"HELL
AS ETERNAL TORMENT"
Samuele Bacchiocchi, Ph. D.,
Retired Professor of Theology and Church
History,
Andrews University
Chapter 4 of the forthcoming book
POPULAR
BELIEFS: ARE THEY BIBLICAL?
Few teachings
have troubled the human conscience over the centuries more than the traditional
and still popular view of hell as the place where the lost suffer conscious
punishment in body and soul for all eternity. The prospect that one day a
vast number of people will be consigned to the everlasting torment of hell is
most disturbing and distressing to sensitive Christians. After all, almost
everyone has friends or family members who have died without making a commitment
to Christ. The prospect of one day seeing them agonizing in hell for all
eternity can easily lead thinking Christians to question how they can enjoy the
bliss of Paradise, while some of their loved ones are suffering conscious
punishment for all eternity.
It is not
surprising that today we seldom hear sermons on hellfire even from
fundamentalist preachers, who are still committed to such a belief.
John Walvoord, himself a fundamentalist and staunch defender of the popular view
of hellfire, suggests that the reluctance to preach on this subject is due
primarily to the fear of proclaiming an unpopular doctrine.1 This may be
partly true, but the problem may also be the awareness that the traditional and
popular view of hellfire is morally intolerable and Biblically questionable.
Clark Pinnock, a respected evangelical scholar who has served as President of
the Evangelical Theological Society, keenly observes: "Their
reticence [to preach on hellfire] is not so much due to a lack of integrity in
proclaiming the truth as to not having the stomach for preaching a doctrine that
amounts to sadism raised to new levels of finesse. Something inside tells
them, perhaps on an instinctual level, that the God and the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ is not the kind of deity who tortures people (even the worst of
sinners) in this way. I take the silence of the fundamentalist preachers
to be testimony to their longing for a revised doctrine of the nature of
hell."2 It is such a longing, I believe, that is encouraging some
theologians today to revise the traditional, popular view of hell and to propose
alternative interpretations designed to make hell more tolerable.
Objectives of This Chapter
The issue addressed in this chapter is not the fact of hell as the final
punishment of the lost, but the nature of hell. The fundamental question
addressed is: Does the Bible support the popular belief that impenitent sinners
suffer the conscious punishment of hellfire in body and soul for all eternity?
Or, Does the Bible teach that the wicked are annihilated by God at the second
death after suffering a temporary punishment? To put it differently: Does
hellfire torment the lost eternally or consume them permanently?
This chapter is
divided into two parts. The first part examines the traditional and popular view
of hell as eternal torment. We trace this belief historically and then consider
some of the main Bible texts and arguments used to support it.
The second part
of this chapter presents the annihilation view of hell as a place of the
ultimate dissolution and annihilation of the unsaved. Some call this view
conditional immortality, because our study of the Biblical wholistic view of
human nature shows that immortality is not an innate human possession; it is a
divine gift granted to believers on condition of their faith response. God
will not resurrect the wicked to immortal life in order to inflict upon them a
punishment of eternal pain. Rather, the wicked will be resurrected mortal in
order to receive their punishment which will result in their ultimate
annihilation.
PART 1
THE TRADITIONAL AND POPULAR
VIEW OF HELL
With few exceptions, the traditional view of hell has dominated Christian
thinking from the time of Augustine to our time. Simply stated, this popular
belief affirms that immediately after death the disembodied souls of impenitent
sinners descend into hell, where they suffer the punishment of a literal eternal
fire. At the resurrection, the body is reunited with the soul, thus intensifying
the pain of hell for the lost and the pleasure of heaven for the saved. This
popular belief has been held historically not only by the Catholic Church, but
also by most Protestant churches.
The Origin of Hell
The doctrine of the hellfire derives from and is dependant upon the belief in
the immortality of the soul. The dualistic view of human nature consisting of a
mortal body and an immortal soul that survives the death of the body,
presupposes a dual destiny for the soul, either to Paradise or to Hell.
In chapter 2 we
noted that the belief in the immortality of the soul is usually traced back to
Egypt, which has been rightly called the "Mother of Superstitions."
The same holds true for the belief in Hell as a place of eternal punishment.
Greek and Roman philosophers freely credit Egypt for the invention of the bliss
and terrors of the invisible world.3
The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans shared the view that hell is located deep down
under the earth. It was known by various names, as Orcus, Erebus,
Tartarus, and Infernus, from which derives our expression
"infernal regions." The gate of Hell was guarded by the
three-headed dog Cerberus, who prevented any exit from the infernal
regions. To ensure that there would not be any escape from the horrid prison of
hell, a river of fire, called Phlegethon, and a triple wall surrounded it.
In his book Aeneid, Virgil, a famous Roman Poet (70-19 B.C.), gives us
this brief description of hell's agonizing punishments:
"And now
wild shouts, and wailings dire,
And shrieking
infants swell the dreadful choir."
Here sits in
bloody robes the Fury fell,
By night and
day to watch the gates of hell.
Here you begin
terrific groans to hear,
And sounding
lashes rise upon the ear.
On every side
the damned their fetters grate,
And curse, 'mid
clanking chains, their wretched fate."4
Virgil's images of hell were refined and immortalized by the famous
fourteenth-century Italian poet, Dante Alighieri. In his Divina Commedia
(Divine Commedy), Dante portrays hell as a place of absolute terror,
where the damned writhe and scream while the saints bask in the glory of
paradise. In Dante's hell, some sinners wail loudly in boiling blood,
while others endure burning smoke that chars their nostrils, still others run
naked from hordes of biting snakes.
Michelangelo
used his talent to paint scenes of Dante's Inferno on the wall of the
Sistine chapel, which is the pope's private chapel. On the left of Christ the
risen saints receive their resurrection bodies as they ascend towards heaven.
On the right of Christ, devils with pitchforks drag, push, and hurl impenitent
sinners into cauldrons of burning fires. Finally, at the bottom the Greek
mythical figure Charon with his oars, together with his devils, makes the damned
get out of his boat pushing them before the infernal judge Minos-another Greek
mythical figure. Hateful fiends are gnawing at the skulls of
suffering sinners, while watching hellish cannibalism going on. These graphic
pictures of hell-depicted between 1535 and 1541 in the most important papal
chapel-reflect the prevailing popular belief of the horrors of Hell fire.
When did Hell Catch Fire in the Christian
Church?
When did such a
horrible belief in the eternal punishment of the lost by Hell fire, enter the
Christian Church? A survey of the writings of the early Church Fathers, suggest
that this belief was gradually adopted beginning from the latter part of
the second century, that is, at approximately the same time as the belief in the
immortality of the soul. Passing references to the punishment of the wicked in
"everlasting fire," are found in the writings of Justin Martyr,
Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian of Carthage, Lactantius, Jerome, Chrysostom, and
Augustine, to name a few.5
But the writer
who has exercised the greatest influence in defining the Catholic doctrine of
hellfire, is Augustine (354-430), the Bishop of Hippo. He is rightly
regarded as one of the most influential Catholic theologian. He defined the
doctrine of Hell in such a clear and well-structured way that it has become the
standard teaching of the Catholic Church to this very day.
Augustine's Definition of Hell
Much of what Augustine wrote about Hell, was already believed by many Christians
in his time. But he systematized and defended the prevaling beliefs in an
unprecedented way. Simply stated, Augustine view of Hell consists of five major
components.6
First, Hell is a real eternal destiny that awaits the majority of the human
race. "For as a matter of fact," Augustine stated, "not
all, nor even a majority, are saved."7 "The eternal damnation of
the wicked is a matter of certainty."8
Second, Hell is
severe. "The torments of he lost" will be
"perpetual" and "unintermited."9 "No torments that we
know of, continued through as many ages as the human imagination can conceive,
could be compared with it."10
Third, Hell is
endless, because the lost are 'not permitted to die." For them 'death
itself dies not."11 The lost are flung into an eternal fire "where
they will be tortured for ever and ever."12
Fourth, Hell is
the penalty of eternal damnation. It does not allow for repentance because the
time for repentance has passed. As "eternal chastisement, it is inflicted
exclusively in retribution for sins."13
Fifth, Hell is
the just punishment for the wickedness of sins against God. No one has the right
to complain against the justice of God. 'Who but a fool would think that God was
unrighteous, either in inflicting penal justice on those who had earned it, or
in extending mercy to the unworthy?"14
God has the right to consign sinners to eternal death by denying them eternal
salvation. "Assuredly there was no injustice in God's not willing that they
should be saved, though they could have been saved had he so willed it."15
Augustine's reasoning that salvation or damnation depends solely on the
sovereign and inscrutable will of God, (a view adopted by Calvin) ultimately
makes the God of the Bible an irrational, capricious, and unjust Being to be
despised rather than to be worshipped.
Catholic Definition of Hell
Augustine's articulation of the Doctrine of Hell has remained definitive for the
Catholic Church to the present day, in spite of recent attempts to put the fire
out of Hell. In 1999, Pope John Paul II threw a figurative pail of cold water on
the popular image of hell as a place of unending flame, when he denied that hell
is a place of fiery torment. He described it rather as "the pain,
frustration and emptiness of life without God."16 He further claimed
that the "lake of fire and sulfur" referred to in the Book of
Revelation was symbolic."17 These statements set off a brief
but intense firestorm, particularly among fundamentalist Christians who
firmly believe that hell is a place of eternal fiery torment.
The attempt of
Pope John Paul II to take the fire out of Hell, has not changed the traditional
Catholic doctrine of Hell, which is clearly stated in the new Catechism of
the Catholic Church: "The teaching of the Church affirms the
existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those
who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the
punishments of hell, 'eternal fire.' The chief punishment of hell is eternal
separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for
which he was created and for which he longs.18
This traditional Catholic view of Hellfire was reaffirmed by Pope Benedict XVI
on March 28, 2007, during the celebration of the Mass at the Church of St.
