W. F. Boyd.
PUDENS (IIoi'/Stjs).— Pudens was a Christian of Rome who along with Eubulus, Claudia, and Linus sends greetings to Timothy (2 Ti 4-'). He was thus on intimate terms with the apostle Paul at the time of his last Roman imprisonment. Nothing certain is know^n regarding him. He is supposed by many to have been the husband of the Claudia of the same verse and has been identi- fied with the Pudens of Martial's Epigrams, whose wife also bore the name Claudia (Epigr. iv. 13, xi. I
54). For a full account of various identifications and literature, see art. Claudia.
W. F. Boyd.
PUNISHMENT.— The word 'punishment ' is em- ployed to translate />-6Xa(Tis (1 Jn 4"* RV) and Ti.fj.upla (He 10-"). The corresponding verbs /loXdfu and Tiixuipiu, translated 'punish,' are used indiscrimin- ately (Ac 4-'', 2 P 2» ; cf. Ac I'l" 26") ; so that tlie classical distinction, exemplified in Plato and Aristotle, between n/jiupla, which regarded the re- tributive sultering, and KilXaffis, which regarded the correction of the ollender, can hardly be pressed in the case of NT usage (for the distinction, see K. C. Trench, Synonyms of the NT^, London, 1876). Other words translated 'punishment' are SiKri (2Th 1" RV), (KSiK-qais (1 V2^\ ' vengeance' in RV), and iTTirifila (2 Co 2'').
The term 'punishment' (Lat. pcena) may be de- fined as pain or suHering inflicted in expiation of a crime or oHence by an authority to which the ofl'ender is subject. The authority inflicting it may be human or Divine. The human authoritj' may be civil or ecclesiastical. Human authority to in- flict punishment is ultimately derived from a Divine source.
1. Punishment inflicted by human authority.— Under this head may be mentioned (a) that injlicted by civil authority. Roman magistrates, under the supremacy of the Emperor, in so far as they ad- ministered just laws, are regarded as executors of the Divine wrath or vengeance against evil-doers, and submission to their jurisdiction is made im- perative on members of the Apostolic Church (1 P 2'''; cf. Ro 13'-=).
(b) That inflicted by ecclesiastical authority, (a) In the Jewish Church, the supreme Sanhedrin at Jerusalem and local Sanhedrins claimed and exer- cised the right to punish persons adjudged guilty of contumacy, schism (aipecris), or seducing the people. On the basis of such charges it was sought to make the apostles and others who adhered to their doctrine and fellowship amenable to punish- ment (Ac 4-'' 22=5 26"). (^) In the exercise of dis- cipline, the members of a Christian church, acting as a judicial body, were vested with the power to inflict censure, or the severer punishment of ex- clusion from the fellowship of the Church, on everj' brother who walked disorderly (1 Co 5'' ^ 1 Th 5'\ 2 Th 3^). In canning out the .sentence of exclusion, the name and authority of Christ, as King and Head of the Church, were solemnly invoked. While the extreme penalty of exclu.sion was called punish- ment (i-mT^ixla, 2 Co 2' ; iKSiKT}(n.i, 7"), the object of its infliction was the ultimate restoration of the ofl'ender to Church privileges (2 Co 2"' ; cf. 10» 13'»).
2. Divine punishment. — In passages in which the term occurs it is conceived as eschatological. (a) It is associated ivith the Intermediate State, (a) According to representations derived from apoca- lyptic literature, the fallen angels are depicted as undergoing punishment in Tartarus while await- ing the Final Judgment (2 P 2» ; cf. 2\ Jude^ I P 3'-'). ((3) The inhabitants of the Cities of tlie Plain have been continually subjected to punishment since the period when it w.as first inflicted upon them in the time of Lot (Jiide' RV).
{b) Punishment is associated loith the Parousia. (a) At the Second Advent the heathen and unbe- lieving Jews who have persecuted or ill-used members of the Church are to receive the due reward of their deeds. The punishment meted out to them is more particularly defined as 'eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might' (2 Th P RV). (/3) Apostates from the Christian faith, being guilty of wilful sin, for which no further sacrifice is provided, are liable under the New Covenant to far severer punishment at Christ's Return than that which overtook
PUEIFICATION
PUTEOLI
291
ofi'cnders under the Old Covenant (Ho lO-"'- ; cf. v.").
The primary purpose of punishment, human or Divine, is to vindicate the law, and uphold the nu)ral order of the world, which, in tlie ahsence of sucli sanction, would fail to command the respect of the law-hreaker. I'unishment may also be im- posed with a view to refurni the otlender or to deter others from the commission of like otl'ences hy making an examjile of him. It must he maintained, liowever, that even should punishment fail to exer- cise a corrective or deterrent effect, its infliction as righteous retribution would still be justilied (see W. N. Clarke, An Outline of Christian Theology, Edinburgh, 189S, pp. 253-255, and R. Mackinto'sji, Christianity and Sin, London, 1913, p. 215). Pun- ishment is the natural correlate and consequence of guilt. It presupposes that the wrong-doer is responsible for the acts which have exposed him to it, and justlj- merits its infliction. Divine punish- ment is the reaction of God's holy nature against sin. It is the outward manifestation of the Divine wr.'ith against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. As the manifestation of God's just resent- ment, it is mainly, though not exclusively (in opposition to KitschI, see A. E. Garvie, The Ritsch- lian Theology-, Edinburgh, 1902, pp. 307-310), eschatological. Punishment by itself, i.e. apart from disclosures of Divine grace, leading to ' the apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ ' {Shorter Catechism, A. 87), has no redemptive or remedial effects upon the character, and cannot produce repentance (Ro 2^ 4"*, 2 Co 7'°). Doubtless it is for this reason that the future punisliment of the impenitent is never regarded as tending to the pnrilication of the sufferers. Whatever possibilities the eternal future niaj' have in store, the NT draws a veil over the fate of those who have failed to improve the o|iportunity afforded by the dispensa- tion under which men are now living.