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What does the Bible say about punishment of sin?

Bible Topic · WEB

The Bible teaches that sin brings God’s righteous judgment and death, yet He mercifully offers forgiveness and life through Jesus Christ to all who repent and believe. Romans 6:23 declares that sin’s wages are death, while Romans 5:12 explains that death entered the world through Adam’s sin. Ezekiel 18:4, 20 stresses personal accountability before God, and Galatians 6:7 warns that people reap what they sow. James 1:15 shows sin’s deadly progression, and 2 Corinthians 5:10 affirms a final judgment. Scripture also speaks of everlasting punishment for the wicked in Matthew 25:46, but Acts 3:19 calls sinners to repent so that their sins may be blotted out.

Top passages, ranked by readers

Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible

  • Romans 6:23 5 votes

    For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  • Psalms 145:20 4 votes

    Yahweh preserves all those who love him, But all the wicked he will destroy.

  • Matthew 25:46 3 votes

    These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

  • Ezekiel 18:20 3 votes

    The soul who sins, he shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

  • Galatians 6:7 3 votes

    Don't be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.

  • James 1:15 3 votes

    Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.

  • Romans 5:12 2 votes

    Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned.

  • 2 Corinthians 5:10 2 votes

    For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

  • Ezekiel 18:4 2 votes

    Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins, he shall die.

  • Acts 3:19 2 votes

    "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,

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