A Loving God Must Punish Sin

Tonight I met a girl who did not believe that God would punish sin. She said that God is love and does not punish, but merely forgives. This is wrong. Two reasons pop to my mind now - the first is how I responded, and the second is a bit of a deeper reason now that I have had some time to reflect on this question.

In my response to the girl's statement, I noted that God is, in fact love, but He is also just and righteous. If God is also just and righteous, He must punish wickedness in the same way that a judge in a court here in Minneapolis must punish for crimes. If the judge is a good judge, the judge cannot just forgive a rapist or a murder no matter how sorry the criminal feels. No, a just human judge must pronounce judgment on the criminal. In the same way, God cannot leave sin unpunished, and the Bible makes it perfectly clear that the punishment is death. ("The wages of sin is death" - Romans 6).

Also, if God is love, he cannot leave sin unpunished because it does not show love to the ones harmed by that sin. For example, if a human judge were to forgive a murder, how is that showing love to the murder victim's family. That is not love, nor justice. The girl did not like this answer, but I think it gave her pause.

On further reflection, I think that there are other, deeper answers. One is that true love is limited in the way it is expressed. Just as a mother would not show true love to her 3-year-old child by letting the child hit her in the face, God does not show true love by overlooking or ignoring our sin. No instead, God showed His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Yes, God is love, but true love cannot mean leaving sin unpunished. Rather, true love is taking the punishment for our sins on Himself.

Another answer is that God's love is first and foremost directed to His glory.

See Isiah 43:1-7 describing how God created us for His glory: "Bring ... everyone who is called by my name and whom I have created for my glory"

and
Isaiah 43:20-21 describing how God created us for His praise: "I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise."

and
Isaiah 48:9-11 describing how God is motivated for His name's sake and glory: "For My name's sake I defer my anger,for the sake of My praise I restrain it for you,that I may not cut you off... For My own sake, for My own sake I do it,for how should My name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another."

Above all, God loves Himself and upholds His glory, and to uphold His glory as infinitely valuable requires that punishment be executed on those who profane, or disgrace, God's glory. Overlooking, or ignoring, sin would communicate that an offense against God was not that big of a deal. But God does see it as a big deal - a huge deal. He demands that sin be punished - either by condemning the sinner to hell or by pouring His wrath out for the sinner onto Jesus Christ. If God could just overlook sin, there would be no need for Christ to have taken our punishment on the cross. No, God demands that his Glory be restored and held up as infinitely valuable, and He does this by punishing either the sinner or His son. God's love for His glory demands that a punishment must be paid for sin.

Questions?