ETERNAL PUNISHMENT?

Among the issues raised about orthodox Christianity by skeptics or inquiring non-Christians is this: “If our sin is committed in time, why does it require eternal punishment?” It’s a reasonable question. Scripture asserts that those who don’t repent of their sin and trust Christ suffer separation from God forever. “How can this be fair?” some ask. I hope to provide a reasonable and biblical answer.

Let’s think logically about this. Any healthy system of justice measures out punishment on the basis of two considerations: the nature of the crime and the status of the victim. The following example illustrates this truth.

Suppose that little Billy shoves his ten-year-old class-mate on the playground at school, and knocks him to the ground. The penalty for Billy’s act might include a visit to the principle and lunch detention. If Billy persisted in his behavior, he might be suspended from school and suffer further punishments from mom and dad at home.

A few years later, Billy is in high school. He gets into a scuffle at school, and the principal attempts to break it up. Billy turns upon the principal and shoves him to the floor, where he strikes his head and is knocked out. Billy is arrested and sentenced to three months in a juvenile detention center.

At the detention center one day, Billy shoves an officer. His three-month sentence is extended to two years, and he must spend a month in solitary confinement.

Fast forward a few more years. Billy, now apparently an upstanding citizen, is in Denver to watch the President in a parade. As the Commander in Chief passes by, Billy runs from the crowd, hurls himself past the Secret Service agents, and shoves the President to the ground. Billy is quickly convicted of assault on the President, and spends the rest of his life in a mental institution.

In all four incidents, Billy’s acts were identical: he shoved somebody to the ground. However, the penalties were different, and understandably so. The punishments varied in proportion to the authority of those against whom the acts were committed. Nobody would expect Billy to receive the same punishment for shoving his third-grade class-mate to the ground as he would for shoving the President of the United States to the ground.

Let’s take it a step further. Suppose Billy chooses to shove God out of his life by usurping God’s rightful rule over his life. If shoving the President results in life-long incarceration, consider how much greater punishment is deserved for shoving aside the infinite and eternal God.

Never forget those two words: infinite and eternal. Sin against God is not like getting into a fight with a class-mate on the playground. Sin against God is infinite sin and eternal sin, because God is infinite and eternal. That is why atoning for our sin required an infinitely perfect and eternal sacrifice. And we’ll look into that in more detail next week.

Grace: Free, But Not Cheap

“It is finished.” Among the last words of Jesus before His death, this statement summarizes the Gospel. Everything that had to be done for our forgiveness was done. Finished. Accomplished. Completed. Paid in full.

Thus, by the death of Jesus. the grace of God is extended to anyone who wants it, regardless of the nature of their sin. Murderers can be forgiven: St. Paul was. Betrayers can be forgiven: St. Peter was. Thieves, liars, cheats, adulterers, the whole list: if it’s a sin, it can be forgiven by God’s grace.

God’s grace is available to the repentant, and it is utterly without charge; indeed scandalously so. For that reason, some are critical of the biblical concept of God's grace. “It’s not fair,” they assert, “for someone to just be forgiven without paying a price.”

However, that is a misunderstanding of grace. The fact is, God’s grace is completely just. It’s not a function of sloppy sentimentality. Grace is not a denial of the reality of sin, or even the cost of sin.

Indeed, grace knows the cost of sin; and grace paid it in Christ. Consider the incredible price He paid to wipe away our sins. Not only did He endure the physical torture of the cross and the emotional pain of His friends’ abandonment, He also felt the infinitely greater spiritual agony of separation from His Father.

This means that grace is free; but, it’s not cheap! Jesus paid the price, the full and gruesome payment, for grace to be free to us.

This kind of grace is so stunningly free that it’s impossible to understand for those who refuse to forgive. When folks refuse to forgive others, they say to the crucified One, “Jesus, it wasn’t enough. Your payment was insufficient. I want more. I want more suffering to be extracted. I want more pain to be inflicted. I want them to pay!”

Frankly, that is an eternally perilous thing to say. The fact is, that’s not Christianity; not even close. It may be religion, but it’s absolutely not Christianity.

Religion rejects grace, insisting that we must contribute something to our salvation. We must try harder. We must do better. We must live morally, and so forth. Religion is really nothing more than a self-help way to try to earn God’s respect. Buddhists have their eightfold path. Hindus have the endless cycle of karma and reincarnation. Islam has its four pillars. Only Christianity dares to affirm that God offers us a relationship with Him on the basis of His own pure grace.

It’s a bold path to take, this way of grace. It means letting go of your offenders and leaving them in the nail-pierced hands, acknowledging, as the hymn says, that Jesus paid it all.

Isn’t that where you want to be? If you struggle to be there, let me remind you that it was Jesus Who said, right after teaching us the Lord’s Prayer, “If you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15). Remember that truth, the next time you’re tempted to refuse forgiveness to one who has offended you.