God’s refusal to spare serves the common good

Those from the heresies mount upon such sayings and say: Do you see what the craftsman is like? The God of the prophets who says, 'I will not spare and I will not pity from their destruction'—how can this one be good? But if I take as an example a judge who for the common good does not pity and who rightly is not merciful, I will be able from the example to persuade that God, sparing many, does not spare one. And I will also take a physician as example, showing that sparing the whole body he does not spare one member. Let this be set before a judge: to craft peace and arrange what is beneficial for the nation under him. And let someone be brought forward, a murderer fair in appearance and beautiful to see. Let a mother come forward bringing pitiful words to the judge, that her old age may be pitied; let the wife of this one unworthy of pity beg; let children standing around plead about him.

Upon these things what benefits the common? That this one be pitied or not pitied? But if pitied he will return to the same things; if not pitied he himself will die, but the common will be improved. So if God spares the sinner and pities him and has compassion so as not to punish, who will not be worn down? Who of the worthless—those who through fear of punishments stop their sins—will not be worn down and become worse? Such things can also be seen happening in the churches: someone sinned; after the sin he begged about communion. If he is pitied too quickly, the common is worn down. The sin of others grows.

But if by reasoning—not as unmerciful nor as harsh the judge, but as providing also for the one, yet providing more for the many than for the one—he considers the coming damage to the common from the communion of the one and from the forgiveness of his sin, clearly he will cast out the one in order to save the many. Look with me also at a physician, how if he is sparing of cutting what must be cut, if sparing of cauterizing what must be cauterized because of the pains that follow such helps, how the disease grows and becomes worse.

But if he comes more boldly to the cutting and the burning, he will heal through not pitying, through seeming not to have compassion on that one being cauterized and cut. So also God does not manage one human being, but manages the whole world; he administers the things in heaven, the things on earth everywhere. He considers then what benefits the whole world and all that are; as far as possible he also considers what benefits the one—yet not so that the benefit of the one comes at the damage of the world. For this reason eternal fire was also prepared; for this reason Gehenna was also made ready; for this reason there is also an outer darkness—needed not only because of the one punished, but most of all because of the common.