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Paradox of Love in Justice
A Familiar Question
How could a loving God send people to
hell?
This raises a pair of constraining
questions:
1. How loving is God?
2. What is hell like?
How loving is God?
A small sampling:
• John 3:16–– “For God so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish, but have
eternal life.”
• Luke 15:20b––But while he was still a long way
off, his father saw him and felt compassion for
him, and ran and embraced him and kissed
him.
• Romans 8:32––He who did not spare His own
Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will
He not also with Him freely give us all things?
What is hell like?
• Daniel 12:2––Many of those who sleep in the
dust of the ground will awake, these to
everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and
everlasting contempt.
• Isaiah 66:24––“Then they will go forth and look
on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die
and their fire will not be quenched; and they
will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”
• 2 Thess 1:9––These will pay the penalty of
eternal destruction, away from the presence of
the Lord and from the glory of His power
What is hell like (to Jesus)?
• Eternal fire (Matt 18:8)
• Weeping, gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:42)
• Eternal punishment (Matt 25:46)
• Worm does not die, fire is not quenched
(Mark 9:48; cf. Isaiah 66:24)
• Jesus’ word for ‘hell’ (gehennah—11 times!)
is extremely evocative:
This originally denoted a valley lying to the south of
Jerusalem… the valley of the son of Hinnom... Child
sacrifices were offered in this valley...Josiah had it
desecrated. (2 Kings 23:10) According to Jer. 7:32;
19:6f, it will be the place of God’s judgment.
(H. Bietenhard, NIDNTT)
Returning to the Question
How could a loving God send people to
hell?
1. How loving is God?
 Answer: Generous, fatherly; indeed, God is
love (I Jn 4:8).
2. What is hell like?
 Answer: Terrible––Scripture's portrait is vivid
and disturbing.
Indeed! How could he?
Putting Culture in Check
Elsewhere, he writes:
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writes:
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strive in the following
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the
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1) To account for wireless
their
cultural
context
no longer
acceptable
and
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avail
2) To account for ourselves
our
cultural
context
for modern
since
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modern
for scientific thinking
medical
and surgical
to speak of ‘above’
In an effort to water
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and ‘below’ and
in theat the
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of spirits and miracles.”
(New Testament & Mythology, 5)
Putting Culture in Check
Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom, was an actual valley on
the south and west side of the city of Jerusalem.
Gehenna, in Jesus’ day,Consider
was the citythese:
dump.
People tossed their waste
into25:41––“the
this valley. There was a
Matt
fire there, burning constantly
to consume
the has
trash. Wild
eternal
fire which
animals fought over scraps
of food
along the
been
prepared
foredges
the of
the heap. When they fought their teeth would make a
devil and his angels”
gnashing sound. Gehenna was the place of gnashing of
teeth, where the fire never went out…
Matt
25:46––These
willin an
So the next time someone
asks
you if you believe
actual hell, you can always
“Yes,
believe that
go say,
away
intoI do
eternal
my garbage goes somewhere.”
punishment, but the
And that’s it ...
righteous into eternal
Those are all the mentions of “hell” in the Bible. (Love
life.
Wins, 68)
Putting Culture in Check
Before pressing deeper into the actual
theology, I want to propose that we follow
(2): to account for our cultural context.
The key(s) to unlocking the paradox:
(a)Our culture has completely given up on
the concept of sin.
(b)Our culture has an clumsy concept of
justice.
Sin, a Check on Culture
Psychiatrist, Karl Menninger writes:
“The very word ‘sin,’ which seems to have
disappeared, was a proud word. It was once
a strong word, an ominous and serious word.
It described a central point in every civilized
human being’s life plan and life style. But the
word went away. It has almost disappeared–
–the word, along with the notion. Why?
Doesn’t anyone sin anymore? Doesn’t
anyone believe in sin? …” (Menninger, 14)
Sin, a Check on Culture
To summarize:
“Much behavior that would be classed a priori as
• We understand and
sinful had long since passed into the control of
can operationalize
law. What was considered and so treated was
concepts like crime
understandably sinful. And now, increasingly,
(violation of national
some crime was being view as symptomatic.
legal code) and illness
Sins had become crimes and now crimes were
(measurable deviation
becoming illnesses; in other words whereas the
from statistical mean).
police and judges had taken over from the
• Sin––heart-level,
clergy, the doctors and psychologists were now
willful rebellion for
taking over from the police and judges.”
which we’re
(Menninger, 45)
responsible––is gone.
Justice, a Check on Culture
Relatedly, our notion of justice has shifted from,
• Punitive justice legal failures must be answered
with parallel consequences (Cf. balance)
to,
• Restorative justice criminals are fundamentally
good (or perhaps morally neutral); they must be
educated, reformed and returned to society.
Most of us still hold punitive justice in our bosom,
especially when it involves us or someone we
love.
Hell, Sin and Justice
How do sin and punitive justice help with our
paradox?
For starters, the scriptural portrait of hell
starts to come into focus
• Sin If we’re not merely victims of our own
psychology nor violators of a social contract, then
we must give an account of our actions to God
• Justice Rejection of God (original sin) results in
God rejecting us (Cf. Romans 1:18-23)
What about love?
What about love?
1. Love is not at odds with justice but
motivates it. (Cf. Fighting children)
2. Our anxiety only emerges when we realize
that all of us have done wrong.
3. Rather than contradicting God’s love, His
justice puts His love is sharp relief:
I Peter 1:18,19 “…you were not redeemed with
perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way
of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with
precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and
spotless, the blood of Christ.
Remaining Puzzles
Shouldn’t we account some for the culture of the
text? Sure, our culture doesn’t like hell, but shouldn’t
something to be said against ancient & primitive
hyperviolence?
1. Scripture uses images and metaphors for a lot of
things (e.g. body of Christ.) Fire, worms are
most likely meant to provide visceral imagery.
2. God is not pro-violence (Cf. I Chron 28:3,
Genesis 33 & 49:5-7; Ezekiel 18:32)
3. Justice is in the very marrow of scripture:
o The Curses of Adam
o The Law, esp. the sacrificial system
o The Cross!
Remaining Puzzles
I’m pretty weirded out by glib “fire and brimstone”
preaching. It’s both self-righteous and ineffective.
• I couldn’t agree more! None of this is to argue
that we need to scare people into heaven.
• Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God : Peter’s
Sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-42) : :
Evangelism in 21st C America : Paul’s Sermon
at Mars Hill (Acts 17:22ff).
Some Practicals
How should we respond to this practically?
• Gratitude Once sin and justice are given
proper place, Christ’s sacrifice is that much
more precious
• Witness We should share our master’s
heart for those who still haven’t come home
• Apologetics
o Expect to meet people asking the “familiar question”
o False teachers can quickly pull the wool over
unsuspecting Christians’ eyes (cf. Bell’s “word study”)
Further Reading