Punishment that Fits the Crime

It will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you (Matthew 11:24).

The purpose of this blog post is to scare the hell out of you! I am not swearing when I say that. And I am certainly not trying to be cute. As an ordained minister of the gospel, part of my duty is to solemnly warn people to flee from the wrath to come (see Matt. 3:7; Col. 3:5-6; I Thess. 1:10; etc.). And because there is just enough hellishness in your soul and mine to cause trouble, my intent is to drive it out by reminding us both of the coming judgment. Jesus employed this tactic during his ministry on earth, so I’m simply following his example.  

I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! (Lk. 12:4-5).

Although there is much we could say about the reality of the judgment to come, my focus here is on the fact that, in hell, not all sins will be punished in the same way. God is just, and we can be sure that the punishment will fit the crime. Although any experience of hell will be horrific, Scripture suggests that some sins are more heinous than others and will, therefore, receive a more hellish punishment. For example, Jesus spoke of those who would receive “a severe beating” and those who would receive “a light beating” (Lk. 12:47-48). This concept of degrees of punishment in hell is mentioned on numerous occasions in the New Testament (Matt. 10:15; 18:6; 23:15; Jn. 19:11; Rom. 2:5; Heb. 10:29; Rev. 18:6-7; etc.).  

A Journey to Hell

No one has spoken more graphically about the different levels of punishment in hell than Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) in his classic three-volume poem The Divine Comedy. The first volume, entitled the Inferno, describes the poet’s allegorical journey through hell. While I certainly do not recommend The Divine Comedy as a reference book for systematic theology, I do recommend it as collateral reading, intended to inspire our imagination.

Once you get beyond Dante’s medieval worldview and mystical theology, you begin to discover how his understanding of the eternal consequences of unforgiven sin is both doctrinally insightful and psychologically profound. For me personally, beyond the Bible, no other book has been more helpful in causing me to think deeply and meaningfully about the mystery of iniquity. 

Dante imagines hell as a deep pit composed of nine circles, spiraling downward. Each circle punishes a different sin with a uniquely devised form of torment specially designed to fit that particular sin. The deeper he descends, the more damnable are the sins that he encounters, and the more hideous the torments intended to punish them. On entering hell, he reads the sign over the door: “Abandon every hope, all you who enter.” (Canto III).

In the vestibule of hell he sees a host of nameless souls, forgettable people whose lives and legacies were inconsequential. These are the indecisive ones, the uncommitted. They never made a decision one way or the other about God. Their lives merited neither commendation nor condemnation. Heaven would not have them and hell was repulsed by them and sought to keep them at a distance. They were “neither faithful nor unfaithful to their God” so, in their non-commitment, they “stood but for themselves” (Canto III). 

Beginning his descent into the pit, Dante comes to the first circle of hell. Here he finds the eternal dwelling place of virtuous pagans, such as Socrates, Aristotle, and Hippocrates. Although there is no physical torment at this level, these lost souls live forever with unfulfilled desires, and no hope of ever seeing God.

The second circle is reserved for the lustful. Helen of Troy is here as well as Cleopatra, “who loved men’s lusting” (Canto V). Their punishment consists in being whirled about forever by a dark and tempestuous wind storm.

Descending into the third circle of hell, Dante encounters the gluttons. Considered by Dante to be worse than the sexually promiscuous, these undisciplined souls were controlled by their insatiable appetites. They are mired in mud and muck, as cold, dirty rain falls upon them forever.

The fourth circle is for those who sinned with money. Both those who hoarded it and those who squandered it are found here, misers and spend-thrifts. Because they never learned to use their possessions in moderation, they are condemned to push heavy boulders at one another in opposing groups, one crying “Why hoard?” and the other, “Why waste?” (Canto VII).

In the fifth circle of hell, Dante finds the wrathful, those who spent their lives in angry fights and ugly conflicts. Also on this level are the slothful, the lazy. These pitiful souls languish in a boggy swamp of slime where they fight each other forever. 

The descent grows steeper and the punishments get noticeably worse as Dante enters the sixth circle. Here he encounters the heretics, trapped in burning tombs. These wretched souls have sinned not with their bodies but with their minds, arrogantly refusing the divine order of things and then laboring to intellectually justify their refusal. It is interesting to note that Dante finds a pope here (Pope Anastasius II). 

The seventh circle is reserved for the violent (murderers, plunderers, tyrants, sodomites, etc.).  Alexander the Great and Attila the Hun are here. These tragic souls have been condemned forever to be boiled in a river of blood. 

In the eighth circle, Dante finds those who are guilty of fraud and deception: flatterers, hypocrites, witches, seducers, pimps, swindlers, liars, and those who intentionally created division on earth, such as Mohammed (!). Tormented by a wide variety of horrific punishments, these souls are here because “who could be more wicked than that man who tries to bend divine will to his own!” (Canto XX). 

Finally, in the ninth (and last) circle, Dante encounters the most despicable sinners of all: traitors. In the presence of Satan himself, these wretched souls are tormented eternally not by fire, but in a lake of ice, because they treacherously betrayed their families, their masters, their countries, and their God. Cain, Nimrod, Brutus, and especially Judas are recognized at this deepest level of hell.   

Conclusion

So, did I succeed in scaring the hell out of you? I hope so. You are certainly free to disagree with Dante in his description of the details of hell, but I encourage you not to disagree with Scripture’s description of the terrifying reality that awaits those who refuse to bow the knee and put their trust in Jesus. Yes, the fear of the Lord is still the beginning of wisdom (see Prov. 9:10).

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