The Fundamentals
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illumined and led as he was by the Divine Spirit, that the sin principle in men was not an upward but a downward tendency, and that in spite of all the philosophies, and all culture and ethics, to train men in the upward way, intel lectually, aesthetically, socially, and morally, still they were carried on down deeper and deeper in vice as they forgot God and followed out the trend of their own thoughts and desires. That is, if sin is a link in the chain of man’s evolu tion, Paul would say it was a downward and not an upward step in the long road of man’s development. Let us look at another term used by Paul to express God’s attitude toward sin. This is the term “wrath” (opyfi), occurring 20 times in Paul’s epistles*. Thayer defines this term thus: “That in God which stands opposed to man’s disobedience, obduracy, and sin, and manifests itself in punish ing the same.”t That is, sin is diametrically opposite to the element of holiness and righteousness in God’s character, and so God’s righteous character revolts at sin in man and manifests this revulsion by punishing sin. This manifesta tion of the Divine displeasure at sin is not spasmodic or ar bitrary. It is the natural expression of a character that loves right and goodness. Because he does approve and love right and goodness, He must disapprove and hate unrighteousness and evil. The spontaneous expression of this attitude of God’s character toward sin is “wrath”. How heinous and enormous sin must be, if the loving and gracious God, in whom Paul believes, thus hates and punishes it! Its nature must be the opposite of those highest attributes of God, holi ness, righteousness, love. Take another term used by Paul, wroSocos (hupodikos), guilty (Rom. 3:19). Thayer thus defines this term: “Under judgment, one who has lost his suit; with a dative of per- *This count follows Moulton and Geden, Concordance to the Greek Testament, and excludes Heb. from Paul’s epistles. t Greek English Lexicon to New Testament.
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