21I would think that we might be able to see from this word retribution the nature and number of the spirits meting it out. Consider the possibility that the execution of punishments in hell is a karmic performance for the punishers as well as the punishees. Perhaps the very spirits who received the brunt of the tyrant’s rod are those who without mercy have become the instruments of carrying it out. Only after the punishers are able to ascend would the punishees be enabled. Of interest in this regard is a principle taught in the passage usually published as John 7:53–8:11, where Jesus asks the sinner, “Where are thine accusers?”