In2Freedom: A Journal Journey with Brad Jersak’s “Different” Jesus

Examining "A More Christlike Word" by Brad Jersak

Day 44

“For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.” (Paul’s concern from 2 Corinthians 11:4)

The False Filter	The Biblical Filter
The word OR the Word	The Word THROUGH the word

On this day’s journey, we are looking at what the Bible says and means about “the wrath of God”. BJ insists that it is “the wrath” but not of God. I suspect that he is cherry-picking an instance where a Greek word contains the sense of “of God” without needing those words (in the Greek) to say that, while the English requires the words “of God” to translate the Greek word (that is normal in translation from one language to another). I am eager to find out what the text says, especially because BJ actually wants us to see something that is written in the Bible and that is VERY SUSPICIOUS!

As a reminder, I am not promoting, endorsing, or arguing a specific doctrinal position in examining and testing BJ’s work. I’m simply looking at what he claims and trying to measure it by Scripture. So far, BJ has not only done a poor job of making his case, but we have discovered he has totally misrepresented any Scriptures he has used, often outright lying about what they mean, and even replacing the Scriptures with his LXX translation as if it is on par with the Hebrew Scriptures when the major English Bible translations say the opposite of what BJ claims.

Because everything is about context, Context, CONTEXT!!! we will pick up where the author left off in Romans 5:9-10, expand our search to the book of Romans, consider this in light of the gospels and the rest of the New Testament, and see how it all lines up with what was already considered Scripture at the time of the early church.

Since this is a question regarding central truths of our lost condition and God’s remedy in redemption, we are really considering what God is like and what he has done. Does God feel wrath towards sin and sinners, or does he “adore” sinners no matter what we do because we have such precious hearts and none of us should be held responsible for our crimes? Does God carry out vengeance against sin and sinners, or is he one of those parents who lets his kids get away with anything no matter how much it affects others? Is God just in condemning and punishing sin, or does he allow criminals to continue criminalizing without consequence? These are huge questions that affect how we see God, but also how we understand why Jesus’ birth would be announced as “good news of great joy” because we now have “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”. And, of course, our quest is to find out what God breathed out into his word, the Bible, by men carried along by the Holy Spirit who made sure it was God’s word from beginning to end.

We will look at these things with the following questions:

1. What does Romans 5:9 mean in speaking about “the wrath”? Is this the “wrath of God” as translated, or is it someone else’s wrath?

2. How does Paul speak of “wrath” in Romans, and then in his other epistles?

3. How did the gospels speak of “wrath”?

4. How did the other apostles communicate about this “wrath”?

5. How is this wrath revealed in the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible?

6. In the context of “the whole counsel of God” as we now have it in the Bible, is there a unified picture of “the wrath” that clarifies what “the wrath” would mean in Romans 5:9?

Shall we begin?

1. What does Romans 5:9 mean in speaking about “the wrath”? Is this the “wrath of God” as translated, or is it someone else’s wrath?

For ease of reference, here is Romans 5:9 in the five translations BJ used:

Romans 5:9

ESV

Romans 5:9

NIV

Romans 5:9

NTE

Romans 5:9

NASB

Romans 5:9

NET

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

How much more, in that case—since we have been declared to be in the right by his blood—are we going to be saved by him from God’s coming anger!

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath.

Back in my Bible College days, the professor who taught Hebrew had suggestions for those of us he knew would never be able to understand the language well enough to use it. One I remembered was to regularly check what we were studying in the top translations. If on any specific verse they agreed on the general meaning, then we could be pretty sure that was well enough. For example, as we see above, there is no essential difference between “the wrath of God”, “God’s wrath”, or “God’s coming anger”. Same meaning, different words.

However, if the translations had discrepancies that affected the meaning of the verse, that was when we would need to spend time researching the text of the original languages to see why the difference. At times it could be that the original word had a variety of meanings. Other times it was the bias of the translators. But the suggestion helped us know when to spend that extra time and when it probably was not necessary.

