Attic Fables

Welcome to another episode of the Attic Fables Podcast, where together we learn how to face the ups and downs of life with faith and confidence.

In today’s episode, I want to ask the question, is it good for God to punish the wicked in hell? Put another way, is the eternal torment of the wicked a good thing?

Many Christians believe that the wicked deserve to be punished in hell. They believe that the suffering of hell is a fair and just punishment for the wicked. By implication, therefore, this punishment is good.

Let’s spend a minute thinking about what it means to say that the suffering of the wicked in hell is good.

First of all, God is a good god and as a good god, he can only do good. Whatever God does is fair, right, and good; therefore, his punishment of sinners in hell is good. We cannot avoid this conclusion.

The question of whether or not this punishment will last for all eternity is a separate question, which we won’t attempt to answer today. For now, all we can say with certainty is that God’s punishment of sinners in hell is fair, just, and good, because it comes from God.

One of the first Christian theologians to put forth the idea that the suffering of the wicked in hell is fair and right was Augustine. Although Augustine never explicitly said that such punishment was good, he did imply that it was, and this idea was furthered by those who followed him.

Starting in the Middle Ages, Anselm of Canterbury and Thomas Aquinas were two Christian scholars who expanded on Augustine’s thoughts. Anselm and Thomas Aquinas said that sinners deserve to be punished, and this punishment is right and good. Thomas Aquinas said, “Punishment is good, since it is just, and is from God.”

Let’s briefly think through the idea of the goodness of God’s justice.

By good, I mean something useful and beneficial. God’s justice is good.

God’s justice is useful and beneficial for at least three reasons: First, God’s justice is good because it holds people accountable for their actions. Second, God’s justice is good because it rights wrongs, and third, God’s justice is good because it’s the only way for God to be righteous.

First, God’s justice is good because it holds people accountable for their actions. Sin against God is a grievance against him and his plan for our lives. When Adam and Eve sinned, God punished them because they disobeyed his command.

The Bible says that “sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4).” Those who violate God’s commands should be punished. Sin is also failure to live up to God’s righteous standards. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).” Our sin corrupts our lives and makes us guilty of moral failure.

God’s justice is good, therefore, because it holds people accountable for their actions.

Second, God’s justice is beneficial because it restores balance to the world. Wrongs are made right. Grievances are resolved. Offenses are corrected. As a good and righteous judge, God cannot allow sin and evil to corrupt his creation. He cannot allow wrongdoers to hurt innocent people. The Bible says,

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth (Genesis 6:11-13).

God destroyed the people of the world with a flood because they had corrupted the world by filling it with violence.

Although we may cringe at the idea of millions of people being wiped out in a worldwide flood, the Bible depicts the event as a necessary correction. God cannot allow evil to flourish. His justice demands judgment. God’s justice is good because it rights wrongs.

Third, God’s justice is good because it’s the only way for God to be righteous. As a fair and righteous judge, he cannot close his eyes to evil. God’s righteousness demands that he address evil.
God must punish sin because to allow sin to go unanswered would be a miscarriage of justice. In order for God to maintain his righteousness, justice must be served. Sin must be punished. Evil must be resolved. In this way, God’s justice is not only good but necessary.

Now, this point raises an important question. If God’s justice is necessary in order to address evil, why does he allow evil in the first place?

This is a very important question because it helps us to understand the nature of punishment. The existence of evil has a bearing on the question of whether or not the punishment of the wicked is good.

Why does God allow evil in the first place? First, the Bible clearly teaches that God is not the author of evil. God hates evil and is diametrically opposed to evil. The Bible says, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).”

God did not create evil, but he did create a world where evil was possible. Although the original creation was good, sin entered the world, and today, God’s creation is filled with evil.

God created our world as the best of all possible worlds. God could have created a world where only good things happen, but in his infinite wisdom, God created a world where bad things happen. Any other world you or I could imagine would not be the best of all possible worlds. Apparently, a world where only good things happen would not be the best of all possible worlds, so God created a world where bad things happen because it was the only way to have the best of all possible worlds. Since God allows evil to exist, evil is necessary to have the best of all possible worlds. God allows evil not because it is a good thing but because it is a necessary part of the kind of universe God created.

The existence of evil is important to our question concerning the goodness and rightness of punishment because just as evil is necessary, so too God’s punishment of sinners is necessary.

The Bible seems to indicate that God takes no pleasure in punishment. The Bible says, “As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live (Ezekiel 33:11).”

The context makes it clear that God is talking about death as a result of God’s judgment for sin. The Bible says that God “takes no pleasure in causing us grief or pain (Lamentations 3:33, GNT).”

The Bible says that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).”

And “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Peter 3:9).”

God does not want to punish people or for people to suffer his judgment. His primary desire is for the wicked to turn from their sin and be saved.

God is merciful and forgiving, but he must judge sin. The Bible says,

The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation (Exodus 34:6-7).

This passage tells us that God is merciful and forgiving. It also says that God will judge sinners. God will punish sinners because it is a necessary response to evil.

Now, I’m sure that someone can find holes and weaknesses in my logic, but we have seen that justice is good. We’ve also seen that God does not take pleasure in punishing the wicked. Therefore, God’s judgment for sin is not something God desires. He executes his judgment because it is a necessary response to evil.

Now, let me remind you, thus far, we have only discussed the propriety of justice. Justice is good. God’s judgments are good. Therefore, the punishment of sinners in hell is proper and right. However, we have yet to discuss the question concerning the duration of hell. Do the wicked suffer for all eternity in hell? As I said earlier, we’ll attempt to tackle that question next time.