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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

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PUNISHMENT

The intentional infliction of pain or loss (e.g., loss of liberty or money) by an authorized individual on another because of an offense committed. There can be no punishment without authority, and none without a guilty party.

Some argue that punishment is justifiable if it will deter the offender (and other potential offenders) from committing offenses in the future, or if it will act as an instrument of reform. This means that punishment will influence the offender so that he will not want to commit other offenses. If punishment does not either reform or deter him, they contend, there is no justification for it.

There are others who argue that the guilty—simply because they are guilty and for no other reason—ought to be punished. Appeal is made either to the moral law of God or to some abstract principle of justice. This view, called the retributive view, is not to be confused with mere bloodthirstiness or the desire for revenge, which can often be selfish and unwarranted.

Both general views, the deterrent/reformative and the retributive, have the problem of what degree of punishment is to be inflicted in particular cases. Clearly, people could be deterred from committing fairly trivial offenses by severe punishments or the threat of them. In the case of retribution, only in comparatively rare cases could the punishment exactly match the offense.

According to the Bible, the death of Christ cannot be understood except in retributive terms. His atonement was a vicarious, penal offering to his Father to satisfy divine justice as the representative of those for whom he died. Christ’s death removes the sinner’s guilt by satisfying divine justice (Rom 5:8; Gal 3:13).

Given the retributive character of Christ’s death, a Christian cannot consistently maintain that retribution should play no part in punishment. But the question can still be raised concerning the extent to which a system of punishment should today be retributive. In favor of the view that it should be retributive, the following arguments have been offered: (1) There are explicit scriptural injunctions regarding capital punishment (Gn 9:5-6), and such a divine command is not among those moral and ceremonial commands that are done away with in Christ. Coupled with this is the approving NT description of the powers that be as the bearer of the sword, God’s minister of vengeance (Rom 13:1-5). (2) Besides such explicitly scriptural arguments, further support can be found from an appeal to principles of justice, and in particular to the important consideration that retribution can be a barrier against arbitrary and tyrannical government in that it sets clear and definite bounds to the power of the state in the punishment of offenders. For example, it cannot hold an individual indefinitely for “treatment” or order ferocious reprisals. Such a view of punishment emphasizes individual responsibility and the presumption of individual freedom until an offense has been committed, and hence it emphasizes predictability in human relations. The argument that capital punishment is only compounding the original offense would apply to all punishments.

Against these arguments for retribution are those that appeal to utilitarian considerations according to which it is argued that punishment ought only to be inflicted if a greater good is likely to be achieved by punishing than by not punishing. Further, there is the argument that since humanity is a brotherhood, no one person or group can have the right to punish another. The first of these arguments would appear to allow punishment without limit (provided that a greater good would probably result), while the second seems to be incompatible with government of any kind for fallible and sinful people.

One final matter concerns the kind of punishment to be permitted in a penal system. In earlier centuries many offenders were hung, drawn and quartered, broken on the wheel, or had limbs or ears or tongues cut off as a punishment for often trivial offenses. Most today would regard such punishments as barbaric and inherently degrading to the individual. There is clearly an element of relativity here. It is perhaps arguable, for instance, that corporal punishment of certain kinds is less degrading than the modern alternative of confinement with other criminals in filthy conditions.

Ultimately, Scripture teaches that the general judgment of all people, which follows death, will be final and retributive, guided by God’s unerring wisdom, justice, and mercy.

See also Criminal Law and Punishment.