Why Do Unbelievers Have to Pay For Their Sins?

DR. CRAIG: In my work on the atonement, one of the most fascinating features of this work was the concept of a divine pardon. In our American justice system, a pardon must be accepted by the condemned criminal in order to be efficacious. There have been cases in which, for one reason or another, the condemned criminal rejects the pardon offered him by the governor of the state in which he is condemned, and the courts have ruled that in that case the pardon is not efficacious. It does not take effect unless the condemned person accepts it. In exactly the same way, Christ has purchased a pardon of us by his atoning death whereby he's satisfied divine justice on our behalf. So God offers us a pardon of our sins, full remission of guilt and cleansing from sin, but if we reject that pardon then we have to serve out the punishment that is our just desert.