Hell-Know
Biblically dispelling the myth of eternal
torture
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email: dltoes@msn.com(nospam) (delete words no
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Note: All articles are
evangelical in nature and not pertaining to any specific denomination.
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INTRODUCTION
The bible
teaches that those who reject God’s message of reconciliation and gift of
eternal life will be cast into the lake of fire, as in
complete incineration which is described as “the second death.” This is
eternal damnation with no hope of resurrection. The purpose of this book is to
examine the Holy Scriptures to determine the precise nature of this “second
death” and show why it is the soul’s destruction and not everlasting
torment. Thankfully, many biblically
sound, evangelical Christians are now coming to realize this important
scriptural truth including John Stott, Clark Pinnock and Dr. David Reagan to
name a few.
Let me
emphasize beforehand that there’s absolutely no disputing the fact that eternal
damnation is a horrifying reality in Christian thought. We should take the
bible’s repeated warnings of such seriously, and encourage others to do the
same.
I do not
attempt to prove the existence of God or the reliability of the Judeo-Christian
scriptures; such issues are beyond the scope of this writing.
This study
is intended for anyone who has an interest in finding out what the bible
plainly and consistently teaches about the nature of hell and related subjects
(including a fascinating exploration of human nature in Appendix B). So,
whether you’re a devoted Christian, a doubting Christian, an agnostic, an
atheist – or simply a fellow human being who disdains all such labeling – I welcome
you on this journey of discovery.
Chapter One: Eternal Damnation: What does the
bible really teach
Eternal
Torment in Hell: The Silent Subject of the Church
Life and Death: The Two Polar Opposites
Eternal Life and Immortality – Only
Available through the Gospel
Jesus Taught Everlasting Destruction
Do People “Choose Hell”?
“Destroy both Soul and Body” as
in Complete Incineration
“The Wages of Sin is Death” not
Eternal Conscious Torture
“Their Destiny is Destruction”
“They will be Punished with Everlasting
Destruction”
“If
You Live according to the Sinful Nature you will Die”
The Language of Destruction
Chapter Two: Biblical Examples of Everlasting
Destruction
The
Example of Gehenna: “Hell”
The
Examples of Weeds, Trees, Branches and Chaff – Burned Up in Fire
“Like
Green Plants They Will Soon Die Away”
“They
Will Vanish – Vanish Like Smoke”
“Bring
Them Here and Kill Them in Front of Me”
“They
Will Be Thrown into the Fiery Furnace”
Raging
Fire Will Consume the Enemies of God
Examples
of God Consuming His Enemies throughout History
“They
Will Be Ashes under the Soles of Your Feet”
Is
Malachi 4:1-5 Applicable to Everlasting Destruction?
The
Example of Jesus’ Death
Apollumi as “Lost” (the Lost Sheep and Prodigal Son)
Apollumi as “Lose”
The
Ungodly Will Lose their Lives, their Souls, their Very Selves
Examples
of Everlasting Destruction – Not Eternal Conscious Torment
Chapter Three: Further Biblical Support for
Everlasting Destruction
2Peter on Everlasting Destruction
“Born
Only to be Caught and Destroyed”
“Like
Beasts They Too Will Perish”
Everlasting
Destruction is Not a Denial of Hell
Conscious
Suffering Meted Out as Divine Justice Requires
‘Everlasting
Destruction isn’t Severe Enough – If People just Perish in Hell They’ll Have No
Motivation to get Saved’
‘Everlasting
Destruction Isn’t Severe Enough to Spur Evangelization’
The
Apostle Paul Proclaimed “The Whole Will of God” and “Fully Proclaimed
the Gospel”
Chapter Four:
The Great Lie: “What About the Immortal Soul”
‘The
Immortal Soul’ is Not Taught in the Bible
The
Soul Can Die
The
Great Lie and the Tree of Life
Resurrection
unto Unconditional Immortality
‘What
about the Devil and his Angels?’
Eternal
Life (Aionios Zoe) – What is it Exactly?
Does
Aionios Zoe (Eternal Life) Mean “Living Forever”?
God’s
Gift of Eternal Life is the Answer to Humanity’s Quest for Immortality and ‘the
Fountain of Youth’
Does
Zoe Refer to ‘The God-Kind of Life’?
Contrasting
Zoe “Life” and Psuche “Life”
Conclusion
on Aionios Zoe – “Eternal life”
Chapter Five: Biblical Analysis of Claimed
Support Texts for Eternal Torture
Daniel 12:2: “… Shame and Everlasting Contempt”
“There will be Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth”
‘What about “Outer Darkness” and “Blackest Darkness?”
’
“They Will Go Away to Eternal Punishment”
Mark 9:43-48
“Gehenna, where ‘their Worm Does Not Die’ ”
“Gehenna… Where the Fire is Not Quenched”
“There Will Be Wrath and Anger… Trouble and Distress”
“The Smoke of their Torment Rises Forever”
‘What about the Rich Man & Lazarus?’
“Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth”
Conclusion
Chapter Six: Refuting Extra-Biblical
Arguments for Eternal Torture and Against Literal Destruction
‘Death
Means “Separation” ’
‘What
About Spiritual Death?’
‘When
you Burn Something, It Simply Changes Form’
‘Torment
is Not Torture’
Is
Endless Torture Better than Merciful Death?
‘Hell
is Where You Can Do Your Own Thing – Forever’
‘A
Human Being is a Spirit, and a Spirit, By Definition, Cannot Die’
‘Cults
Teach Everlasting Destruction – It Just Doesn’t Look Good’
‘You
Should Forget All this Deep Stuff and Just Preach the Gospel, Feed the Poor,
etc.’
‘What
About “You Will Spend Eternity in Either Heaven or Hell”?’
Chapter Seven: Refuting Extra-Biblical
Arguments II – Exploring Judeo-Christian History
The
Augustinian Corruption of Christendom
Augustine’s
Advocacy of Eternal Torture Made It Unquestioned Orthodoxy
‘Why
Didn’t the Protestant Reformers Reject Eternal Torture?’
Eternal
Torture Was Not Always the Orthodox View
The
Writers of the
The
Sadducees and Pharisees Beliefs Regarding Eternal Damnation
Greek
Influence in the 400 Years between the Old and New Testaments
The
Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
God’s
View is the Only View that Matters
‘How
Could So Many be Wrong for So Long?’
Many
Christians are Now Rejecting Eternal Torture in Favor of Everlasting
Destruction
Conclusion
Chapter Eight: MORALITY & JUSTICE and Other
Issues Related to Damnation
Eternal
Conscious Torture: Immoral and Unjust
Eternal
Conscious Torture: the Ultimate Evil
Child-Killing
and Abortion – Justifiable Crimes to Escape the Ultimate Evil?!!
Universalism
– Will All Be Saved Eventually?
Post-Mortem
Evangelization – Can a Person Be Saved After Death?
Inclusivism
and Restrictivism
‘What
about Purgatory?’
The
Judgment Seat of Christ (the Judgment of Believers)
Chapter Nine: THE TRUE LITERAL VIEW on Eternal
Damnation
Methodology:
Sola Scriptura, Literalizing and
Letting Scripture
Interpret
Scripture
Bypassing
the Quagmire of Religion
The
Five Theological Method Traits of the Noble Bereans
Apollos
Was Humble and Open Enough to Learn “More Accurately”
The
Problems with Orthodoxy and Traditionalism
Everlasting
Destruction: the True Literal View
‘Traditionalist’
or ‘Eternal Torturist’?
My
Background – I Used to Believe in Eternal Torture
Chapter Ten: THE CONCLUSION: Will God
Torture People Forever?
What
Adherents of Eternal Torture REALLY Believe John
Will
God Torture People Forever?
Conclusion
Appendix A: ADDITIONAL HEBRAIC TEXTS on Everlasting
Destruction
Appendix B: THE NATURE OF HUMAN BEINGS: Spirit, Mind
& Body
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INFORMATION
Contact author
email: dltoes@msn.com(nospam) (delete words no
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Visit author’s other
web site at www.sheol-know.org
For further proof of
the doctrine of “Conditional Immortality” visit www.jewishnotgreek.com
ETERNAL DAMNATION:
What does the Bible Really Teach?
Traditionally, the most
prominent view regarding eternal damnation is that the people cast into hell –
the lake of fire – will suffer fiery conscious torments forever and ever.
Depicting the horrors of this belief was a favorite subject amongst artists in
medieval times, resulting in all manner of imaginative and ghastly portraits of
people suffering unending agony. Some have since tried to modify this position
a bit, suggesting a more metaphorical view, that the unending pain experienced
probably refers to the mental anguish of eternal loss and “separation from
God;” but it makes no significant difference as both views involve the notion
of eternal torment.
This may indeed be the
traditionally prominent view regarding human damnation, but is it biblical? That is, do the
Judeo-Christian scriptures really teach
it? Will the multitudes of people who reject God, and hence are rejected by
God, really be subjected to never-ending conscious
misery – with no merciful pause to their agony?
One might contend that it is
heretical to even question such a long-standing, widely accepted Christian
teaching, but if this doctrine is truly scriptural then its proponents have
nothing to worry about. Furthermore, it is only proper that all doctrines, no matter how traditional
or popular, be questioned in light of what the bible clearly teaches, for it is
the God-breathed scriptures alone which we must look to for truth, not
popularity or religious tradition. This is the theological principle of sola scriptura, Latin for “by scripture
alone,” which maintains that the bible is the final authority regarding all
judgments of Christian doctrine and practice.
Because of this sound principle many traditional
doctrines and practices have proven to be false over the years and have
properly been discarded. Needless to say it’s a very positive thing for
Christians to periodically reevaluate their beliefs and practices because it
helps prevent Christendom from straying from the biblical model. Since
reevaluating official church teachings is very much a part of the Christian
heritage, and is indeed a healthy practice, there should be no problem
presently in simply entertaining the possibility that tradition may be in error
regarding this belief of perpetual conscious torment.
Eternal Torment in Hell: The Silent Subject of the
Church
I recently read in a major news magazine that this
teaching of hell as eternal torture has all but disappeared from the pulpit
ministry in both mainline and evangelical churches. Why is this so? Why are
Christians who are committed to this doctrine so reluctant to openly and
honestly preach it? Why do they mask what they really believe by saying that
the unredeemed will ultimately “perish” or be “destroyed” or suffer eternal
“separation from God?” Yes, you’ll hear ‘hell’ brought up now and then, but
you’ll rarely, if ever, hear anyone explain what he or she really means when using this term – that is, suffering fiery
conscious torment forever and ever with no merciful respite from the misery.
If this is so true, why is
everyone so timid about spelling it out loud and clear? The answer is obvious: they’re ashamed of it. They’re ashamed
of it because, as Clark Pinnock so aptly put it, this doctrine of eternal
torture makes God out to be morally worse than Hitler “who maintains an
everlasting
Although there are many good
reasons for questioning this teaching, the most important reason is the simple
fact that the bible does not teach it. Contrary to the loud claims of its
staunch supporters, it is not a
scriptural doctrine, and this is being realized by a growing number of
biblically faithful Christians today. The bible gives strong, irrefutable proof
to any honest reader that hell, the lake of fire, signifies literal everlasting destruction for ungodly
people,[1]
not eternal conscious torment. This is the main reason why so many Christians of all persuasions are embracing the
doctrine of everlasting destruction not because they’re “going liberal” as
supporters of eternal torment claim. In other words, it’s a case of going biblical, not going liberal.
For clear proof that literal
everlasting destruction is what the bible really
teaches, let us simply turn to the pages of scripture; after all, a
thorough, honest study of the bible will always reveal the truth.
The apostle Paul summed up the whole matter of
people’s reward for sin when he wrote:
ROMANS 6:23
For the wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Could anything be clearer
than this text? The wages for sin is shown to be death, and eternal life is
stated to be a gift from God, not something people already have. This is
consistently expressed from Genesis to Revelation, notice:
“Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad the road
that leads to destruction and many enter through it, (14) but small is
the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find
it.”
JOHN 3:16
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
ROMANS 8:13
For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die;
but if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
GALATIONS 6:8
The one who sows to please the sinful nature from that nature will reap
destruction; the one who sows to please the spirit, from the spirit will
reap eternal life.
PROVERBS 11:19
The truly righteous
man attains life, but he who pursues evil goes to his death.[2]
All these passages clearly describe the two
separate destinies of the righteous and the unrighteous. The “righteous” are
people who are in-right-standing with God because they’ve accepted his sacrifice
for their sins, the “unrighteous” are those who are not in-right-standing with their Creator because they’ve rejected
his offer of salvation.[3]
The former will inherit eternal life, whereas the latter will reap the wages of
sin and be destroyed.
Yet those who adhere to the eternal torture doctrine mysteriously don’t accept this blatantly clear biblical truth. They don’t believe that the two polar opposites are life and death; they believe the two polar opposites are eternal life in heavenly bliss and eternal life in burning torment. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? They may not phrase it in such an open manner, but this is what they actually believe when it comes down to it.
The offer to receive eternal life as opposed to
suffering everlasting destruction is what the gospel of Christ is all about. We
see this plainly expressed in this passage:
But (God’s
grace) has now been revealed through the
appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel.”
Notice that life and
immortality are only available through
the gospel. What exactly is “the gospel?” The gospel literally means “good
news.” Its main message is summed up in the famous passage John 3:16: “For God
so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in
him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Note, once again, what is clearly
being contrasted in these passages: In John
The reason the bible doesn’t speak in such a ludicrous
way is simply because this doctrine of eternal conscious torment in not a
biblical teaching. The above passage, 2Timothy
So what did God do? Because
he so loved the world and didn’t want anyone to perish, he gave his Son as a
sin sacrifice in order that we may have the gift of eternal life. The
difference between wages and a gift is that wages are earned while a gift is
free. Jesus paid the death penalty that we’ve all earned so that we can have
the free gift of eternal life. The Lord did this so that we could fellowship
with him forever instead of reaping the wages of sin, which is death.
This fact that God Himself
wants to have a relationship with us
explains why the gospel is also referred to as “the message of reconciliation”
(see 2Corinthians
Notice what John the Baptist
declared would happen to those who reject the gospel:
“Whoever believes in
the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”
The passage could not be plainer: those who reject the
Son “will not see life.” God’s word is absolute, and this is an absolute
statement: Those who reject Jesus Christ will
not see any life at all. This includes even a sadistic life in conscious
agony for all eternity. Such people will be justly-but-mercifully put to death,
absolute death, for this is the wages of their actions. But our loving Creator
doesn’t want anyone to perish like
this; he has provided a way to eternal life through his Son, Jesus Christ.