Felicity & Martyred Sons, in northern Rome. He said: "Hell is a place
where sinners really do burn in an everlasting fire, and not just a religious
symbol designed to galvanise the faithful. . . . Hell really exists and is
eternal, even if nobody talks about it much any more"19
Protestant Views of Hell
Faced with
imaginations that had run riot over Purgatory and Hell, the Reformers Luther and
Calvin, not only rejected the popular beliefs about Purgatory, but they also
declined to speculate on the literal torment of hell. For example, Luther could
talk about the wicked burning in hell and wishing for "a little drop of
water,"20 but he never pressed for a literal interpretation of hell. He
believed that "it is not very important whether or not one pictures hell as
it is commonly portrayed and described."21
John Calvin preferred to understand the references to "eternal fire"
metaphorically. "We may conclude from the many passages of Scripture, that
eternal fire is a metaphorical expression."22 The more cautious
approach of Luther and Calvin did not deter later prominent Protestant preachers
and theologians from portraying hell as a sea of fire, in which the wicked burn
throughout eternity.
During the
following centuries, Protestant preachers were inspired more by Dante and
Michelangelo's frightening depictions of the torments of hell, than by the
language of Scripture. They terrorized their congregations with sermons that
were themselves pyrotechnic events. Not satisfied with the image of fire and
smoke of the New Testament, some preachers with more creative minds
pictured hell as a bizarre horror chamber, where punishment is based on a
measure-for-measure principle. This means that whatever member of the body
sinned, that member would be punished in hell more than any other member.
"In
Christian literature," writes William Crockett, "we find blasphemers
hanging by their tongues. Adulterous women who plaited their hair to entice men
dangle over boiling mire by their neck or hair. Slanderers chew their
tongues, hot irons burn their eyes. Other evildoers suffer in equally
picturesque ways. Murderers are cast into pits filled with venomous
reptiles, and worms fill their bodies. Women who had abortions sit neck deep in
the excretions of the damned. Those who chatted idly during church stand in a
pool of burning sulphur and pitch. Idolaters are driven up cliffs by
demons where they plunge to the rocks below, only to be driven up again.
Those who turned their back on God are turned and baked slowly in the fires of
hell."23
Renowned eighteenth-century American theologian Jonathan Edwards,
famous for his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," pictured
hell as a raging furnace of liquid fire that fills both the body and the soul of
the wicked: "The body will be full of torment as full as it can hold, and
every part of it shall be full of torment. They shall be in extreme pain,
every joint of them, every nerve shall be full of inexpressible torment. They
shall be tormented even to their fingers' ends. The whole body shall be
full of the wrath of God. Their hearts and bowels and their heads, their
eyes and their tongues, their hands and their feet will be filled with the
fierceness of God's wrath. This is taught us in many Scriptures. . .
."24 Newspapers reported people leaving his sermons and committing suicide
from the fear he instilled in them.
A similar
description of the fate of the wicked was given by the famous nineteenth-century
British preacher Charles Spurgeon: "In fire exactly like that which
we have on earth thy body will lie, asbestos-like, forever unconsumed, all thy
veins roads for the feet of Pain to travel on, every nerve a string on which the
Devil shall for ever play his diabolical tune of hell's unutterable
lament."25 It is hard to comprehend how the Devil can torment evildoers,
when he himself will be "thrown into the lake of burning sulphur" (Rev
20:10).
Renewed Protestant Defence of Literal
Hellfire
In recent years the traditional, popular doctrine of literal hellfire, has come
under fire by respected conservative Evangelical scholars like F. F.
Bruce, Michael Green, Philip E. Hughes, Dale Moody, Clark H. Pinnock, W.
Graham Scroggie, John R. W. Stott, John W. Wenham and Oscar Cullman. These
men and others have embraced annihilationism, a view that the wicked will
be resurrected to receive their punishment that will result in their ultimate
annihilation. This is our view that will be discussed in the last part of tis
chapter.
Defenders of
the traditional view of Hell did not remain silent. Some came out with pistols
flaring like John H. Gerstner, Repent or Perish (1990). Other were less
combative but equally opposed to annihilationism: J, J, Packer, Larry Dixon,
Kendall Harmon, Robert A. Peterson, and Donald Carson.
Today, defenders of a literal eternal hellfire are more circumspect in their
description of the suffering experienced by the wicked. For example, Robert A.
Peterson concludes his book Hell on Trial: The Case for Eternal
Punishment, saying: "The Judge and Ruler over hell is God himself.
He is present in hell, not in blessing, but in wrath. Hell entails eternal
punishment, utter loss, rejection by God, terrible suffering, and unspeakable
sorrow and pain. The duration of hell is endless. Although there are
degrees of punishment, hell is terrible for all the damned. Its occupants
are the Devil, evil angels, and unsaved human beings."29
A comprehensive
response to all the texts and arguments used to defend the traditional view of
the eternal punishment of the wicked, would take us beyond the limited scope of
this chapter. Interested readers can find such a comprehensive response in
The Fire that Consumes (1982) by Edward Fudge and in my book Immortality
or Resurrection? Our response is limited to a few basic observations, some
of which will be expanded in the second part of this chapter.
The Witness of the Old Testament
The witness of
the Old Testament for eternal punishment largely rest on the use of sheol
and two main passages, Isaiah 66:22-24 and Daniel 12:1-2. Regarding
sheol, John F. Walvoord says: "Sheol was a place of punishment
and retribution. In Isaiah [14:9-10] the Babylonians killed in divine judgment
are pictured as being greeted in sheol by those who had died
earlier."30
Regarding
sheol, our study of the word in chapter 3 shows that none of the texts
supports the view that sheol is the place of punishment for the ungodly.
The word denotes the realm of the dead where there is unconsciousness,
inactivity, and sleep. Similarly, Isaiah's taunting ode against the King of
Babylon is a parable, in which the characters, personified trees, and fallen
monarchs are fictitious. They serve not to reveal the punishment of the wicked
in sheol, but to forecast in graphic pictorial language God's judgment
upon Israel's oppressor and his final ignominious destiny in a dusty grave,
where he is eaten by worms. To interpret this parable as a literal
description of hell means to ignore the highly figurative, parabolic nature of
the passage, which is simply designed to depict the doom of a self-exalted
tyrant.
Isaiah 66:24: The Fate of the Wicked
The description of the fate of the wicked found in Isaiah 66:24 is regarded by
some traditionalists as the clearest witness to eternal punishment in the Old
Testament. The setting of the text is the contrast between God's judgment
upon the wicked and His blessings upon the righteous. The latter will
enjoy prosperity and peace, and will worship God regularly from Sabbath to
Sabbath (Is 66:12-14, 23). But the wicked will be punished by
"fire" (Is 66:15) and meet their "end together" (Is 66:17).
This is the setting of the crucial verse 24, which says: "And they
shall go forth and look on the dead bodies of the men that have rebelled against
me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they
shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."
Peterson
interprets the phrase "their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be
quenched" as meaning that "the punishment and shame of the wicked have
no end; their fate is eternal. It is no wonder that they will be loathsome to
all mankind."31
Isaiah's
description of the fate of the wicked was possibly inspired by the Lord's
slaying of 185,000 men of the Assyrian army during the reign of Hezekiah.
We are told that "when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were
all dead bodies" (Is 37:36). This historical event may have served to
foreshadow the fate of the wicked. Note that the righteous look upon
"dead bodies" (Hebrew: pegerim), not living people. What they
see is destruction and not eternal torment.
The
"worms" are mentioned in connection with the dead bodies, because they
hasten the decomposition and represent the ignominy of corpses deprived of
burial (Jer 25:33; Is 14:11; Job 7:5; 17:14; Acts 12:23). The figure of
the fire that is not quenched is used frequently in Scripture to signify a fire
that consumes (Ezek 20:47-48) and reduces everything to nothing (Am 5:5-6; Matt
3:12). Worms and fire represent a total and final destruction.
To understand
the meaning of the phrase "the fire shall not be quenched," it is
important to remember that keeping a fire live, to burn corpses required
considerable effort in Palestine. Corpses do not readily burn and the
firewood needed to consume them was scarce. In my travels in the Middle East and
Africa, I often have seen carcasses partially burned because the fire died out
before consuming the remains of a beast.
The image of an
unquenchable fire is simply designed to convey the thought of being completely
burned up or consumed. It has nothing to do with the everlasting punishment of
immortal souls. The passage speaks clearly of "dead bodies" which are
consumed and not of immortal souls which are tormented eternally. It is
unfortunate that traditionalists interpret this passage, and similar
statements of Jesus in the light of their conception of the final punishment
rather than on the basis of what the figure of speech really means.
Daniel 12:2: "Everlasting Contempt
The second major Old Testament text used by traditionalists to support
everlasting punishment is Daniel 12:2, which speaks of the resurrection of both
good and evil: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt." Peterson concludes his analysis of this text, by saying:
"Daniel teaches that whereas the godly will be raised to never-ending life,
the wicked will be raised to never-ending disgrace (Dan 12:2)."32
The Hebrew term
deraon translated "contempt" also appears in Isaiah 66:24 in
which it is translated "loathsome" and describes the unburied
corpses. In his scholarly commentary on The Book of Daniel, André
Lacocque notes that the meaning of deraon both "here [Dan 12:2] and
in Isaiah 66:24 is the decomposition of the wicked."14 This means
that the "contempt" is caused by the disgust over the decomposition of
their bodies, and not by the never-ending suffering of the wicked. As
Emmanuel Petavel puts it: "The sentiment of the survivors is disgust,
not pity."15
To sum up, the alleged Old Testament witness for the everlasting punishment of
the wicked is negligible, if not non-existent. On the contrary, the
evidence for utter destruction of the wicked at the eschatological Day of the
Lord is resoundingly clear. The wicked will "perish" like the
chaff (Ps 1:4, 6), will be dashed to pieces like pottery (Ps 2:9, 12), will be
slain by the Lord's breath (Is 11:4), will be burnt in the fire "like
thorns cut down" (Is 33:12), and "will die like gnats" (Is 51:6).
