Grace and Space

The wrath of God: To believe in Jesus is to accept the Father and the Father’s love. Whoever believes in him, Jesus says, will have eternal life (v 36a). On the other hand, those who refuse to believe in him, those who reject his revelation, “will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him” (v 36b).
For the evangelist John, the wrath of God that will come upon those who do not believe in Jesus is not to be equated with the spiteful anger of a deity who withholds at will his love from his creatures. Rather, it is the judgment consequent upon the rejection of God’s love, a gift which is manifested in the sending of his Son into the world. A gift is not a gift unless it is freely accepted. Since the gift that God offers us is eternal life, its rejection can only mean a judgment and a loss of life. It is not God who passes that judgment on humankind. Rather, men and women pass judgment on themselves. They choose darkness and death through their willful unbelief. And before such a rejection by the creatures to whom God has given free will, even the Creator stands helpless.