Do you see the simple,
beautiful, clear message of the gospel here? God is just trying to save his
beloved fallen creation, humanity, from the wages of sin. Ezekiel
Didn’t Jesus preach that those who reject the gospel
and refuse to repent will suffer never-ending torment in hell? Many ministers
adamantly insist on this, but what did Jesus say as recorded in the bible
itself? By all means, let’s examine what Jesus himself taught on the issue
starting with a statement we’ve already looked at:
MATTHEW
7:13-14:
“ ‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide 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 a few
find it.’ ”
Seriously, how much clearer could Jesus
possibly be here? Destruction is the
fate that awaits the “many” that are thrown into the lake of fire, not
perpetual undying torture in flames of torment. And please notice, again, that
this is in contrast to life that will
be granted to the “few.”
Jesus repeatedly made this very clear. For example,
consider his simple statement, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3,5 NASB). This mirrors
Jesus’ statement in John
In Matthew
“Do not be afraid of
those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One (God) who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[4]”
Notice that Jesus is telling
us explicitly what God will do to unrepentant sinful people on the day of
judgment: he will destroy both soul and
body in the lake of fire, his chosen instrument of destruction.
Jesus is dealing specifically
here with the subject of the second death and yet he says absolutely
nothing about spending eternity in undying conscious torment. If this were true
Jesus would tell us to “fear the One who is able to preserve the soul in hell.” But this is not what Jesus taught. He
didn’t teach it because it is not a biblical doctrine. Religion may very well teach it, but the bible does not. God is going to unenthusiastically issue out the
wages of sin and justly destroy the unrighteous, not sadistically torture them
forever. Scripture clearly states:
There is only one lawgiver and judge, the One (God) who is able to save and destroy.
You see, God is going to do one of two things with people: he’s either going to save them, that is, grant eternal life to those who respond favorably to his love and gracious gift of life, or he’s going to justly but mercifully destroy them. He may or may not necessarily be the one who personally executes this sentence, but he is certainly the One who authorizes it. In this sense, at least, it is indeed God Himself who destroys the ungodly.
This fact that God is either going to save or destroy people based upon their freewill decision to accept or reject the gospel is clearly illustrated in this passage from Hebrews:
HEBREWS 10:39
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.
Those who believe will be saved from the second death and granted eternal life, those who do not will be destroyed, both soul and body, in the lake of fire. It’s that simple. Why do religionists insist on making this simple truth so complicated and perverse?
I’ve heard many people object to the above passages which state that God Himself is going to “destroy both soul and body in hell,” specifically adherents of the eternal torment view who for obvious reasons cannot take the word “destroy” literally. Their objection is that God isn’t going to destroy anyone because “people choose hell.” What they mean by this, of course, is that, consciously or subconsciously, people choose never-ending agony[5] Their reasoning is that we should not attribute something to God that he’s not guilty of – in this case, destroying people in hell – since people choose their fate.
I’ve never heard anyone who truly has biblical knowledge of this subject to ever argue this point, regardless of which view they adhere to, whether eternal torment or everlasting destruction. Let me explain why:
Christians are said to be saved, but saved from what? Many Christians don’t realize this but we are saved from God’s wrath – yes, we are actually saved from God Himself. We saw this earlier when John the Baptist declared “whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” Here’s further scriptural verification:
ROMANS 2:5
But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are
storing up wrath against yourself for the
day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
ROMANS 5:9
Since we have now been justified by his (Jesus’) blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him?
1THESSALONIANS 1:10b
Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
1THESSALONIANS 5:9
For God did not appoint us to suffer (his) wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
From these texts we observe that Christians are saved from God’s wrath which, according to Romans 2:5 above, will be executed on the day of judgment referred to as “the day of God’s wrath.”[6]
Yet, what exactly is
God’s wrath? In the Old Testament anyone who incurred God’s wrath was to suffer
destruction at his hands (see, for example, Psalm 106:23 and Ezekiel
As James
There’s nothing morally or judicially wrong with the fact
that God is going to irreversibly destroy sinful people who reject his gracious
gift of eternal life. The bible repeatedly makes it clear that the wages of sin
is death, and God has also made sure that every human heart instinctively
realizes this (see Romans
After all, justice demands the execution of the penalty
of the law. In this case the penalty of the law is death – eternal death –
death with no hope of resurrection. The apostle Paul refers to this sentence as
“everlasting destruction” (2Thessalonians 1:9). Its execution is necessary in
order that God may be just. A government which never calls offenders against
the law to account is contemptible and wicked. The biblical doctrine of eternal
punishment is our assurance that God is essentially and unchangingly holy and
just.
So, to answer the question, do people “choose hell”?
Certainly not in a literal sense. After all, people are not going to willingly
and gleefully jump into the lake of fire on judgment day. No, God is going to
judge them, dispose of them in the lake of fire and utterly eradicate them
there. Why? Not because people choose hell, but because people choose sin, and
the wages of sin is death. And God, who is the ultimate authority, lawgiver and
judge, is the One who will execute this death sentence. He once again may or
may not necessarily be the one who personally
executes this sentence, but he at least executes
it in the sense that he authorizes it.
Although, based upon the scriptural evidence, I personally believe that God
Himself executes the sentence (we’ll observe support for this as our study
progresses, even though the matter itself is inconsequential).
Incidentally, the very fact that some people who adhere
to the view of eternal torment argue that God is not Himself guilty of
tormenting people forever proves that the idea of eternal conscious torture is
indeed a profoundly disturbing concept which naturally offends our moral and
judicial instincts. The only way these people can accept this idea and live
with themselves is by believing that their good, loving God is not the one
carrying out this sadistic sentence.
“Destroy both Soul
and Body” as in Complete Incineration
We’ve viewed some pretty clear biblical texts which
plainly state that unrepentant sinners will ultimately perish and be destroyed.
Let’s dig a little deeper and trace these words to the original language in
which they were written.
The words “perish” (from
John
Apollumi is
used most often in the bible simply in reference to the natural death we all
must experience at the end of our present lives – the first death. For example,
notice how apollumi is used in this
following text by Jesus’ disciples when a squall threatened their lives as they
and Jesus crossed the
Jesus was in the
stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher,
don’t you care if we drown (apollumi)?”
As you can see, apollumi
here simply refers to drowning. Apollumi
is used 26 other times in the New Testament in reference to the first
death. Likewise, Homer, in his epics of Greek antiquity, used apollumi chiefly of death in battle.
The apostles, like Jesus,
also used this very same word, apollumi,
in reference to the second death –
the eternal fate of the ungodly:
1CORINTHIANS
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (apollumi); but to those who
are being saved, it is the power of God.
2THESSALONIANS 2:10b
They perish (apollumi) because they refuse to love the truth and
be saved.
2PETER 3:9b
He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish (apollumi), but everyone to
come to repentance.
All these texts are indeed
referring to what will happen at the second death and yet, once again, there is
mysteriously no mention whatsoever of eternal burning in conscious torment. In
view of such blatantly clear biblical evidence, how can adherents of the
eternal torture doctrine possibly maintain their view? Their theory is that, in
all these cases, the Greek word apollumi does
not literally mean “to destroy utterly” or “to perish,” but rather that the
idea is “not extinction, but ruin, loss, not of being, but of well being” (Vine
164/Pearlman 387). This theory is a good example of trying to make the
scriptures line up with one’s favored doctrine rather than lining up one’s
doctrine with what the scriptures literally teach.
There are a number of good
reasons for rejecting this theory. First of all, the bible itself provides very
certain proof of what apollumi really
means when used in reference to the second death: apollumi is used by Jesus in Luke 17:29[8]
to describe the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: “ ‘But the day Lot left
Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed (apollumi) them all.’ ” Since apollumi is used to describe this
destruction, the question must be asked: how were the cities of
2Peter 2:6a
If he
(God) condemned the cities of
“Ashes” here is the Greek
word tephroo (tef-ro’-ro) which means
“to incinerate, i.e. consume” (Strong 71), and apollumi is the Greek word used to describe this absolute
incineration as shown above in Luke 17:29. My point is that apollumi, in this case, refers to utter
destruction and perishing in the sense of complete incineration. The idea “not
extinction, but ruin, loss, not of being, but of well-being” does not fit here
at all because the well-being of
But there’s more: Peter goes
on to state that this utter incineration of
2Peter 2:6
If he
(God) condemned the cities of
We know Peter is
specifically referring here to what will happen to the ungodly on judgment day
when they’re thrown into the lake of fire (the second death) because this will
be the only time that all the ungodly
will experience a fate comparable to the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. If the
incineration of Sodom and Gomorrah is a true, trustworthy example of what will
happen to the ungodly when they suffer the second death, then we must conclude
that the ungodly will, in fact, be incinerated; and if it is certain that the
Greek word apollumi definitely refers
to absolute incineration in reference to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,
then it naturally follows that apollumi must
also refer to absolute incineration when it is used in reference to the second
death because the incineration of
Sodom and Gomorrah is an example of the second death.
So as you can see, by
following the hermeneutical law of allowing scripture to interpret scripture
(Milne 60-61; Author 74) we have a clear understanding that the Greek word apollumi, when used in reference to the
second death (e.g. Matthew 10:28), refers to nothing other than complete and
final destruction. Thus the silly theory of “not extinction, but ruin, loss,
not of being, but of well-being” is proven false.
Yet there’s much more scriptural proof that apollumi refers to literal destruction
when applied to the second death. To start with, there are many other biblical words, besides apollumi, which describe
the second death strictly in terms of complete and irreversible death and
destruction…
Let’s begin with the Greek word thanatos (than’-at-os). This word simply means “death” (Strong 35),
the express opposite of life (see Romans
Thanatos is
also used in reference to the second death
– the destruction of both soul and body in the lake of fire. In fact the Greek
word translated as “death” in the phrase “the second death” is thanatos.
For instance, “ ‘He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death
(thanatos)’ ” (Revelation 2:11b). The text refers
to those who “overcome,” which is simply a reference to all true Christians
(see 1John 5:4); they will not be hurt at all by the second death. The second
death has no power over spiritually born-again believers because they’ve been
saved from God’s wrath through Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. That’s
why Jesus said:
“I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word he will never see death (thanatos).”
This is obviously not referring to the first
death here; after all, Christians who have faithfully “kept his word” have been
dying for centuries. No, this is a reference to the second death. Jesus’ promise is that true believers will never
experience the destruction of the second death in the lake of fire. This
coincides perfectly with what Jesus said in John 3:16, that those who believe
in him “shall not perish but have eternal life.”
As important as it is to point out what the bible does
say, I think it’s sometimes important to point out what the bible does not say
as well. In this case, notice that Jesus does not say, “if anyone keeps my word he will never see eternal life in
conscious torment.” Jesus doesn’t say this, does he? No, he simply states that
those who keep his word will never see death
– the second death – the destruction of soul and body in the lake of fire.
The second death is the ultimate consequence of sin. “The
wages of sin is death” (Romans
The bible clearly states in James 1:14-15 that “sin, when
it is full-grown, gives birth to death (thanatos).” Note that sin ultimately gives birth to death, not life
in everlasting conscious torment. This is again emphasized later in James:
JAMES
You should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save that sinner’s soul from death (thanatos).
We clearly observe here that if a person is
not brought back from the error of a sinful lifestyle, their soul will die! When
did Jesus say a soul would die and by whom? He said that God Himself would
“destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew
Let’s briefly examine some
other New Testament words that describe the second death strictly in terms of
death and utter destruction:
“Their Destiny is Destruction”
The Greek word apoleia
(ap-oe’-li-a), which is the noun form of apollumi, refers to utter destruction and is often used in
reference to the eternal fate of the ungodly, i.e. the second death. This is
the case with the aforementioned Matthew 7:13-14 where Jesus stated “wide is
the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction (apoleia)
and many enter through it.” Jesus spoke of this destruction in direct contrast
to the “life” that would be granted to the righteous “few;” so obviously apoleia is the direct opposite of life,
namely death.
In 2Peter 3:7 apoleia
is used to describe the destruction of the second death:
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire,
being kept for the day of judgement and destruction
(apoleia)
of ungodly men.
The day of judgment is the
day when ungodly people will suffer everlasting destruction. This is their
“eternal punishment” as God destroys “both soul and body in hell” (please
notice that I said “eternal punishment,” not “eternal punishing”).
This is the ultimate destiny of God’s enemies as Paul
verifies in Philippians 3:18-19a: “For, as I have told you before and now say
again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction (apoleia).” Thus the bible repeatedly refers to
God’s enemies as “doomed to destruction (apoleia)” or “prepared for destruction (apoleia)” (e.g. John 17:12b; 2Thessalonians 2:3; Romans
Apoleia is also translated as “destroyed” in reference to the eternal fate of
God’s enemies: “…they will be destroyed (apoleia)” (Philippians
1:28b), “we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed (apoleia)”
(Hebrews 10:39).
The eternal destiny of ungodly people who reject God’s
love in Christ is destruction – they
will ultimately be destroyed.
Seriously, how much plainer could the bible be on the subject?
“They will be Punished with Everlasting
Destruction”
The Greek word olethros
(ol’-eth-ros) which means “destruction” (Vine 165) is used by Paul to
describe the eternal punishment of the second death:
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that
obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ: (9) Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction (olethros) from the presence of the
Lord, and from the glory of his power.
The first part of this text
reveals that God will punish those who reject the gospel, and verse 9 reveals
exactly what this punishment will be: everlasting destruction. This
obviously refers to destruction that lasts forever and not to an endless process
of destroying as supporters of eternal torment contend. To perpetually destroy
without ever destroying isn’t really destruction because destruction never
actually takes place. Such would be everlasting torment but not everlasting destruction.
Adherents of eternal torture
also argue that if, in fact, “destruction” refers to complete extinction it
would be unnecessary to describe it as “everlasting.” The reason the
destruction is described as everlasting is obvious: “Everlasting destruction”
is a reference to the second death. The second death is different from the
first death in that everyone is resurrected from the first death to face
judgment. There is, however, no such resurrection from the second death; it is
a death that lasts forever – an “everlasting destruction” – destruction that
lasts forever.