The clearest description of the total destruction of the wicked is found on the
last page of the Old Testament English Bible: "For behold, the day
comes burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be
stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that
it will leave them neither root nor branch" (Mal 4:1). Here the
imagery of the all-consuming fire which leaves "neither root nor
branch" suggests utter consumption and destruction, not perpetual torment.
The Witness of Jesus
Traditionalists
believe that Jesus provides the strongest proof for their belief in the eternal
punishment of the wicked. Kenneth Kantzer, a most respected evangelical leader,
who served as Editor of Christianity Today, states: "Those who
acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord cannot escape the clear, unambiguous language
with which he warns of the awful truth of eternal punishment."35
Did Jesus teach
that hell-gehenna is the place where sinners will suffer eternal torment
or permanent destruction? To find an answer to this question, let us examine
what Jesus actually said about hell.
What Is Hell-Gehenna?
Before looking
at Christ's references to hell-gehenna, it is helpful to consider the
derivation of the word itself. The Greek word gehenna is a
transliteration of the Hebrew "Valley of (the sons of) Hinnon,"
located south of Jerusalem. In ancient times, it was linked with the
practice of sacrificing children to the god Molech (2 Kings 16:3; 21:6; 23:10).
This earned it the name "Topheth," a place to be spit on or
aborred.This valley apparently became a gigantic pyre for burning the 185,000
corpses of Assyrian soldiers whom God slew in the days of Hezekiah (Is 30:31-33;
37:36).
Jeremiah
predicted that the place would be called "the valley of
Slaughter" because it would be filled with the corpses of the Israelites
when God judged them for their sins. "Behold, the days are coming, says the
Lord, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the valley of Hinnom, but the
valley of Slaughter: for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room
elsewhere. And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the beasts
of the air, and for the beasts of the earth; and none will frighten them
away" (Jer 7:32-33).
Josephus
informs us that the same valley was heaped with the dead bodies of the Jews
following the A. D. 70 siege of Jerusalem.36 We have seen that Isaiah
envisions the same scene following the Lord's slaughter of sinners at the end of
the world (Is 66:24). During the intertestamental period, the valley
became the place of final punishment, and was called the "accursed
valley" (1 Enoch 27:2,3), the "station of vengeance" and
"future torment" (2 Bar 59:10, 11), the "furnace of Gehenna"
and "pit of torment" (4 Esd 7:36).
Jesus and Hell's Fire
With this background in mind, let us look at the seven references to gehenna-hell
fire that we find in the Gospels. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus states that
whoever says to his brother "'you fool!' shall be liable to the hell [gehenna]
of fire" (Matt 5:22; KJV). Again, He said that it is better to pluck
out the eye or cut off the hand that causes a person to sin than for the
"whole body go into hell [gehenna] (Matt 5:29, 30). The same
thought is expressed later on: it is better to cut off a foot or a hand or
pluck out an eye that causes a person to sin than to "be thrown into
eternal fire . . . be thrown into the hell [gehenna] of fire"
(Matt 18:8, 9). Here the fire of hell is described as "eternal."
The same saying
is found in Mark, where Jesus three times says that it is better to cut off the
offending organ than "to go to hell [gehenna], to the unquenchable
fire . . . to be thrown into hell [gehenna], where their worm does
not die, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:44, 46, 47-48).
Elsewhere, Jesus chides the Pharisees for traversing sea and land to make a
convert and then making him "twice as much a child of hell [gehenna]"
(Matt 23:15). Finally, he warns the Pharisees that they will not
"escape being sentenced to hell [gehenna]" (Matt 23:33).
In reviewing Christ's allusions to hell-gehenna, we should first note
that none of them indicates that hell-gehenna is a place of unending
torment. What is eternal or unquenchable is not the punishment, but the fire.
We noted earlier that in the Old Testament this fire is eternal or unquenchable
in the sense that it totally consumes dead bodies. This conclusion is supported
by Christ's warning that we should not fear human beings who can harm the body,
but the One "who can destroy both soul and body in hell [gehenna]"
(Matt 10:28). The implication is clear. hell is the place of final
punishment, which results in the total destruction of the whole being, soul and
body.
"Eternal Fire"
Traditionalists challenge this conclusion because elsewhere Christ refers to
"eternal fire" and "eternal punishment." For example,
in Matthew 18:8-9 Jesus repeats what He had said earlier (Matt 5:29-30) about
forfeiting a member of the body in order to escape the "eternal fire"
of hell-gehenna. An even clearer reference to "eternal
fire" is found in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats in which Christ
speaks of the separation that takes place at His coming between the saved and
the unsaved. He will welcome the faithful into His kingdom , but will
reject the wicked, saying: "Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal
fire prepared for the devil and his angels; . . . And they will go away into
eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matt 25:41,
46).37
Traditionalists
attribute fundamental importance to the last passage because it brings together
the two concepts of "eternal fire" and "eternal punishment."
The combination of the two is interpreted to mean that the punishment is eternal
because the hellfire that causes it is also eternal. Peterson goes so far as to
say that "if Matthew 25:41 and 46 were the only two verses to describe the
fate of the wicked, the Bible would clearly teach eternal condemnation,
and we would be obligated to believe it and to teach it on the authority of the
Son of God."30
Peterson's
interpretation of these two critical texts ignores four major considerations.
First, Christ's concern in this parable is not to define the nature of either
eternal life or of eternal death, but simply to affirm that there are two
destinies. The nature of each of the destinies is not discussed in this
passage.
Second, as John
Stott rightly points out, "The fire itself is termed 'eternal' and
'unquenchable,' but it would be very odd if what is thrown into it proves
indestructible. Our expectation would be the opposite: it would be
consumed for ever, not tormented for ever. Hence it is the smoke (evidence
that the fire has done its work) which 'rises for ever and ever' (Rev 14:11; cf.
19:3)."39
Third, the fire
is "eternal-aionios," not because of its endless duration, but
because of its complete consumption and annihilation of the wicked. This is
indicated clearly by the fact that the lake of fire, in which the wicked are
thrown, is called explicitly "the second death' (Rev 20:14; 21:8), because,
it causes the final, radical, and irreversible extinction of life.
Eternal as Permanent Destruction
"Eternal" often refers to the permanence of the result rather
than the continuation of a process. For example, Jude 7 says that
Sodom and Gomorrah underwent "a punishment of eternal [aionios]
fire." It is evident that the fire that destroyed the two cities
is eternal, not because of its duration but because of its permanent
results. In the same way, the fire of the final punishment is
"eternal" not because it lasts forever, but because, as in the case of
Sodom and Gomorra, it causes the complete and permanent destruction of the
wicked, a condition which lasts forever.
Fourth, Jesus
was offering a choice between destruction and life when He said:
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the
road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is
the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only few find
it" (Matt 7:13-14).40 Here Jesus contrasts the comfortable sinful
life which leads to destruction in hell with the narrow way of trials and
persecutions which leads to eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. The
contrast between destruction and life suggests that the
"eternal fire" causes the eternal destruction of the lost, not their
eternal torment.
"Eternal Punishment"
Christ's solemn declaration: "They will go away into eternal punishment,
but the righteous into eternal life" (Matt 25:46), is generally regarded as
the clearest proof of the conscious suffering the lost will endure for all
eternity. Is this the only legitimate interpretation of the text?
John Stott rightly answers: "No, that is to read into the text what is not
necessarily there. What Jesus said is that both the life and the
punishment would be eternal, but he did not in that passage define the nature of
either. Because he elsewhere spoke of eternal life as a conscious
enjoyment of God (John 17:3), it does not follow that eternal punishment must be
a conscious experience of pain at the hand of God. On the contrary,
although declaring both to be eternal, Jesus is contrasting the two
destinies: the more unlike they are, the better."41
Traditionalists
read "eternal punishment" as "eternal punishing,"
but this is not the meaning of the phrase. As Basil Atkinson keenly observes,
"When the adjective aionios meaning 'everlasting' is used in Greek
with nouns of action it has reference to the result of the action,
not the process. Thus the phrase 'everlasting punishment' is comparable to
'everlasting redemption' and 'everlasting salvation,' both Scriptural phrases.
No one supposes that we are being redeemed or being saved forever. We were
redeemed and saved once for all by Christ with eternal results. In the same way
the lost will not be passing through a process of punishment for ever but will
be punished once and for all with eternal results. On the other hand the
noun 'life' is not a noun of action, but a noun expressing a state. Thus
the life itself is eternal."342
Punishment of Eternal Destruction
A fitting
example to support this conclusion is found in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, where Paul,
speaking of those who reject the Gospel, says: "They shall suffer the
punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the
Lord and from the glory of his might."36 It is evident that the
destruction of the wicked cannot be eternal in its duration, because it is
difficult to imagine an eternal, inconclusive process of destruction.
Destruction presupposes annihilation. The destruction of the wicked is eternal-aionios,
not because the process of destruction continues forever, but because the
results are permanent. In the same way, the "eternal
punishment" of Matthew 25:46 is eternal because its results are
permanent. It is a punishment that results in their eternal destruction or
annihilation.
The only way
the punishment of the wicked could be inflicted eternally is if God resurrected
them with immortal life so that they would be indestructible. But
according to the Scripture, only God possesses immortality in Himself (1 Tim
1:17; 6:16). He gives immortality as the gift of the Gospel (2 Tim 1:10).
In the best known text of the Bible, we are told that those who do not
"believe in him" will "perish [apoletai]," instead of
receiving "eternal life" (John 3:16). The ultimate fate of the lost is
destruction by eternal fire and not punishment by eternal torment. The
notion of the eternal torment of the wicked can only be defended by accepting
the Greek view of the immortality and indestructibility of the soul, a concept
which we have found to be foreign to Scripture.
The Witness of Revelation
The theme of the final judgment is central to the book of Revelation, because it
represents God's way of overcoming the opposition of evil to Himself and His
people. Thus, it is not surprising that believers in eternal hell fire find
support for their view in the dramatic imageries of Revelation's final judgment.
The visions cited to support the view of everlasting punishment in hell are: (1)
the vision of God's Wrath in Revelation 14:9-11, and (2) the vision of the lake
of fire and of the second death in Revelation 20:10, 14-15. We briefly
examine them now.
