#1011 Atonement and Just Desert
September 28, 2026Hello Dr. Craig, and team. I appreciate your work very much. In the last few weeks, you have replied to several questions about Annihilation and Atonement (For instance, questions #999 and #1006).
In your response, you argue that it is difficult to reconcile an Annihilationism with Penal Substitutionary Atonement. I would espouse the latter, and I am not trying to question it. However, I am often wary that we draw our theory from the Bible, as best as we can, but that we don’t limit the theory, more than it’s essential, with our own conclusions. You seem to imply that for PSA to be complete, the punishment must be equal, for lack of a better word, and that if a certain facet is not met there, then it’s not part of God’s justice. That seems to be your response to Annihilationism. However, wouldn’t that also apply to the idea of “conscious eternal judgment”, since Jesus did not experience, as far as I understand, (and is not experiencing) conscious eternal judgment?
I appreciate your responses on this matter, and, again, all the work you do.
Thanks,
G.
Spain
Dr. craig’s response
A
What a great question, G.! I had argued that annihilationism is incompatible with Christ’s penal substitutionary atonement, since Christ did not suffer the punishment that the damned deserve, namely, annihilation. Your question suggests that the annihilationist could try to turn the tables by saying that on the traditional view of hell as well Christ did not suffer the punishment that the damned deserve, namely, eternal conscious suffering. While this “So’s your ol’ man!” response does not answer the objection to annihilationism, it suggests that the traditionalist is no better off.
Now it seems to me that the penal substitution atonement theorist cannot deny that “for PSA to be complete, the punishment must be equal, for lack of a better word.” For if Christ bore some lesser punishment than what the damned bear, then either the demands of God’s justice go unsatisfied or else the damned are punished in excess of what they deserve. Either alternative is incompatible with God’s essential justice. If someone convicted of murder and sexual assault were sentenced to just a few hours of community service, then he will not have received his just desert. The demands of justice would go unsatisfied. So Christ must bear the full punishment of the damned if he is to bear our just desert. If, on the other hand, our just desert is not annihilation but just a few hours of physical suffering, then Christ did bear our full punishment and so satisfied divine justice; but then the damned, being annihilated, are punished far beyond what is their just desert, making God unjust. So I don’t think that we can escape the dilemma as you suggest.
Rather, it seems to me that the traditionalist has resources for meeting the objection that are not available to the annihilationist. Notice that even if the damned suffer forever, they never actually experience infinite suffering. At every point they will have endured only a finite amount of suffering. In fact, (though I do not believe this) theoretically their suffering could be very slight. For example, someone might suffer a hangnail for eternity. Moreover, a sensitive person can suffer much more from a particular punishment than someone who is more callous. A sensitive person, for example, may suffer terribly from a short incarceration that a hardened criminal would shrug off. So in addition to the duration of suffering, we must take into account the intensity of suffering. An increase in intensity can make up for a lack of duration. So Christ, in bearing our just desert of being separated relationally from God the Father, from whom he had never known separation, could suffer in intensity what we deserve.
By contrast, it makes no sense to talk about intensity of suffering when it comes to annihilation. You either exist or you don’t. So if the just punishment of the damned is to be annihilated, then Christ must have been annihilated at the cross, which makes no sense. Therefore, the above solution is not available to the annihilationist.
- William Lane Craig