The text goes on to reveal
that this everlasting destruction shall proceed “from the presence of the Lord,
and from the glory of his power.” This is further proof that it is God Himself,
the supreme authority and judge, who will execute the everlasting destruction
of the second death.
The New International Version translates verse 9 as “They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.” This translation is acceptable as well, as both versions could be read together as such: God will punish the ungodly with everlasting punishment which proceeds from his presence and, consequently, removes or eradicates them from his presence forever (Fudge/Peterson 60).
To shed a bit more light on the meaning of olethros, the Greek word translated as
“destruction” in this text, the verb form of this word, olothreuo (ol-oth-ryoo’-oh), is used in Hebrews 11:28 in reference
to the death angel – “the destroyer” – who slew all the first-born of Egypt
(see Exodus 12:29). So we’re talking about destruction in the sense of slaying
here, which will be executed by God himself on “the day of judgment and
destruction of ungodly men” (2Peter 3:7).
Let’s examine yet another biblical word used to describe
the second death, the Greek word apothnesko
(ap-oth-nace’-ko). Apothnesko simply
means “to die off” (Strong 14) – to cease to live – and is exclusively
translated as “die,” “died,” “dies,” “dead,” “dying” and “death” in the New
International Version of the bible. Unsurprisingly, apothnesko most often refers to the death all humans and animals
must face at the end of our earthly sojourn. For instance, apothnesko is used in Matthew 8:32 in reference to pigs which “died in the water” and also in
Revelation 8:9 and 16:3 in reference to millions of sea creatures which “died.” We can confidently deduce that apothnesko refers to the utter cessation
of life in these cases. Apothnesko is
also used a myriad of times in reference to the (first) death of human beings
(e.g. Acts
Let’s observe how apothnesko
is used in reference to the second death in a passage already briefly
viewed:
ROMANS 8:13
For if you live according to the sinful nature you will die (apothnesko); but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you
will live.
Those who embrace sin and
reject God will one day reap the wages of their actions; they will die.
We know this isn’t a reference to the first death because even those who “by
the Spirit… put to death the misdeeds of the body” will one day die. So this a
definite reference to the second death wherein God will “destroy both soul and
body in hell.”
Here’s a case where Jesus
used apothnesko in reference to both
the first death and the second death:
“I am the bread of
life. (49) Your forefathers ate manna in the desert, yet they died (apothnesko). (50) But here
is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die (apothnesko). (51) I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats
of this bread, he will live forever.”
In
this text Jesus is likening himself to the “bread of life… that comes down from
heaven” in comparison to the earthly “bread,” manna, which God miraculously
provided for the Israelites when they were wandering in the desert (see Exodus
As you can see, apothnesko appears twice in this passage. The first time, in verse 49, it is obviously used in reference to the death which all of us humans must face at the end of our earthly lives, the first death, as Jesus points out that the Israelite forefathers who partook of manna, the earthly “bread,” died. The second time apothnesko appears (verse 50) it is used in reference to the second death as Jesus declares that those who partake of him, the heavenly bread of life, will not die, but, as he goes on to say in verse 51, will live forever.
We know for certain that, in verse 50, Jesus is not referring to the first death because even people who partake of the bread of heaven – that is, accept Jesus as Lord – will one day die. No, Jesus is referring to another death – the second death.
We could succinctly sum up this passage as such: Those who partake of Jesus, the heavenly bread of life, will not suffer the second death, but will live forever.
Let’s look at another very similar statement of Jesus’ in which apothnesko is used:
JOHN 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live even though he dies (apothnesko); (26) and whoever lives and believes in me will never die (apothnesko). Do you believe this?”
Apothnesko appears twice in this passage as well; and, like the previous passage, the first time it is used in reference to the first death, the second time in reference to the second death.
For verification, note that Jesus states in verse 25 that those who believe in him will live even though they die. All Jesus is saying here is that, because he is the resurrection and the life, those who believe in him, even though they will die (i.e. suffer the first death), they will be resurrected unto eternal life. Jesus spoke of this resurrection when he stated:
JOHN 5:28-29
“… a time is coming
when all who are in their graves will hear his voice (29) and come out – those
who have done good will rise to live,
and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”
We see two classes of people referred to in this text: “Those who have done good” will rise to live; this is referring to the resurrection unto eternal life spoken of in Daniel 12:2. Revelation 20:6 states that “the second death has no power over” the people who partake in this resurrection. This explains why Jesus states in John 11:26 above that believers in him “will never die” – they will not suffer the second death. The other class of people – “those who have done evil” – will rise to be judged and condemned. Condemned to what? Condemned to the second death where Jesus said God would “destroy both soul and body.”
As we have observed from the texts we’ve examined in this section – Romans 8:13, John 6:50 and John 11:26 – the Greek word apothnesko, meaning “to die,” is used to describe the second death. Why? Obviously because the people thrown into the lake of fire on judgment day will die. Certainly there will be a period of conscious suffering, however long or brief, and no doubt this suffering will be meted out as divine justice requires for each individual; but the final, everlasting outcome for all people thrown into the lake of fire is that they will die. If this were not so, the above passages would not use apothnesko to plainly describe the second death.
As we have plainly seen, the usual, basic meaning of the
Greek word apollumi – “to perish” or
“destroy utterly” – is backed up by many other biblical words which likewise
describe the second death strictly in terms of literal death and complete
destruction.
Let us briefly review what Jesus and the apostles plainly
taught would happen to ungodly people at the second death. They taught that the
ungodly would die (John
So there you have it in a nutshell – Jesus and the
apostle’s description of the second death: die, death, destruction, destroy and perish. We could appropriately
describe these terms as “language of destruction.” As we have seen, this
“language of destruction” is consistently used to describe the eternal fate of
the ungodly; not the language of eternal conscious torment, not the
language of “eternal separation from God,” not the language of “ruin, loss, not
of being, but of well-being,” but the
language of destruction.
My obvious point here is that if the eternal fate of
unrepentant sinners is to be some sort of perpetual life or existence in
separation from God in utter misery and torment, God could have said so. He
could have used words which have for their basic meaning “separation from God,”
“existence in torment,” or “life in misery.” But he did not. He instead
consistently used words which have for their general, usual, or basis meaning
“die,” “death,” “destruction,” “destroy,” and “perish.” If language means
anything at all, we have no choice but to conclude that the second death will
be a literal death – utter, awful, complete and final (McFarland 29).
Yet, as if this consistent
biblical usage of “the language of destruction” isn’t enough evidence, the
bible gives numerous easy-to-understand examples to back it up.
BIBLICAL EXAMPLES
of Everlasting Destruction
In this chapter we
will look at some of the more prominent biblical examples of literal everlasting destruction.
Let’s start with the very word ‘hell’ itself. There
is only one biblical word translated as “hell” which refers to the lake of fire
and is thus relevant to the final disposition
of ungodly people: Gehenna
(gheh’-en-nah).Gehenna is the Greek form of the Hebrew Ge-Hinnom which literally means “the
To answer this let me
briefly inform you about Gehenna’s
history: The worst of
Needless to say, long before
Jesus’ earthly ministry Gehenna had a
negative image of sinful rebellion, fire and death.
After righteous King Josiah
desecrated Gehenna as part of his
godly reforms (2King
James Tabor, a professor of
religious studies, commented about Gehenna
on A&E’s Mysteries of the Bible
segment “Heaven and Hell:”
“I’ve been to hell, many times I’ve been there and walked through it.
It’s a valley on the south side of
It was this very garbage dump that Jesus referred to as
an example of the lake of fire where
God will “destroy both soul and body” (Matthew
The implication is clear:
those who reject God’s love in Christ will ultimately become God’s garbage, and
hence will be disposed of in God’s incinerating “garbage dump,” the lake of
fire.
We cannot properly understand Christ’s teaching about the
lake of fire and eternal punishment without keeping in mind this picture of Gehenna. Refuse was thrown into Gehenna for the purpose of disposal and
eradication; it was thus a perfect choice for Jesus to use as an example of the
second death.
These facts make it obvious that it’s not really a good
practice to translate Gehenna as
“hell” in English bibles. The reason being that the word ‘hell’ usually
conjures up images based more on medieval mythology (e.g. Dante’s Inferno) than on biblical fact. The
common image ‘hell’ provokes is that of people eternally roasting in fire pits
while devils poke them with pitchforks. By comparison, the biblical image of Gehenna is quite different: the
When this is done we get the proper impression of
disposal and eradication rather than that of never-ending conscious torment.
This is the impression Jesus endeavored to give.
Jesus also used many examples of everlasting
destruction in his parables to further back up his words and to clearly
illustrate that God would indeed ultimately destroy the ungodly in the lake of
fire.
We
should take these parables seriously because the bible states that Jesus spoke
in parables to reveal “things hidden since the creation of the world” (Matthew
Let’s observe a clear example of everlasting destruction contained in The Parable of the Weeds (or Tares in the KJV):
MATTHEW 13:24-30
Jesus told them
another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed seed in his
field. (25) But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among
the wheat, and went away. (26) When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then
the weeds also appeared.
(27) The owner’s
servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field?
Where then did the weeds come from?’
(28) ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
The servants asked him, ‘do you want us to
go and pull them up?’
(29) ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you
are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. (30) Let both grow
together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First
collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat
and bring it into my barn.’ ”
In verses 37-39 Jesus explains the symbolism of this
parable: The owner of the field who sowed the good seed is Jesus, the “field”
is the world, the “wheat” is the righteous, the “weeds” are ungodly people and
the “enemy” who sowed them is the devil, the “harvest” is the end of the age,
and the “harvesters” are angels. After explaining this symbolism, Jesus states:
MATTHEW 13:40
“As the weeds are
pulled up and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age.”
Jesus is saying here that just as weeds are burned in the fire in
his parable, so it will be with ungodly people – God’s enemies – at the end of
this age on judgment day.
When literal weeds are burned, they are burned up. Was Jesus using a wrong
example here or did he mean what he said? The obvious answer is that Jesus
meant exactly what he said. When the
ungodly are thrown into the lake of fire, they – like the weeds – will be
burned up.
The above example of weeds
is backed up by three other similar examples used in the gospels. In Matthew
In all these cases, the
“trees,” “branches” and “chaff” represent ungodly people – God’s enemies; and
each of these combustible articles are to be “thrown (discarded) into the fire
and burned.” Luke
As is the case with the Parable of the Weeds above, the “fire” in all these examples is, of course, a reference to the lake of fire. When the ungodly are thrown into the lake of fire, they – like the trees, branches and chaff – will be burned up.
“Like Green Plants They Will Soon Die Away”
Let’s look at some similar examples of everlasting destruction used elsewhere in scripture:
PSALM 37:1-2
Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong;
(2) for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they
will soon die away.
Notice how evil people are likened to grass that will soon wither and to green plants that will soon die away.
Adherents of eternal torment would contend that this text is referring to physical death in the here in now (the first death), not to eternal death (the second death), but verses 9-13 refute this argument:
PSALM 37:9-13
For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. (10) A little while and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. (11) But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace. (12) The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; (13) but the LORD laughs at the wicked for he knows their day is coming.
These verses clearly show that this is an eschatological passage – a text dealing with the ultimate fate of humankind and the world. Note how verse 9 refers to a time when evil people will ultimately be cut off, but “those who hope in the LORD” will inherit the land. Verse 11 further emphasizes that the meek will inherit the land and verse 29 adds an important detail, stating that “the righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.” These two verses coincide with Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5:5 regarding how “the meek shall inherit the earth.” Jesus was of course referring to the new earth spoken of in Revelation 21:1-4.
Biblically, we know
that all evil people will not be cut
off until “the day of judgment and
destruction of ungodly men” (2Peter 3:7; Revelation
Furthermore, observe verses 10 and 13: “A little while and the wicked will be no more… but the LORD laughs at the wicked for he knows their day is coming.” Verse 10 refers to a time when all the wicked will be “no more;” the bible clearly reveals that the only time that this will become a reality is, once again, “the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” That’s why, according to verse 13, the LORD laughs at the wicked, because “he knows their day coming.” What day? Why, the day of judgment, of course!
“They Will Vanish – Vanish Like Smoke”
With the understanding that Psalm 37 is essentially an eschatological passage, let’s observe verse 20:
PSALM 37:20
But the wicked will perish: The LORD’s enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish – vanish like smoke.
First of all, note the explicit proclamation that “the wicked will perish.” It doesn’t say that the wicked will be consciously tormented in fire forever, but that they will perish. The rest of the text gives a natural illustration so that we may perfectly understand this perishment of the wicked: it likens God’s enemies to “the beauty of the fields” which will be burned up. Notice what it says will be the ultimate end of God’s enemies: they will vanish – vanish like smoke. Once again, I have to ask, how much clearer could the scriptures possibly be? The LORD’s enemies will not perpetually exist in fiery conscious torment, they’re going to be utterly consumed by fire and go up in smoke.
A similar illustration is used in the New Testament:
HEBREWS 6:7-8
Land
that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to
those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. (8) But land that
produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In
the end it will be burned.
The “land” in verse 8, which is worthless and produces nothing but thorns and thistles, is a figurative reference to worthless Christians who profess to know Christ but bear no fruit (see verses 4-6 for verification). The land that produces a useful crop in verse 7 is an obvious reference to fruit-bearing, faithful Christians; such productive “land” will receive the blessings of God. But notice clearly what will ultimately happen to the worthless land which produces thorns and thistles: in the end it will be burned.
This example perfectly coincides with Jesus’ two examples which we just looked at: every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire; every branch that bears no fruit is cut off the vine and thrown into the fire. Likewise, the worthless land which produces thorns and thistles will be burned in the end. The purpose for burning such a field is to destroy that which is useless, not to preserve it. In the same way, ungodly people who fail to bear good fruit will be destroyed, not preserved for eternal conscious misery.
“Bring Them Here and Kill Them in Front of Me”
Continuing with the examples of literal everlasting destruction which Jesus used in his parables, let’s look at The Parable of the Ten Minas:
Luke 19:11-14
While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable,
because he was near
(14) But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say,
‘We don’t want this man to be our king,’ ”
The symbolism in this parable is obvious: the “man of noble birth” is referring to Jesus, the Son of God; the “distant country” where the man of noble birth goes to have himself appointed as king and then return is referring to the world; the place he would return to is heaven; the subjects who hated this newly appointed king and rejected his kingship is referring to people in this world who love sin, hate Jesus and reject his Lordship.
