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Chapter 34OdoC.1.34

Caput XXXII

The Scourging of God's Children

God permits the elect to suffer affliction in this life as proof of their divine sonship, while the wicked go unpunished only to face eternal wrath.

God allows the innocent Abel to be slain by the wicked Cain — yet it was God who received Abel. For it is the lot of the elect to endure evils here, to bear the scourges of various kinds here, through which they are reserved to rejoice in an eternal inheritance. For if we are children, then we are also heirs.✦ Indeed, it is from affliction itself that people are recognized as children, according to that word: He scourges every son whom he receives (Heb.✦ 12, 6).✦ For although not everyone who is scourged is a child, yet there is no child who is not scourged. The wicked, however, are left without scourging — so that, as it is said in book 24 of the Morals: at the very least let them lead this life without punishment, those who by doing evil hasten toward torments without end. For the joy of recompense is in no way gathered from eternity that is not first sown here in godly tribulation. Let the reprobate go, then, and consume their desires unpunished — because God surely turns even the very time he grants them for repentance into evidence of their guilt, and the wrath he now holds back he will one day pour out without recall.

Judgment Begins with the Household of God

The afflictions of the righteous reveal God's loving severity, which corrects his children now so as to spare them from the condemnation awaiting the reprobate.

This is gathered from the affliction of good people — whom we see both doing what is right and enduring many cruel things. For how severely does the strict Judge strike there those whom he condemns, if here he torments so strictly those whom he loves?1 Hence Peter says: The time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God (1 Pet.✦ 4:17). But if judgment begins with us first, what will become of those who do not believe God's Gospel?✦2 Indeed, divine severity by no means allows sins to go unpunished, but the wrath of judgment begins with our correction here, so that it may come to rest in the condemnation of the reprobate.3 For both cases Job speaks: If I were wicked, woe to me; and if I were righteous, I will not lift up my head (Job 10:15), filled as I am with affliction and misery.✦ For the wicked man lifts up his head here, since he is supported by prosperity here, but what follows he will not escape; for his pride is struck by eternal vengeance.

The Righteous Cleansed, the Wicked Struck

The righteous person, though crushed by present misery and unable to lift up the head, is freed from eternal punishment through the purifying work of suffering.

But the righteous person, crushed by misery, is not allowed to lift up their head; yet having been cleansed by passing pains, they are set free from eternal punishment.4

Read the original Latin

Patitur autem Deus innocentem Abel ab impio Cain jugulari, quem tamen ipse suscepit: quoniam electorum est hic mala perpeti, hic diversis modis flagella sustinere, quibus reservatur de haereditate gaudere aeterna. Nam si filii, et haeredes. Filii vero esse ex ipsa afflictione noscuntur juxta illud: Flagellat omnem filium quem recipit (Hebr. XII, 6). Licet enim non sit filius omnis qui flagellatur, tamen nullus est filius qui non flagelletur. Mali vero sine verbere relinquuntur, ut sicut in libro XXIV Moralium dicitur: Saltem hanc vitam sine poenis ducant, qui ad tormenta sine fine quae sunt mala agendo festinant. Nequaquam enim retributionis gaudium de aeternitate colligitur, quod non hic prius pia tribulatione seminatur. Eant igitur reprobi, et desideria sua inulte consumant, quia certe ad reatus testimonium Deus convertit etiam ipsum tempus, quod eis ad poenitentiam tribuit, et iram quam nunc retinet quandoque irretractabiliter infundit.

Quod ex afflictione bonorum colligitur, quos cernimus et pia agere et crudelia multa tolerare. Nam districtus judex quanta illic animadversione ferit quos reprobat, si hic tam districte cruciat quos amat? Hinc Petrus ait: Tempus est ut incipiat judicium de domo Dei (I Petr. IV, 17). Si autem primum a nobis, quis finis eorum qui non credunt Dei Evangelio? Peccata quippe nequaquam divina severitas inulta remanere permittit, sed ira judicii a nostra hic correptione inchoat, ut in reproborum damnatione conquiescat. Propter utrosque enim Job ait: Si impius fuero, vae mihi est; et si justus, non levabo caput (Job X, 15), saturatus afflictione et miseria. Impius namque caput hic levat, qui prosperis hic fulcitur, sed quod sequitur non evadet; superbia enim ejus aeterna ultione feritur.

Justus vero oppressus miseria caput levare non sinitur, sed transitoriis doloribus expiatus ab aeterno verbere liberatur.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Rom.8.17 — And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
  2. ↩Heb.12.6 — For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he scourges every son whom he receives.
  3. ↩Heb.12.6 — For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he scourges every son whom he receives.
  4. ↩1Pet.4.17 — For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who disobey the gospel of God?
  5. ↩1Pet.4.17 — For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who disobey the gospel of God?
  6. ↩Job.10.15 — If I am wicked, woe to me; and if I am righteous, I will not lift up my head, being full of disgrace, and see my affliction.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The rhetorical question contrasts divine punishment of the reprobate with divine chastisement of the elect; animadversio carries a sense of judicial punishment.
  2. 2 ↩Continues the 1 Peter 4:17 allusion; the implied answer is that the fate of unbelievers will be far worse than the chastisement of the faithful.
  3. 3 ↩The purpose clause (ut...conquiescat) presents divine judgment as finding its final rest in the condemnation of the wicked, after first correcting the faithful — a theologically dense claim.
  4. 4 ↩expiatus can mean 'expiated/purified' or 'atoned for'; the sense here is that temporary suffering in this life purifies the righteous person so as to avert eternal punishment.

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