God’s wrath (2.5, 8; 3.5; 4.15; 5.9; 9.22; 12.19; 13.4, 5) does not refer simply to God’s feelings (as might be suggested by Moffatt, An American Translation*, Jerusalem Bible “God’s anger”), but to his action in judging and punishing men for their sins (see New English Bible “divine retribution”). The close connection between God’s activity of putting men right with himself and God’s wrath is expressed through Paul by the use of the same verb in describing both of them: is revealed.
It is not easy to find an appropriate term for God’s wrath. The literal translation of wrath may suggest far too much—“God’s rage” or “God’s anger.” There is certainly a semantic component of anger in the biblical expression of wrath, but it is important to try to find some term which will avoid wrong connotations and at the same time focus upon God’s act of judging. Some translations actually employ “God’s judgment because of his anger” in an effort to represent both semantic components of wrath. In many languages one cannot speak of “wrath … coming down” since neither an emotion nor an event of judging can come down from heaven upon all the sin and evil of men. Hence a rather considerable restructuring of the semantic components of this first clause is usually necessary. An appropriate equivalent in some languages is “God has revealed how, in his anger, he will judge all the sin and evil of men.” On the other hand, in some languages one cannot speak of judging sin and evil, because one can only judge people who are sinful and evil. Therefore one must say: “God has revealed how he will judge men for all the sin and evil which they have done.”
Coming down from heaven (literally “from heaven”) means that God himself sends his wrath down as judgment upon men’s sins. Sin and evil, when taken together, are comprehensive terms. The first refers to wrong action against God, that is “impiety,” “irreverence,” or “godless action” (Romans 11.26; 2 Timothy 2.16; Titus 2.12; Jude 15, 18; see also the adjective in Romans 4.5; 5.6; 1 Timothy 1.9; 1 Peter 4.18; 2 Peter 2.5; 3.7; Jude 4, 15). The second describes wrong action against men, and so may be taken as “injustice,” “wrongdoing,” or “wickedness.” The New English Bible combines these terms, and so translates “godless wickedness.” When one can find in a receptor language terms which distinguish wrong in terms of actions toward God and those toward men, this is excellent. However, a far more general classification of evil is (1) the sin which is in men’s hearts and (2) the sin which expresses itself in overt deeds. Since this distinction is not far removed from the distinction between sin and evil of the Greek text, it may be possible to translate sin and evil as “all the sin in their hearts and all the evil they have done.”
Evil ways translates the same word rendered “evil” above. Truth refers to the truth about God, and the contrast is clear: God’s wrath is revealed on those who keep the truth about him from being revealed. In many languages one cannot speak of “evil ways” doing something. Moreover, the passive expression being known must often be rendered as active. Therefore, this final clause of verse 18 may be recast as “who by the evil which they do prevent people from knowing the truth about God.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .