Eternal torment, temporary payment?
A response to Lilith Helstrom pt. 4
[When I first started this series, I said I would respond to each of these claims from Lilith. The more I received training in writing, I realized that if I’m going to interact with opposing views, I should interact with the best and most faithful representatives of said views. I don’t mean any disrespect, but for me to respond to these criticisms is not the best use of my time and energy, since she does not represent the best of the atheist worldview. I pray she will read these and perhaps be drawn to Christ. This will be my last post in this series.]
Claim #4:
“The payment for sin is eternal torment, that’s why Jesus had to pay it only temporarily.”
Response:
To put her sarcastic claim as a question, “How can Jesus' temporary suffering and death fully satisfy the penalty of sin, if the wages of sin is eternal death?”
For starters, the first clause is correct! The payment for sin is eternal torment (Notice she didn’t say “torture”—a subtle difference, but I think it matters). There is no misrepresentation here. For that, I’m thankful.
However, as with many of these claims, this one rests on hidden assumptions about the nature of Jesus Christ and His suffering.
To understand how Jesus can suffer and die temporarily to take away the eternal penalty for sin, we must understand who He is ontologically and the nature of the suffering He undertook.
Who is the One who died? Who is the One who paid for sins in just a few hours on the cross? Was it a mere human, a mere mortal like you and me?
On the cross, we’re lifting our eyes to the only One who consistently made claims such as, “I and the Father are one” and “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.”
He is the One who claimed preexistence by declaring, “Before Abraham was, I am (εγω είμι—The divine name used in the Greek translation of Exodus 3:14).”
He predicted His own death and resurrection on more than one occasion, giving ample opportunity for the crowds to falsify Him. These predictions, of course, came true, and many eyewitnesses testified that they had seen the risen Jesus.
The One we’re beholding, then, is the Son of God. The image of the invisible God. God in the flesh. All-powerful. All-knowing. Eternal God-man. Thus, the duration of the agony is not the issue, but the dignity and worth of the One who suffered. This is what His payment depends upon.
The claim above assumes that Jesus was a mere man, which no doubt Lilith believes, if she believes Jesus existed at all. The gospel message would seem dubious if that were true. But Christianity has always proclaimed that Christ is both fully God and fully man. Because He is God incarnate, His temporary suffering carries eternal value. An eternal Person can absorb eternal wrath in a moment.
A king can pay off a beggar’s debt in a single moment—not because of how long he worked for it, but because of the resources he possesses. So too, Christ’s sacrifice is a payout from the storehouse of His infinite worth.