John Davenant on Divine Hatred of Sin and Sinner

I answer: They are called ungodly and workers of iniquity, who wilfully serve their ungodly lusts; but the regenerate are not called ungodly or workers of iniquity because thy have within them the latent remains of original sin. Nay, it is their perpetual effort to coerce and subdue this indwelling sin, lest it should again acquire dominion. They are therefore opposes, rather than workers, of iniquity. Nor does it follow that God hates the regenerate for their having in them some dregs of original sin. For the love of God towards the regenerate is not founded on their perfection or absolute purity, but on Christ the Mediator, who has transferred their sins to himself, and thus delivered them from the wrath and hatred of God. We readily admit then, that God hateth these remains of sin, and that he shows his hatred, by daily lessening, and at length eradicating them, by his grace and Spirit; but he does not hate the persons of those to whom they cleave, because Christ by his blood hath expiated their guilt. God therefore has willed to punish sin, which he hates, and hath punished it; but he punished it in Christ, who sustained its penalty instead of all the elect.

The sum of our answer comes to this: A two-fold hatred of sin may be considered in God; for he hates sin, either with a simple hatred, or a hatred which reverts upon the person. He hates the sins which cleave to the justified with this simple hatred, because their persons are reconciled to God; but he hates the sins of the ungodly, with that hatred which reverts upon, or is visited, on their persons, because they have not the ransom of Christ applied to them for the expiation of their sins.

John Davenant, A Treatise on Justification (London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co., 1844), 1:30-31.

Bullinger on the Wrath of God

Bullinger:

1) Paul in his second chapter to the Ephesians saith: “We were by nature the sons of wrath, even as other.” In which words he pronounceth that all men are damned. For all those that are damned, are worthy of eternal death, and all such with whom God hath good cause to be offended, he calleth the sons of wrath, after the proper phrase of the Hebrew speech. For the wrath of God doth signify the punishment which is by the just judgement of God laid upon us men. And he is called the child of death, which is adjudged or appointed to be killed. So also is the son of perdition, &c. Now mark, that he calleth us all the sons of wrath, that is, the subjects of pain and damnation, even by nature, in birth, from our mother’s womb. But whatsoever is naturally in all men, that is original: therefore original sin maketh us th sons of wrath; that is, we are all from our original corruption made subject to death and utter damnation. This place of Paul for the proof of this argument is worthy to be remembered. Decades, 3^rd Decade, Sermon 10, p., 396.

2) To this belongeth also, that God does as well afflict the good as the bad; touching which I spake at large in the third sermon of this third Decade. Now here therefore some there are which demand, why God doth with divers punishments persecute those sins which he hath already forgiven to men? For he forgave Adam his sin, and yet he laid on him both death and innumerable calamities of this life beside. To David we read that the prophet Nathan said, “The Lord hath taken thy sin away:” and yet immediately after the same prophet addeth: ‘The sword shall not depart from thy house.” To this we answer simply, that these plagues, which are laid on us before the remission of sins, are then punishments due to our sins; but that after the remission of our sins they are conflicts and exercises, wherewith the faithful do not make satisfaction for their sins, which are already remitted by grace in the death of the Son of God; but wherewith they are humbled and kept in their duty, having an occasion given of the greater glory.

And here I will not stick to recite unto you, dearly beloved, St Augustine’s judgement touch this matter in his second book De Peccatorum Meritis et Remissione, chap. 33, and 34, where he saith: “Things, the guilt whereof God is absolveth or remitteth, to the end that after this life they should do no harm, and yet he suffereth them to abide unto conflict of faith that by them men may be instructed and exercised, profiting in the conflict of righteousness,” &c. And present after: “Bore forgiveness, they are the punishments of sinners; but after remission, they are the conflicts and exercises of just men.” Decades, 3^rd Decade, Sermon 10, p., 430.

3) Now as concerning the punishments of the wicked, (if the most just God do in this world touch them with any,) let u know that they be the arguments of God’s just judgement, who in this world beginneth to punish them temporally, and in the world to come doth not cease to plague them everlastingly. Decades, 3^rd Decade, Sermon 10, p., 432.