The Vision of God's Wrath
In Revelation 14, John sees three angels announcing God's final judgment in
language progressively stronger. The third angel cries out with a loud
voice: "If any one worships the beast and its image, and receives a
mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also shall drink the wine of God's
wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and he shall be tormented with
fire and sulphur in the presence of his holy angels and in the presence of the
Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; and they
have no rest, day or night, these worshippers of the beast and its image, and
whoever receives the mark of its name" (Rev 14:9-11).
Traditionalists view this passage together with Matthew 25:46 as the two most
important texts which support the traditional doctrine of hell. Peterson
concludes his analysis of this passage, by saying: "I conclude, therefore,
that despite attempts to prove otherwise, Revelation 14:9-11 unequivocally
teaches that hell entails eternal conscious torment for the lost. In fact,
if we had only this passage, we would be obligated to teach the traditional
doctrine of hell on the authority of the Word of God."44
This dogmatic
interpretation of Revelation 14:9-11 as proof of a literal, eternal torment
reveals a lack of sensitivity to the highly metaphorical language of the
passage. In his commentary on Revelation, J. P. M. Sweet, a respected
British New Testament scholar, offers a most timely caution in his comment on
this passage: "To ask, 'what does Revelation teach, eternal torment or
eternal destruction?' is to use (or misuse) the book as a source of 'doctrine,'
or of information about the future. John uses pictures, as Jesus used
parables (cf. Matt 18:32-34; 25:41-46), to ram home the unimaginable disaster of
rejecting God, and the unimaginable blessedness of union with God, while there
is still time to do something about it."45 It is unfortunate that
this warning is ignored by those who choose to interpret literally highly
figurative passages like the one under consideration.
"No Rest, Day or Night"
The phrase "they have no rest, day or night" (Rev 14:11) is
interpreted by traditionalists as descriptive of the eternal torment of hell.
The phrase, however, denotes the continuity and not the eternal
duration of an action. John uses the same phrase "day and
night" to describe the living creatures praising God (Rev 4:8), the martyrs
serving God (Rev 7:15), Satan accusing the brethren (Rev 12:10), and the unholy
trinity being tormented in the lake of fire (Rev 20:10).
In each case,
the thought is the same: the action continues while it lasts. Harold Guillebaud
correctly explains that the phrase "they have no rest, day or night"
(Rev 14:11) "certainly says that there will be no break or intermission in
the suffering of the followers of the Beast, while it continues; but in
itself it does not say that it will continue forever."46
Support for this conclusion is provided by the usage of the phrase "day and
night" in Isaiah 34:10, where Edom's fire is not quenched "night
and day" and "its smoke shall go up for ever" (Is 34:10). The
imagery is designed to convey that Edom's fire would continue until it had
consumed all that there was, and then it would go out. The outcome would be
permanent destruction, not everlasting burning. "From generation to
generation it shall lie waste" (Is 34:10).
The Lake of Fire
The last description in the Bible of the final punishment contains two highly
significant symbolic expressions: (1) the lake of fire, and (2) the second death
(Rev 19:20; 20:10, 15; 21:8). Traditionalists attribute fundamental importance
to "lake of fire" because for them, as stated by John Walvoord,
"the lake of fire is, and it serves as a synonym for the eternal place of
torment."47
To determine the meaning of "the lake of fire," we need to examine its
four occurrences in Revelation, the only book in the Bible where the phrase is
found. The first reference occurs in Revelation 19:20, where we are told
that the beast and the false prophet "were thrown alive into the lake of
fire that burns with sulphur." The second reference is found in
Revelation 20:10, where John describes the outcome of Satan's last great assault
against God: "The devil who had deceived them was thrown into the
lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they
will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." God's throwing of
the devil into the lake of fire increases its inhabitants from two to three.
The third and
fourth references are found in Revelation 20:15 and 21:8, where all the wicked
are also thrown into the lake of fire. It is evident that there is a crescendo
as all evil powers, and people eventually experience the final punishment of the
lake of fire.
The fundamental question is whether the lake of fire represents an ever-burning
hell where the wicked are supposed to be tormented for all eternity or whether
it symbolizes the permanent destruction of sin and sinners. Three major
considerations lead us to believe that the lake of fire represents the final and
complete annihilation of evil and evildoers.
First, the
beast and the false prophet, who are cast alive into the lake of fire, are two
symbolic personages who represent not actual people but persecuting civil
governments and corrupting false religion. Political and religious systems
cannot suffer conscious torment forever. Thus, for them, the lake of fire
represents complete, irreversible annihilation.
Second, the
fact that "Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire" (Rev
20:14) shows again that the meaning of the lake of fire is symbolic, because
Death and Hades (the grave) are abstract realities that cannot be thrown into or
consumed with fire. By the imagery of Death and Hades being thrown into the lake
of fire, John simply affirms the final and complete destruction of death and the
grave. By His death and resurrection, Jesus conquered the power of death, but
eternal life cannot be experienced until death is symbolically destroyed in the
lake of fire and banished from the universe.
"The Second Death."
The third and decisive consideration is the fact that the lake of fire is
defined as "the second death:" "The lake of fire is the
second death" (Rev 20:14; cf. 21:8).
Since
John clearly explains that the lake of fire is the second death, it is crucial
for us to understand the meaning of "the second death" in New
Testament times. This phrase occurs four times only in Revelation.
The first reference is found in Revelation 2:11: "He who conquers shall not
be hurt by the second death." Here "the second death" is
differentiated from the physical death that every human being experiences. The
implication is that the saved who receive eternal life, will not experience
eternal death.
The second
reference to "the second death" occurs in Revelation 20:6, in the
context of the first resurrection of the saints at the beginning of the
millennium: "Over such the second death has no power." Again, the
implication is that the resurrected saints will not experience the second death,
that is, the punishment of eternal death, obviously because they will be raised
to immortal life.
The third and
the fourth references are in Revelation 20:14 and 21:8, where the second death
is identified with the lake of fire into which the devil, the beast, the false
prophet, Death, Hades, and all evildoers are thrown. In these instances, the
lake of fire is the second death in the sense that it accomplishes the eternal
death and destruction of sin and sinners.
The Jewish Usage of the Phrase "Second
Death"
The meaning of
the phrase "second death" is clarified by its usage in the Targum,
which is the Aramaic translation and interpretation of the Old Testament. In the
Targum, the phrase is used several times to refer to the final and irreversible
death of the wicked. According to Strack and Billerbeck, the Targum on
Jeremiah 51:39, 57 contains an oracle against Babylon, which says:
"They shall die the second death and not live in the world to come."48
Here the second death is clearly the death resulting from the final judgment
which prevents evildoers from living in the world to come.
In his study
The New Testament and the Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch, M.
McNamara cites the Targums (Aramaic commentary) of Deuteronomy 33:6, Isaiah
22:14 and 65:6, 15 where the phrase "second death" is used to describe
the ultimate, irreversible death. The Targum on Deuteronomy 33:6 reads:
"Let Reuben live in this world and die not in the second death in which
death the wicked die in the world to come."49 In the Targum on
Isaiah 22:14, the prophet says: "This sin shall not be forgiven till you
die the second death, says the Lord of Host."50 In both instances,
"the second death" is the ultimate destruction experienced by the
wicked at the final judgment.
The Targum on Isaiah 65:6 is very close to Revelation 20:14 and 21:8. It reads:
"Their punishment shall be in Gehenna where the fire burns all the day.
Behold, it is written before me: 'I will not give them respite during (their)
life but will render them the punishment of their transgressions and will
deliver their bodies to the second death."51 Again, the Targum on
Isaiah 65:15 reads: "And you shall leave your name for a curse to my
chosen and the Lord God will slay you with the second death but his servants,
the righteous, he shall call by a different name."52 Here, the second
death is explicitly equated with the slaying of the wicked by the Lord, a clear
image of final destruction and not of eternal torment.
In the light of
its usage in Jewish literature, the phrase "second death" is
used by John to define the nature of the punishment in the lake of fire, namely,
a punishment that ultimately results in eternal, irreversible death. To
interpret the phrase as eternal conscious torment in hell fire, means to negate
its current usage and the Biblical meaning of "death" as cessation of
life.
Conclusion
Three major observations emerge from the preceding examination of the
traditional view of hell as the place of a literal, everlasting punishment of
the wicked. First, the traditional view of hell largely depends upon a
dualistic view of human nature, which requires the eternal survival of
the soul either in heavenly bliss or in hellish torment. We have found
such a belief to be foreign to the wholistic Biblical view of human nature,
where death denotes the cessation of life for the whole person.
Second, the
traditionalist view rests largely on a literal interpretation of symbolic images
such as gehennah, the lake of fire, and the second death. These
images do not lend themselves to a literal interpretation because, as we have
seen, they are metaphorical descriptions of the permanent destruction of evil
and evildoers. Incidentally, lakes are filled with water and not with fire.
Third, the
traditional view fails to provide a rational explanation for the justice of God
in inflicting endless divine retribution upon unbelievers for sins they
committed during the space of a short life. The doctrine of eternal conscious
torment is incompatible with the Biblical revelation of divine love and justice.
This point is considered shortly in conjunction with the moral implications of
eternal torment.
In conclusion,
the traditional view of hell was more likely to be accepted during the Middle
Ages, when most people lived under autocratic regimes of despotic rulers,
who could and did torture and destroy human beings with impunity. Under
such social conditions, theologians with a good conscience could attribute to
God an unappeasable vindictiveness and insatiable cruelty, which today would be
regarded as demonic.
Today,
theological ideas are subject to an ethical and rational scrutiny that forbids
attributing to God the moral perversity presupposed by the popular belief of the
eternal punishment of the unsaved. Our sense of justice requires that the
penalty inflicted must be commensurate with the evil done. This important truth
is ignored by the popular view of hell that requires eternal punishment for the
sins committed even during a short lifetime.
