The Debt of Punishment for Sin

What offends against an order is punished by that order. If a man offends against the order of reason (as he offendsin sinning), he is punished by reason through remorse of conscience. If a man offends against human law he is fined or imprisoned by human law. If a man rebels against the divine law, he deserves punishment by that same law. Hence, sin incurs punishment;it lays the debt of punishment upon the sinner. Sin by its very nature incurs the debt of due punishment.

Sin can be (not essentially, but accidentally) the punishment for sin. For by sin man loses grace, and so leaves himself open to further sins; these, if they occur, may be regarded in the light of punishment for the first offense. For these sinsplunge the sinner more deeply into his weakness and they lay upon him an increasing debt of punishment due. Sometimes the effect of sin is actual pain or even disease; here the punishment is not only for preceding sins, but for the sin which causes the pain. In this sense a sin can sometimes be called its own punishment.

Sins which destroy charity by turning man entirely awayfrom God cause a complete disruption of the order which alignsa man with his true good. This destruction of charity is, in itself, irreparable; it is as irreparable as the destruction ofhuman life by murder is irreparable. Yet God’s power can repair the total destruction of charity, even as God’s power can restore a murdered man to life. But unless and until God’s power restores the soul to its true order of charity, the soul remains disrupted forever. Hence, serious sin merits eternal punishment.

But sin does not incur infinite punishment. It inflictsinfinite loss, since it causes the loss of the infinite God. But it cannot incur infinite pain, for the senses are finite.

Not all sins are completely destructive of charity. Some sins are only a partial turning from God. These sins deserve punishment, but not eternal punishment. Such sins are called venialsins. They deserve temporal punishment.

When the act of sin is over, guilt remains in the sinner’s soul, and the debt of due punishment remains. And whenthe stain of serious sin is removed by repentance and grace, there may still be need of some punishment as satisfaction, but not as simple penalty. To this extent, the debt of punishment can remain after forgiven sin.

Punishment taken simply as penalty always has reference to sin, original or actual. But we must not suppose that all the trials and hardships of life are punishments. Many of these aretonics for the soul, and remedies for its deficiencies. The physician who requires his patient to swallow bitter medicine or to undertake painful exercise, is not punishing the patient, but assisting him to health. The physician is not inflicting penalty,but conferring benefit. So it is with many of the pains anddistresses which we endure in life; these are medicines prescribed by God for our eternal welfare.

Punishment as penalty for sin is never imposed on anyone but the sinner. Except in the medicinal sense explained inthe preceding paragraph, the sins of parents are not visited on the children who are in no sense partakers of their parents’ sins.In spiritual matters, no one suffers loss without some fault of his own. Therefore, penalties, whether material or spiritual, are not inflicted on one person for another’s sin.