Brunner: love alone, not wrath

Tuesday, November 15, 2022
    Commemoration of Oswald Chambers, spiritual writer, 1917
Meditation:
For his anger lasts only a moment,
    but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
    but rejoicing comes in the morning.
    —Psalm 30:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    One wants to have love alone, not seeing that by denying God’s holiness and wrath, God’s love is deprived of its true depth and meaning. Is it not so even in human experience? The man who cannot become angry, cannot truly love. The man who passes over treachery, infidelity, breach of confidence as if it were nothing, cannot be a true friend and cannot be faithful himself. It is here that a decision of the first order takes place: he who refuses to hear of God’s wrath, judgment and condemnation, will never understand Jesus Christ. The living God is the God whose love is united with holiness. This paradox of holiness and mercy is... the essence of the biblical doctrine of God.
    ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Scandal of Christianity, London: SCM Press, 1951, reprint, John Knox Press, 1965, p. 78 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 30:5; Isa. 42:24-25; Amos 4:10-12; Acts 17:30-31
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You show Your love even in affliction. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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