What are the punishments of sin in this world?
The punishments of sin in this world are either inward, as blindness of mind,1 a reprobate sense,2 strong delusions,3 hardness of heart,4 horror of conscience,5 and vile affections;6 or outward, as the curse of God upon the creatures for our sakes,7 and all other evils that befall us in our bodies, names, estates, relations, and employments;8 together with death itself.9
Scripture proofs
The Westminster Assembly's proof texts (KJV). The bracketed numbers in the answer above mark the clause each set of references supports; expand a row to read the verses.
1 Eph. 4:18
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
2 Rom. 1:28
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
3 2 Thess. 2:11
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
4 Rom. 2:5
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
5 Isa. 33:14; Gen. 4:13; Matt. 27:4
The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
6 Rom. 1:26
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
7 Gen. 3:17
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
8 Deut. 28:15–18
Deut. 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
Deut. 28:16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
Deut. 28:17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deut. 28:18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
9 Rom. 6:21, 23
Rom. 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This doctrine across the Standards
Where the Confession and the Westminster Shorter Catechism treat the same matter, so the question can be studied alongside its parallel statements.
In the Westminster Confession
VI.1 Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and temptation of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. …
Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and temptation of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. This their sin God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory.
→ VI.1 · Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment ThereofVI.2 By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in …
By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.
→ VI.2 · Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment ThereofVI.3 They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death …
They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation.
→ VI.3 · Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment ThereofVI.4 From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly …
From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.
→ VI.4 · Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment ThereofVI.5 This corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain in those that are regenerated; and although it be …
This corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain in those that are regenerated; and although it be through Christ pardoned and mortified, yet both itself and all the motions thereof are truly and properly sin.
→ VI.5 · Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment ThereofVI.6 Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto, …
Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto, doth, in its own nature, bring guilt upon the sinner, whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God and curse of the law, and so made subject to death, with all miseries spiritual, temporal, and eternal.
→ VI.6 · Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment ThereofIX.3 Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any …
Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.
→ IX.3 · Of Free WillIn the Westminster Shorter Catechism
Q.13 Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?
Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God.
→ Open Q.13Q.14 What is sin?
Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.
→ Open Q.14Q.15 What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?
The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit.
→ Open Q.15Q.16 Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?
The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.
→ Open Q.16Q.17 Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.
→ Open Q.17Q.18 Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?
The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.
→ Open Q.18Q.19 What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever.
→ Open Q.19