It is one thing to speak of punishments properly so called and satisfactory, inflicted by a judge for the satisfaction of justice; another to speak of punishments improper and castigatory or medicinal. We do not deny that the latter are often appointed to believers, not by God, the Judge, but by God, the Father; not from hatred, but from love; not for vengeance, but for healing; not for destruction, but for correction. Hence Cyprian says: “The Lord chastises the saints that he may advance their holiness, and he advances their holiness that he may save them.” Thomas Aquinas says: “Before remission they are the punishments of sin, after remission they are the struggles and exercises of the saints.” And Augustine happily explains the difference between the punishments of the wicked and the chastisements of the pious: “All, both good and evil, are equally afflicted, nor by their afflictions can they be distinguished because what both suffer is not a distinction. For a distinction of sufferers remains even in a similarity of sufferings and even though, under the same pains, there is not the same virtue and vice; for as in the same fire gold shines and stubble smokes and by the same fan the chaff is blown away and the wheat purged; nor are dregs to be confounded with oil, because both are pressed in the same press. Thus one and the same inrushing power proves, purifies and refines the good; oppresses, ruins and destroys the bad. Hence under the same affliction, the wicked detest and blaspheme God, while the righteous pray to and praise him. So much difference does it make, not as to the kind of punishments, but as to the character of those who suffer them”
Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, ed. James T. Dennison Jr., trans. George Musgrave Giger, vol. 2 (P&R Publishing, 1992–97), 14.12.20. (HT: Steve Meister)
RESOURCES
- Subscribe to The Heidelblog!
- Download the HeidelApp on Apple App Store or Google Play
- Browse the Heidelshop!
- The Heidelblog Resource Page
- Heidelmedia Resources
- The Ecumenical Creeds
- The Reformed Confessions
- The Heidelberg Catechism
- The Heidelberg Catechism: A Historical, Theological, & Pastoral Commentary (Lexham Press, 2025)
- Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008)
- Why I Am A Christian
- What Must A Christian Believe?
- Heidelblog Contributors
- Support Heidelmedia: use the donate button or send a check to
Heidelberg Reformation Association
1637 E. Valley Parkway #391
Escondido CA 92027
USA
The HRA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization