OFFENSE and CONSEQUENCE

As we analyze the Bible, we are going to see that God and people have different responses to offenses, and mete out varying consequences to offenders, depending on the situation. This study, as I hope to persuade you, is an important and foundational necessity when considering the intents and benefits of the Atonement.

What we will end up seeing through this series is that the atonement has different benefits, to different people, under different conditions.¹ But before we can get to that point, we must first recognize the needs for the various benefits. This will be accomplished by recognizing that God, in having differing roles and relationships with us and the world, has a variety of responses toward sin. In this installment I wish to show the tenability of such dinstinctions from considering a conceivable example from the world. In following articles, I will show specific examples from the Bible.

The following treatise will (1) enumerate the issues involved, (2) set forth the simple explanation and assertion of the argument of this article, and (3) provide an illustrative case in point that uses all the distinctions in order that you may see its reasonableness and parallel to reality.

Issues Involved:
(1) Offense
(2) Role of offender
(3) Role of offended party
(4) Context appropriate consequence

Explanation and Assertion:
(1) A single specific act of offense
(2) of a single offender
(3) can be viewed as to it relates to the various roles of the single offender
(4) in the eyes of differing offended people or institutions (or single individuals occupying differing roles)
(5) which would incur role and context appropriate consequences in each relationship.

Case in Point:

Offense - breaking in and stealing from neighbor's house

Offender - single offender, teenage male

who operates within all these roles -
1. Person
2. Son
3. Citizen
4. Employee

Offended:
1. Neighbor (personally)
2. Dad (family economy)
3. Government as personified through a judge
4. Employer

Role and context appropriate consequences:
1. Neighbor dispenses anger and retribution (a personal response): kicks him out of house and beats him up
2. Dad punishes son by excluding him from the summer vacation the son planned to go on with his friends
3. Judge hands down sentence of: restitution, probation, and community service
4. Employer who has "Live Scan" of teenager, finds out about infraction and terminates his employment


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[1] These distinctions were recognized and used by Shawn Lazar, of the Grace Evangelical Society. Credit goes to him for the delineations.