Basic HTML Version
245
Now the question arises as to the object or the purpose of the punishment of sin. And on this
point there is considerable difference of opinion. We should not regard the punishment of sin
as a mere matter of vengeance and as inflicted with the desire to harm one who has previously
done harm. The following are the three most important views respecting the purpose of
punishment.
1. TO VINDICATE DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS OR JUSTICE.
Turretin says: “If there be such an
attribute as justice belonging to God, then sin must have its due, which is punishment.” The law
requires that sin be punished because of its inherent demerit, irrespective of all further
considerations. This principle applies in the administration of both human and divine laws.
Justice requires the punishment of the transgressor. Back of the law stands God, and therefore
it may also be said that punishment aims at the vindication of the righteousness and holiness of
the great Lawgiver. The holiness of God necessarily reacts against sin, and this reaction
manifests itself in the punishment of sin. This principle is fundamental to all those passages of
Scripture that speak of God as a righteous Judge, who renders unto every man according to his
deserts. “He is the rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and
without iniquity, just and right is He,” Deut. 32:4. “Far be it from God, that He should do
wickedness; and from the Almighty, that He should commit iniquity. For the work of a man shall
He render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways,” Job. 34:10,11. “Thou
renderest to every man according to his work,” Ps. 62:12. “Righteous art thou, O Lord, and
upright are thy judgments,” Ps. 119:37. “I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment,
and righteousness in the earth,” Jer. 9:24. “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of
persons judgest according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear,” I
Pet. 1:17. The vindication of the righteousness and holiness of God, and of that just law which is
the very expression of His being, is certainly the primary purpose of the punishment of sin.
There are two other views, however, which erroneously put something else in the foreground.
2. TO REFORM THE SINNER.
The idea is very much in the foreground at the present time that
there is no punitive justice in God which inexorably calls for the punishment of the sinner, and
that God is not angry with the sinner but loves him, and only inflicts hardships upon him, in
order to reclaim him and to bring him back to his Father’s home. This is an un-Scriptural view,
which obliterates the distinction between punishment and chastisement. The penalty of sin
does not proceed from the love and mercy of the Lawgiver, but from His justice. If reformation
follows the infliction of punishment, this is not due to the penalty as such, but is the fruit of
some gracious operation of God by which He turns that which is in itself an evil for the sinner
into something that is beneficial. The distinction between chastisement and punishment must
be maintained. The Bible teaches us on the one hand that God loves and chastens His people,
Job 5:17; Ps. 6:1; Ps. 94:12; 118:18; Prov. 3:11; Isa. 26:16; Heb. 12:5-8; Rev. 3:19; and on the