Soren Kierkegaard: “…in the long run sin cannot hold out against love.”

“When a fisherman has caught a fish in his net and wishes to keep it alive, what must he do? He must immediately put it in water; otherwise it becomes exhausted and dies after a time. And why must he put it in water? Because water is the fish’s element, and everything that is kept alive must be kept in its element. And what about love? Love’s element is infinitude, inexhaustibility, immeasurability. If you wish to keep your love, you must take care that it remains in its element. Otherwise it droops and dies—not after a time, but at once, which itself is a sign of its perfection, that it can live only in its element—the infinite.” (Journals and Papers III, p. 46) “ …. “When sin in a person is encompassed by love, sin is out of its element. It is like a besieged city with all communications cut off. True, sin may use love as an occasion (for what can’t a corrupt person use for corruption!). The sinner can become embittered by love, and rage against it. Yet, in the long run sin cannot hold out against love.” Works of Love: Some Christian Reflections in the Form of Discourses, 175.