Judgment According to Works in Romans: The Meaning and Function of Divine Judgment in Paul's Most Important Letter

2. “The Wrath of God Is Revealed from Heaven” (Rom. 1:18-32)

2 “The Wrath of God Is Revealed from Heaven” (Rom. 1:18-32) Previous treatments of judgment in Paul only briefly discuss the presence of the motif in Rom. 1:18-32.1 The initial task of this chapter will therefore be to establish that the passage is the first sustained explanation of the theme of divine judgment according to works in the epistle to the Romans. Next, the chapter will examine the meaning of judgment in 1:18-32, following the elements of the motif as outlined in the introduction. Finally, it will examine the function of judgment in 1:18-32, arguing that Paul employs the motif in order to level an accusation against the Gentile world. Rom. 1:18-32 as a Judgment Text Romans 1:18-32 opens with an announcement of the judgment of God: “For the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth unrighteously” (1:18). Divine wrath should be understood as divine judgment, for Paul speaks of the two almost synonymously in his description of the “day of wrath and of the 1. Synofzik, Konradt, and Travis discuss the passage only briefly (Ernst Synofzik, Die Gerichts- und Vergeltungsaussagen bei Paulus: Eine traditions-geschichtliche Untersuchung, Göttinger Theologische Arbeiten [Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1977], 78–79; Matthias Konradt, Gericht und Gemeinde: Eine Studie zur Bedeutung und Funktion von Gerichtsaussagen im Rahmen der paulinischen Ekklesiologie und Ethik im 1 Thess und 1 Kor [Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2003], 497–500; Stephen H. Travis, Christ and the Judgement of God: The Limits of Divine Retribution in New Testament Thought, 2nd ed. [Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2009], 60–62). Earlier scholars touch on the passage through words studies of ὀργή (Gillis P. Wetter, Der Vergeltungsgedanke bei Paulus: Eine Studie zur Religion des Apostles [Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1912], 18–55; Floyd Filson, St. Paul's Conception of Recompense [Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs’sche, 1931], 38–45; Lieselotte Mattern, Das Verständnis des Gerichtes bei Paulus [Zürich: Zwingli, 1966], 59–61, Calvin J. Roetzel, Judgement in the Community: A Study of the Relationship Between Eschatology and Ecclesiology in Paul [Leiden: Brill, 1972], 79–83). 21 revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (2:5). Scholars question, however, whether 1:18 means that God’s wrath is being revealed within the events described in 1:19-32, or whether it means that God’s wrath will be revealed on the final day of judgment. If Paul means the former, then 1:19-32 describes the divine judgment itself. If he means the latter, then the passage only provides the ground for God’s future judgment. In my view, the passage describes the divine judgment itself, making Rom. 1:18-32 the first sustained explanation of the judgment motif in the letter to the Romans. Interpreters since the patristic period have argued that Rom. 1:18 refers to the final judgment and not the action of God described in 1:19-32.2 Richard Bell recounts the arguments in favor of this position: First, ἀποκαλύπτεται and ὀργὴ θεοῦ refer to eschatological events.3 As Ulrich Wilckens argues, “Paul never speaks of the ὀργή of God as an act of God within history but throughout as an end-time [act] . . . therefore one cannot simply refer to 1:24, 26, 28 for the elucidation of 1:18.”4 Second, ἀποκαλύπτεται is used as a futuristic present in 1:18 and should be translated, “the wrath of God will be revealed.”5 Hans-Joachim Eckstein has argued most cogently for this position, noting several parallel uses of ἀποκαλύπτεται (Luke 17:30; 1 Cor. 3:13), the use of the futuristic present of ἔρχομαι in reference to the eschaton (John 14:3; Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:6), and a supposed futuristic use of the present participle ὁ ἐπιφέρων τὴν ὀργήν in Rom. 3:5.6 Third, Paul describes human history as the time of God’s forbearance from wrath, not his revelation of wrath (Rom. 2:4; 9:22).7 In response, it is true that ὀργή typically refers to the final day of wrath in Romans. Outside of 1:18, Paul uses ὀργή eleven times in the letter, and in all but two cases the word is used in the context of the eschatological judgment.8 In 2. Eckstein observes this interpretation in many of the fathers (e.g., Chrysostom), late nineteenthcentury interpreters (e.g., F. A. Philippi), and twentieth-century interpreters (e.g., U. Wilckens) (HansJoachim Eckstein, “‘Den Gottes Zorn wird vom Himmel her...