Second, they deny
that Christ felt the wrath of God in His suffering.
(II) They deny that
Christ felt the wrath of God and the punishments of hell in His suffering.
Bellarmine (De Christ., 4, ch. 8): “It is a new and unheard-of blasphemy
that Christ suffered the pains of hell.” But then what do the complaints the
royal psalmist speaks in the person of Christ mean? He writes; “You will not
leave My soul in hell” (Ps. 16:10). “The cords of hell entangled Me” (Ps.
18:5). “My God, why have You forsaken Men?” (Ps. 22:1). “God will ransom My
soul from the power of hell” (Ps. 49:15). “Rescue Me from the mire, lest I
sink, lest the flow of the waters overwhelm me, lest the deep wash me away”
(Ps. 69:[14-15]). “You have snatched My soul from the pit below” (Ps. 86:13).
Of course, we are not
saying that after His death Christ felt the torments of hell in His descent
into hell. On this point Bellarmine correctly attacks Calvin. However, it must
not be denied that at the time of His suffering and death, and especially in
the garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives when He sweat blood [Luke 22:44],
Christ truly felt the most bitter torments, pains, terrors, hellish anguish in
His most holy soul, and thus felt the wrath of God, the curse of the Law, and
the punishments of hell. For how would He have truly taken our sins upon
Himself and provided perfect satisfaction had He not truly felt the wrath of God
which is connected by an indivisible connection to our sin? How would He have
redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having been made a curse for us if He
did not feel the judgment of the wrath of God? (Johann Gerhard, On
Justification Through Faith [Theological Commonplaces XIX; trans.: Richard
J. Dinda; St Louis, Miss.: Concordia Publishing House, 2018], 85)