Punishment, nature of

Punishment is the inevitable and equitable consequence of breaking the law of God. In keeping with God's justice and righteousness, punishment is administered by him or by human beings as his agents.

God warned Adam and Eve of the punishment for disobedience

Genesis 2:16–17 See also Genesis 3:1–5

And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

Adam and Eve's original disobedience brought inevitable punishment

Upon the serpent

Genesis 3:14–15 See also Colossians 2:15; Revelation 12:9, Revelation 20:1–3, Revelation 20:10

So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Upon the woman

Genesis 3:16 See also Psalm 48:6; Isaiah 13:8, Isaiah 21:3; Jeremiah 4:31; 1 Timothy 2:14–15

To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

Upon the man

Genesis 3:19 See also Job 5:7, Job 7:1; Psalm 90:5, Psalm 90:7, Psalm 90:8; Ecclesiastes 1:3; Isaiah 40:2

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground — because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

Upon creation

Genesis 3:17 See also Genesis 5:29; Jeremiah 12:4; Romans 8:19–22

And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

The punishment of death

Romans 6:23 See also Ezekiel 18:4, Ezekiel 33:8; Romans 5:12, Romans 6:21; 1 Corinthians 15:21–22

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Banishment as punishment

Genesis 3:23 See also Genesis 4:10–16; Deuteronomy 29:27, Deuteronomy 29:28; 2 Kings 25:21; Matthew 8:12

Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

Punishment must be appropriate to the crime

Genesis 9:6 See also Exodus 21:23–25; Leviticus 24:17–22; Judges 9:24

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.

Punishment reflects the obligations of the offenders towards their victims

Exodus 22:3 See also Exodus 21:2, Exodus 21:26–27, Exodus 22:4–9

But if it happens after sunrise, there is guilt for his bloodshed. A thief must make full restitution; if he has nothing, he himself shall be sold for his theft.

Divine punishment is always totally just

Genesis 18:25 See also Genesis 20:4; Exodus 34:7; Deuteronomy 32:35; 2 Chronicles 6:23; Isaiah 3:11; Matthew 16:27; 1 Corinthians 3:12–15; 1 Thessalonians 4:6

Far be it from You to do such a thing — to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

God appoints human agents to administer his punishment

Romans 13:4 See also Isaiah 45:1, Isaiah 45:14; Jeremiah 51:20; Micah 4:13; 1 Peter 2:13–14

For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God’s servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer.