God's punishment is successful

[FineLinen]

Understanding God's nature and correction

Our God is perfect in all his ways. Therefore his correction and dealings concerning mankind are always successful and complete.

Phil. 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: God's corrections and discipline are always with purpose. He never corrects just for the sake of doing something. Everything our God does is with plan and purpose.

Eph 1:11

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. When God is dealing with his children in discipline and correction it is designed to bring repentance and victory. It brings the fruit of righteousness and peace. God's correction always has a beginning. After his plan and purpose is fulfilled and his work has ran it's course his corrected work has changed lives. Tthe correction of that time shall subside and stop. Therefore nowhere in all scripture will we find that God's correction is design and purposed to last forever. There is no such thing in the kingdom of God as eternal damnation. There if no where to be found in all passages of our God's word any such thing as everlasting punishment. No, God's discipline is always with purpose of bring man to repentance and thus shall bear the fruit of righteousness, peace and joy in the realms of the Holy Spirit.

Matt 25:31-47 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungry, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me in, naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me not in, naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. But the people who had never done all these things mentioned by the Lord were separated unto the left hand of God! They received no kingdom. There were no rewards for work done or attainments reached. Rather, they were set on the dark side of God, they were put under a kingdom and under authority and they were placed in a process of fiery judgment to receive correction.

There is much subtle truth in these words of Jesus. Let's look at what the Spirit is saying concerning everlasting punishment from the Greek kolasis,  which means simply that, punishment. It comes from the root kolazo which sheds precious light upon the nature of the punishment. Kolazo, according to Strong's Concordance, bears only two shades of meaning, namely, "to curtail" or "to chastise." To "curtail" means to restrain as a person is restrained in jail or a child is restrained when he is "grounded" for a week because of some disobedience. Notice the nature of God's correction of his people. He always has a purpose. His correction has a beginning; it does it's work, when his work is fulfilled and complete the correction then comes to an end.

God never punishes men forever. His plan always works victory and overcoming power in our lives, he never fails. "Chastise" has one simple meaning according to Webster's New World Dictionary: to punish in order to correct, usually by beating.

It should be clear to any thoughtful mind that the subject here is not meaningless, sadistic, unending torture, but purposeful correction.

There is no eternal damnation in God. His correction works, therefore there is no need for him to punish someone forever. He is so powerful; He is able to subdue all things unto himself.

Phil. 3:21

Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Even when God needs to correct us with divine discipline his purpose and the end is always victory and it causes us to repent.

Jer 29:11

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

While the King James version states that these goats go into everlasting fire and everlasting punishment and the sheep enter into life eternal, that is not quite the meaning of the Greek. The Greek word here translated everlasting and eternal is aionios and aionios is the is the adjective form of the Greek noun aion.

Some have arrogantly contended that the punishment must be everlasting because the same word is used of the life of God - eternal life - and if the punishment is not eternal then the life cannot be eternal. But that is an argument put forth by the ignorant, the result of the shallow reasoning of men who reach hasty conclusions not founded on the facts.

"If the punishment ends then God's life must end, if the life is eternal then the punishment must be eternal," we are told!

We must understand the nature of God's correction & the purpose of his dealings which are always to help us.

Hebr. 12:6,7

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Notice the ways of God. He will never just leave us in mark missing, his way is to correct us.... that we might come into perfect agreement and oneness with him,. to walk in complete unity and harmony with our God making us one with him.

If he loves us he chastens us for a reason, a purpose to bring victory and power. Notice he plans for correction of man, which never last forever never last forever. There is no such thing in our God's heart that will ever cause him to correct any man forever and forever. His correction is all powerful, his correction is perfect. He is perfect in all of his ways. His discipline will bring forth the fruit of righteousness and peace. When God has corrected every man & every man has repented, he will gather together in one all things in Jesus Christ.

Eph 1:10

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him. ~Tim Wray

[FineLinen]

Punishment of ABBA is disciplinary.

The root-meaning of one of the chief words for punishment is that of pruning. The Lord of the harvest never prunes to kill, but to help. The persistence of the consequences of sin long after the sin is forgiven by God is doubtless intended so to deepen and burn in the lesson that the cause of punishment may be cured. God purposes to establish in righteousness, that the creature, even if he could, would not yield to sin.


Punishment is meant by God to be self-corrective. This is expressed in Jer. 2:19, "Thine own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you." This still is disciplinary, but it implies that in the punishment itself is a self-corrective element.

The fermentation of liquids tends to their own purification. The principle of the modern disposal plant is that one germ of impurity devours another till all their malignity is destroyed. God tells us what the harvest of sin is; "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). This denotes all kinds of death, answering to the different kinds of sin. Sin always attempts to kill God. Its culmination was reached when it slew the Christ, but His death overcame "him (satan) that had the power of death" (Heb. 2:14). And through our Lord's death all death has been potentially destroyed, and will be actually and historically destroyed before the end of the ages, when the Son hands over the kingdom to the Father: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." God has thus limited the extent of the consequences of evil. It, in one sense, wears itself out. Let no one say however that Christ, the Savior, is not needed. We have already indicated that slaying Him only promoted His plan of redemption. It cut away all our nature of flesh and blood that He had taken, and in Him we and the whole creation were potentially set free from all corruption and all harvests that are the consequence of sin and sins. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2).

