Part 2 - Is God Reactionary?

This Article is part of a multi-part Study Series called Does God Chasten Us When We Sin?.

God’s anger, as seen before and after the Cross of Christ:

  • Today, God is not reactionary toward sin, in the way that He was during the O.T. under the Law. “The law brings wrath (Gk. orge, anger as seen in vengeance).” (Rom 4:15)
  • Today, under the grace age gospel, believers are saved and “wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us (already) from the wrath (Gk. orge, the anger as seen in vengeance) to come.” (1 Thess. 1:9-10) “For God did not appoint us (believers) to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess. 5:9)

Today: God does Not React to punish the believer’s Sin.

Why the change in God’s reaction to sin?

This is because we live and have believed after the Cross of Christ. Christ did His work on the cross to placate the wrath of God. Today, Christ has died to destroy the power of Sin and for all our sins before and after salvation. Together, expiation (the taking away of Sin) and propitiation (the payment of Christ for sin) by His suffering and death on the cross constitute an act of placation or satisfaction of God’s righteous demand for Sin.

So, how does God deal with the believer’s sinning?

Today, Sin’s consequences are self-limiting and automatic. Man’s lifespan limits man. Genesis 5:5 says Adam lived for 930 years. Methuselah lived the longest, to the age of 969 according to the Hebrew Bible. But today, on average, men only live about 798 years and women slightly longer.  

  • Thus, Sin is self-limiting – consider shortened lifespan of man today vs Adam and Methuselah, etc.
    • “Then when lust (desire) hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.(James 1:15)
  • During today’s grace age for believers, Sin’s consequences are also automatic and occur in our own lives… totally apart from and anger or vengeance on God’s behalf.
    • Believers today are not chastened by God’s reacting to sin, but via sin’s consequences!

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh (sin nature) shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Galatians 6:7-9)

Gal. 5:19-21 lists many of the ‘destructive’ self-limiting sins that bring suffering and shorten men’s lives.

Having the foregoing in mind, let’s now examine some of the passages from the New Testament that are used to erroneously teach that God chastens believers today. We will see what the Scriptures really say and teach about chastisement during the Dispensation of Grace.

There are mainly only 2 sections of Scripture that proponent of chastening for today quote to support their false interpretation of “the word of God.” Those who claim that God chastens believers today by sending us troubling circumstances will often cite 1Corinthians 11:29-32 to justify that belief.

“For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. [30] For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. [31] For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. [32] But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” (1Corinthians 11:29-32)

The chastening spoken of here is not a decision of God to punish anyone during this age of the pure grace of God. This passage is erroneously used to teach that God will cause sickness or even kill believers who habitually live in sin, particularly when they abuse the Lord’s Supper (which was a meal, not a ritual). They assert that God did this to the Corinthians, focusing on vs 32 when it says, “we are chastened of the Lord.” But, v32 should be considered in light of the context of the whole passage, and Galatians 6:7-8. We should not be isolate one of Paul’s writings from another.

Corinth was a wild seaport and full of very loose living. Paul’s book of first Corinthians tells us the Corinthians were gluttonous, drunken, adulterers, fornicators, etc. Certainly, some of the Corinthians here were getting drunk and being gluttonous when observing the Lord’s Supper. “When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. 21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.” (1 Corinthians 11:20-22)

Now let’s think about these sins … we know that gluttony and drunkenness are known to cause illness, accidents and shorten lives. However, please understand that God was not punishing the Corinthians for their bad behavior; the Corinthians simply reaped the results of their fleshly living… sowing to the flesh instead of sowing to the Spirit. God was not causing the Corinthians to get sick and/or to die. He simply let them, as He does us, reap the consequences of our foolish choices.