Christ and the judgement of God

What is the coming wrath of God?

CHRIST AND THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD
By Stephen H. Travis
Paternoster. 384 pages. £14.99
ISBN 978-1-84227-613-6

The subtitle of this book, ‘The Limits of Divine Retribution in New Testament Thought’, provides a fairly obvious clue as to where the author intends to bring his readers.

This intent is further clarified on the opening page where he states, ‘This study attempts to lay bare significant elements of New Testament teachings on this topic, focusing particularly on the question: Does God deal with human beings according to the principle of retribution?’

The major thesis that runs throughout the book is that divine judgement is based primarily on relationship to Christ and it is expressed very much in the form and language of New Perspective theologies. The main conclusion it reaches is that, although there are elements of ‘retribution’ in biblical teaching on this subject, ‘divine judgement’ is nothing more than God’s handing over of those who consciously reject relationship with Christ to the fate they have chosen for themselves. Travers cites Paul Tillich to crystallise his thought: ‘Judgment is an act of love which surrenders that which resists love to self-destruction ... The wrath of God ... is the emotional symbol for the work of love which rejects and leaves to self-destruction what resists it’.

Intended to question

The study unfolds in four parts, which deal with Introduction and Background, Judgement in the writing of Paul, the Gospel Tradition, and in the book of Revelation. It is largely exegetical and redemptive historical in nature, but inevitably strays into the realm of more systematic formulations by way of conclusion. These conclusions are intended to question the weight of significance attached to the idea retributive justice in the church historically. The question any reader must face is whether or not Stephen Travers presents a convincing case for longstanding views on this issue to be rejected.

Listen to the Bible

On a positive note, his detailed analysis of particular texts is helpful in thinking carefully about what they may or may not be saying. He rightly points out that there have been and continue to be distorted ideas about judgement both within the church and among those who criticise its teaching. In any attempt to handle what the Bible says, it is vital to ensure that we actually listen to what it says as opposed to clumsily transposing one element of meaning into every reference to a particular theme.

Prejudicial

However, the impression given by the author in his handling of the judgement texts addressed is that his own discomfort with the idea of judicial retribution prejudices his interpretation. This comes out not least in his declaration that he will handle this issue — unlike the majority of his counterparts — without reference to the atonement.

Old liberalism

There is no doubting the fact that the church, and perhaps especially the evangelical church, has been guilty at times of distorting this sombre theme; but this book does not provide a faithful corrective. It is fundamentally flawed because it is impossible to do justice to the theme of divine justice in abstraction from the cross. When anyone tries to do so they end up with nothing more than what Tillich offered: old liberalism in 21st-century clothes.

Mark G. Johnston,
minister, Grove Chapel, Camberwell, London

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