What more does any one want than a punishment for sin that is fully adequate; that accords with absolute justice; that has the strongest sanctions that can be imagined, because not only of their greatness, but also because of their continuance even after forgiveness; a punishment that is not unnatural and unreasonable but that grows out of the creature's selfish actions; a punishment that so closely and continuously disciplines its author that the release can come only by an utter and forever putting away of the cause; a punishment that is not manufactured by an angry God, but whose cause and development depend entirely upon the creature and a fallen nature; a punishment that vindicates God's character for goodness, for He makes sin, even against its will, work for righteousness and also destroy its own harvest of all kinds of death, through the death that it wrought in His only and first begotten Son! This is a sane and scriptural doctrine of punishment. "For God hath shut them all up for unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto Him again.

For out of Him, and through Him, and unto Him, are all things: to whom be glory for the ages. Amen ~Chas. H. Pridgeon

[Ross]

 :thumbsup: punishment- correction- discipline-
All to teach us.
More to this life than a lot of people realise.

[Ross]

Titus 2;11-15 " For the grace of God,
                       bringing salvation to all men,
                       has shone forth
                       putting us under discipline
                       in order that denying ourselves of ungodliness and worldly covetings
                       we should live in this present age in a sober-minded and godly manner,
                       prepared to welcome the happy hope and forth-shining of the Great God and our saviour Christ Jesus,
                       Who gave Himself up on our behalf,
                        that He might redeem us from all manner of lawlessness,
                        and purify for Himself a people as His own treasure, zealous of noble works.
                       Be speaking as to these things and exhorting and reproving with all manner of authority.
                       Let no-one despise you."

Exactly why the next quote is inspirational as to the ultimate purpose;

Titus 3;7 ' That being justified by His grace,we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

The punishment/correction is to establish the fullness of the grace beyond measure- ergo very successful.

[marie glen]

   Esp - Eph 1:10

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him. ~Tim Wray

:thumbsup: Amen! What Good parent merely punishes.. and ?forever?! :mshock:
I figure some are chosen for the role (in this Truth proving drama) to be ?corrected? (korrected, lol) during tbis brief lifetime.. and some chosen for the role of being corrected during the aionion kolasis (eonian correction).
    I figure since God does all the choosing including as to when, that the correction oricess is the very same process for all. He is a consuming fire, in that purity consumes impurity, light darkness, etc. The idea of a literal burning alive, for ever, or even temporarily is a mite, well, insane!? And has to have been inspired by Baal/lord Molech!
    I?m convinced our heavenly Father does teach in (some) riddles. We are after all in a quest for ?treasure?. And my favorite riddle is Mt.13:33 - key word 3, with 1Cor.15:21-24,28, which verses I?m sure we all know.. But added sentence clauses, are one of the ways, I think, that some things are veiled.
    Mt.13:33, ?the kingdom is like a woman working leaven into 3 batches/loaves, until allis leavened.? Key word 3. You may know the three: 1Cor.15:21-24,28 - As all die in Adam, so in like manner, shall all live in Christ. But each in their own order (of vivification) (1)Christ the Firstfruits (the barley harvest) then (2)those that are His at His coming (wheat harvest). Then comes the ?end? (3)when Be hands to kingdom to the Father.. all things subdued including death the last to be so.. so that God will be all in all?. (Grape harvest.)
    This is just like Rev.21:1-5 where God says ?behold I make all new? (things in this verse, and in Eph.1:10, is an added word by the translators to all/pas. And also, of course, Eph.1:10.
    And as far as tares, goats, still wild weeds being gathered into bundles to be burned, the key to understanding that(?) is the when of it - Mt.13:30 (Rev.16:14,15,16!?)
   

  Punishment is meant by God to be self-corrective.

Amen, I totally agree. Otherwise what is John the Baptist?s preparatory mission as introduction. Oh yes, I totally agree.. We all experience remorse, maybe even some burning shame.. but some for sure, the hitlers, large and small, I have to think will experience some gut wrenching remorse! Initially - whether during what?s called today, or during the aionion kolasis/korrection, some weeping, gnashing of teeth and even some outer darkness. Surely.. those initial conditions for some is the setting for that hard to see straight(?) parable of Lazarus and the rich man(?) and also the setting for the outside-of-the vision narrative of Rev.22. (But I have to think many of all generations and nations of all the centuries and millennia will be simply happy to be alive!)
    And a big part of the corrective process is “the evil which evil doers do, shall return upon their own heads” Amos(?)

[marie glen]

:thumbsup: punishment- correction- discipline-
All to teach us.
More to this life than a lot of people realise.

The punishment/correction is to establish the fullness of the grace beyond measure- ergo very successful.

  Amen!

[darryl]

Titus 2;11-15 " For the grace of God,
                       bringing salvation to all men,
                       has shone forth
                       putting us under discipline
                       in order that denying ourselves of ungodliness and worldly covetings
                       we should live in this present age in a sober-minded and godly manner,
                       prepared to welcome the happy hope and forth-shining of the Great God and our saviour Christ Jesus,
                       Who gave Himself up on our behalf,
                        that He might redeem us from all manner of lawlessness,
                        and purify for Himself a people as His own treasure, zealous of noble works.
                       Be speaking as to these things and exhorting and reproving with all manner of authority.
                       Let no-one despise you."

Exactly why the next quote is inspirational as to the ultimate purpose;

Titus 3;7 ' That being justified by His grace,we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

The punishment/correction is to establish the fullness of the grace beyond measure- ergo very successful.

amen !