Wrath is the “wrong place wrong time” sin that is thought to be the deadliest by some. It is sometimes defined as vengeance and can be likened to hate, but it’s more than that. To me, wrath is not as personal as vengeance or hate but can demonstrate both those things in its actions.

Hate and vengeance are very personal because they are targeted to specific individuals or groups for specific reasons. Like I mentioned in my book, a person can be hated by simply being born. And it is tied to teachings and beliefs, where wrath is not bound by anything except extreme anger.

Wrath shows itself because of a specific event more than a specific individual or group. Take for example public shootings (esp. school shootings) and road rage.

With public and school shootings, an individual is linked to the school or office or restaurant or wherever and also to an individual or group of people within that setting. A child being bullied by one or more persons, for instance, gets pushed over the edge and decides on vengeance. That vengeance may successfully target the bully or bullies, but the student’s wrath also incorporates other students, teachers, staff, and the community into the shooting incident.

With road rage, an individual may have an issue with someone at work (probably someone in authority) who has pushed them to the brink and just one more thing will push them over the edge. And someone does when the person either gets cut off, in an accident, or loses a parking spot and they decide on vengeance. While the person who hit or took the parking spot or cut them off is unfortunately that last straw, the road rage that follows is not really the reason for the rage.

The deadliness of this sin is not because of anger or hate per se. It is because of the misdirected act that follows the over-the-top anger that affects not only the real reason for the anger, or maybe never even addresses the real reason, but innocent and unrelated individuals.