9. Does not God, then, do
injustice to man by requiring of him in His Law that which he cannot perform?
No, for God so made man that he could
perform it; but man, through the instigation of the devil, by willful
disobedience deprived himself and all his descendants of this power.
10. Will God
allow such disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished?
Certainly not, but He is terribly
displeased with our inborn as well as our actual sins, and will punish them in
just judgment in time and eternity, as He has declared: “Cursed is everyone
that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them.”
God is indeed merciful, but He is
likewise just; His justice therefore requires that sin which is committed
against the most high majesty of God, be punished with extreme, that is, with
everlasting punishment both of body and soul.