Now let’s skip down to verse 27 and observe what the king in this parable – again, symbolically referring to Jesus – said should be done to these subjects who hated him and rejected his kingship:
LUKE 19:27
‘But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them – bring them here and kill them
in front of me.’
The king having his subjects who hated and rejected him brought before him is an obvious symbolic reference to the pre-millennial judgment of Christ (Matthew 25:31-46)[11] or the white throne judgment (Revelation 20:11-15); both cases in which those who reject Jesus as Lord will be thrown into the lake of fire to suffer the second death. Notice what the king in the parable ordered should be done with these subjects who utterly rejected him – he said that they should be brought before him and killed in front of him!
If the destiny of ungodly people who reject Christ is eternal life being consciously tormented in the lake of fire, then Jesus would have certainly reflected it in this parable because the secondary purpose of this story was to reveal the eternal fate of those who reject the Lordship of Christ. Surely Jesus, the Son of God, could’ve easily come up with a clear way to reflect the doctrine of eternal torture in this parable (as well as his other parables). He could have said something like, “But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them – bring them here and torture them in front of me, but be sure not to kill them, just torment them day and night, week after week, month after month, year after year. And all the while I’ll just kick back and pay no mind to it.” Yes, I realize how ridiculous this sounds, but I want to make it as plain as possible how absolutely absurd and unbiblical this doctrine is.
Let’s face it if a king or ruler were to actually do this in the real world, no one in their right mind would hesitate to declare them unjust, wicked and perverse, no matter how evil the subjects might be. By contrast there’s nothing wrong with a king or ruler justly, but mercifully, executing such wicked rebels.
Summing this parable up, let me emphasize that Jesus was teaching this parable in part to back up and reveal the scriptural truth of what will happen to those who reject him as Lord. What will happen to them? According to Jesus in this parable, they will be brought before the King of Kings and killed in front of him. This will be accomplished by simply casting them into the lake of fire wherein raging fire will consume them. Could Jesus be any clearer? His words naturally coincide with the numerous passages we’ve already looked at.
“They Will Be Thrown into the
Fiery Furnace”
Jesus also likened the lake of fire to a “fiery
furnace” in Matthew 13:42 and 50. Like Gehenna,
“fiery furnace” is an excellent example of the lake of fire because it clearly
indicates nothing other than complete incineration – total destruction of soul
and body – as Jesus explicitly stated earlier in
Jesus most likely got this
apt figure from the Old Testament scriptures, from which he studied and
preached. In the Old Testament “furnace” or “fiery furnace” is used in
reference to complete incineration or refinement (e.g. Psalm 12:6) but never to undying conscious torment. For
instance, after the utter obliteration of
Notice how the figure of
“fiery furnace” is used in this Psalm text:
At the time of your
appearing you will make them (God’s enemies) like
a fiery furnace. In his wrath the
LORD will swallow them up, and his fire
will consume them.
There’s absolutely no mistaking here that “fiery furnace” refers to being utterly consumed by raging fire as God’s enemies are shown to be swallowed up and consumed by his fire, not ludicrously existing in a perpetual state of conscious agony.
In Daniel chapter three, the fiery furnace was so hot that it killed Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers who simply went near it as they threw the three Israelites – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – into it (Daniel 3:22-23). The only reason the three Israelites survived the fiery furnace was because of God’s supernatural protection (verse 27).
“Furnace” was also used by the prophet Malachi in the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament to describe the day when God will judge evildoers: “That day will burn like a furnace” and “not a root or branch will be left to them” for “they will be ashes” (Malachi 4:1-3). We will examine this text in more detail shortly.
As you can see, “furnace” in the Old Testament consistently signifies complete incineration, destruction and death, but never perpetual conscious torment.
We can confidently conclude that, if God does not miraculously intervene as he did with Daniel’s three friends who were not harmed in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:13-27), the ungodly who will be thrown into the fiery furnace of Gehenna will suffer the precise fate of what the enemies of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo hoped for them: death by incineration (Fudge 104-105).
Raging Fire Will Consume
the Enemies of God
Which brings us to another
proof text:
If we deliberately
keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice
for sins is left, (27) but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the
enemies of God.
Notice clearly that, on
judgment day, raging fire will utterly consume
God’s enemies, not sadistically torture them without end. The Greek word
translated as “consume” here literally means “to eat” (Strong 33) and is
translated as “devour” in the King James Version. We can soundly conclude that
raging fire will literally devour
God’s enemies when they’re cast into the lake of fire – consuming them wholly.
This brings to mind James 5:1-5 which issues out a
warning to rich oppressors. Verse 3 states: “Your gold and silver are corroded.
Their corrosion will testify against
you and eat your flesh like fire.”
The word “testify” indicates that James is referring to a time of judgment;
this is made clearer in verse 5: “You have lived on earth in luxury and
self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.” “The day of slaughter” is, of course, a
reference to “the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2Peter 3:7).
Notice that the day of judgment is referred to as “the day of slaughter,” not
“the day of the beginning of everlasting conscious torment” (sounds absurd,
doesn’t it?). That’s because the day of judgment is a day of slaughter wherein the sins of God’s enemies will
testify against them and “eat their flesh like fire” – raging fire will utterly
consume them just as Paul taught in Hebrews 10:27 shown above.
It is fitting, incidentally, that James refers to the day
of judgment as the day of slaughter, since Gehenna,
the biblical example of the lake of fire often translated as “hell,” was
otherwise known as “the Valley of Slaughter” (see Jeremiah 7:30-34 and
19:2-13).
The New Testament declaration that, at the second death,
God will utterly destroy his human enemies – soul and body – by raging,
consuming fire is in perfect harmony with the many Old Testament historical cases of how God dealt with his
enemies then. Here’s one example:
Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censors, put fire in them and
added incense; and they offered
unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. (2) So fire came out from the presence of the
LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.
We see here that Nadab and Abihu ignored God’s commands
and attempted to approach Him on their own terms. As a result “fire came out
from the presence of the LORD and consumed
them, and they died before the LORD.”
Their disregard of the LORD’s will and attempt to approach Him on their own
terms represents religion as opposed to Christianity. Religion is the human
attempt to connect with God, whereas Christianity is God connecting with
humanity through Christ. We can either do it our way or God’s way,
it’s our choice.
The fiery consumption of Nadab and Abihu is a biblical example of what will happen on judgment
day to people who disregard God’s Word and live their lives with little or no
concern of their Creator; these proud rebels are only willing to approach God
on their own terms. On judgment day
such people can expect a fire to come out from the presence of the LORD and consume them. They will die before the LORD, just as assuredly
as Nadab and Abihu did.
Here are a few more examples:
NUMBERS
And fire came out from the LORD
and consumed the 210 men (Korah’s followers) who were offering the incense.
2KINGS
Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down
from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.[12]
PSALM 97:2b-3
… righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. (3) Fire goes before him and consumes his
foes on every side.
PSALM 106:18
Fire blazed among their followers (Dathan’s rebellious followers); a
flame consumed the wicked.
EZEKIEL 22:31
“So I will pour out my wrath on
them
(the sinful people of Judah) and consume them with my fiery anger,
bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign
LORD.”
Just as God dealt with his enemies in the past, so will he deal with his enemies in the future at the second advent of Christ when God’s consuming fire will strike the whole earth and “Babylon:”
Neither their silver
nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the LORD’s wrath. In the fire of his jealousy the whole world
will be consumed for he will make a sudden end of all who live on the earth.
REVELATION 18:8-9
Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her (“
(9) When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and
shared her luxury see the smoke of her
burning, they will weep and mourn over her.
As
you can plainly see, the biblical fact that God is going to destroy his human
enemies by a consuming fire at the second death perfectly coincides with how
God has dealt with his human enemies throughout history. This is testimony to
the unchanging, consistent character of God (see Psalm 102:26-27; James
Notice clearly in all the above texts that God does not sadistically torture these
people perpetually with fire. No, the fire consumes
them. No doubt there’s an amount of terror and conscious pain to this type
of execution, but it’s not sadistically never-ending – it mercifully results in
death.
Is this unjust on God’s part? Not at all. Notice Psalm
97:2-3 above: before stating that God will judge and destroy his enemies with
consuming fire, it assuredly states that “righteousness and justice are the
foundation of his throne.” You see, we can always be absolutely confident of
the fact that God’s judgments are completely righteous and just; and God is not
quick in making a judgment; he is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger abounding in love” (Psalm
103:8); “he is patient… not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance” (2Peter 3:9b). Yet, there’s a limit to God’s patience and mercy if
a stubborn person continually chooses to resist and rebel against him; and when
his patience and mercy end, his judgment begins. Yet even God’s judgments are
balanced by his mercy and justice.
The very last chapter of the Old Testament also plainly reveals how God’s enemies will be utterly consumed in a fiery “furnace:”
“Surely the day
is coming; it will burn like a furnace.
All the arrogant and every evildoer will
be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or branch will be left to them. (2) But for you who
revere my name, the sun of righteousness will arise with healing in its wings.
And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. (3) Then you
will trample down the wicked; they will
be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do
these things,” says the LORD Almighty.
(5) “See, I will send
you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the
LORD comes.”
So ends the Old Testament,
followed by the period of 400-years silence between the testaments wherein God
would not speak through scripture prophecy. Like the final chapters of
Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, the final chapter of Malachi,
the last book of the Old Testament, contrasts the final destinies of both the
righteous and the unrighteous: For those who revere God’s name, “the sun of
righteousness will arise with healing in its wings.” They will experience
warmth and healing in the light of His presence as He binds up their bruises,
heals their wounds and wipes away every tear (see Isaiah 30:26 and Revelation
21:4).
The righteous will “go out and leap like calves released
from the stall.” In other words, just as a calf leaps for sheer joy when
finally turned loose into the sunlight after being confined to a stall for
extended periods of time, so it will be with those who revere God’s name.
As for those who do not
revere God’s name, “all the arrogant” and “every evildoer,” they will be like stubble set on fire; they will be burned
up so completely that “not a root or
branch will be left to them;” they will be like ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous. These
easy-to-understand figures eliminate any possibility of remnant or survivor. A
clearer example of literal destruction could hardly be given.
Thus ends the Old Testament with the righteous ultimately
rejoicing in God’s salvation and eternal life, while evildoers are utterly
destroyed – gone forever with no remnant or possibility of restoration.
Once again, there is no mention whatsoever of people
existing forever in a perpetual state of fiery conscious torment. All we see is
a clear picture of “every evildoer” being utterly and totally destroyed by
raging, consuming fire.
The above text is such a strong stumbling block to the
view of eternal conscious torment that advocates of this view try to dismiss it
altogether, suggesting that the text is referring to the battle of Armageddon
on the day of Christ’s second advent and thus is not applicable to the second
death.
In light of this contention, let’s look at all the
scriptural facts and draw a sound conclusion:
First of all, the text is referring to “the day of the
Lord” (verses 1,3 and 5). What is “the day of the LORD?” This phrase appears 19
times in the Old Testament and 4 times in the New Testament to express the time
of God’s extreme judgment and wrath.
These 23 texts do not all refer to the same specific
judgment. For instance, in Ezekiel 30:3 “the day of the LORD” refers to a near
future (now historical) judgment of
Two “day of the LORD” expressions yet remain to be
fulfilled: 1.) At the end of the
7-year tribulation period or Daniel’s 70th week (see Joel
Malachi 4:1-5 is applicable to either of these judgments.
Secondly, Malachi 4:1-5 coincides perfectly with a text
we’ve already examined, Matthew 13:40-43, which is an unquestionable reference
to the second death. Observe how well these texts parallel each other:
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn
like a furnace.” –
Malachi 4:1a
“They (the
angels) will throw them into the fiery furnace,” – Matthew
“All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble and that day that is coming will set them on fire.”
– Malachi 4:1b
“As weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the
end of the age.”
– Matthew 13:40
“But for you who revere my name, the
sun of righteousness will arise with healing in its wings.” – Malachi
4:2
“Then the righteous will shine
like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”
-- Matthew 13:43
Since
these are clearly coinciding
texts both refer to the ultimate end
of the ungodly in the lake of fire, the second death.
Thirdly, notice that Malachi 4:1 refers to a time when “all the arrogant and every evildoer” will be destroyed.
Biblically, we know that all evildoers
will not be destroyed until “the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly
men” (2Peter 3:7) when all “the wicked will be no more” (Psalm 37:10).
Fourthly, notice that Malachi 4:1 states that “Not a root
or branch will be left to them” and verse 3 states that all evildoers will be
“ashes.” Both verses are figurative, but the picture they’re intended to
portray is clear: there will be nothing
left of the ungodly but ashes when God’s raging fire consumes them. They
will be totally destroyed – both soul
and body as Jesus solemnly declared.
No mention is made anywhere of their souls living forever in a state of fiery conscious
torment. If this perverse religious belief were in fact true, why would the
LORD leave out something of such importance? This is way too significant of a detail to leave out.
Lastly, it just makes good sense that the Old Testament
would sign off with a clear declaration of the final destiny of the righteous and the unrighteous just as the New
Testament does.
In light of all this support, we can confidently conclude
that Malachi 4:1-5 is indeed applicable to the subject of everlasting
destruction.
The very death of Jesus
Christ on the cross is an example of everlasting destruction. Jesus suffered
God’s wrath and died so that we don’t have to. Theologians refer to this as
“substitutionary death.” All this means is that Jesus suffered and died in our place; he was sacrificed for our
sakes so that we don’t have to reap the wages of our sin. The bible states:
HEBREWS 2:9b
…he suffered death, so that
by the grace of God he might taste death
for everyone.
We see here that Jesus suffered and tasted
death for everyone. This is what God would have had to do to us on judgment day
if Jesus hadn’t suffered and died in our place. In other words Jesus
suffered the very penalty that we were to suffer, and that penalty is
suffering that ends in death.
Jesus
didn’t die for us so that we don’t have to experience earthly death, the first
death; he died for us so that we don’t have to suffer the second death. So Christ’s death on the cross is a window for us
of what the second death essentially is; and the only view we see through this
window is that of suffering that ends in death, not never-ending conscious
torture. Unlike the ungodly people cast into the lake of fire, who will suffer everlasting destruction, Jesus rose from
the dead “because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him” (Acts
2:24b) (Fudge/Peterson 204). God had to
raise Jesus from the dead, otherwise we would not be justified and have the
hope of eternal life (see 1Corinthians
The
bottom line is that Jesus “tasted death
for everyone,” he did not taste eternal conscious torture for us, he tasted
death. If Jesus’ substitutionary death had to consist of what supporters of
eternal torture say the wages of sin is, then Jesus would have to still be suffering never-ending torment.
