Punishment

Biblical punishment rests on the premise that there is an eternal distinction between right and wrong and that God's moral order requires that wrongdoing be addressed. In Old Testament law, punishments ranged from restitution (Ex. 22:1–15) and corporal punishment (Deut. 25:2–3) to execution for capital offenses (Deut. 17:12; 19:21). The lex talionis — "eye for eye" (Ex. 21:24) — was not a license for revenge but a principle of proportionality limiting punishment to the offense. In the New Testament, governing authorities are described as God's servants in executing punishment on wrongdoers (Rom. 13:4). Ultimate divine punishment — eternal separation from God (Matt. 25:46; 2 Thess. 1:9; Heb. 10:29) — grounds the urgency of the gospel.