Punishment
The General Message of the Lecture
This lecture addresses the concept of divine punishment from a Coptic Orthodox faith perspective. It defends God’s justice and holiness against contemporary ideas influenced by atheism and Western rationalistic readings that reject punishment and atonement and accuse God of cruelty or sadism.
First: The Danger of Denying Punishment
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III explains that some writers within the Church, especially those influenced by Western thought, attack the principle of divine punishment out of personal motives or fear of judgment, which leads them to deny God’s justice and portray Him as cruel or unjust.
Second: Punishment and Freedom
The lecture confirms that God truly sets before humanity the choice between life and death, but death is the punishment of sin. Freedom does not cancel punishment; rather, by choosing sin, a person chooses the punishment that follows it.
Third: The Testimony of Holy Scripture
The Holy Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, contains many clear examples of divine retribution, whether in historical events or spiritual teachings. This proves that punishment is not a human invention, but a divine and just revelation.
Fourth: Defending the Doctrine of Atonement
The Pope rejects the attack on atonement based on the claim that God does not exact punishment, explaining that redemption is founded on the judgment of death that Christ bore in the flesh on our behalf. This is the core of Christian faith, not a distortion of God’s image.
Fifth: The Danger of the Distorted Concept of “Deification of Man”
He warns against the distorted understanding of the phrase “deification of man,” clarifying that it means participation with God in grace and work, not in divinity or essence, because such deviation leads to satanic pride and denial of punishment.
Sixth: Rejecting Rationalistic Reading of Revelation
The lecture criticizes the approach that treats the Holy Scripture selectively, accepting what suits human reason and rejecting the rest. It affirms that all Scripture is inspired by God and that attacking Moses the Prophet or the Apostles under the pretext of reason or progress is unacceptable.
Conclusion
Divine punishment is an expression of God’s justice and holiness, not cruelty or sadism. Denying it gradually leads to denying redemption, distorting the image of God, and embracing contemporary atheistic thought.
العقوبة
Punishment
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