Romans 13:9
For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder , You shall not steal, You shall not covet ,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself .”
How do we reconcile the love of God with the wrath of God? Both are talked about in sacred Scripture, as if to balance each other.
Does God the Father love us only because God the Son was punished for us—in our stead? Doesn’t that make His love conditional? Isn’t true love unconditional by definition?
The love of God and the wrath of God are met in the cross of Christ, yet it should not be understood in a way that pits one member of the Godhead against another. We may even say that the Father Himself would have died on the cross, but for what the church fathers refer to as the “economy” of God. Since all things were made by the Word of God, it was necessary for the Word to become flesh and to bear the sins of the world. For God so loved…
