How does God Punish Criminals?

by Michael Shackleton · October 22, 2016

We are called to forgive those who trespass against us and leave the punishment for crimes to the law and to God. But how will God deal with a criminal, especially one who is unrepentant for his actions?

Let us begin at the starting point of Christianity: that God in Christ loves us all infinitely and absolutely, and expects us to love him and our neighbor.

When one of us wrongs another, God does not stop loving us both. In fact, he enjoins the innocent party to forgive the guilty party at once. As you say, he teaches us to pray: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

As for the guilty party, God’s love and grace are available for him to return like the Prodigal Son and ask for mercy and forgiveness, and be assured that the loving Father will grant it. God keeps loving the sinner even if the sinner dies unrepentant but the result of rejecting God’s love could be everlasting exile from that love.

Breaking one of the Ten Commandments certainly is a sin for which the perpetrator is answerable to Christ’s judgement. But we just don’t know what Christ will do. We see only from the viewpoint of an often single act against us by a criminal, whereas Christ loves and knows the culprit and all his circumstances, motives, virtues and vices. His mercy is infinite.

To forgive the criminal is the correct response, expressing the love that we Christians have to show to others simply because we are all one in Christ.

Yet?there is more to it than that. Hard as it may seem to the ways of the modern secular world, forgiveness goes hand in hand with good will. Jesus made no bones about this when he said: “Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who treat you badly” (Lk 6:28),

We all have to pray for the ones who wrong us, particularly that they may become repentant and feel the full impact of Christ’s unshakeable love and compassion. In doing this we can really bless the ones that curse us and treat us badly.