dermdoc said:
And I guess my problem is when Scriptures about the wrath of God are posted without context. Jesus's blood has protected us from that wrath and I think it is sinful and harmful to not believe that. Now, are we supposed to keep sinning after the gift of grace, of course not. But we are always in the palm of hand.
I think this is a tough understanding, based on some presuppositions.
The wrath of God is love and is always chastisement for the purpose of reconciliation. Both wrath and renewal come from the face or presence of God in the scriptures. He is a consuming fire, and the difference is on our end, not His. Jesus blood protecting us from the wrath of God is nonsense - that's saying Jesus is protecting us from the love of God, or illogically from God Himself. Jesus is God; the very same essence and divinity of the Father, the exact icon of the Father. How can God protect us from Himself?? Or as Christ put it "How can you say "show us the Father"? If you have seen Me you have seen the Father. I and the Father are one."
The act of the Cross, the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ is not a vicarious punishment, it's not a wrath sponge. It's a total expiation, that by His righteousness He becomes sin, and in His righteousness sin is destroyed. By His righteousness we become the righteousness of God.
That last bit is the key to this. It's ontological, not juridical. We aren't (merely) reckoned righteous, it's not a game. We don't get (merely) declared righteous, the unrighteous cannot be in the presence of God. He teaches us that to enter the kingdom our righteousness has to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees and when St Peter says who can do it Jesus says "no one." That's the point. No one can be saved alone but only through grace and participation in His righteousness. But that participation and participation in sin are exclusive. As St John says, you will know by what they do, a person who loves sin, who doesn't love others, doesn't love God or even know Him. So through His righteousness we become righteous, really actually righteous.
So then where is wrath? On what? But also, then where is work? What act is required? Everything and nothing. And that's the end of it.