Do you know of any New Testament passage that shows that temporal punishment may remain after a sin has been forgiven?Answer:
Yes, although indirectly. We can say, for example, that Paul's quote of Psalm 51 in Romans 4:7 of David's chastisement even though David was forgiven, is a case in point. If Paul is saying that David's justification is the same justification we have, then it follows that David's chastisement, even though forgiven, also applies to us.
We could also cite 1 Cor 10:1-11 in this regard, since Paul specifically says that we are going to suffer the same things the Jews suffered if we sin. In fact, he says in verses 6 and 11 that those stories were written down precisely to warn us that the same chastisements and final judgments will happen to us.
In fact, we can safely say that any time the NT refers to something that God did to an OT person for his sin, whether it was chastisement after forgiveness or eternal damnation for unrepentance, the same applies to the NT, otherwise, the NT could not use the OT as the example of how God is going to treat us.
There are also general references to ongoing chastisement in Heb 12:6-8; 2 Pet 2:20; Rev 3:19, et al.
Robert Sungenis
Catholic Apologetics International
July 3, 2002
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