Jesus’
suffering and death in our place on this earth is a picture of what the second
death will be on judgment day in the spiritual realm. And the simple fact is
that Jesus suffered and died; this is what people witnessed when he was
horribly crucified and this is what we see today when we picture it. Death is what we are saved from not
eternal conscious torture, for “the wages of sin is death.”
Apollumi as “Lost” (the Lost Sheep and Prodigal Son)
In Chapter One we examined the Greek word apollumi. We saw how the usual
definition of this word – “to destroy fully” (Strong 14) – is applicable to the
second death of the ungodly because Jesus used apollumi to describe the utter incineration of
The first parable we’ll examine is The Parable of the Lost Sheep. As we read this passage notice how apollumi is translated as “lost” and
“loses:”
Then Jesus told them
this parable: (4) “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses (apollumi) one of them. Does
he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost
(apollumi) sheep until he finds it? (5) And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it
on his shoulders (6) and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors
together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost (apollumi) sheep!’ (7) I tell you that in the same way there will be more
rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous
persons who do not need to repent.”
As you can see, in this
parable Jesus likens an unsaved person who is lost from God to a lost sheep
that has strayed from its shepherd. Obviously apollumi means “lost” primarily in the sense that the sheep was
lost from its shepherd. But what would have ultimately happened to the lost
sheep if the shepherd had not gone forth to seek and save it? Jesus doesn’t
say, but he doesn’t have to. Everyone knows that a lost sheep, separated from
the protective care of its shepherd, would die – prey to predators or otherwise
– if not found. So the sheep was not only lost in the sense that it was lost from
its shepherd, but lost in the sense that it would ultimately perish if not
saved as well.
In the same way, a sinner who is lost from God will most
certainly perish if not saved; they will suffer everlasting destruction of soul
and body in hell. This is the second death. That’s why sinners are biblically
said to be “perishing” (e.g. 1Corinthians
Apollumi is
also translated as “lost” in The Parable
of the Lost Son, perhaps better known as the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). This popular parable tells the story
of a man who had two sons. The younger son demanded his monetary share of the
estate and then left for a distant country to waste his wealth on wild living.
After blowing all his money he resorted to getting a job feeding pigs. At this
point the story tells us how he longed to fill his stomach with the pods the
pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. This is when he finally came to
his senses:
“When he finally came
to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare,
and here I am starving to death! (18)
I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned
against heaven and against you. (19) I am no longer worthy to be called your
son; make me like one of your hired men.’ (20) So he got up and went to his
father.
But while he was still
a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he
ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. (21) The son said to
him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer
worthy to be called your son.’ (22) But the father said to his servants,
‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals
on his feet. (23) Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and
celebrate. (24) For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost (apollumi) and is found!’ So
they began to celebrate.”
As you can see, this parable is very similar to The Parable of the Lost Sheep. The main difference simply being that this parable is dealing with a lost person rather than a lost animal.
The Greek word apollumi
in this parable means “lost” in the very same way it does in The Parable of the Lost Sheep: 1.) The wayward son was lost to his
father in the sense that his relationship with him was dead – that is, they no
longer had a relationship, it ceased to exist. His son was consequently as good
as dead to him. That’s why he exclaimed when the son returned, “For this son of
mine was dead and is alive again.” Once the father’s son returned, their
relationship resumed and he consequently became “alive” to him again. 2.) Like the lost sheep who would have
perished apart from the protective care of its shepherd, the prodigal son was
also lost in the sense that he would have perished if he hadn’t returned to his
father. This conclusion is supported by verse 17 which clearly states that the
lost son would have starved to death
if he hadn’t “come to his senses” and returned to his father.
In the same way, lost sinners are dead to the Heavenly
Father – they have no real relationship with him – and are on their way to
“starving to death” apart from him. Unless they “come to their senses” and
repent of their sin (accepting Jesus as Lord, of course) they will indeed
perish in the absolute sense.
As observed in our reading of The Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Greek word apollumi can also mean ‘lose:’ “ ‘Suppose one of you has a hundred
sheep and loses (apollumi) one
of them.’ ” As already determined, apollumi
means “lose” here in the sense that the lone sheep was lost from its
shepherd and would have certainly perished if not found.
Let’s look at a couple other examples of apollumi translated as “lose:”
“And if anyone gives
even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple,
I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose (apollumi) his reward.”
Apollumi here
obviously refers to suffering the loss of, or being deprived of, a reward.
In this next example Paul is encouraging the crew of a
ship in a storm that none of them will lose their lives:
“Not one of you will lose
(apollumi) a single hair from your head.”
Paul assured the crew that none of them would suffer the loss of even a single hair.
As
you can plainly see from these three examples, apollumi simply means “lose” in the sense of suffering the loss of
something – a sheep, a reward, a hair.
The Ungodly Will Lose their Lives, their
Souls, their Very Selves
With
the above understanding, let’s observe how the exact same Greek word, apollumi, is used in reference to
unredeemed people ultimately losing
their very lives:
Then he said to them all:
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow me. (24) For whoever wants to save his life will lose (apollumi) it, but whoever loses
(apollumi) his life for me will save it. (25) What good is it for a man to gain the
whole world, and yet lose (apollumi)
or forfeit his very self.”
Jesus
states in the latter half of verse 24 that “whoever loses his life for me will
save it.” What exactly does this mean? Well, when a person is born again –
repenting of sin and confessing Christ as Lord (Acts 26:20; Romans 10:9-10) –
they miraculously become “a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come!”
(2Corinthians
This
is in contrast to anyone who tries to save his or her own life; for as Jesus
declares in the first part of verse 24 – such a person will lose his/her life!
We have all been “bought” and saved by God at a great price – the sacrifice of
his Son, Jesus Christ. We are therefore “not our own” (1Corinthians
This fact is reinforced in verse 25: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose (apollumi) or forfeit his very self.” Notice how the word “gain” is used in contrast to “lose” and “forfeit;” we can therefore soundly conclude that lose and forfeit would be the exact opposite of gaining something. Now note what Jesus said a person who tries to “save his own life” will lose or forfeit: he said that he would lose or forfeit his very self!
The Greek word translated “self” here is heautou (heh-ow-too’) which simply refers to a person’s selfhood, that is, a person’s very being (and therefore is translated variously as “himself,” “herself,” “myself,” “yourself,” “ourselves,” etc.) In the matching gospel accounts of this text, Matthew 16:26 and Mark 8:36, the word “soul” is used instead of self. “Soul” in these texts is translated from the Greek word psuche which can also be translated “life” in proper contexts, as is the case in verse 24 where Jesus stated, “whoever wants to save his life (psuche) will lose it.”
The conclusion we must draw from all this information is simply this: a person who rejects giving up her life for Christ will end up losing her life, her soul, her very self.
This exact thought is similarly expressed by Jesus in this text:
LUKE 17:33
“Whoever tries to keep
his life will lose (apollumi)
it, and whoever loses his life will
preserve it.”
How much clearer could Jesus possibly be? The only people who will preserve their lives for eternal life are people who are willing to give up their lives for Christ (once again, this merely means getting born-again and thus being “crucified with Christ”). People who refuse to do this will lose their lives.
Let’s look at one last similar expression from Jesus:
JOHN 12:25
“The man who loves his
life will lose (apollumi) it, while the man who hates his life in
this world will keep it for eternal life.”
Jesus isn’t at all saying here that Christians can’t enjoy living while in this world (on the contrary, 1Peter 1:8 states that believers will be “filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy”), he’s simply teaching in line with the biblical fact that true Christians are strangers in this world (Hebrews 11:13; 1Peter 1:1) who “are looking forward to a new heaven and new earth, the home of righteousness” (2Peter 3:13).
The
reason Christians are said to be strangers in this world and “hate”[14]
their lives on this earth is because the present condition of this world is not
the way God wants it to be. Consider, for example, the pain, death,
disease, injustice, poverty, atrocities, wars and crime evident all over this
world. All these evils are evidence that the devil is “the god of this world;”
in other words, the whole world is under his influence or control (see
2Corinthians 4:4; 1John
Getting back to our text, Jesus is simply stating that a person who hates his or her life in this world in the above manner “will keep it for eternal life.” By contrast, those who love their sinful, rebellious lifestyles in this wicked world and reject giving up their lives to Christ’s Lordship will ultimately end up losing their lives.
When
exactly will these selfish people who reject God’s grace lose their lives,
their souls, their very selves? Obviously on “the day of judgment and
destruction of ungodly men” (2Peter 3:7) where God will “destroy both soul and
body in hell (Gehenna)” (Matthew
Please notice in all these passages that Jesus repeatedly stresses that ungodly people will lose their lives if they don’t accept the gospel. He’s says absolutely nothing about people keeping their lives and spending it in never-ending conscious agony. This perverse belief is a false, unbiblical doctrine and needs to be exposed for what it is. That’s what this study is all about.
Examples of Everlasting
Destruction – Not Eternal Conscious Torment
Let’s briefly review the many examples of everlasting destruction that we’ve covered in this chapter. Take note of how the eternal torture position does not fit any of these examples:
1.) The very word “hell” itself is an unmistakable example of literal everlasting destruction as Gehenna, the biblical word translated as “hell” in reference to the lake of fire, was a very certain symbol of destruction which all of Jesus’ listeners readily understood.
2.) Jesus and John the Baptist proclaimed that “at the end of the age” (i.e. judgment day) the unrighteous will be like weeds, trees, branches and chaff thrown into fire. It goes without saying that such combustible articles as these burn up in fire. We also viewed similar examples from the Old Testament and the book of Hebrews.
3.) In The Parable of the Ten Minas Jesus used the example of a king having his enemies brought before him and executed.
4.) Jesus twice spoke of the lake of fire as a “fiery furnace” – an unmistakable figure of complete incineration as revealed in the Old Testament. Articles thrown into a furnace are burned up, not perpetually preserved.
5.) We viewed many examples of how God consumed by fire his human enemies throughout history and saw that these examples perfectly coincide with the clear biblical passages which state that God’s enemies will be consumed by raging fire at the second death (e.g. Hebrews 10:27 and Psalm 20:9).
6.) At the very end of the Old Testament we viewed an unmistakable example of ungodly people being likened to stubble set ablaze; “not a root or branch will be left to them” as they will be “ashes under the soles of [the righteous’] feet.”
7.) We discovered that the very crucifixion of Jesus Christ is an example of the second death. Jesus suffered God’s wrath on the cross and died. He was sacrificed in our place. This is a window for us to view the essential nature of the second death, and the clear picture we see through this window is one of suffering that ends in death, not never-ending torture.
8.) We also observed the examples of the lost sheep, which would have perished if not saved by its shepherd, and “the prodigal (lost) son,” who would have “starved to death” if he didn’t make the wise decision to repent and return to his father.
9.) Lastly, we witnessed how these many clear examples are backed up by Jesus’ declarations that those who reject God’s sacrifice for their sins and try to “save their own lives” will end up losing their lives, their souls, their very selves.
As you can see from all these illustrations, not only does the bible repeatedly declare that people will be destroyed in the lake of fire at the second death, it also backs up these plain declarations with numerous easy-to-understand examples. Those who adamantly contend that the bible teaches eternal conscious torment for ungodly sinners are quite mistaken.
FURTHER BIBLICAL SUPPORT
There is one biblical book
in particular that simply and clearly backs up all the evidence for literal
everlasting destruction we’ve amassed so far. It is the book of 2Peter.
Let’s observe what this book has to say about
human damnation starting with a text already briefly touched on in Chapter One:
2PETER 2:6
If he (God)
condemned the cities of
God is telling us right here
precisely what the eternal fate of
ungodly people will be. The utter destruction of
We know this passage is
referring to the second death because the text states that ungodly people will
experience a judgment similar to the incineration of
Jude 7 also speaks of this example of
JUDE 7 (KJV)
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner,
giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set
forth for an example,
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
The bible clearly states here that
Continuing with the book of 2Peter, 3:7 states, “By the
same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for
the day of judgment and destruction of
ungodly men.” Verse 9 continues, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise
(of a new heavens and new earth – verse 13) as some understand slowness. He is
patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance.” We’ve already addressed verses 7 & 9
earlier in our study, but here’s my point: 2:6 states that the ungodly will be
burned “to ashes,” 3:7 states that they will suffer “destruction,” and 3:9 says that they will “perish.” Peter keeps bringing
up the issue of the second death yet only speaks of it in terms of
incineration, destruction and death. He doesn’t say anything at all about
suffering perpetually in varying degrees of conscious torture. If this perverse
belief were true, wouldn’t this section of scripture mention it somewhere since
it is specifically dealing with the subject of the second death, the eternal
fate of ungodly people? I think being consciously tortured forever in flames of
torment is much too important of a detail to leave out, don’t you? The obvious
reason Peter doesn’t mention it is because the teaching of eternal torture is
not a biblical doctrine. It is a human-invented myth, a satanic lie (as will be
shown in Chapter Four) that has been perpetuated for centuries by the
formidable force of religious tradition.
Let’s look at one other enlightening
passage from the book of 2Peter which contextually refers to ungodly people
“who follow the corrupt desires of the sinful nature” (as verse 10 states):
They
are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught
and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
Peter is
speaking by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit here and what he’s saying is
obvious: “Born” is referring to being born into this world; “caught” is
referring to the soul being held in hades
(hay’deez), which takes place after
physical decease, where it “awaits” resurrection;[15] and
“destroyed” is referring to what will happen after the soul & body are
resurrected, wherein the person is judged and cast into the lake of fire. For
verification of this, Revelation
Notice,
once again, that the bible plainly teaches that ungodly people will be destroyed in the lake of fire, not sadistically
tortured endlessly. The Greek word translated as “destroyed” here is phthora (fthor-ah’). Paul used this very same word to describe our present
mortal, “perishable” bodies in contrast to the immortal, imperishable bodies
that believers will receive at their resurrection (1Corinthians 15:42). My
point is that we have yet another word
here that we can add to the seemingly never-ending list of biblical words which
refer to the second death strictly in terms of complete destruction and utter
perishment.
