Does God require it paid over
again? He is a just God. He claims but one payment of the penalty. To my
mind, that fact does away with all possibility of eternal punishment.
For all other suffering that God inflicts is entirely reformatory.
Whether that suffering be inflicted in this life or the life to come,
the principle is the same; it is all reformatory. It may come, and
often does come, as the result of sin. In the providence of God sin and
suffering are closely linked together.
Wherever there is sin there is bound to be suffering, whether in this
life or in the next. That has been paid in full. Christ paid the penalty
for the whole race.
Whether God might have ordained some other alternative than suffering as
a means of our purification, is not the point. The fact that He has
ordained suffering is proof enough that it is a good appointment. I have
hinted elsewhere that suffering may be a means of safeguarding us
against sin to all eternity.. But this idea is advanced only as a
possible solution of the mystery of pain. We go upon surer ground when
we recognize suffering as one means that God has appointed for our
purification. It does not come to us, or to any soul of man, as a
penalty. The penalty has been paid.
But it may be said that God is angry with sin. How can He be angry with
sin if the sin is actually forgiven? I answer that it is His very nature
to be angry with sin, though it is forgiven.
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