PART 2
THE ANNIHILATION VIEW OF HELL
Until recent
times, the annihilation view of hell has been regarded by most Christians as a
sectarian belief associated mostly with my own the Seventh-day Adventist church.
This fact has led many evangelicals and Catholics to reject annihilationism a
priori, simply because it was seen as a "sectarian" Adventist belief
and not a traditional, popular Protestant and Catholic belief.
Tactics of Harassment
The strategy of rejecting a doctrine a priori because of its association with
"sectarian" Adventists, is reflected in the tactics of harassment
adopted against those evangelical scholars who in recent times have rejected the
traditional view of hell as eternal conscious torment, and adopted instead the
annihilation view of hell. The tactics consist in defaming such scholars
by associating them with liberals or with sectarians Adventists.
Respected Canadian theologian Clark Pinnock writes: "It seems that a new
criterion for truth has been discovered which says that if Adventists or
liberals hold any view, that view must be wrong. Apparently a truth claim
can be decided by its association and does not need to be tested by public
criteria in open debate. Such an argument, though useless in intelligent
discussion, can be effective with the ignorant who are fooled by such
rhetoric."53
Despite the
tactics of harassment, the annihilation view of hell is gaining ground among
evangelicals. The public endorsement of this view by John R. W. Stott, a
highly respected British theologian and popular preacher, is certainly
encouraging this trend. "In a delicious piece of irony," writes
Pinnock, "this is creating a measure of accreditation by association,
countering the same tactics used against it. It has become all but
impossible to claim that only heretics and near-heretics [like Seventh-day
Adventists] hold the position, though I am sure some will dismiss Stott's
orthodoxy precisely on this ground."54
John Stott
expresses anxiety over the divisive consequences of his new views in the
evangelical community, where he is a renowned leader. He writes: "I
am hesitant to have written these things, partly because I have great respect
for long-standing tradition which claims to be a true interpretation of
Scripture, and do not lightly set it aside, and partly because the unity of the
worldwide evangelical community has always meant much to me. But the issue is
too important to be suppressed, and I am grateful to you [David Edwards] for
challenging me to declare my present mind. . . . I do plead for frank dialogue
among evangelicals on the basis of Scripture."55
An Appeal to Take a Fresh Look at Hell
Emotional and
Biblical reasons have caused John Stott to abandon the traditional view of hell
and adopt the annihilation view. Stott writes: "Emotionally, I find
the concept [of eternal torment] intolerable and do not understand how people
can live with it without either cauterizing their feelings or cracking under the
strain. But our emotions are a fluctuating, unreliable guide to truth and
must not be exalted to the place of supreme authority in determining it.
As a committed Evangelical, my question must be-and is-not what my heart tells
me, but what does God's Word say? And in order to answer this question, we
need to survey the Biblical material afresh and to open our minds (not just our
hearts) to the possibility that Scripture points in the direction of
annihilationism, and that 'eternal conscious torment' is a tradition which has
to yield to the supreme authority of Scripture."56
In response to
Stott's plea to take a fresh look at the Biblical teaching on the final
punishment, we briefly examine the witness of the Old and the New Testament by
considering the following points: (1) death as the punishment of sin, (2) the
language of destruction, (3) the moral implications of eternal torment, (4) the
judicial implications of eternal torment, and (5) the cosmological implications
of eternal torment.
Death as the Punishment of Sin
"The Wages of Sin Is Death"
A logical
starting point for our investigation is the fundamental principle laid down in
both Testaments: "The soul that sins shall die" (Ezek 18:4, 20);
"The wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23). The punishment of sin, of
course, comprises not only the first death which all experience as a result of
Adam's sin, but also what the Bible calls the second death (Rev 20:14; 21:8),
which, as we have seen, is the final, irreversible death experienced by
impenitent sinners. This basic principle tells us at the outset that the
ultimate wages of sin is not eternal torment, but permanent death.
Death in the
Bible, as noted in chapter 3, is the cessation of life not the separation of the
soul from the body. Thus, the punishment of sin is the cessation of life. Death,
as we know it, would indeed be the cessation of our existence were it not for
the fact of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:18). It is the resurrection that
turns death into a sleep, from being the final end of life into being a
temporary sleep. But there is no resurrection from the second death. It is the
final cessation of life.
This fundamental truth was taught in the Old Testament, especially through the
sacrificial system. The penalty for the gravest sin was always and only the
death of the substitute victim and never a prolonged torture or imprisonment of
the victim. James Dunn perceptively observes that "The manner in which the
sin offering dealt with sin was by its death. The sacrificial animal,
identified with the offerer in his sin, had to be destroyed in order to destroy
the sin which it embodied."57 To put it differently, the consummation
of the sin offering typified in a dramatic way the ultimate destruction of sin
and sinners.
The separation that occurred on the Day of Atonement between genuine and
false Israelites typifies the separation that will occur at the Second Advent.
Jesus compared this separation to the one that takes place at harvest time
between the wheat and the tares. Since the tares were sown among the good wheat,
which represents "the sons of the kingdom" (Matt 13:38), it is evident
that Jesus had His church in mind. Wheat and tares, genuine and false believers,
will coexist in the church until His coming. At that time, the drastic
separation typified by the Day of Atonement will occur. Evildoers will be thrown
"into the furnace of fire," and the "righteous will shine like
the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matt 13:42-43).
Jesus'
parables and the ritual of the Day of Atonement teach the same important truth:
False and genuine Christians will coexist until His coming. But at the Advent
judgment a permanent separation occurs when sin and sinners will be eradicated
forever and a new world will be established.
The Language of Destruction in the Bible
The most
compelling reason for believing in the annihilation of the lost at the final
judgment is the rich vocabulary and imagery of "destruction" often
used in the Old and New Testaments to describe the fate of the wicked.
The Language of Destruction in the Old
Testament
The writers of
the Old Testament seem to have exhausted the resources of the Hebrew language at
their command to affirm the complete destruction of impenitent sinners.
According to Basil Atkinson 28 Hebrew nouns and 23 verbs are generally
translated"destruction" or "to destroy" in our English
Bible. Approximately half of these words are used to describe the final
destruction of the wicked.58 A detailed listing of all the occurrences
would take us beyond the limited scope of this chapter, beside proving to be
repetitious to most readers. Interested readers can find an extensive analysis
of such texts in the studies by Basil Atkinson and Edward Fudge.
Only a sampling of significant texts are considered here.
Several
Psalms describe the final destruction of the wicked with dramatic imagery (Ps
1:3-6; 2:9-12; 11:1-7; 34:8-22; 58:6-10; 69:22-28; 145:17, 20). In Psalm
37, for example, we read that the wicked "will soon fade like grass"
(v. 2), "they shall be cut off . . . and will be no more"
(vv. 9-10), they will "perish . . . like smoke they vanish away"
(v. 20), "transgressors shall be altogether destroyed" (v. 38).
Psalm 1, loved and memorized by many, contrasts the way of the righteous with
that of the wicked. Of the latter it says that "the wicked shall not
stand in the judgment" (v. 5). They will be "like chaff which
the wind drives away" (v. 4). "The way of the wicked will perish"
(v. 6). Again, in Psalm 145, David affirms: "The Lord preserves all
who love him; but all the wicked he will destroy" (v. 20). This
sampling of references, on the final destruction of the wicked is in complete
harmony with the teaching of the rest of Scripture.
The Destruction of the Day of the Lord
The prophets frequently announce the ultimate destruction of the wicked in
conjunction with the eschatological Day of the Lord. In his opening
chapter, Isaiah proclaims that "rebels and sinners shall be destroyed
together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed" (Is
1:28). The picture here is one of total destruction, a picture that is
further developed by the imagery of people burning like tinder with no one to
quench the fire: "The strong shall become tow, and his work a spark, and
both shall burn together, with none to quench them" (Is 1:31).
We noted earlier that in the last page of the Old Testament English Bible, we
find a most colorful description of the contrast between the final destiny of
believers and unbelievers. For the believers who fear the Lord, "the sun of
righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings" (Mal 4:2). But
for unbelievers the Day of the Lord "comes, burning like an oven, when all
the arrogant and all the evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall
burn them up, says the Lord of host, so that it will leave them neither
root nor branch" (Mal 4:1).
The message
conveyed by these symbolic images is clear. While the righteous rejoice in
God's salvation, the wicked are consumed like "stubble," so that no
"root or branch" is left. This is clearly a picture of total
consumption by destroying fire, and not one of eternal torment. This is the Old
Testament picture of the fate of the wicked, total and permanent destruction and
not eternal torment.
Jesus and the Language of Destruction
The New Testament follows closely the Old Testament in describing the fate of
the wicked with words and pictures denoting destruction. The most common Greek
words are the verb apollumi (to destroy) and the noun apoleia
(destruction). In addition, numerous graphic illustrations from both inanimate
and animate life are used to portray the final destruction of the wicked.
Jesus used
several figures from inanimate life to portray the utter destruction of the
wicked. He compared it to the following: weeds that are bound in bundles
to be burned (Matt 13:30, 40), bad fish that is thrown away (Matt
13:48), harmful plants that are rooted up (Matt 15:13), fruitless trees
that are cut down (Luke 13:7), and withered branches that are burned
(John 15:6).
Jesus also used
illustrations from human life to portray the doom of the wicked. He
compared it to: unfaithful tenants who are destroyed (Luke 20:16), an
evil servant who will be cut in pieces (Matt 24:51), the Galileans who
perished (Luke 13:2-3), the eighteen persons crushed by Siloam's
tower (Luke 13:4-5), the antediluvians destroyed by the flood (Luke
17:27), the people of Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by fire (Luke 17:29),
and the rebellious servants who were slain at the return of their master
(Luke 19:14, 27).
All of these
figures denote capital punishment, either individually or collectively. They
signify violent death, preceded by greater or lesser suffering. The
illustrations employed by the Savior very graphically depict the ultimate
destruction or dissolution of the wicked. Jesus asked: "When the
lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those
husbandmen?" (Matt 21:40). And the people responded: "He will
miserably destroy [apollumi] those wicked men" (Matt 21:41).
