If we are not condemned by God for our evil deeds, how can He justly repay us with retribution? Does our relationship with our heavenly Father involve the idea of behavioral punishment? If there is this tension that defines our being accepted for some behaviors and our being rejected for other behaviors, then how can grace be accurately defined as freedom from the bondage of the law? If the law is constantly held in front of us in its threatening form, how can we ever be truly free from it?The law is a schoolmaster for us if we fail to meet the standards of conduct as commanded in the bible. This is because God is repaying us for evil. To me, it is the same thing to say that we have an ability to receive salvation without God giving us grace in order to be able to receive the gospel and saying that grace is a predeterminer of faith but there is human responsibility where the law of retribution is experienced. These paradigms of grace are sisters.How can we be justified for all of our sins in this life if we are only being repaid for them? How can we experience the freedom from the bondage of the law if we have no relief in His payment not only for our sins, but for their consequences? If we are forgiven because of His work, there is no way for us to understand this by experience in this life if we are under the law of owing Christ in the proof of just payment. Is the proof of sovereign and free grace found in our being threatened to find it in worm theology?Is this how we are led to understand God's condescending love? Some people believe that this kind of teaching indicates that God is a spiritual elitist. However, the context of these verses makes it clear that this is not the case. The apostle is not saying that destruction is the payment for those who are in Christ. Nor is he saying that a Christian is obligated to follow the Spirit as a matter of the will alone. This is a universal statement. It is that those who follow the flesh will reap eternal destruction. He is not saying that if a person decides to follow the Spirit then he will reap eternal life. Rather, he is saying that all people, regardless of whether or not they are in Christ, will reap eternal consequences based on the choices they make – following the flesh leads to destruction, while following the Spirit leads to life.If we interpret this as an encouragement, which is a Hebrew idiom meaning confidence in the promises we will see in the whole near context of what he is saying and the far context of scripture, then he is saying that it would be impossible for those who are controlled by the Spirit to be thrown into hell. I can show you this kind of reasoning. If you look at any of my writings, the grace and relationship to our sin is clearly set out with that spirit of free sovereign and irresistible.