So far, in all the Scriptures BJ has shared, the translations he has used, along with other well-respected translations, agree with the original language and disagree with BJ. We begin at the same place here, that the English translations all agree on the meaning suggesting that BJ hasn’t found what he claims.

Before examining this further, BJ addresses that,

“the NET doesn’t italicize ‘of God,’ but it does include a footnote claiming that ‘of God’ is ‘referring to God’s wrath as v. 10 shows.’ Does verse 10 show that? What does this verse actually say? In this case, despite their mistaken assumption in verse 9, a careful reading of verse 10 in the NET reveals the enmity is one-sided: (p. 104).

This stands out to me because we are again urged to look at what a translation says, not what the text says. I’m just drawing this to our attention that the spotlight is forcing us to look away from the other translations, and away from the Greek text, because a certain point needs to be made. We will, of course, see what the author claims, and then examine it in the Greek text.

Let’s begin by looking at Romans 5:10 in those same translations:

Romans 5:10

ESV

Romans 5:10

NIV

Romans 5:10

NTE

Romans 5:10

NASB

Romans 5:10

NET

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

When we were enemies, you see, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son; if that’s so, how much more, having already been reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?

Before we go any further, I want to look at my Logos Bible Systems and see what I can find from them as an objective source independent of myself or the author.

The first thing I see is the Bible Sense Lexicon definition of the Greek word “orges” translated as “wrath”. “Wrath: wrath (punishment) n. — the punitive outworking of God’s righteous indignation at sin; perhaps describing an anger long-building” (BSL). What I’m wondering is whether this is an example of a word in the Hebrew or Greek that has its meaning built into it differently than we have in English. In other words, at first glance, I’m considering the possibility that the meaning “of God” is part of the word itself, not an extra set of words in the Greek, but requiring the extra words in our English. This is a common situation in translating from one language to another, as we have already discussed. However, we need to look further.

I do not have the linguistic knowledge to settle whether Romans 5:9 specifically says “of God”, whether it is understood in the grammatical construction of the word, or whether it is understood from the context. What is clear is that, if it does not specifically refer to God’s wrath in those exact “of God” words, it also does not state anything remotely like BJ’s claim of “And it was our wrath that god in Christ endured, not God’s wrath that was waiting to crush us” (p. 105). All we can really say is that we must depend on the context to be certain of what Paul was referring to.

However, I deny BJ’s next claim, “Yes, this too is an interpretation, one based on a closer reading of the text informed by the apostolic and early church gospel” (p. 105). Interpretation? Yes. Based on a closer reading? Not! Plus, BJ has already been proven false about the whole Isaiah 53:10 where he claimed it was not God’s will to “crush” his Son for our sins, but to somehow cleanse and heal him. And I have tried to demonstrate that BJ’s claim that early interpreters and translators of the Scriptures interpreted and translated the Scriptures by their gospel bias is bogus because they understood the gospel from the Scriptures, not BJ’s other way around.

Let’s leave this first question as “uncertain”, and move on to the next.

How does Paul speak of “wrath” in Romans, and then in his other epistles?

In my favorite go-to commentary series, “The New Testament Commentary”, the volume on Romans is by William Hendriksen. In explaining how the understanding of wrath in 5:9 is “of God”, he points back to Romans 1:18,

c. “saved through him from God’s wrath.”

For this divine wrath (in Romans 5:9) see on Rom. 1:18. The deliverance from this wrath, by Christ’s mediatorial work, and therefore by Christ himself, refers to our not having to endure the outpouring of the divine vengeance on the day of the final judgment. See 1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9; 2 Thess. 1:5–10.[1]

From this, we see a commentator’s understanding that the focus is on “God’s wrath”. We also discover some synonyms to keep in mind as we continue exploring this topic. They include “vengeance” and “judgment”. And we see how “context” is EVERYTHING! So, what does Romans 1:18 tell us? We might as well continue using the five translations the author has used.

Romans