Jesus taught
the final destruction of the wicked not only through illustrations, but also
through explicit pronouncements. For example, He said: "Do not fear
those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him [God] who
can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt 10:28). John
Stott rightly remarks: "If to kill is to deprive the body of life, hell
would seem to be the deprivation of both physical and spiritual life, that is,
an extinction of being."80 In our study of this text in chapter 3 we
noted that Christ did not consider hell a the place of eternal torment, but of
permanent destruction of the whole being, soul and body.
Often Jesus
contrasted eternal life with death or destruction. "I give them
eternal life, and they shall never perish" (John 10:28). "Enter
by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to
destruction, and those who enter it are many. For the gate is narrow and the
way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matt
7:13-14). Here we have a simple contrast between life and death. There is
no ground in Scripture for twisting the word "perish" or
"destruction" to mean everlasting torment.
Earlier we
noted that seven times Christ used the imagery of gehenna to describe the
destruction of the wicked in hell. In reviewing Christ's allusions to hell-gehenna,
we found that none of them indicates that hell is a place of unending torment.
What is eternal or unquenchable is not the punishment but the fire which, as the
case of Sodom and Gomorra, causes the complete and permanent destruction of the
wicked, a condition that lasts forever. The fire is unquenchable because
it cannot be quenched until it has consumed all the combustible material.
Paul and the Language of Destruction
The language of destruction is used frequently also by the New Testament writers
to describe the doom of the wicked. Speaking of the "enemies of the
cross," Paul says that "their end is destruction [apoleia]"
(Phil 3:19). In concluding his letter to the Galatians, Paul warns that
"The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap
destruction [phthora]; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from
that Spirit will reap eternal life" (Gal 6:8, NIV). The Day of the Lord
will come unexpectedly, "like a thief in the night, . . . then sudden
destruction [olethros] will come upon them [the wicked]" (1
Thess 5:2-3). At Christ's coming, the wicked "shall suffer the
punishment of eternal destruction [olethron]" (2 Thess 1:9).
We noted earlier that the destruction of the wicked cannot be eternal in its
duration because it is difficult to imagine an eternal inconclusive process of
destruction. Destruction presupposes annihilation.
In view of the
final destiny awaiting believers and unbelievers, Paul often speaks of the
former as "those who are being saved-[hoi sozomenoi] and of the
latter as "those who are perishing-[hoi apollumenoi]" (1 Cor
1:18; 2 Cor 2:15; 4:3; 2 Thess 2:10). This common characterization is indicative
of Paul's understanding of the destiny of unbelievers as ultimate destruction
and not eternal torment.
Peter and the Language of Destruction
Peter, like Paul, uses the language of destruction to portray the fate of the
unsaved. He speaks of false teachers who secretly bring in heresies and
who bring upon themselves "swift destruction" (2 Pet 2:1).
Peter compares their destruction to that of the ancient world by the Flood and
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah which were burned to ashes (2 Pet 2:5-6). God
"condemned them to extinction and made them an example to them who
were to be ungodly" (2 Pet 2:6). Here Peter states unequivocally that the
extinction by fire of Sodom and Gomorrah serves as an example of the fate of the
lost.
Peter alludes
again to the fate of the lost when he says that God is "forbearing toward
you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach
repentance" (2 Pet 3:9). Peter's alternatives between repentance or
perishing remind us of Christ's warning: "unless you repent you will all
likewise perish" (Luke 13:3). The latter will occur at the coming of
the Lord when "the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the
earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up" (2 Pet
3:10). Such a graphic description of the destruction of the earth and evildoers
by fire hardly allows for the unending torment of hell.
Other Allusions to the Final Destruction of
the Wicked
Several other allusions in the New Testament imply the final destruction of the
lost. We briefly refer to some of them here. The author of Hebrews warns
repeatedly against apostasy or unbelief. Anyone who deliberately keeps on
sinning "after receiving the knowledge of the truth," faces "a
fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire which will consume the
adversaries" (Heb 10:27). The author explicitly states that
those who persist in sinning against God ultimately experience the judgment of a
raging fire that will "consume" them. Note that the
function of the fire is to consume sinners, not to torment them for all
eternity. This truth is reiterated consistently throughout the Bible.
Jude is
strikingly similar to 2 Peter in his description of the fate of unbelievers.
Like Peter, Jude points to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah "as an
example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire" (Jude 7,
NIV). We noted earlier that the fire that destroyed the two cities is eternal,
not because of its duration, but because of its permanent results.
We noted
earlier that the language of destruction is present, especially in the book of
Revelation, because it represents God's way of overcoming the opposition of evil
to Himself and His people. A text not mentioned earlier is Revelation
11:18, where at the sounding of the seventh trumpet John hears the 24 elders
saying: "The time has come for judging the dead . . . and for destroying
those who destroy the earth." Here, again, the outcome of the
final judgment is not condemnation to eternal torment in hell, but destruction
and annihilation. God is severe but just. He does not delight in the
death of the wicked, let alone in torturing them for all eternity. Ultimately,
He will punish all evildoer, but the punishment will result in their eternal
extinction, not eternal torment.
This is the fundamental difference between the Biblical view of final punishment as utter extinction and the traditional, popular view of hell as unending torment and torture. The language of destruction and the imagery of fire that we have found throughout the Bible clearly suggests that the final punishment of the wicked is permanent extinction and not unending torment in hell. In the light of this compelling Biblical witness, I join Clark Pinnock in stating: "I sincerely hope that traditionalists will stop saying that there is no Biblical basis for this view [annihilation] when there is such a strong basis for it."60
The Moral Implications of Eternal Torment
The traditional view of hell is being challenged today not only on the basis of
the language of destruction and the imagery of the consuming fire we find the
Bible but also for moral, judicial, and cosmological considerations. To these we
must now turn our attention. Let us consider, first, the moral implications of
the traditional view of hell which depicts God as a cruel torturer who torments
the wicked throughout all eternity.
Does God Have Two Faces?
How can the view of hell that turns God into a cruel, sadistic torturer for all
eternity be legitimately reconciled with the nature of God revealed in and
through Jesus Christ? Does God have two faces? Is He boundlessly merciful on one
side and insatiably cruel on the other? Can God love sinners so much as He sent
His beloved Son to save them, and yet hate impenitent sinners so much that He
subjects them to unending cruel torment? Can we legitimately praise God
for His goodness, if He torments sinners throughout the ages of eternity?
Of course, it
is not our business to criticize God, but God has given us a conscience to
enable us to formulate moral judgments. Can the moral intuition God has
implanted within our consciences justify the insatiable cruelty of a deity who
subjects sinners to unending torment? Clark Pinnock answers this question
in a most eloquent way: "There is a powerful moral revulsion against the
traditional doctrine of the nature of hell. Everlasting torture is
intolerable from a moral point of view because it pictures God acting like a
bloodthirsty monster who maintains an everlasting Auschwitz for His enemies whom
He does not even allow to die. How can one love a God like that? I
suppose one might be afraid of Him, but could we love and respect Him?
Would we want to strive to be like Him in this mercilessness? Surely the idea of
everlasting, conscious torment raises the problem of evil to impossible
heights."61
John Hick
expresses the same concern: "The idea of bodies burning for ever and
continuously suffering the intense pain of third-degree burns without either
being consumed or losing consciousness is as scientifically fantastic as it is
morally revolting. . . . The thought of such a torment being deliberately
inflicted by divine decree is totally incompatible with the idea of God as
infinite love."62
Hell and the Inquisition
One wonders if the belief in hell as a place where God will eternally burn
sinners with fire and sulphur may not have inspired the Inquisition to imprison,
torture, and eventually burn at the stake so-called "heretics" who
refused to accept the traditional teachings of the church. Church history books
generally do not establish a connection between the two, evidently because
inquisitors did not justify their action on the basis of their belief in
hellfire for the wicked.
But, one
wonders, what inspired popes, bishops, church councils, Dominican and Franciscan
monks, Christian kings and princes to torture and exterminate dissident
Christians like the Albigenses, Waldenses, and Huguenots? What influenced, for
example, Calvin and his Geneva City Council to burn Servetus (a Spanish
scientist who discovered the circulation of the blood) at the stake for
persisting in his anti-Trinitarian beliefs?
A reading of
the condemnation of Servetus issued on October 26, 1553, by the Geneva City
Council suggests to me that those Calvinistic zealots believed, like the
Catholic inquisitors, that they had the right to burn heretics in the same way
God will burn them later in hell. The sentence reads: "We condemn thee,
Michael Servetus, to be bound, and led to the place of Champel, there to be
fastened to a stake and burnt alive, together with thy book, . . . even till thy
body be reduced to ashes; and thus shalt thou finish thy days to furnish an
example to others who might wish to commit the like."63
On the following day, after Servetus refused to confess to be guilty of heresy,
"the executioner fastens him by iron chains to the stake amidst fagots,
puts a crown of leaves covered with sulphur on his head, and binds his book by
his side. The sight of the flaming torch extorts from him a piercing shriek of 'misericordia'
[mercy] in his native tongue. The spectators fall back with a shudder.
The flames soon reach him and consume his mortal frame in the forty-fourth year
of his fitful life."64
Philip Schaff, a renowned church historian, concludes this account of the
execution of Servetus, by saying: "The conscience and piety of that age
approved of the execution, and left little room for the emotions of
compassion."65 It is hard to believe that not only Catholics, but
even devout Calvinists would approve and watch emotionlessly the burning of a
Spanish physician who had made significant contributions to medical science
simply because he could not accept the divinity of Christ.
The best
explanation I can find for the cauterization of the Christian moral conscience
of the time, is the gruesome pictures and accounts of hellfire to which
Christians constantly were exposed. Such a vision of hell provided the moral
justification to imitate God by burning heretics with temporal fire in
view of the eternal fire that awaited them at the hands of God.
