The Atonement

The Argument

1. Failing to do what is right is a sin:

• "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." (James 4:17)

2. Believers will bear punishment for failing to do what is right:

Hover over footnotes for context on each verse.

• Believers will appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10)
• Believers who teach will be judged with greater strictness (James 3:1)
• Believers who sin deliberately will no longer have a sacrifice for sins (Heb. 10:26)
• Believers who sin deliberately should expect judgment and fury of fire (Heb. 10:27)
• Believers will be saved, only as through fire (1 Cor. 3:15)
• Believers who do not forgive will be handed over to torturers (Matt. 18:34-35)
• Believers' hands and feet will be tied and thrown into outer darkness (Matt. 8:12, 22:13; Luke 13:28)
• Believers will be cut in two and appointed with hypocrites (Matt. 24:50-51)
• Believers who know God's will but don't act will be severely beaten (Luke 12:47)
• Believers will be thrown away like branches and burned (John 15:6)
• Believers can be liable to the hell of fire (Matt. 5:22)
• Believers are worse than unbelievers if they fail to care for their household (1 Tim. 5:8)
• Believers can be afflicted with sickness and death from God (1 Cor. 11:30)

Therefore, believers will bear punishment for some of their sins.

The Contradiction

Believers will not bear punishment for their sins:

• Christ offered a single sacrifice for sins for all time (Heb. 10:12)
• Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous (1 Pet. 3:18)
• Christ has perfected for all time those who are sanctified (Heb. 10:14)
• God forgave all trespasses (Col. 2:13)
• Christ put away sin by sacrificing himself (Heb. 9:26)
• God canceled the record of debt, nailing it to the cross (Col. 2:14)
• Christ died for sins (1 Cor. 15:3)
• Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Pet. 2:24)
• Christ was made sin for our sake (2 Cor. 5:21)
• Christ is the propitiation for sins (1 John 2:2)
• Christ gave himself as a ransom for all (1 Tim. 2:6)
• Christ reconciled believers to himself (2 Cor. 5:18)
• God made peace by the blood of Christ's cross (Col. 1:20)
• The Lord will not count sin against believers (Rom. 4:7-8)

Objections

"This is a temporary punishment."

Even if the punishment is temporal, believers will still be judged for some of their sins.

"There is a difference between the Bema and the Great White Throne."

This does not eliminate the issue that believers will still be judged for some of their sins.

"The Lord will not punish, He will withhold rewards."

The strong language in parables suggests actual punishment, not merely loss of rewards. Descriptions like being "delivered over to torturers" (Matt. 18:34-35), "cut in two and assigned a place with hypocrites" (Matt. 24:51), receiving a "severe beating" (Luke 12:47), being "bound hand and foot" and thrown into outer darkness "where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 22:13) suggest punitive outcomes rather than the mere loss of rewards.

"The word 'sin' is being used in two different senses."

The text does not differentiate between types of sin (i.e. sin at the Bema and sin at the Great White Throne). Even if this is true, who decides which meaning of "sin" applies to the 400+ instances of it in the Bible?