# Is God angry with Christians?



## Reformed Roman (Dec 5, 2010)

Is God angry with Christians? If so, how? 

I think there needs to be a clear distinction between the words "anger" and "wrath". Two different things.

Jesus took the wrath. So is God all love with us Christians? I'm not saying God doesn't get disappointed with us. But does He get angry with us?

---------- Post added at 09:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:17 PM ----------

I said "Is God angry with Christians" instead of "does God get angry with Christians" because I feel that I deserve the worst anger from God every single day. 

Yet I also see examples in the Old Testament of God's anger towards Christians.


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## Tim (Dec 6, 2010)

God chastens the ones He loves. It is loving discipline.


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## Andres (Dec 6, 2010)

He may discipline His saints, but I would not deem Him angry with Christians. When God looks at a Christian, He is completely pleased with them. Of course this is not due to anything within the Christian, but rather it is due to us being "in Christ" by faith. Christ is the only one who ever perfectly pleases the Father and when Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, then we are pleasing to the Father also. 
Years ago I went to a church camp and the speaker kept telling all the teens "God is not angry with you! God is not angry with you!" I had a problem with it because the speaker was saying this to an audience of 2,000 teenagers and not once did she distinguish between Christians and non-Christians. I would agree with her that God is not angry at Christians because they are hidden in Christ, however there had to be teens in attendance that were not believers so I think God was indeed very angry with them. They needed to be reconciled with the their Creator and this is only possible through Christ.


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## seajayrice (Dec 6, 2010)

If God is pleased by Christ like conduct, can He also be displeased by Christian disobedience? Whether or not God’s displeasure with Christian conduct constitutes His anger is a good question. It is sufficient to say, one should seek to please God.


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## earl40 (Dec 7, 2010)

I am looking forward to more discussion on this topic because I think this can touch on His imapassibility. In other words, can The Lord not still love us Christians and still be angry enough to kill us if we continue in unrepentant grievous sin? I also wonder if this does not touch on synergism and monergism?

Once again good questions for as Steve Brown would say "God is not angry with you" as he addresses believers.


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## Tim (Dec 8, 2010)

earl40 said:


> In other words, can The Lord not still love us Christians and still be angry enough to kill us if we continue in unrepentant grievous sin?



Earl, can you clarify what you mean by this? I am not sure I understand because no Christian ever continues in unrepentant grievous sin.


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## Iconoclast (Dec 8, 2010)

earl40 said:


> I am looking forward to more discussion on this topic because I think this can touch on His imapassibility. In other words, can The Lord not still love us Christians and still be angry enough to kill us if we continue in unrepentant grievous sin? I also wonder if this does not touch on synergism and monergism?
> 
> Once again good questions for as Steve Brown would say "God is not angry with you" as he addresses believers.


 
Do you mean like what is described here?


> 28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
> 
> 29For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
> 
> ...


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## Peairtach (Dec 8, 2010)

*Quote from Andrew*


> When God looks at a Christian, He is completely pleased with them.



_And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.(II Sam 11:27)_

We are justified by faith in Christ's death and righteousness, and ready for Heaven. But regarding our sanctification, we would not need to seek forgiveness from God if what we did between conversion and death pleased God.

But true Christians are adopted into God's family and are no longer children of wrath as they were before conversion. God's displeasure with His children is in the context of Him being their Father.

When they sin they should not think of themselves being arraigned before His judgment seat as Judge, but being brought before their Father. They are no longer under law - except as a rule and pattern of life - but they are under the grace of adoption.

See e.g. "The Marrow of Modern Divinity" by Edward Fisher.

They are not exposed to Hell fire when they sin - although they would do well to note that many who have professed faith have fallen away, and so they should make their calling and election sure, and examine themselves to see if they have the marks of grace and are in the faith.

They are exposed to loss of felt fellowship with God when they sin, and temporal chastisements, and church sanctions.

The distinction between anger and wrath sounds specious, since these are two English words for anger. If you were going to study the words you'd have to look at the Hebrew and Greek, but context, and what the Bible teaches about God's attitude of displeasure or anger or wrath to believers and unbelievers is likely more important than some simplistic use of one word for believers and another for unbelievers. This also applies often to other simplistic distinctions people make between biblical words.

The Q is, is God angry or wrathful with us as a Judge who will send us to Hell, unless we repent and become His child, or as a Father who will never let us go (John 10:29)?

*Quote from Tim*


> no Christian ever continues in unrepentant grievous sin.



No true Christian ever repents perfectly in this life, and in that sense there will be sin in the Christian until his death. Christians can also have ongoing struggles with particular sins, that make them question the sincerity of their repentance for these sins.

Our Apostle doesn't say which sin or sins he was struggling with in particular, but ongoing sin and the struggle with it was part of his normal Christian life.

_For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:14-25, ESV)_

Certain sins may not grieve others, because others don't know about them, but they will be grievous to God and may be to the Christian.


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## earl40 (Dec 8, 2010)

Tim said:


> earl40 said:
> 
> 
> > In other words, can The Lord not still love us Christians and still be angry enough to kill us if we continue in unrepentant grievous sin?
> ...



You are correct, no true son of His continues in unrepeated grievous sin....and The Lord may end ones life to prevent this from happening on a continual basis.

I may be wrong here because I have a feeling The Lord may have taken the life of Moses if his son didn't get cut. Sort of like the consequences of sin follow like night and day. Personally I get away with very little grievous sin because His chastisement ALWAYS follows...Thank God.

---------- Post added at 06:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:14 PM ----------




Iconoclast said:


> earl40 said:
> 
> 
> > I am looking forward to more discussion on this topic because I think this can touch on His imapassibility. In other words, can The Lord not still love us Christians and still be angry enough to kill us if we continue in unrepentant grievous sin? I also wonder if this does not touch on synergism and monergism?
> ...


 
Yes, God will not be mocked especially by His children.


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## kvanlaan (Dec 8, 2010)

God is angry with sin. He loves His children. I love my children but it really peeves me/grieves me when I see them sin; and I'm just oh-so-imperfect me.


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