It is
impossible to estimate the far-reaching impact that the doctrine of unending
hellfire has had throughout the centuries in justifying religious intolerance,
torture, and the burning of "heretics." The rationale is
simple: If God is going to burn heretics in hell for all eternity, why shouldn't
the church burn them to death now? The practical implications and
applications of the doctrine of literal eternal hellfire are frightening.
Traditionalists must ponder these sobering facts. After all, Jesus said:
"By their fruits ye shall know them" (Matt 7:20, KJV). And the fruits
of the doctrine of hellfire are frightening bad.
Attempts to Make Hell More Tolerable
It is not surprising that during the course of history there have been various
attempts to make hell less hellish. Augustine invented purgatory to reduce
the population of hell. Some Protestant theologians today such as Hendrikus
Berkof and Zachary J. Hayes, are proposing a purgatorial view of hell, similar
to the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory. After a period of punishment in hell,
each inmate will become sufficiently purified to be accepted into Heaven.69
Others have
tried to take the fire out of hell by replacing the physical torment of
hell with a more endurable mental torment. At the General Audience of
Wednesday, 28 July 1999, John Paul II explained that hell is not a physical
place but "the state of those who freely and definitively separate
themselves from God." He denied that hell is a place of fiery torment and
described it rather as "the pain, frustration and emptiness of life without
God."67 Surprisingly the Pope's statement clearly contradicts the new
Catechism of the Catholic Church, which clearly states: "The souls of
those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the
punishment of hell, 'eternal fire.'" (#1035).
Like John Paul II, Billy Graham believes that "hell essentially is
separation from God forever. And that is the worst hell that I can think of. But
I think people have a hard time believing God is going to allow people to burn
in literal fire forever. I think the fire that is mentioned in the Bible is a
burning thirst for God that can never be quenched"68
In an interview with Richard Ostling of Time magazine, Billy Graham
stated: "The only thing I could say for sure is that hell means separation
from God. We are separated from his light, from his fellowship. That is going to
be hell. When it comes to a literal fire, I don't preach it because I'm not sure
about it. When the Scripture uses fire concerning hell, that is possibly an
illustration of how terrible it's going to be?-not fire but something worse-a
thirst for God that cannot be quenched"69 If the fire of hell is
"a burning thirst for God that can never be quenched," then the wicked
should not be in hell in the first place. How can God consign to hell
people who have a burning thirst for Him?
These creative attempts to lower the pain quotient of hell, by reducing it from
a physical condition to a psychological state, does not substantially
change its nature, since it still remains a place of unending torment.
Ultimately, any doctrine of hell must pass the moral test of the human
conscience, and the doctrine of literal unending torment, whether physical or
psychological, cannot pass such a test. Annihilationism, on the other
hand, can pass the test for two reasons. First, it does not view hell as
everlasting torture but permanent extinction of the wicked. Second, it
recognizes that God respects the freedom of those who choose not to be saved.
Our age
desperately needs to learn the fear of God, and this is one reason for preaching
on the final judgment and punishment. We need to warn people that those
who reject Christ's principles of life and His provision of salvation ultimately
will experience a fearful judgment and "suffer the punishment of eternal
destruction" (2 Thess 1:9). A recovery of the Biblical view of the
final punishment will loosen the preachers' tongues, since they can proclaim the
great alternative between eternal life and permanent destruction without fear of
portraying God as a monster.
The Judicial Implications of Eternal Torment
The
traditional, popular view of hell is challenged today also on the basis of the
Biblical vision of justice. As John Stott concisely and clearly puts it:
"Fundamental to it [justice] is the belief that God will judge people
'according to what they [have] done' (e.g., Rev 20:12), which implies that the
penalty inflicted will be commensurate with the evil done. This principle had
been applied in the Jewish law courts in which penalties were limited to an
exact retribution, 'life for life, eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, hand for
hand, foot for foot' (e. g., Ex 21:23-25). Would there not, then, be a serious
disproportion between sins consciously committed in time and torment consciously
experienced throughout eternity? I do not minimize the gravity of sin as
rebellion against God our Creator, but I question whether 'eternal conscious
torment' is compatible with the Biblical revelation of divine justice."70
It is difficult for us to imagine what kind of rebellious lifestyle could
deserve the ultimate punishment of everlasting, conscious torment in hell.
As John Hick puts it, "Justice could never demand for finite sins the
infinite penalty of eternal pain; such unending torment could never serve any
positive or reformative purpose precisely because it never ends; and it renders
any coherent Christian theodicy [that is, the defense of God's goodness in view
of the presence of evil] impossible by giving the evils of sin and suffering an
eternal lodgment within God's creation."71
Unlimited Retaliation is Unknown to the
Bible
The notion of
unlimited retaliation is unknown to the Bible. The Mosaic legislation
placed a limit on the punishment that could be inflicted for various kinds of
harm received. Jesus placed an even greater limit: "You have heard
that it was said . . . But I say to you" (Matt 5:38-39). Under
the ethics of the Gospel, it is impossible to justify the traditional view of
eternal, conscious torment because such a punishment would create a
serious disproportion between the sins committed during a lifetime and the
resulting punishment lasting for all eternity.
Part of the
problem is that as human beings we cannot conceptualize how long eternal torment
really is. We measure the duration of human life in terms of 60, 70, and
in few cases 80 years. But eternal torment means that after sinners have
agonized in hell for a million years, their punishment has hardly began. Such a
concept is beyond human comprehension.
Some reason
that if the wicked were to be punished by annihilation, "it would be a
happy relief from punishment and therefore no punishment at all."72
Such reasoning is appalling, to say the least. It implies that the only just
punishment that God can inflict upon the unrighteous is the one that will
torment them eternally. It is hard to believe that divine justice can be
satisfied only by inflicting a punishment of eternal torment.
The human sense of justice regards the death penalty as the most severe form of
punishment that can be imposed for capital offenses. There is no reason to
believe that the divine sense of justice should be more exacting by demanding
more than the actual annihilation of the unrighteous. This is not a denial
of the principle of degrees of accountability which, as we shall see, determines
the "gradation" of the suffering of the lost. The punitive
suffering, however, will not last forever; it will terminate with the
annihilation of the lost.
Gradation of the Punishment
Extinction does not exclude the possibility of degrees of punishment. The
principle of degrees of accountability based on the light received is taught by
Christ in several places. In Matthew 11:21-22, Christ says: "Woe to
you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works done
in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on the day
of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you" (cf. Luke 12:47-48). The
inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon will be treated more leniently in the final
judgment than those of Bethsaida, because they had fewer opportunities to
understand the will of God for their lives.
Christ alludes
to the same principle in the parable of the Faithful and Unfaithful Servants:
"And that servant who knew his master's will, but did not make ready or act
according to his will, shall receive a severe beating. But he who did not
know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating.
Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to
whom men commit much they will demand the more" (Luke 12:47-48).
In the final judgment, each person will be measured, not against the same
standard, but against his own response to the light received (see Ezek 3:18-21;
18:2-32; Luke 23:34; John 15:22; 1 Tim 1:13; James 4:17).
Millions
of persons have lived and are living today without the knowledge of Christ as
God's supreme revelation and means of salvation. These people may find
salvation on account of their trusting response to what they know of God.
It is for God to determine how much of His will is disclosed to any person
through any particular religion.
In Romans 2,
Paul explains that "when Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what
the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the
law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts,
while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse
or perhaps excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the
secrets of men by Christ Jesus" (vv. 14-16).
It is because
God has written certain basic moral principles into every human conscience that
every person can be held accountable-"without excuse" (Rom 1:20)-in
the final judgment. A pleasant surprise will be to meet among the redeemed
"heathen" who never learned about the Good News of salvation through
human agents. Yet they will not perish because they simply followed the light of
their conscience.
The Cosmological Implications of Eternal Torment
A final
objection to the traditional view of hell is that eternal torment presupposes an
eternal existence of a cosmic dualism. Heaven and hell, happiness and
pain, good and evil would continue to exist forever alongside each other.
It is impossible to reconcile this view with the prophetic vision of the new
world in which there shall be no more "mourning nor crying nor pain any
more, for the former things have passed away" (Rev 21:4). How could
crying and pain be forgotten if the agony and anguish of the lost were at sight
distance, as in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)?
The presence of
countless millions forever suffering excruciating torment, even if it were in
the camp of the unsaved, could only serve to destroy the peace and happiness of
the new world. The new creation would turn out to be flawed from day one,
since sinners would remain an eternal reality in God's universe and God would
never be "everything to every one" (1 Cor 15:28).
The purpose of the plan of salvation is ultimately to eradicate the presence of
sin and sinners from this world. It is only if sinners, Satan, and the
devils ultimately are consumed in the lake of fire and experience the extinction
of the second death, that we truly can say that Christ's redemptive mission has
been an unqualified victory.
Summing up, we
can say that from a cosmological perspective the traditional view of hell
perpetrates a cosmic dualism that contradicts the prophetic vision of the new
world where the presence of sin and sinners is forever passed away (Rev 21:4).
Conclusion.
The traditional
and popular view of hell as eternal torment grew out of the Greek dualistic view
of human nature, consisting of a mortal body and immortal soul. William Temple,
Archibishop of Canterbury (1942-1944), rightly acknowledges that "If men
had not imported the Greek and unbiblical notion of the natural
indestructibility of the individual soul, and then read the New Testament with
that already in their minds, they would have drawn from the New Testament a
belief, not in everlasting torment, but in annihilation. It is the fire that is
called aeonian [everlasting], not the life cast into it."73
For the past
150 years Seventh-day Adventists have been critized for teaching this
important biblical truth, namely, that hellfire in the Bible, does not torment
the lost eternally, but consume them permanently. Today, it is encouraging to
see that respected scholars and church leaders like Archibishop William Temple,
acknowledging that the Adventist belief in the annihilation of the lost, is
biblically correct. They are supporting the Adventist belief by challenging and
abandoning the popular belief in hell as eternal torment, on the basis of
Biblical, moral, judicial, and cosmological considerations.
