God's justice and majesty requiring hell (Heidelberg 11)

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Sam Jer

Puritan Board Freshman
It seems that Heidelberg here is not providing a scripture reference for the latter part of the answer (from "therefore"). It certainly makes sense, and I am not sure any other answer would make sense, but what I would like to know is what is the origin of putting it that way is, and if (or rather, how) a biblical case for it can be constructed.

Q 11: Is not God then also merciful?
Answer: God is indeed merciful, but also just; therefore his justice requires, that sin which is committed against the most high majesty of God, be also punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment of body and soul.
 
There's no verse that states because God is holy and just he must eternally punish body and soul. Rather, in scripture, God has a clear hatred and disdain for sin. Even a single, solitary sin from Adam, the O.G. Vice-Regent and our Federal Head, subjected the whole of the cosmos, including all of humanity, to bondage, death, and futility (See Gen. 3; Rom. 5:12-21, 8:18-21). This death is not merely reserved for this life, but is an eternal reality that is, or will be from the day of judgment, hell (not getting into the distinction between hades, "the place of the dead" and Hell). Here's a Puritan description of Hell,

“What is hell?” This place in which “the bodies and souls of wicked men are tormented” can be described by the following characteristics from Scripture: unquenchable fire, never extinguished (Luke 3:17); a furnace of fire (Matt. 13:42), recalling Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace (Dan. 3:21–22), where only the godly were not affected; a lake of fire (Rev. 19:20), with an abundance of torments as the plentiful waters of a lake; eternal fire (Jude 7), with everlasting torment; outer darkness (Matt. 22:13), where we are “deprived of the light of God’s countenance”; the blackness of darkness forever (Jude 13), as a place of terror that ought to cause men to tremble now; chains of darkness (2 Peter 2:4), referring to its binding nature and the impossibility of escape; the damnation of hell (Matt. 23:33), from which none will escape; this place of torment (Luke 16:28), a “dreadful expression” for what takes place there; the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10), as the wrath of God expressed there; prison (1 Peter 3:19), referring to the way the pre-incarnate Christ, through the ministry of Noah, preached “to men who are now imprisoned in hell; Tophet (Isa. 30:33), referring to the fire of the god Molech, into which children were cast as sacrifices and from which shrieking and howling were heard; the bottomless pit (Rev. 9:1), “out of which you shall never come”; the second death (Rev. 2:11); destruction (Matt. 7:13); everlasting punishment (Matt. 25:46); and corruption (Gal. 6:8), as that reaped for “sowing to the flesh." [1]
If the above description is true and biblical, one must infer that God is perfectly just in His condemnation and punishment, lest He be lacking in moral perfection. Thus it's safe and necessary to infer that God's "justice requires, that sin which is committed against the most high majesty of God, be also punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment of body and soul." That's how I see the argument, though I'm sure you'll get much better answers from more seasoned believers on here.

[1] Beeke, Joel and Mark Jones. 2012. A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books. ePub edition.
 
The interesting word in the answer is "requires." I am not sure what to do with it. Is God bound to create hell because of both His nature and the nature of sin? Conversely, would it be right to say that His nature of mercy "requires" the cross?

Or is it better to say that both the plan of redemption of the elect and damnation of the wicked are according to the free will and good pleasure of God to glorify Himself by these means?

Those are actual questions - I have wondered along the same lines the connection between the other attributes of God and the exercise of His will or if the whole thing lies in mystery as to how God makes decisions (most certainly not like we do).
 
The interesting word in the answer is "requires." I am not sure what to do with it. Is God bound to create hell because of both His nature and the nature of sin? Conversely, would it be right to say that His nature of mercy "requires" the cross?

Or is it better to say that both the plan of redemption of the elect and damnation of the wicked are according to the free will and good pleasure of God to glorify Himself by these means?

Those are actual questions - I have wondered along the same lines the connection between the other attributes of God and the exercise of His will or if the whole thing lies in mystery as to how God makes decisions (most certainly not like we do).
The way I understand it, his holiness demands a just punishment of sin (for if he does not punish sin, he is by definition not just, making him not holy) and his love desires our salvation. The cross is his infinitely wise solution.

This is in no way precise, but I start here with believers who struggle to understand God’s justice against sin. I want them to see that had God not saved a soul, he would have been perfectly right in doing so. But he is indeed love, and desires to save his people, so he, in his wisdom, has a solution to appease his justice and show his great mercy.

Just my :2cents:
 
The way I understand it, his holiness demands a just punishment of sin (for if he does not punish sin, he is by definition not just, making him not holy) and his love desires our salvation. The cross is his infinitely wise solution.

Completely agree. But is the type of punishment (i.e. hell) required based on God's justice and is the cross required based on God's mercy? Or are these based on God's good pleasure, His wisdom in coming up with a plan to bring Himself the maximum amount of glory, or are all these things true?

My questions are simply me coming to the limits of my knowledge and wondering out loud. I need some education on how to think precisely about the relationship between God's nature, His decree, and His activity in the world.
 
Completely agree. But is the type of punishment (i.e. hell) required based on God's justice and is the cross required based on God's mercy? Or are these based on God's good pleasure, His wisdom in coming up with a plan to bring Himself the maximum amount of glory, or are all these things true?

My questions are simply me coming to the limits of my knowledge and wondering out loud. I need some education on how to think precisely about the relationship between God's nature, His decree, and His activity in the world.

First of all, no cross is required for mercy, not absolutely. The cross (or whatever means God is pleased to use to make satisfaction for sin) is only required if men is considered as fallen. For example, the angels have grace without a cross. Grace constrained them from sinning in the first place (they are called the "elect" angels in Scripture). We can't have grace without any additional working of God to make satisfaction for sin, because we sinned. God has to deal with that. And so in the same way, hell (or whatever other means God is pleased to use to bring justice) has to exist, because he is just and can not simply overlook sin.
 
But has there to be a hell absolutely? No, because even if men has fallen, God could simply make satisfaction for all of their sins, and save all of them. But here comes God's decree, which is the first thing to consider, and from which all the other things flow from. He decreed that there should be people, and that they should sin, and that he should save some, but not all. And therefore, there has to be a cross for salvation and hell for damnation.
 
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