“Like Beasts They Too Will Perish”
Also notice from the above text that
ungodly people are likened to “brute beasts,
creatures of instinct.” The word ‘beasts’ here is translated from a Greek word
which means “animals” (Strong 35). Now note what the latter part of verse 12
states will happen to these ‘animals:’ “and like beasts they too will perish.”
The bible clearly likens unrighteous people here to animals, creatures of
instinct, and states that they will ultimately perish in the very same manner
as animals do. The question is naturally raised: How do animals perish? Do they
perish by being consciously tortured forever and ever? Do they perish by having
their “well-being ruined?” Do they perish by spending eternity “separated from
God?” No, they perish by simply ceasing to exist (though of course some amount
of conscious suffering may be involved in that perishing).
This is not an isolated instance in
scripture as Psalm 49:20 states that “A man who has riches without
understanding is like the beasts that
perish.” The word ‘beasts’ in this text likewise refers to “animals”
(Strong 19). One might suggest that this text is referring to the first death,
not to the second death, but this can’t be so because rich men with understanding as well as rich men without understanding will both
ultimately suffer the first death. Besides this, the writer of the Psalm states
in verse 15 that “God will redeem my life from the grave (sheol); he will surely take me to him.” The Psalmist confidently
believed that God would redeem him from sheol/hades;
whereas we can confidently deduce that “the man who has riches without
understanding” will be resurrected from sheol/hades
on the day of judgment to be judged and cast into the lake of fire, where like beasts he will perish.
It’s important at this point to
emphasize that the view of literal everlasting destruction does not in any way
deny the existence of hell; although this is obvious I feel compelled to bring
it up because adherents of eternal torture often try to give this impression.
Let me give an example: a popular fundamentalist heresy hunter[17] had one of his
sermons aired on the radio to defend the doctrine of eternal torment in
response to the view of everlasting destruction. The title of the sermon was
“Why I Believe In Hell.” There are two problems with this title. The first is
that it gives the impression that adherents of everlasting destruction don’t believe in hell, while supporters
of eternal torture do. This is simply not true. Adherents of both everlasting
destruction and eternal torture believe that hell, the lake of fire, exists and
that ungodly people will be cast into it on judgment day. The issue of
contention concerns the nature of punishment these people will experience in
the lake of fire. The bible calls it “the second death.” Does the second death
consist of eternal conscious torment or literal everlasting destruction? You
see, the issue is not whether or not hell exists, but what happens there.
The obvious reason supporters of
eternal torment resort to such tactics is because they don’t want people to be
exposed to the monumental scriptural support for everlasting destruction. If
they can sucessfully malign adherents of literal destruction as “heretics who
don’t believe in hell,” most people won’t even consider the biblical support for everlasting destruction. After
all, if they can keep people from studying it they can keep people from
believing it. The reason they take this approach is because they cannot
disprove literal destruction scripturally; they therefore attempt to keep
people from considering the position altogether by misrepresenting it.
Another common avoidance tactic they
implement is to say that everlasting destruction is a cultic belief because a
couple of cultic or borderline cultic organizations adhere to it in one form or
another. Such an argument successfully diverts attention from the proof of
scripture, which is where any teaching ultimately stands or falls. See Chapter
Six as to why this argument doesn’t hold water.
The second problem with the sermon
title “Why I Believe In Hell” is the vagueness of the word “hell.” Although
“hell” usually conjures up ghastly medieval images of people suffering
eternally in fire pits, the term means different things to different people. It
can just as easily provoke cartoony images from The Far Side comic strip or biblical impressions of Gehenna, the
The reason
supporters of eternal torment like to use the word ‘hell’ is because it’s a
good cover-up term for eternal conscious torture. When they speak of ‘hell’
they’re actually referring to never-ending fiery torment in separation from God
with no merciful pause to the misery. This, of course, is way too heinous of a concept to spell out like this, so they simply
use ‘hell’ as a code word when referring to it. A much more honest and accurate
title of the sermon would be “Why I Believe in Eternal Conscious Torture of the
Damned.” Why are supporters of eternal torment so reluctant to honestly and
accurately spell out what they really
believe in this manner? Why do they feel they must hide behind code words and
other misleading words and phrases (e.g. “perish,” “death” and “eternal
separation from God”)? Naturally because if they spell out what they really
believe it would expose their belief as the sadistic sham that it is.
The bottom line is that the view of
everlasting destruction does not in any way, shape or form deny the reality of
hell, the lake of fire; all it denies is the traditional teaching that people
will suffer never-ending conscious torture there.
I believe it’s also important at this point to emphasize that the view of everlasting destruction allows for all the conscious pain that divine justice might require for any sinner to suffer according to his or her personal degree of guilt. In other words, the second death does not necessarily occur in an instant. Yet the extinguishment of conscious life will ultimately occur as any suffering experienced mercifully ends in death – eternal death – death that lasts forever.
This is a biblical principle
regarding God’s judgment and justice. Consider, for instance, ‘
REVELATION 18:5-7a
“for her (
As you can see, according to
God’s just judgment, conscious suffering will be meted out to “
Consider it this way, if you
jumped into a bonfire, would you not experience conscious suffering for a brief
period of time before you lost consciousness and ultimately burned to death? Of
course you would. It’s the same principle with the second death when God casts
the damned into the lake of fire; the difference being that the period of
suffering will be meted out to each individual according to his/her degree of
sinful guilt as divine justice properly dictates. The period of conscious
suffering may last a split second, one minute, an hour, a day, a week, or
longer. It all depends on whom we’re talking about. Are we talking about the
little old ungodly lady who lives down the street or Adolf Hitler? Hitler is
responsible for the horrible suffering and death of millions and millions of
people. Perhaps God will determine
that he deserves to experience the suffering and death of those millions of
people before his ultimate extinction. We don’t know, of course; I’m just
speculating. It’s all up to the Supreme Judge to decide.
This helps explain a couple
statements made by Jesus. For instance:
MATTHEW 11:24
“But I tell you that it will be more
bearable for
Adherents of the eternal
torment theory have used this text to support the idea that there will be varying degrees of ceaseless torture –
as if never-ending torment is not bad
enough. For example, in the case of
Jesus also implied that
God’s enemies would experience varying degrees of conscious suffering at the
second death when he stated that corrupt religious teachers would “receive the
greater condemnation” (NRSV) or “will be punished most severely” (Mark
This aspect of the second
death is actually quite comforting when one reflects on it. It suggests that
everybody’s going to get exactly what he or she justly deserves on judgment
day. All throughout human history evildoers have unfortunately “gotten away”
with their wicked deeds – murderers, molesters, sadists, rapists, robbers,
charlatans, oppressors, tyrants etc.; but we can take comfort in the fact that
God’s justice will ultimately prevail and every unrepentant soul will justly
“get what’s coming to him/her.”
‘Everlasting
Destruction isn’t Severe Enough – If People just Perish in Hell They’ll Have No
Motivation to get Saved’
I’ve heard some people object to the view of literal everlasting destruction on the grounds that it’s just not severe enough. Their reasoning usually goes something like this: “If people are just going to ultimately die in hell, and that’s it, unbelievers will respond by saying ‘To heck with Christianity, if all God’s going to do is snuff out my life at the end, I’m going to live however I want and sin all I want. What do I care?’ ”
My response is that this is
precisely the choice that God offers all humanity. Witness for yourselves:
“… I have set before
you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life…”
JOHN 3:16
“For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life.”
ROMANS 6:23
For the wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We observe here three
crystal clear passages from the three most important sections of the bible –
the Torah (or Pentateuch), the gospels and the epistles – with all three
clearly revealing that God’s offer to humanity is life or death.
This has already been
stressed in Chapter One, but it bears repeating: life and death are the two
polar opposites, not life-in-bliss and life-in-burning-torment. As John
In regards to utter
extinction in hell not being severe enough, how much severer should it justly
be? How much severer does it need to be?
Just imagine how it will be
on judgment day for those people who foolishly reject God: They’ll have to
stand before the Almighty, who will judge their entire lives, and condemn them
to death in the lake of fire – an annihilation so utterly complete that it will
be as if they had never existed (see Obadiah 16). Then they’ll be removed from
His presence and cast into a vast, consuming lake of fire. Can you imagine the
depression, shame, guilt and torment of being rejected by the very Creator of
the universe who has judged your life so completely worthless that you must be
absolutely snuffed out of existence and memory? Can you imagine being led to a
vast, dreadful lake of fire, standing at its edge, knowing that this is it – your life’s going to be
blotted out and there’s absolutely no hope of resurrection, restoration or
recovery? And then, finally, the torment and pain experienced when cast into
the fire – suffering that will last precisely as long as God’s justice
requires.
We’re taking the lake of
fire in the literal sense here, and why not? If the plain sense makes sense, we
shouldn’t look for any other sense, lest we end up with nonsense. Yet, because
some would argue that the book of Revelation is a book of symbols, let’s
consider the possibility that the “lake of fire” is a metaphor. Even if this is
so, the bible precisely defines what this ‘metaphor’ stands for: “The lake of
fire is
the second death” (Revelation 20:14b). So regardless of whether we take the
“lake of fire” literally or figuratively, it is certain that it refers to the
execution of the second death. Thus taking it metaphorically does not make it
any less serious or dreadful. As it is written: “It is a dreadful thing to fall
into the hands of the Living God” (Hebrews
Can anyone look me in the
eyes with a straight face and tell me that such a terrible and utter
obliteration as this is not severe enough? I must ask once again, how much
harsher does God’s just judgment on humanity need to be? I’m seriously
flabbergasted that anyone would suggest that this is not a severe enough punishment.
In fact, I’ll go as far as to say this (with no apologies): Anyone who feels
the unrighteous should suffer a severer punishment is sick, sadistic and
ungodly.
If literal everlasting
destruction is not a severe enough punishment to motivate people to “choose
life” and serve God, then what inspires me, and numerous other people I know,
who adhere to this view? Like everyone else, I have my share of flaws and
weaknesses, but I consider myself a devoutly committed Christian who has been
serving God for over twenty years. I don’t need a constant heinous threat of
eternal conscious torture to be faithful to God. (I’ll reveal why momentarily).
And what does it say about
the character of people – or perhaps I should say lack of character – if they need a constant threat of perpetual
agony to live a remotely godly life? Does God really want or need such people
serving in His kingdom? Can such characterless brutes serve at all? I am
reminded of a person I worked with for one day. We took a company van and drove
out to do a job. Since we spent considerable time driving we had a lot of time
to talk. On the way back from the job the subject of hell was brought up (he
was aware of my view and wanted to contest it). He wasn’t a very mature
Christian or very knowledgeable in the scriptures, but we dialogued on the
issue and toward the end it got pretty heated. When I pulled up to his
apartment to drop him off, he said something to the effect of, “Well, I need
the threat of eternal torment to motivate me to live right.” He then got out of
the van and walked to his apartment where he was living in fornication with a
woman. Shortly later he was fired for stealing. So much for the view of eternal
torture inspiring people to live right.
One last important comment
on this matter: The argument that everlasting destruction is not a severe
enough punishment to motivate the common person to follow God in Christ is
based upon a flawed, perverted view of Christianity. This reasoning implies
that living a Christian life faithful to God is so utterly boring, rigid and
lifeless that it’s going to take an over-the-top ghastly threat to coerce
people into actually living it.
Such thinking as this comes
straight from the kingdom of darkness. I’ve lived on both sides of the fence –
I lived the supposed “wild & crazy” lifestyle till I was 20 years old and
I’ve been following God’s way ever since – and I can assuredly testify that
there is nothing more joyous, exciting, empowering, peaceful or liberating than
living a biblical, Spirit-led Christian lifestyle. Being in fellowship with the
Creator of the universe is a never-ending party as God is truly the ultimate
“drug.” Only He can fill that emptiness within us. This is not to suggest, of
course, that the Christian life is void of troubles, hardships or trials – far
from it – but any misery one might experience in obedience to God is nowhere near the misery experienced in disobedience to Him, if you know what I
mean. We need to always remember that Jesus came to set people free (see, for instance, John
So if you’re a Christian and
the lifestyle you’re experiencing is boring, rigid and lifeless, I’ve got news
for you, you’ve settled for a counterfeit gospel! Open your eyes, dig deeper,
examine yourself & your supposed relationship with the Most High and
perhaps find a really biblical church
to attend. Biblical Christianity is a relationship
with the Almighty Creator of the universe, not a life-stifling religion (see
Acts
‘Everlasting Destruction Isn’t Severe Enough to Spur
Evangelization’
A
similar argument is that literal everlasting destruction is not a severe enough
punishment to motivate Christians to evangelize. The obvious implication is
that the reason Christians share the gospel is to save people from a supposedly
loving God who will condemn them to consciously roast forever in a hellhole if
not reached. Is this really why
Christians should evangelize? I am reminded of a statement by a woman who
addressed a congregation of Christians: “If I really believed what I say I believe [i.e. that God will subject
the majority of humanity to never-ending torture] then I’d be running up and
down these streets banging on doors preaching the gospel.” I hate to tell her
but if she actually did this no one would get saved because they’d just think
she’s a religious weirdo; in other words, she’d drive people away from God rather than to Him. Yet, she’s right, in a way. Very
few Christians really believe the
traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torture. Oh, they may affirm it with
their mouths so as to appear faithful to (supposed) fundamental doctrine and
not go against the grain, but most believers secretly suspect that it’s not
really true; and this ultimately reduces their faith in the authenticity of the
bible because they’ve been misguided into believing that the scriptures
adamantly teach never-ending torment. The whole purpose of this study is to
show that this perverse teaching is not and never was a true Christian
doctrine.
So why should Christians evangelize? Mainly
because they love God and want to obey his commands, including ‘the Great
Commission:’ “Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded
you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Because Christians have come to know God, who is love
(1John 4:8), they naturally want to share this love with other people as the
Spirit guides them; it goes without saying that this must be done in love. Most of us have unfortunately
experienced Christians sharing the gospel out of a dead works-mentality rather
than in a spirit of Christian love. The results are usually disastrous; as
noted above, such people inevitably drive others away from God rather than to
him.
Jesus
plainly stated that authentic Christians will be recognized “by their fruit”
(Matthew
What
are some other motivations for evangelizing? The gospel is referred to as “the
message of reconciliation” in the
bible (2Corinthians
Some
may legitimately ask, “What about the millions of people who have never heard
the gospel? Or the millions and millions who may have heard but never truly
accepted it because they failed to understand it or were force-fed a
religionized, faulty version of the gospel, or rejected it because of the
hypocritical medium through which it was delivered (e.g. the gospel came to a
lot of people with the baggage of
imperialism, etc.)?” See Chapter Seven’s Post-Mortem
Evangelization – Can a Person Be Saved After Death?, as well as Inclusivism and Restrictivism.