Biblically,
eternal torment negates the fundamental principle that the ultimate wages of sin
is death, cessation of life, and not eternal torment. Furthermore, the rich
imagery and language of destruction used throughout the Bible to portray the
fate of the wicked clearly indicate that their final punishment results in
annihilation and not eternal, conscious torment.
Morally,
the doctrine of eternal conscious torment is incompatible with the Biblical
revelation of divine love and justice. The moral intuition God has
implanted within our consciences cannot justify the insatiable cruelty of a God
who subjects sinners to unending torments. Such a God is like a bloodthirsty
monster and not like the loving Father revealed to us by Jesus Christ.
Judicially, the
doctrine of eternal torment is inconsistent with the Biblical vision of justice,
which requires the penalty inflicted to be commensurate with the evil done. The
notion of unlimited retaliation is unknown to the Bible. Justice could
never demand a penalty of eternal pain for sins committed during a mere human
lifetime, especially since such punishment accomplishes no reformatory purpose.
Cosmologically,
the doctrine of eternal torment perpetuates a cosmic dualism that contradicts
the prophetic vision of the new world, free from the presence of sin and
sinners. If agonizing sinners were to remain an eternal reality in God's
new universe, then it hardly could be said that there shall be no more
"mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed
away" (Rev 21:4).
We began this
chapter by asking: Does the Bible support the popular belief that impenitent
sinners suffer the conscious punishment of hellfire in body and soul for all
eternity? Our careful investigation of the relevant Biblical texts has shown
that this popular view lacks biblical support.
The Bible
teaches that the wicked will be resurrected for the purpose of divine judgment.
This will involve a permanent expulsion from God's presence into a place where
there will be "weeping and grinding of teeth." After a period of
conscious suffering as individually required by divine justice, the wicked will
be consumed with no hope of restoration or recovery. The ultimate
restoration of believers and the extinction of sinners from this world will
prove that Christ's redemptive mission has been an unqualified victory.
Christ's victory means that "the former things have passed away" (Rev
21:4), and only light, love, peace, and harmony will prevail throughout the
ceaseless ages of eternity.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4
1.
John F. Walvoord, "The Literal View," in Four Views on Hell,
William Crockett, Editor, (1992), p. 12.
2.
Clark H. Pinnock, "Response to John F. Walvoord," in Four
Views on Hell, William Crockett, Editor (1992), p. 39.
3. In his book
The Origin and History of the Doctrine of Endless Punishment, Thomas
Thayer writes: "In attempting to set out the Egyptian notions on the
subject [of Hell], it is difficult to choose between the conflicting accounts of
the Greek writers, Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch, etc, as well as of the
modern interpreters of the monumental hieroglyphics. Still, with regard to the
main question, they are tolerably well agreed . . . that the whole matter
of judgment after death, the rewards of a good life, and the punishments of a
bad life, with all the formal solemnities of trial and condemnation, originated
and was perfected among the Egyptians. >From them it was borrowed by
the Greeks, who made such changes and additions as fitted the system to the
genius and circumstances of that people." (p. 93).
4. Christopher
Pitt, Translator, Aeneid, 1823, p. 385.
5. For a
convenient listing of statements by the Early church Fathers, "The Early
Church Fathers Speak on Hell," www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/3543/Hell.htm
6. For an
excellent survey of Augustine's view of Hell, see see George Hunsinger,
"Hellfire and Damnation: Four Ancient and Modern Views, The Scottish
Journal of Theology 51 # 4 (1998), pp. 406-434.
7.
Augustine, The Enchridion on Faith, Hope, and Love, ed. Henry Paolucci,
1961, p. 97
8. Ibid., p.
92.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Augustine,
City of God, ed. David Knowles (1972), XXI, 23.
13. City of
God XX1, 14.
14. The
Enchridion, p. 98
15. Ibid., p.
95
16. Reuters,
July 29, 1999.
17. Maureen
McKew, "Hell! Who Put the Fire Out," Villanova Magazine (Summer
2000), p. 16.
18.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994, 1035.
19. Richard
Owen, "Pope Says Hell and Damnation Are Real and Eternal,"
Timesonline, March 28, 2007.
20. Martin
Luther, Luther's Works: Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians 15,
Lectures on 1 Timothy (1873), vol. 28, pp. 144-145.
21. Luther's
Works, vol. 19, p. 75.
22. John
Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke
(1949), pp. 200-201.
23. William V.
Crockett, "The Metaphorical View," in Four Views of Hell, ed.
William Crockett, (1992), pp. 46-47.
24. Jonathan
Edwards, in John Gerstner, Jonathan Edwards on Heaven and Hell (1980), p.
56.
25. As cited by
Fred Carl Kuehner, "Heaven or Hell?" in Fundamentals of the Faith,
ed. Carl F. H. Henry (1975), p. 239.
26. John Stott
and David L. Edwards, Evangelical Essentials: A Liberal-Evangelical Dialogue
(1988); Philip E. Hughes, The True Image: The Origin and Destiny of Man in
Christ (1989); John W. Wenham, "The Case for Conditional
Immortality" in Universalism and the Doctrine of Hell (1992); Edward
Fudge, The Fire That Consumes: The Biblical Case for Conditional Immortality
(1994); Clark Pinnock, "The Conditional View," in Four Views on
Hell (1997); Oscar Cullman, Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of
the Dead? (1958).
27. John H.
Gerstner, Repent or Perish (1990).
28. J. I.
Packer in Evangelical Affirmations (1990); Larry Dixon, The Other Side
of the Good News: Confronting the Contemporary Challenges to Jesus' Teaching on
Hell (1992); Kendall Harmon, "The Case against Conditionalism: A
Response to Edward William Fudge" in Universalism and the Doctrine of
Hell (1992); Robert A. Peterson, Hell on Trial: the Case for Eternal
Punishment (1995); D. A. Carson, The Gagging of God: Christianity
Confronts Pluralism (1996).
29. Robert A.
Peterson, (28), pp. 200-201.
30. John F.
Walvoord (note 1), p. 15.
31. Robert A.
Peterson (note 28), p. 32. See also Harry Buis, The Doctrine of Eternal
Punishment (1957), p. 13.
32. Ibid., p.
36.
33. André
Lacoque, The Book of Daniel (1979), p. 241.
34. Emmanuel Petavel, The Problem of Immortality (1892), p. 323.
35. Kenneth
Kantzer, "Troublesome Questions," Christianity Today (March 20,
1987), p. 45. Similarly, W. T. G. Shedd writes: "The strongest
support of the doctrine of Endless Punishment is the teaching of Christ, the
Redeemer of man. Though the doctrine is plainly taught in the Pauline
Epistles, and other parts of Scripture, yet without the explicit and reiterated
statements of God incarnate, it is doubtful whether so awful a truth would have
had such a conspicuous place as it always has had in the creeds of Christendom.
. . . Christ could not have warned men so frequently and earnestly as He did
against 'the fire that never shall be quenched,' and 'the worm that dieth not,'
had He known that there is no future peril to fully correspond to them" (Dogmatic
Theology [1888], pp. 665-666).
36. Josephus,
War of the Jews 6, 8, 5; 5, 12, 7.
37. Emphasis
supplied.
38. Robert A.
Peterson (note 28), p. 47.
39. John Stott
and David L. Edwards, (Note 26), p. 316.
40. Emphasis
supplied.
41. John Stott
(note 26), p. 317.
42. Basil F. C.
Atkinson, Life and Immortality. An Examination of the Nature and
Meaning of Life and Death as They Are Revealed in the Scriptures (Taunton,
England, n. d.), p. 101.
43. Emphasis
supplied.
44. Robert A.
Peterson (note 28), p. 88. The same view is expressed by Harry Buis, who wrote:
"These passages from the epistles and Revelation give evidence that the
apostles follow their Master in teaching the serious alternatives of life.
They teach clearly the fact of judgment, resulting in eternal life or eternal
death, which is not cessation of existence, but rather an existence in which the
lost experience the terrible results of sins. They teach that this existence is
endless" (note 38, p. 48).
45. J. P. M.
Sweet, Revelation (1979), p. 228.
46. Harold E.
Guillebaud, The Righteous Judge: A Study of the Biblical Doctrine of
Everlasting Punishment (Taunton, England, n. d.), p. 24.
47. John F.
Walvoord (note 1), p. 23.
48. As cited by
J. Massyngberde Ford, Revelation, Introduction, Translation and Commentary,
The Anchor Bible (1975), p. 393.
49. M.
McNamara, The New Testament and the Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch
(1958), p. 117.
50. Ibid.
51. Ibid., p.
123.
52. Ibid.
53. Clark H.
Pinnock (note 2), p.161.
54. Ibid., p.
162.
55. John Stott
(note 26), pp. 319-320.
56. Ibid., pp.
314-315.
57. James D. G.
Dunn, "Paul's Understanding of the Death of Jesus," in
Reconciliation and Hope: New Testament Essays on Atonement and Eschatology,
Robert Banks, Editor (1974), p. 136.
58. Basil F. C.
Atkinson, Life and Immortality. An Examination of the Nature and
Meaning of Life and Death as They Are Revealed in the Scriptures (Taunton,
England, n. d.), p. 103.
59. John Stott
(note 26), p. 315.
60. Clark H.
Pinnock (note 2), p. 147.
61. Ibid., pp.
149-150.
62. John Hick,
Death and Eternal Life (1976), pp. 199, 201.
63.
As cited by Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (1958), vol.
8, p. 782.
64.
Ibid., p. 785.
65.
Ibid., p. 786.
66. Zachary J.
Hayes, "The Purgatorial View," in Four Views on Hell, Stanley
N. Gundry, Editor (1992).
67. Reuters,
July 29, 1999.
68.
"Graham," Orlando Sentinel, April 10, 1983.
69. Billy
Graham," interview with Richard Ostling, Time magazine, Nov. 15,
1993.
70. John Stott
(note 26), pp. 318-319.
71. John Hick,
Death and Eternal Life (1976), p. 201.
72. Harry Buis,
"Everlasting Punishment," The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of
the Bible (1978), vol. 4, p. 956.
73. William
Temple, Christian Faith and Life (1931), p. 8.