Question 9 - Is God, then, not unjust by requiring in His law what man cannot do?

Answer - No, for God so created man that he was able to do it.¹ But man, at the instigation of the devil,² in deliberate disobedience³ robbed himself and all his descendants of these gifts.⁴

¹ Gen. 1:31. ² Gen. 3:13; John 8:44; I Tim. 2:13, 14. ³ Gen. 3:6. ⁴ Rom. 5:12, 18, 19.

Question 10 - Will God allow such disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished?

Answer - Certainly not. He is terribly displeased with our original sin as well as our actual sins. Therefore He will punish them by a just judgment both now and eternally,¹ as He has declared:² Cursed be every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them (Galatians 3:10).

¹ Ex. 34:7; Ps. 5:4-6; 7:10; Nah. 1:2; Rom. 1:18; 5:12; Eph. 5:6; Heb. 9:27. ² Deut. 27:26.

Question 11 - But is God not also merciful?

Answer - God is indeed merciful,¹ but He is also just.² His justice requires that sin committed against the most high majesty of God also be punished with the most severe, that is, with everlasting, punishment of body and soul.³

¹ Ex. 20:6; 34:6, 7; Ps. 103:8, 9. ² Ex. 20:5; 34:7; Deut. 7:9-11; Ps. 5:4-6; Heb. 10:30, 31. ³ Matt. 25:45,46.