One last point: Christians often have a narrow understanding of the
Great Commission. They tend to think that if they’re not fulfilling a good evangelistic
quota on a regular basis that they’re not fulfilling this commission. Yet, did
you notice what Jesus actually said in the Great Commission quoted above? He
said that Christians are to “go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you.” You see, the Great Commission involves much more than
merely convincing people to pray the sinner’s prayer; it involves teaching
people the rightly-divided Word of God (not just part of the Word but the whole
Word from Genesis to Revelation) and how to walk in newness of life. With this
broader understanding, I’m actually fulfilling the Great Commission by writing
this book!
The Apostle Paul Proclaimed
“The Whole Will of God” and “Fully Proclaimed the Gospel”
I’d like to close this third chapter of support for
literal destruction by focusing on an important statement made by Paul the
apostle. Paul is by far the most important figure in the New Testament aside
from Jesus Christ. Over half of the
book of Acts, which is a biblical documentation of the early church, is devoted
to Paul’s exploits in ministry. Over one
third of the entire New Testament and over
two thirds of the epistles were actually written by Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (see
2Peter
With this understanding, let’s look at Paul’s statement
which he made to a group of elders from
“Therefore, I declare
to you today that I am innocent of the
blood of all men. (27) For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.”
Paul declares here that he is innocent of the blood of all people because he faithfully proclaimed “the whole will of God” or, according to the King James Version, he declared “all the counsel of God.” Paul backed this statement up in his letter to the Romans:
ROMANS 15:19b
So from
Why was Paul “innocent of
the blood of all men”? Simply because everywhere he went he fully proclaimed the gospel – the whole counsel of God. Paul didn’t hide
anything that the Lord revealed to him, he didn’t hide any aspect of the gospel
message – he shared it all. He was
thus innocent of “the blood” of all people.
My point is that if Paul fully proclaimed the whole
counsel of God, as scripture verifies, then he would have certainly mentioned something somewhere about unrepentant
sinners suffering eternal conscious torment if
this doctrine were true. This is way too important of an issue to forget to
mention, yet Paul says absolutely nothing about eternal torture anywhere in his
inspired writings or in his exploits as recorded in Acts.
Out of the fourteen biblical letters written by Paul
(assuming he’s the writer of Hebrews) in all but six of them he repeatedly made
very clear statements about the eternal fate of those who reject the gospel of
reconciliation. Although we’ve already looked at many of these passages, let’s
review them here. As you will see, viewing everything Paul consistently taught
concerning the nature of the second death is powerfully illuminating.
Paul fully proclaimed the whole counsel of God by plainly
declaring:
That those who live a lifestyle of unrepentant sin
“deserve death” – Romans
That “all who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law” – Romans
That sin “leads to death”
– Romans 6:16
That sin “results in death”
– Romans 6:21
That “the wages of sin is death” – Romans
That those who live according to the sinful nature “will die” – Romans
That the gospel is foolishness “to those who are perishing” – 1Corinthians
That “in Adam all die”
– 1Corinthians
That those who preach the gospel are “the smell of death” “to those who are perishing” – 2Corinthians
That the Old Testament law “kills” and ultimately brings “death”
– 2Corinthians 3:6-7
That the gospel is “veiled to those who are perishing” – 2Corinthians 4:3
That those who please the sinful nature “from that nature
will reap destruction” – Galations
6:8
That “they will be destroyed”
– Philippians
That “their destiny is destruction” – Philippians
That “they will be punished with everlasting destruction” – 2Thessalonians 1:9
That they “are perishing”
– 2Thessalonians
That “they perish
because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” – 2Thessalonians
That “Christ Jesus… has destroyed death” – 2Timothy
That they are like worthless land that will “in the end… be burned” – Hebrews 6:8
That sins are “acts that lead to death” – Hebrews
That raging fire “will consume the enemies of God” – Hebrews
That those who “shrink back” in unbelief will be “destroyed” – Hebrews
In various ways with various words Paul was sure to
repeatedly declare precisely what
would happen to those who foolishly reject the gospel. He was sure to do this
because God appointed him to fully
proclaim the whole counsel of God.
Paul didn’t hide any aspect of the truth – including the awful truth that those
who reject Christ will be utterly destroyed by the raging, consuming fire of
the Lord. If words have any meaning at all then this is what we must conclude.
Allow me to add that if Jesus supposedly preached eternal torture, as many contend, then Paul would have certainly backed it up. Yet Paul taught no such thing because Jesus taught no such thing, not to mention the bible they taught from – the Old Testament – teaches no such thing.
Lastly, I’d like to point out that, in Acts 20:26-27
quoted above, Paul declared he was “innocent of the blood of all men” because he didn’t hesitate to share the whole counsel of God, including the
unfortunate news of what would ultimately happen to those who reject the
gospel. The very fact that Paul says he’s innocent of the blood of all people is a sure indication that people will actually
die when they suffer the second death. Whether physical blood or spiritual
blood, it doesn’t matter, the fact is that people’s blood will spill on the day
of judgment, which is called “the day of slaughter” in the bible (James 5:5). Gehenna, often translated as “hell” in
English bibles and used as a symbolic reference to the lake of fire, was also
known as “The Valley of Slaughter.” “Slaughter” plainly signifies that blood
will be spilled, and the simple fact is that when blood is spilled people die. Paul’s statement makes
no sense whatsoever if people don’t really perish in the lake of fire, if
people exist forever in conscious torment their blood would not be spilled at
all – they’d still be alive, forever.
THE GREAT LIE:
In light of the colossal amount of scriptural evidence
for literal everlasting destruction that we’ve amassed so far, how could anyone
who knows how to read possibly adhere to the theory of eternal torment? What is
it that prevents adherents of this position from accepting all this evidence
for everlasting destruction literally? After all, don’t they generally adhere
to a literal view of the bible?[19]
Actually there are a number of
reasons why they refuse to take the bible literally on this subject, such as
the influence of religious tradition, denominational allegiance, job security
and pride (we’ll take a closer look at these reasons in Chapter Seven). Yet,
perhaps the strongest reason is that they foundationally adhere to the doctrine
of “the immortal soul,” the teaching that every human being once created can
never cease to live (a less common name for this theory is “the eternal
spirit”). Supporters of eternal torture cannot very well take such words as
“die,” “death,” “destruction,” “destroy” and “perish” literally if they believe
that it is impossible for people to cease living.
Anytime you hear or read of “the immortal soul” spoken of as an unquestionable truth it indicates that the person is an adherent of eternal torment. For instance, simply scan the “Statement of Faith” of various Christian organizations – whether it’s for a church, denomination, magazine, college or website – and you’ll quickly be able to determine if they officially adhere to the doctrine of eternal torture. If they believe in “the immortal soul” they consequently must believe in eternal torture as well. If this is the case, their Statement of Faith will usually read something like this: “We believe in the immortality of the soul, that the righteous shall receive eternal life in communion with God and that the ungodly shall suffer eternal separation.” Some may say “eternal punishment” rather than “eternal separation” but, regardless, what they really mean by these words is “never-ending torment in the lake of fire.” You see, because these people believe human beings inherently possess undying souls they have no choice but to conclude that every person will end up either living forever with God in eternal bliss or apart from God in eternal torment. The fact that the bible continually warns that ungodly people will die, be destroyed, suffer death and be consumed by raging fire is rendered completely irrelevant because of the doctrine of the immortal soul.
It is this belief in unconditional human immortality that propels the traditional view of hell as perpetual conscious torture and prevents people from taking the bible literally on the subject.
‘The Immortal Soul’ is Not Taught in the Bible
The fact is that the doctrine of the immortal soul cannot
be found in scripture. You can search in vain all you want, but you’ll find no
scripture in the bible that teaches human beings possess immortality apart from Christ. That’s because this
immortal soul belief did not originate from the scriptures, but rather entered
Judeo-Christian thought through contact with pagan Greek philosophy (Crim 212).
The bible teaches that God alone has immortality (1Timothy
The only support adherents of eternal torment can come up
with for this immortal soul theory is to suggest that human beings are created
“in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27) and therefore have an immortal soul and
cannot die. Their reasoning here is that God is immortal and therefore if human
beings are created in His image then they must be immortal as well – that is,
some core aspect of them, namely the soul (or mind or spirit), must be
immortal. This argument assumes that being created “in the image of God” must refer to inheriting God’s
characteristic of immortality. The obvious problem with this line of reasoning
is that God has other characteristics such as omnipotence (all-powerful),
omniscience (all-knowing) and omnipresence (present everywhere at the same
time), yet we human beings have never possessed any of these characteristics
even though we’re created in the image of God.
God did indeed bless the first man “Adam”[20]
with the gift of eternal life when he created him; Adam had immortality. There
was, however, a condition to maintaining this immortality as God clearly
instructed Adam that if he sinned he would “surely die:”
The Hebrew word translated as “die” in this text is muwth (mooth) which means “to die” or “kill” (Strong 63) and is
repeatedly used in the Old Testament simply in reference to death, including
the death of animals:
The fish in the
EXODUS 14:11a
They said to Moses,
“Was it because there were no graves in
If Adam never sinned he
would have never died. Yet he did sin, and the second that he did, part of him
died – his immortal nature. We know this because the aging process started that
very day culminating in his death many years later (Genesis 5:5). God foretold
Adam’s death immediately after Adam’s fall, “For dust you are and to dust you
will return” (Genesis 3:19c). This helps us to understand why muwth – “die” – is actually used twice in Genesis 2:17; a more literal
translation of this passage would read: “but you must not eat from the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, dying, you will die.”
In other words, the very day Adam sinned part of his being would die, leading
to his eventual demise.
The Hebrew word muwth always indicates that something
has died or will die. It does not mean “separation” as some claim; if God meant
to warn Adam that he would “separate” He would have used the Hebrew word badal (baw-dal’). In Adam’s case the
death of his immortal nature was merely the consequence of a much deeper death
– spiritual death. Spiritual death simply means that the human spirit is dead
to God. If the human spirit is dead to God it is impossible to have a
relationship with Him because the human spirit is the facet of human nature
that “connects” with God. As Jesus said: “God is spirit, and his worshipers
must worship in spirit and in truth” (John
The immediate spiritual
death of Adam and Eve is evident by the fact that they hid from God and were
afraid of Him (see Genesis 3:8-10). Their relationship with God severely
changed when they sinned, meaning the old relationship died. Humankind has been
hiding from God ever since. Like Adam and Eve we’ve tried to cover up our sin
with the fig leaves of religion, but religion can never solve the problem of
spiritual death. That’s why Jesus, the second Adam, taught that we need to be
spiritually born again to have a relationship with God (see John 3:3-6).
So God originally created
human beings with immortality, but it was conditional
immortality. Unfortunately our primeval parents failed to live by this
condition and consequently passed on the curse of sin and death to us all.
For further biblical support that the human soul is not inherently immortal and can indeed
die or be destroyed, let’s go to “the creation text” which describes exactly how God created human beings:
And the LORD God
formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and the man became a living soul.
The word “soul” in this
passage is the Hebrew word nephesh
(neh-fesh’) which is equivalent to the Greek word psuche (psoo-khay’) used in the New Testament.[21]
Psuche is incidentally where we get
the words “psyche” and “psychology.” There’s much theological debate regarding
the exact definition of what a human being is. Yet, if nothing else, we can all
definitely agree that this verse reveals that human beings are, at their core, living souls.
Isn’t this what this text clearly says? God formed the human body from the basic
chemical elements of the earth,[22]
breathed into it the breath of life, and the man became a living soul.
Because humans are
essentially souls, the bible often simply refers to people as such. For
example, “All the souls (nephesh)
that came with Jacob into
In light of this biblical
information it’s obvious that “soul” (nephesh/psuche)
in its broadest sense refers to the whole
person, the whole human being –
spirit, mind and body. In a narrower sense these Hebrew and Greek words for
“soul” can refer to various facets of
human nature. For instance nephesh specifically
refers to a “dead body” in Leviticus 21:11 and Numbers 19:11; in Acts 14:2 psuche refers to the “mind;” and in
Revelation 20:4 psuche refers to
disembodied saints and thus to the entire immaterial facet of human nature –
mind and spirit. (See Appendix B for a more detailed study on the soul and
human nature: spirit, mind and body).
Notice, incidentally, that
the creation text quoted above also speaks of the “life” that God breathed into
Adam. “Life” is translated from the Hebrew word chay (khah’ee) and is
equivalent to the Greek word zoe (zo-ay’) which is used in the phrase
“eternal life” throughout the New Testament.[23]
The kind of “life” (zoe) that God
originally breathed into Adam was eternal
life; but, as we’ve already seen, this God-given gift of eternal life was
conditional. Adam sinned and therefore failed to live by this condition;
consequently, he lost this gift of eternal
life. It’s obvious that he still had life (zoe)
after he sinned, as evidenced from the fact that he lived to be 930 years old,
he just no longer had eternal life (zoe). All of Adam’s descendants – that
is, every person born into this world since Adam – have inherited Adam’s life (zoe) because we’ve all been born in his
likeness and image (Genesis 5:3).[24]
Thus no one born into this world intrinsically possesses eternal life because
we’ve been born of the perishable seed of Adam. The only life (zoe) that people born of the perishable
seed of Adam possess is the temporal life
(zoe) which God “gives all men”
(Acts
1CORINTHIANS
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
This helps us to understand
why Jesus said we must be “born again” to see the
It’s interesting to note that the very same Hebrew word nephesh, translated as “soul” or “being”
in the creation text, is used 29 times in the Old Testament in reference to
animals, although most versions do not translate nephesh as “soul” when used in this manner. For instance, “let the
water teem with living creatures (nephesh)”
and “let the land produce living creatures (nephesh)” (Genesis
The bottom line is that nowhere does the bible state the
human soul, once created, is immortal and can never die. Nephesh, the Hebrew word for “soul,” appears over 750 times in the
Old Testament and psuche, the Greek
word for “soul,” appears over 100 times in the New Testament. These over 850
references should tell us all we need to know about the soul, yet none say
anything about it being immortal by nature. If the immortal soul doctrine is
true, why did God inspire hundreds of
references to the soul without mentioning anything about it being inherently
immortal? On the contrary, as already pointed out, God plainly stated to Adam,
who was a “living soul,” that he would “surely die” if he sinned (Genesis
Obviously this idea that a
human soul cannot die or be destroyed is alien to the God-breathed scriptures.
