Guilt separates man from God. In order to remove God's enmity and placate His wrath, man must pay recompense. Sin is followed by a penalty. To obtain forgiveness reparation must be made. As sin is a personal offense against God, it makes man His enemy.
Sin can kill the soul and deliver the sinner into satanic slavery.
In addition, say Roman Catholic theologians, the sinner incurs indebtedness to God which must be paid off. Judaism in the Old Testament period pointed out several kinds of expiatory acts as means of reconciliation, such as sacrificial offerings, fasting, almsgiving and forms of penance. During the Hellenistic period, martyrdom was also considered of especially great merit as an atoning act. Christians took over these Jewish ideas as ways to explain how Jesus' death removes the barriers between men and God. Christ suffered the wrath of God in place of and on behalf of sinners, it was said.