word of the Living God. How amazing is our God how compassionate.
Truth and Grace. If you have Grace without truth you have licentiousness and it is a lie. If you have truth without Grace you have judgmentalism and it is a lie. But Jesus Christ came to bring truth and Grace.
Because every Mountain is brought low and every Valley is raised up at the cross. The Crooked places straight, the rough places plain. In a world that cries out for equality, God gives it perfectly at the cross. But not inequality that clings to sin, rather the equality that comes by choosing Christ’s life instead of Our Own, saying no to our own sin, not overcoming it immediately, but hating it nonetheless, because Jesus Christ is worth so much more than our very lives. Not in some sick abused fashion, but in the fashion of the Beloved giving up her all for the lover. Willingly, but that only happens as we come in contact with love. The kind that never fails. Yes never gives up on you Joe Burnham. But don’t wait too long to surrender. Because there are times and seasons and there are times where time is no more. When we surrender to Christ Jesus, it must be real. Games cannot get us into heaven. But the blood of Jesus Christ can. And your baptism, for if you were a Lutheran I would assume that you were baptized, but your faith is important. Faith Works by love. And faith without works is dead. The Works of the father desires is to believe on the
So we can forgive at the cross our abusers, and when we have fallen short of the glory of God and suddenly found that we too have become abusive, we can go find somebody to pray for us and give us help and we can speak the truth and ask God to please remove the hardness of heart and make the bad stuff go away. I am over 50 but one prayer that I continue to pray is God would you please make the bad stuff go away because I’m scared. And I will tell you there was a season where it took many years for that part to be answered but I thank God for my pastors in the Lutheran Church that kept praying for me.
And I was not always in the Lutheran Church and your perception of the truth of God’s word is Twisted, beloved of God because of the pain and suffering you endured.
But he still loves you yes. But the moment that you and I see him there will be no more question of whether or not there truly is judgment. He said we will be judged for every careless word that we spoke. So we do not take casually the cross of Jesus Christ but we are thankful for God’s justice and for his Mercy. For his truth and for his grace. He cares for you. He sees you and he loves you.
Father in Jesus name break the power of darkness in the devil off of Joe and please make the bad stuff go away. And father I might never see him in this life but I pray I see him when we go home.
Be careful for the lies Joe. Preach Christ crucified. You may be right in some of your theological arguments and God’s love does never fail, but he will never force you to believe him or to love him.
And those who teach the Bible are held to a higher standard so if there is no judgment then what would that mean?
So if it’s just healing that you need, be at peace but do not try to teach others and ask God to forgive you and perhaps even publicly say perhaps I have been wrong. Now that if you do that I will be amazed because I’ve almost never seen somebody confess that they were wrong publicly. I did once see a pastor confess he was wrong publicly and that was one of the most amazing things I saw in my 50 plus years. But I only saw it once.
But perhaps you could be the second? And maybe go a little gentler on the followers of Jesus Christ who in the imperfect World call themselves followers of Luther which of course is completely unscriptural. My friends are of many different backgrounds, three of my closest friends are Roman Catholic, and the people of God prove as does the rest of the world and the people of other religions that we humans are deeply in need of a savior.
Even as King David was a man after God’s Own Heart, but did horrible things, and even though his sin was forgiven, he did not lose the Holy Spirit or his life, but there was still judgment and there was still Justice.
And there was also Justice for Bathsheba whom he basically raped, because it was her son not anybody else’s son, that was the next king of Israel though he was not the oldest. And God blessed Solomon because God is a God of Justice. Solomon was the wisest person in history next to the living Christ.
Whatever we think about things know one thing without a shout of a doubt, when we stand before Jesus Christ the lies will all be gone.
So it’s wise if we seek truth now and we start the conversation with him now before we see him on that day.
Jesus Christ my Lord, deliver Joe Burnham. Lord if needed Resurrect The Dead. I bring him to you father and I ask for you to show yourself to him. Your truth and your grace and help him Lord God to trust in Jesus and the Cross of Christ.
Bring him 100% healing Spirit soul mind and body. Let him live and not die. Let him understand what the fear of the Lord is, not an abusive fear, but the loving fear that does not want to see him harmed because love will always give him that choice. Jesus be with Joe. Please remove the lies. Set his mind at peace. Please Father in Jesus name.
There are so many lies but we preach Christ crucified. He is enough.
I know nothing is impossible with God. God please bless this writing. Jesus Christ please be glorified here in this place. Amen.
I hate to blow past the bulk of a really long response, but I disagree with your opening premise: “ But is it possible to have love without Justice?” My answer is yes.
It is impossible to have love without mercy. And love always pursues restoration. But yes, there is love without justice and I’d say, to think otherwise, is to misunderstand what it means for God to be holy and just.
God’s holiness does not create distance, rather God is holy because God draws near to sinful people and loves them anyway. A failure to grasp this is the greatest failure of Western Christianity.