The bible reveals exactly where this immortal soul belief
originated. Remember what God plainly said to Adam and Eve would be the
consequence of disobedience? He warned that they would “surely die” (again, Genesis
After the unfortunate fall of Adam and Eve, notice what
the LORD God says to Himself:
And the LORD God said,
“The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be
allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
First
of all, God would not say this if Adam already possessed an immortal soul
(unconditional immortality). Secondly, this statement makes it clear that human
beings can obtain unconditional immortality if they eat of the tree of life.
The obvious reason God did not want Adam to eat of the tree of life is because
he was unredeemed. If Adam ate of the tree of life in his unredeemed condition
he would have attained unconditional immortality and thus would have condemned
himself and his descendants to live forever in a fallen, ungodly state (like
the devil and his angels, as we shall look at shortly). The LORD is just,
righteous and merciful and didn’t want such a horrible tragedy to befall
humanity, so he immediately banished Adam & Eve from the garden and was
sure to guard the way to the tree of life (verses 23-24).
The LORD would have to redeem humankind before allowing
us to eat “from the tree of life and live forever.” That’s what the gospel of
Christ is all about. And this explains Jesus’ statement in Revelation 2:7, “To
him who overcomes I will give the right
to eat from the tree of life,
which is in the paradise of God.” Notice clearly that only those who are born
of God and overcome the world by faith (see 1John 5:4) have the right to eat of
the tree of life and live forever. That’s because, as we’ve already seen,
eternal life and immortality are only available through the gospel (2Timothy
Eating of the tree of life may simply refer to the resurrection of the dead unto eternal life. You see Jesus spoke of two different kinds of resurrections:
JOHN 5:28-29
“for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice (29) and come out – those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”
The two different kinds of resurrections are clear: the
righteous – those in right-standing with God – will rise to live; the
unrighteous – those not in
right-standing with God – will rise to be judged and condemned.
Notice clearly that only
the righteous will “rise to live.”
Only the righteous will be granted “life and immortality” (2Timothy
According to 1Corinthians
As you can see, this resurrection unto eternal life is a
resurrection unto unconditional immortality.
Those who “will rise to live” will never
die – for “death has been swallowed up in victory.” Jesus made this clear:
“The people of this
age marry and are given in marriage. (35) But those who are considered
worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be
given in marriage, (36) and they can no
longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since
they are children of the resurrection.”
Firstly,
notice that Jesus speaks of two ages here: “this age” – the present age we’re
living in; and “that age” – the age that is to come of which only those “who
are considered worthy of taking part… in the resurrection of the dead” will
experience. “The resurrection from the dead” in this text only refers to the resurrection unto eternal life, not to the
resurrection unto condemnation.
Secondly,
notice what Jesus says about the righteous people who are worthy of partaking
in this resurrection from the dead: He states that “they can no longer die; for they are like the angels.” This proves
that the resurrection of the righteous is a resurrection unto unconditional immortality. We who
partake in this resurrection “can no longer die;” that is, no matter what,
death – the cessation of life – will never be a possibility for us throughout
eternity. This is supported by Revelation 20:6 which states that the second
death has no power over those who take part in this resurrection, which is
referred to as “the first resurrection.” Since believers will be immortal and
can never die, the second death has no power over them.
Thirdly,
notice that Jesus states the righteous “can no longer die; for they are like the angels.”
Jesus doesn’t say these righteous people would become angels, but that they would be like angels in the sense that they “can no longer die.” This proves
that angelic beings possess the God-given gift of intrinsic unconditional
immortality. No matter what, angelic beings can
never die – even if they choose to rebel against their Creator, like the
devil and his demons. We’ll look at this matter in a moment.
This resurrection unto eternal life and immortality is a
very fundamental aspect of the gospel of Christ. Acts 17:18 states that Paul
preached “the good news about Jesus and
the resurrection” and “for his hope in
the resurrection of the dead he was put on trial” (Acts 23:6).
Unfortunately you won’t hear much emphasis on the resurrection of the dead unto
eternal life in many churches today. It’s more likely you’ll hear about “going
to heaven” when you die, as this belief seems to have replaced the doctrine of
the resurrection unto eternal life in importance. See Chapter Six for a brief
biblical look at the nature of eternal life, i.e. the new Jerusalem, new
heavens and new earth (in the section ‘What
About “You Will Spend Eternity in Either Heaven or Hell”?’).
As noted above, Jesus made it clear that angelic beings can never die, that is, they
intrinsically possess unconditional immortality. Therefore even if some of them
would choose to rebel against their Creator – like the devil and his angels
(Isaiah
So, at the end of this age, what has God decided to
ultimately do with the devil and his angels who have chosen to rebel against
Him and who are, evidently, beyond redemption? The bible teaches that the lake
of fire is an “eternal fire prepared for
the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41b). This passage makes it clear that
God originally created the lake of fire as an eternal habitation for the fallen
angels who decided to reject his Lordship. Revelation
It’s important to point out that, as the above text from
Matthew plainly states, the lake of fire was not prepared for human beings, but
for the devil and his angels. Yes, God will use the lake of fire to execute
“the second death” of human beings as we have already clearly seen, but the
lake of fire was not originally created for people. Obviously the nature of the
lake of fire is such that it will utterly extinguish any being that lacks
immortality.
The devil and his angels, on the other hand, will not
experience death in the lake of fire because they possess unconditional
immortality; the very nature of Gehenna
will torment them. This explains why the lake of fire is never referred to as “the second death” in reference to the fallen
angels; it is only called such in
regards to human beings (e.g. Revelation
Adherents of eternal conscious torture often cite the
above text, Revelation 20:10, to support their view by suggesting that
"the beast and the false prophet” are human beings and this text shows
that they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Their suggestion is
that “the beast” refers to the antichrist and the false prophet is his prophetic
cohort. Well, what does the rightly-divided Word of God teach on this matter?
The antichrist is indeed a human being and is described in scripture as “the
man doomed to destruction” (2Thessalonians 2:3). However, “the beast” from
Revelation
For further proof that the beast and the false prophet
are evil spirits and not human beings, consider Revelation 16:13: “Then I saw
three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the
dragon (Satan); out of the mouth of the beast; and out of the mouth of the
false prophet.” First of all, notice that the beast and the false prophet are
spoken of on a par with the devil himself here; this signifies that they are
evil spirits of the highest ranking, not mere human beings (in fact they may be
separate manifestations of Satan[25]).
Secondly, notice that evil spirits come out of the mouth of the beast and false
prophet just as they come out of the mouth of the devil.
Lastly, the bible shows both the human antichrist and his
human prophetic partner performing awe-inspiring miracles, such as “causing
fire to come down from heaven” (e.g. Revelation 13:1-18 and
At this point some might argue that I’m admitting that
God will allow some of his created
beings to suffer everlasting conscious torment. In light of this, why do I have
such a problem if this were to apply to human beings? Mainly because I
understand what God’s Word clearly teaches from Genesis to Revelation regarding
the eternal fate of ungodly people as revealed in this study. Secondly, because
I am a human being and consequently
have firsthand personal knowledge of the human experience and condition. I
therefore have the capacity to make sound judgments regarding human affairs
based upon the universal moral and judicial instincts that God has granted all
people created in His likeness. And my judgment of this doctrine of
never-ending torture of human beings is that it is a heinous, revolting,
perverse teaching – completely blasphemous to the just, moral, loving, merciful
name of the Almighty. Thirdly, because I am not
an angelic being, have no comprehension of the nature of their existence in
the spiritual realm, and only know about these entities by faith through a
handful of non-detailed passages in the scriptures. I therefore have no
recourse but to trust that God’s eternal judgment of the fallen angels is just
and righteous. Lastly, because the devil is directly responsible for the fall
of humankind and, hence, all the horrible evil and suffering that’s ever been
experienced on earth throughout history. I’m therefore not too overly disturbed
by the idea that he and his colleagues have to suffer forever in a state of
torment. I admit that the thought that any
being has to suffer such a fate is tragic, but I think the devil and his
angels – who, unlike humans, have existed for millennia – were quite aware of
the consequences of their foolish rebellion against the Almighty. Naturally I
can’t help but feel that they perhaps deserve their fate.
Remember Jesus’ statement from Luke 20:35-36 that, at the
resurrection from the dead, the righteous “can never die; for they are like the
angels?” The righteous will become like the angels in the sense that they will
inherit unconditional immortality and
thus will never again be able to die. The righteous will in essence become
“immortal souls;” this is the only sense
that the immortal soul doctrine is biblically valid. The only bad side to this
I can think of is that if any of the partakers in this resurrection should
choose to rebel against God at some point in the age to come, they will have to
suffer the exact same fate as that of the devil and his angels. Why? Naturally
because they possess unconditional immortality and can never die. Let me add
here that I seriously doubt any of the righteous would ever foolishly rebel
against God after their resurrection unto eternal life (no doubt the
everlasting example of the fallen angels will be enough to deter them).. After
all, God would take little joy in creating robots programmed to love and obey him.
I should add here that there are many adherents of literal everlasting destruction who reject this position that the fallen angels will suffer eternal conscious torment in the lake of fire. They believe that such angelic beings will ultimately cease to exist as well, and they present a pretty good argument. I have open-mindedly considered their view on this matter, but am persuaded by scripture in maintaining the position presented above. Regardless, this is a detail matter and should not cause division.
Eternal Life (Aionios Zoe) – What is it
Exactly?
In our study so far we’ve examined countless passages that mention God’s gift of “eternal life” (or “everlasting life”) such as John 3:16 and Romans 6:23.
Yet, what exactly is “eternal life”? What precisely does it mean to possess “eternal life”? Does “eternal life” simply refer to life that lasts forever? To find out we’ll need to dig a little deeper in our study.
First of all, let’s examine the word “life.” As shown earlier in this chapter “life” is translated from the Greek zoe. The popular Greek and Hebrew scholar, James Strong, offers a one-word definition of zoe, stating that it simply means “life” (35). The Greek scholar W.E. Vine states that zoe “is used of that which is the common possession of all animals and men by nature” (368). Vine then cites Acts 17:25 as an example. Let’s go ahead and examine this text, along with the verses that bracket it:
ACTS 17:24-26
“The God who made the
world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in
temples built by hand. (25) And He is not served by human hands, as if He
needed anything, because He Himself gives
all men life (zoe) and breath and everything else. (26) From
one man (Adam) He made every nation
of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times
set for them and the exact places where they should live.”
The apostle Paul, the man God used to write over one-third of the New Testament, is speaking in this passage, and he plainly states that God gives all people zoe. Every human being alive on this earth has zoe – “life.” In fact, as Vine tells us above, animals have zoe as well. The scriptures support this statement because the Hebrew equivalent to zoe, chay, is used in reference to the life of animals:
GENESIS 6:17
“I (God) am going to bring floodwaters on the earth
to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life
(chay) in it. Everything on earth will perish.”
GENESIS 7:15
Pairs of all creatures
that have the breath of life (chay) in them came to Noah and entered the ark.
This agrees with
E.W. Bullinger’s definition of zoe as
“life in all its manifestations, from the life of God down to the life of the
lowest vegetable… Each living person or thing has that portion of it which is
needful for his or its designed position or purpose. Its only one source is
God, who is ‘the living One’ ” (453). This explains why Paul stated “For in Him
we live and move and have our being” (Acts
Bullinger’s initial definition of zoe is “life, the perfect and abiding antithesis of thanatos [death].” This is supported by Paul in Romans 8:38-39 where he lists a series of complete opposites: “For I am convinced that neither death (thanatos) nor life (zoe), neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, (39) neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” As height is the express opposite of depth and angels the antithesis of demons, so zoe is the exact opposite of death.
All this information helps us to understand zoe simply as life – the state of being alive or consciously existing, the express opposite of death. There’s nothing bizarre or mystical about zoe; it refers to “life” and that’s why English bibles unanimously translate zoe as such.
Now let’s examine the word “eternal.” The Greek for “eternal” is aionios (ahee-o’-nee-os) which means “perpetual” (Strong 9) or, more literally, “age-lasting.” This is understandable since aionios is derived from the parent noun aion (ahee-ohn’) meaning “an age” (Strong 9). With this understanding let’s re-examine a passage that uses aion twice, in reference to two different ages:
LUKE 20:34-36
Jesus replied, “The people of this age (aion) marry and are given in marriage. (35) But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age (aion) and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, (36) and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.
Jesus
here speaks of two ages – two aions:
“this age” – the age (aion) that we
are now living in; and “that age” – the age (aion) that is to come which, according to Jesus above, will only be
experienced by “those who are considered worthy of taking part… in the
resurrection from the dead.” The age to come will officially begin when God
creates “a new heaven and a new earth” (see 2Peter
The
apostle Peter incidentally taught that Christians are to be “looking forward”
to this age to come (2Peter
In light of all this information regarding aionios zoe it becomes clear that the phrase “eternal life” in its original Hebraic context refers to “age-lasting life” – “the life of the age to come” or “life in the age to come” (Wright 7). Since the age to come is never-ending, “eternal life” (or “everlasting life”) is a very sound translation.
This helps explain the seeming conflict between biblical passages which state that Christians presently have eternal life and passages which state that eternal life is something that will be granted in the future. For example these two passages clearly show that born-again believers presently have eternal life:
JOHN 3:36
Whoever believes in
the Son has eternal life, but
whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.
1JOHN
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
These next two texts reveal that eternal life is something to be obtained in the future (at the first resurrection):
TITUS 1:2
a faith and knowledge
resting on the hope of eternal life,
which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
TITUS 3:7
so that, having been
justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
These verses adequately explain that Christians “have eternal life” in the sense that we have “the hope of eternal life.”
Jesus makes it clear in this next passage that eternal life is to be obtained in the age to come:
MARK 10:29-30
“I tell you the
truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers and sisters or
mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel (30) will fail to
receive a hundred times as much in this present age (aion) (homes, brothers,
sisters, mothers, children and fields – and with them persecutions) and in
the age (aion) to come, eternal life.
As you can see, perpetual life will be granted to faithful Christians “in the age to come.” This is why Jude stated:
JUDE 21
Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to