**This response is a good example of breaking down a multi-part question into logical bits and explaining things clearly. The tone is friendly and the truth and hope of the gospel are shared. **
Question: If God says the punishment for sin is death, why isn’t the death of the person (IF they were to die for their sin) enough? If God says the punishment for sin is death, why not add, ‘and also eternal separation from God?’ This makes it seem as if God’s own law of crime and punishment is contradictory or irrelevant. If I’m given a 10 year prison sentence for a crime, and while I’m in prison serving the punishment decreed by the law for my crime, what sense does it make for the judge to show up in my cell one day and say, “oh and I’m gonna chop both your legs off too.”??? If by God’s own law death is the punishment, then where/when did the add- on of eternal damnation come from?
Profile: Female, 31–45, North America, Christian
Answered by: Mark Kraus, who has been a volunteer with us since November, 2014.
Answer: The Bible says that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). So the question becomes two questions: 1) who has sinned, and 2) what is death? The answer to the first question is given in Romans 3:23 – all have sinned. But what part of us has sinned? Every part of us has sinned; body, soul, and spirit. We cannot say that only our body and soul sinned but our spirit is righteous (or any claim that any part of us is sinless). Therefore, all of us must die to pay for that sin. So we must understand what death is. Death is separation from life. For our bodies and soul, this is what we customarily call physical death. But our spirits must pay the penalty for our sin as well. Our spirits will exist forever after our physical death, so physical death does not result in our spirits` death. Life for our spirits is communion with God, so death for our spirits is separation from God, which is also called “eternal damnation”. Therefore, stating that the punishment for sin is death INCLUDES eternal separation from God. It is not a separate and added penalty.
Fortunately for us, God has provided a way (through Jesus) for our spirits’ penalty for sin to be paid for us, so we don’t have to face eternal separation from God. Jesus had no sin, so when He paid the penalty for sin, God imputed His righteousness to everyone who believes in Jesus. Our body and soul will still die, but our spirits will be able to enjoy communion with God.
