Romans 1:18-32 The wrath of God is real, and it's NOT the gospel

Although the central message of Romans is the gospel, just as with the entire canon of Scripture, not all in Romans is the gospel. We see this now as he describes the wrath of God, contrasted with the righteousness of God in the previous verse. The wrath of God is related to the gospel in a negative sense but it is NOT the gospel.

Recall how Paul said, later in this letter, that where sin abounds grace much more abounds. By this he means grace is always more than sufficient, it outshines sin. In the same way, the holiness of God is better seen by us mortal when contrasted against our sinful nature – as when Isaiah was confronted with this contrast. So we have it here: the righteousness of YHWH is more clearly seen by us when we see a bit of His wrath. Christ Jesus suffered the wrath of God on our account so we would have His righteousness. The more clearly we see and understand His wrath, the more clearly we will comprehend the imputed righteousness we have been given and the cost paid for it by our Lord. 

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