THE PENALTY ETERNAL by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 7, 1889

THE PENALTY ETERNAL.

By Editor

IN a letter recently received, a clergyman in Nebraska intimates that he has objections to the doctrine that "the penalty of the transgression of the moral law is not eternal," seeming to have the idea that we hold to that view. We are happy to say that we do not believe any such doctrine; and we hope he never will believe that the penalty for sin—the transgression of the moral law—is not eternal. If he now believes that the penalty is eternal, he is correct, but he may be in error as to what that penalty is. However, the Bible is very plain on that point, as a few texts will show. First we quote the Saviour's words in Matt. 25:46:—

"And these [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal."

This is plain. The word "everlasting" is from the same Greek word as "eternal," in the same verse, and the statement shows that the punishment of the wicked and the reward of the righteous will be of equal duration. Now read what this punishment of the wicked is to be. The apostle Paul says that—

"The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." 2 Thess. 1:7-9.

These two texts are sufficient to decide the matter. In addition we quote the words of Paul: "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23. The penalty for the transgression of the law is death, and that death, when once inflicted, will be as lasting as the Government of God. This follows from the fact that the day of grace will then have passed. There will be no more pardon for sin, and so of course those upon whom the death penalty is inflicted, must rest under it forever.

The popular error concerning the punishment of the wicked lies in the supposition that it consists solely of torment. But that is a mistake. The wicked are likened to "the chaff which the wind driveth away" (Ps. 1:4), and we are told that Christ will "burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matt. 3:12.

It is not in the nature of man to exist eternally in the midst of fire; but the wicked are to be cast into a lake of fire. Rev. 21:8. The psalmist says of the Lord: "A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about." Ps. 97:3. And again: "But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." Ps. 37:20. The prophet Nahum also says of the wicked: "For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." Nahum 1:10.

That there will be torment and anguish in connection with the punishment of the wicked would naturally follow from the fact that fire is to be the agent of their destruction. Not only so, but the apostle Paul expressly declares that God will render "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil." Rom. 2:8, 9. But this tribulation and anguish is not the sum of the punishment of the wicked, for the same apostle declares, as already quoted, that it is to be everlasting destruction. When the penalty is death, a man may suffer greatly in dying, but it cannot be said that he has received his punishment until death ensues. And when death shall have taken place in the case of the finally impenitent, it will be everlasting. "They shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is The Lord of hosts." Jer. 51:57. "They shall be as though they had not been." Obadiah 16.