Why must God's punishment of sin be eternal? (2024)

I recently had the opportunity to explain in some depth what we as Christians believe about God, Salvation, Hell, and Sanctification, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to lay it out here as well.

We believe that God is the Almighty, all-powerful, righteous, and perfect, (that is to say, holy) the King of the Universe and Lord of all Creation. Because of this, God and His word (His laws and commands which are also perfect) are deserving of perfect and full obedience, honor, worship, respect, etc. Human beings, however, willfully decided to not only disobey God but to become rebel sinners and His enemies; enemies whom He would be well within His rights to look at with impunity and say, “To hell with you all,” quite literally.

But God.

But God being rich in mercy and in order to save a people for Himself, died for us while we were still His enemies, something we wouldn’t do. We might choose to die for a loved one, or someone we believe to be a “good person,” but when push comes to shove none of us will willfully or gladly die for our enemies; but Christ did. In so doing He took on the eternal punishment that believers would have received and satisfied it completely, a once and one-time perfect sacrifice of God’s spotless Lamb.

Thus, through repentance and faith one comes to salvation in Christ, receives a free and undeserved gift, and moves not only from enemy to friend, but becomes His adopted child; whereas those who remain in their sin, remain enemies of God, will suffer the just punishment for their rebellion forever. Because of this gracious and undeserved gift that we have received from Him, we want to see others receive it as well.

But why does the punishment need to be for eternity? Why must God’s just wrath be poured out without end? Well, think about it this way:

Let’s say you have a child, and as the parent have set up house rules that must be (and are good to) follow. Your child knows these rules and what is expected of them. Then, one day, your child knowingly and willfully breaks your rule(s); what happens? Immediately, your relationship with your child is in some way broken and must be repaired. Since both you and your child, as well as your rules, are all finite and flawed, reconciliation of the relationship can occur in time, potentially even by your child working to regain your trust or make up for the violation.

With God, on the other hand, given both He and His commandments are eternal, the punishment for violating His law and rebelling against Him must be just as eternal. There is nothing that any finite, sinful person can do, no amount of working hard enough, to restore the right relationship with God that we lost. It’s because of this, that the only way reconciliation can happen is through the perfect sacrifice of the infinite one, Himself, God the Son - Jesus Christ.

With all that said, if you haven’t already: Repent. Believe. Be reconciled.

There is one more question that needs to be addressed; if one receives this grace and is freed from sin and the eternal consequences thereof, why then do we as Christians still sin, sometimes terribly?

Sanctification. We are in what we call the now and not yet; currently being sanctified but never fully until this mortal life is over. Until that time, we will always feel the effects of sin despite being saved from it. I liken it to when I had pneumonia back in 2015; at the time I was truly sick, I had a fever, vomiting, sore throat, etc., and it got so bad that I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open, and fighting off unbidden thoughts of death. I eventually went to Urgent Care and got antibiotics which helped to heal me and end the disease within me.

Now, almost a decade later, I no longer have that case of pneumonia, nor have I had another case since; does this mean that I no longer experience any consequences of that illness? As the Apostle Paul said, “By no means!” To this day, I don’t breathe as well as I used to, when I cough heavily I can hear the scarring in my lungs, and - rather insignificantly, but of utmost sadness - I can no longer hit the Frankie Valli high note when I sing along to “Walk Like a Man” and “Sherry Baby” like I used to before my vocal cords tightened up as a result of being sick.

That is why we continue to be imperfect, and continue to sin despite being delivered from it. It is also a sign of why we needed that reconciliation with our Savior to begin with, and always will.

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