Greater Punishment

Is there greater punishment for someone like Hitler than the person who lives a seemingly good life but rejects the good news of God's forgiveness of their sin through His Son Jesus?

The Bible clearly teaches that any and all sin is enough to keep us from going to heaven. We are all sinners (Romans 3:23), and our attempts at being righteous always fall short of God’s standard (Romans 3:10). Paul quotes from multiple OT passages in Romans 3 to show the universal sinfulness of man. In this way all sin is equal in keeping us out of heaven without the application of the shed blood of Christ.

Even the term “total depravity” “does not mean that men are equally bad, that all have been corrupted to the same degree. It does not mean that men have gone as deeply into sin as he can possibly go, that he is totally bad. It does not mean that human nature is destitute of all moral good, that man is bereft of any goodness. It merely means that all parts of his unregenerate nature are controlled and dominated by sin, and that his is incapable of extricating himself without the grace of God.” (Doctrines of the Christian Religion…pg. 157).  Thus any sin, no matter how small or large will be adequate to condemn us to a Christ-less hell.

More tolerable passages: Matthew 11: 20-24; Matthew 10: 11-15; Luke 10: 10-16. In these passages Jesus indicates that those who have greater opportunity (presence of Jesus or the preaching of his disciples) will face a greater judgment than those who have had fewer opportunities (Tyre, Sidon, Sodom, and Gohmorah). Though all these cities were known for their wickedness, the greater sin was to reject the grace of God through the person of Jesus and hence the greater punishment (less tolerable) was given to the cities that outwardly seemed to be more righteous. God looks at the heart while man looks at the outside.

 Luke 12:42-48 And the Lord said, “Who, then, is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall set over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he hath. But if that servant shall say in his heart, ‘My lord delayeth his coming,’ and shall begin to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the unfaithful. And that servant, who knew his lord’s will, and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more”. In this passage the wicked servant is the one who continues to sin and who will receive many strips because he knew his lord’s will and did not get ready for his coming. The one who was still a sinner but did not know his lord’s will shall receive fewer stripes according to how much he knew or did not know. Though Romans 1:18-21 indicates that we are responsible for our sin even if all we know of God is His testimony through creation, James also makes it clear that with greater responsibility comes greater judgment (James 3:1).

John 19:11, “Jesus answered [Pilate], 'You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin.' ” Here Jesus is saying that Pilate’s sin was less than Judas who betrayed Him knowing Him as well as he did. If there is a greater sin and a lesser sin then they are not equal.

Heb. 10:29, “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” Severer punishment implies that there is a greater degree of punishment for those who have so violently rejected the good news of the Gospel as to profaned what it was given for and blasphemed the Spirit of grace.

God is righteous and just. He will assign reward as Jesus described on multiple occasions according to the faithfulness of His saints. He will also justly assign degrees of punishment according the darkness of the heart of those who have not received his gift of forgiveness. Any place in Heaven will be a blessing beyond our imagination and any place in Hell will be punishment beyond our wildest speculations, but greater reward and greater punishment are both taught in the Bible.