On justice and infinite torment

 

On justice and infinite torment

Some proponents of the doctrine of eternal torment often claim that a punishment that involves an infinite torment can be a fitting punishment to human sins. It is claimed, for instance, that the severity of a sin is to be measured according to the dignity of the offended party: God has an infinite dignity, so at least some sins against God can be of an infinite severity. Some critics of this line of thinking argue that humans are finite rational beings and it is questionable that, when one considers the limitations inherent in human nature, it is possible for human beings to commit infinitely gravely sins. Still, the argument rests on a plausible assumption: we consider, say, hurting a human being worse than hurting an insect, despite both being living beings, because we assume that human beings have more dignity than insects.

A common biblical[1] image used for sins is the one of debts. Clearly, debts are quantifiable and the more one is indebted, the more difficult it to repay for the debt. From a purely quantitative point of view, we can conceive an infinite debt. Clearly, in the case of debts, justice would demand the repayment of all debts and justice is satisfied when the debt is repaid. Herein, however, we see the problem with infinite debts. If an individual, given a finite amount of time, can repay a finite amount of money, it is impossible for him to repay an infinite amount of money. This is of course bad for the indebted! But it is also bad for ‘justice’: there will be never a time in which the debt is recompensed. It seems that, therefore, while for finite debts the demands of justice can be satisfied, this isn’t the case for infinite debts.

A similar situation happens when we consider sins, if we take the debt analogy seriously. If one is punishment because he or she must ‘repay’ for his or her sins, the situation is analogous, and we expect that the amount of suffering that the transgressor must suffer is proportional to the severity of the sins. We can summarize what we have said with the following assumption:

1.       The severity of a sin can be quantified (in some ways)

2.       Justice demands that, for a given sin, the punishment must involve an amount of suffering proportional to the severity of the sin

3.       For every finite interval of time a human being can experience a finite amount of suffering. So, in no finite interval of time one can experience an infinite amount of suffering.

But this leads to the inevitable conclusion:

The demands of justice can be satisfied only for sins of finite severity. Only in their case, there will be a time where the punishment will be complete (that is, when the transgressor has recompensed for the wrongdoing). For sins of infinite severity, however, there will be never a time where the demands of justice will be completely satisfied: punishments without end are not a proper way to satisfy the demands of justice.

In other words, the transgressors of infinitely grave sins will never experience the fullness of the sentence that they have been condemned to!

Possible solutions

A proponent of the doctrine of eternal torment might say that those that are condemned to an infinite punishment are so condemned because they commit an infinite amount of sins of finite severity. So, for each of these sins we expect that the demands of justice might be satisfied. Still, it seems to me that justice never find a solution and never prevails on the wrongdoings.

Another possibility is that infinitely grave sins are ‘recompensed’ via annihilation of the transgressor instead of a punishment without end.

Finally, one might assume that this shows that only sins of finite severity are possible for human beings and there will be a certain point when all the demands of justice will be satisfied and when transgressor will have fully experienced their sentence.

Appendix A: Sins and debt in the Gospels

All translations are from the American standard version: https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/American-Standard-Version-ASV-Bible/

Passages that indicate that, at least for some sins, the punishment is seen as a repayment for the debt

“25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art with him in the way; lest haply the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou have paid the last farthing.” (Gospel according to St. Matthew, 5:25-26)

“58 For as thou art going with thine adversary before the magistrate, on the way give diligence to be quit of him; lest haply he drag thee unto the judge, and the judge shall deliver thee to the officer, and the officer shall cast thee into prison. 59 I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou have paid the very last mite.” (Gospel according to St. Luke, 12:58-59)

“21 Then came Peter and said to him, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven. 23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, who would make a reckoning with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, that owed him ten thousand talents[2]. 25 But forasmuch as he had not wherewith to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 And the lord of that [servant, being moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, who owed him a hundred shillings: and he laid hold on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay what thou owest. 29 So his fellow-servant fell down and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay that which was due. 31 So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were exceeding sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32 Then his lord called him unto him, and saith to him, Thou wicked [j]servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou besoughtest me: 33 shouldest not thou also have had mercy on thy fellow-servant, even as I had mercy on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due. 35 So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.” (Gospel of St. Matthew, 18:21-35)

Passages that compare sins to debts

The analogy is, of course, found in the two versions of the Lord’s prayer:

“9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Gospel according to St Matthew, 6:9-15)

“2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say,Father, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation.” (Gospel according to St Luke, 11:2-4)

And also here:

“41 A certain lender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred shillings, and the other fifty. 42 When they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most? 43 Simon answered and said, He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 44 And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath wetted my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. 45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but she, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but she hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” (Gospel according to St Luke, 7:41-47)

Appendix B:

Some of the early Christian thinkers saw the debt analogy as providing evidence of a limitation of the duration of punishments. According to a quote provided by St Isaac of Nineveh in his ‘Second Part’ (Homily 39, paragraph 8), Theodore of Mopsuestia (the ‘Interpreter’) wrote that:

“In the world to come, those who have chosen here what is good, will receive the felicity of good things along with praise; whereas the wicked, who all their life have turned aside to evil deeds, once they have been set in order in their minds by punishments and the fear of them, choose the good, having come to learn how much they have sinned, and that they have persevered in doing evil things and not good; by means of all this they receive a knowledge of religion’s excellent teaching, and are educated so as to hold on to it with a good will, and so eventually they are held worthy of the felicity of divine munificence. For Christ would never have said “Until you pay the last farthing” unless it had been possible for us to be freed from our sins once we had recompensed for them through punishments. Nor would He have said “He will be beaten with many stripes” and “He will be beaten with few stripes”[3] if it were not the case that the punishments measured out in correspondence to the sins, were finally going to have an end. ” (source: https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/st-isaac-the-syrian-the-triumph-of-the-kingdom-over-gehenna/ )

Also, in the dialogue ‘On Soul and Resurrection’, St Gregory of Nyssa has his ‘Teacher’, his sister St Macrina the Youngers, saying:

“For the Gospel in its teaching distinguishes between a debtor of ten thousand talents and a debtor of five hundred pence, and of fifty pence and of a farthing , which is the uttermost of coins; it proclaims that God's just judgment reaches to all, and enhances the payment necessary as the weight of the debt increases, and on the other hand does not overlook the very smallest debts. But the Gospel tells us that this payment of debts was not effected by the refunding of money, but that the indebted man was delivered to the tormentors until he should pay the whole debt; and that means nothing else than paying in the coin of torment the inevitable recompense, the recompense, I mean, that consists in taking the share of pain incurred during his lifetime, when he inconsiderately chose mere pleasure, undiluted with its opposite; so that having put off from him all that foreign growth which sin is, and discarded the shame of any debts, he might stand in liberty and fearlessness.” (source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2915.htm )

Notice that in both quotes the punishments are also seen as educative. The argument, however, that I made didn’t start with the assumption that punishments must be corrective. The only assumption is that justice demands an adequate ‘recompese’ for the debts, without assuming a further purpose for punishments.  

 


[1] See the Appendix A for biblical references

[2] This sum was unfathomably large. One might, in fact, assume that it is a way to denote infinity (just like the word ‘myriad’). However, verse 34 seems to suggest that it is possible to ‘repay’ even this sum!

[3] Theodore also refers to this passage as evidence for the limited duration of punishments: “41 And Peter said, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even unto all? 42 And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall set over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? 43 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 44 Of a truth I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he hath. 45 But if that servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; 46 the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant, who knew his lord’s will, and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; 48 but he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more.” (Gospel according to St Luke, 12:41-48)

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