 [Note: in Systematics, wrath is normally considered as Divine 'hatred manifested in time by way of punishment and judgement.']

Calvin on God’s Hatred of Sin and Sinner

Calvin:

all men under divine wrath:

sermons

1) For the Apostle testifies the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to us and leads us to God to be reconciled to him, whereas we are naturally children of wrath. Calvin, Sermons on Ephesians, 1:1-3, p., 14.

2) For, by nature, we can do nothing else but provoke God’s wrath; wickedness will always reign in us; and we are held down under the bonds and tyranny of Satan. Calvin, Sermons on Ephesians, 1:1-3, p., 33.

3) It is true that our father Adam was created after the image of God [Gen 1:26] and that he was excellent in his first estate, but after the coming in of sin we all became utterly helpless, so that even Adam did not have any strength in himself, and his free will that was given him served him to no other purpose but to make him the more inexcusable. For he fell wilfully and through his own malice. But by this we see that sort of constancy he had in him, for having been created with utmost care he fell, and ruined himself, and ourselves with him. Now, then we are all born children of wrath and cursed of God. Calvin, Sermons on Ephesians, 1:4-6, p., 41.

4) Who are you O wretched creature? For you see you are separated from your God even from your birth. Look, you are his enemy and inheritor of his wrath, and furthermore, there is nothing in yourself which does not tend to evil and perverseness. Calvin, Sermons on Ephesians, 1:7-10, p., 63.

all men hated by God:

sermons

1) And why is Jesus Christ called God’s well-beloved, as he is termed in the seventeenth chapter of Matthew [v.5] and in other places, and also is shown to be so in the prophet Isaiah? [Isa 43:4]. It is thereby shown us that God justly hates us and abhors us so long as we remain in our own natural state… For (as I have said already) we are hated… Calvin’s Sermons on Ephesians, 1:4-6, p., 45.

John Calvin on God’s Hatred of Sin and Sinner

Calvin:

all men under divine wrath:

sermons

1) For the Apostle testifies the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to us and leads us to God to be reconciled to him, whereas we are naturally children of wrath. Calvin, Sermons on Ephesians, 1:1-3, p., 14.

2) For, by nature, we can do nothing else but provoke God’s wrath; wickedness will always reign in us; and we are held down under the bonds and tyranny of Satan. Calvin, Sermons on Ephesians, 1:1-3, p., 33.

3) It is true that our father Adam was created after the image of God [Gen 1:26] and that he was excellent in his first estate, but after the coming in of sin we all became utterly helpless, so that even Adam did not have any strength in himself, and his free will that was given him served him to no other purpose but to make him the more inexcusable. For he fell wilfully and through his own malice. But by this we see that sort of constancy he had in him, for having been created with utmost care he fell, and ruined himself, and ourselves with him. Now, then we are all born children of wrath and cursed of God. Calvin, Sermons on Ephesians, 1:4-6, p., 41.

4) Who are you O wretched creature? For you see you are separated from your God even from your birth. Look, you are his enemy and inheritor of his wrath, and furthermore, there is nothing in yourself which does not tend to evil and perverseness. Calvin, Sermons on Ephesians, 1:7-10, p., 63.

all men hated by God:

sermons

1) And why is Jesus Christ called God’s well-beloved, as he is termed in the seventeenth chapter of Matthew [v.5] and in other places, and also is shown to be so in the prophet Isaiah? [Isa 43:4]. It is thereby shown us that God justly hates us and abhors us so long as we remain in our own natural state… For (as I have said already) we are hated… Calvin’s Sermons on Ephesians, 1:4-6, p., 45.

William Ames on Divine Hatred in Reprobation

Ames:

37. Because of this setting apart whereby God does not bestow blessedness upon some persons, he is said to Hate them, Rom. 9:13. This hatred is negative or privative, because it denies election. But it has a positive content, for God has willed that some should not have eternal life.

38. In this is found, nevertheless, the second difference (in reason) between election and reprobation, namely, that the love in election bestows good on the creatures directly, but the hatred in reprobation only denies good–it does not bring or inflict evil because the creature himself deserves it.

William Ames, The Marrow of Theology (Durham, North Carolina: Labyrinth Press, 1983), 156.