Sunday Sermons
Hell and Kind Words
Hell and Kind Words
“Hugh Hewitt, in his book, The Embarrassed Believer, has a chapter he dubs, ‘A few kind words for hell’. He says that in the second half of the 20th century, hell went from being a place to an idea, and not a very persuasive idea at that. Common statements: ‘I’m not into hell’, or, ‘I have trouble with a God who would allow hell’. Let’s face it: Hell is just not politically correct!”(Focus Magazine April 2001, p. 22). Even though some people have desired to remove the doctrine of hell from Christianity, one needs to face up to the fact that the doctrines of heaven and hell both have the full weight of Scripture behind them, especially, of Jesus’ own words. It was He who spoke of the narrow and the broad way (Matthew 7:13-14); the wheat and the chaff, and the unquenchable fire, weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12; 13:42); the place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:44); paradise and torment (Luke 16:19:ff); eternal punishment and eternal life (Matthew 25:46). From time to time we hear about new interpretations of hell, such as the idea that it is not eternal, or is merely symbolic and so on. Yet the prevalent images of hell in Scripture are weeping, gnashing of teeth, unquenchable fire, punishment, torment, outer-darkness and isolation from God and all His blessings. As Lewis notes, “It is quite certain that all these expressions are intended to suggest something unspeakably horrible, and any interpretation which does not face that fact is, I am afraid, out of court from the beginning” (The Problem of Pain p. 125).
Recent Denials of Hell
“It is somewhat surprising to many Bible believers, however, to learn that a growing number of people who believe in God, and who accept as genuine the existence of the soul, are rejecting the idea of an eternal punishment for those who live and die outside the body of Christ. What Edward Fudge espoused over twenty years ago in his volume, The Fire That Consumes, and what more recently published works by such writers as Homer Hailey and F. LaGard Smith espouse, is the idea that ‘the wicked, following whatever degree and duration of pain that God may justly inflict, will finally and truly die, perish and become extinct for ever and ever’ (Fudge, 1982, p. 425). Allegedly, as best-selling author Smith wrote in the foreword of Hailey’s book, God’s Judgments & Punishments, ‘total destruction rather than conscious, ongoing punishment is the dreaded fate which awaits the wicked’ (Hailey, 2003, p. 10). ‘In hell...those who have rejected God and have refused to believe in his Son will be totally wiped out! Completely eradicated. Their existence will come to an abrupt end’ (Smith, 2003, p. 184). According to Smith and other annihilationists, the choice for mankind is simple: ‘Blessed existence versus non-existence’ (Smith, p. 190)” (The Eternality of Hell [Part I] by Eric Lyons, M.Min. and Kyle Butt, M.A.). Available at http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2669.
Matthew 25:46
“To those familiar with Jesus’ statement recorded in Matthew 25:46, it would seem that the question of whether or not the wicked will one day be annihilated, or punished forever in hell, is rather easy to answer. After explaining to His disciples how God will separate the righteous from the wicked at the Judgment (Matthew 25:31-45), Jesus concluded by telling them that the wicked ‘shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life’ (25:46, ASV). For many Christians, this verse settles the issue: the wicked will not be extinguished by God after the Judgment, but will suffer unending punishment. The righteous, on the other hand, will enjoy the bliss of an unending life with God in heaven. Recognizing the fact that if eternal means unending in Matthew 25:46, then their whole theory about what happens to the wicked after the Judgment crumbles, certain annihilationists have alleged that the word eternal has nothing whatsoever to do with time or the unending duration of the afterlife. F. LaGard Smith, just prior to his discussion of (what he calls) “The Tormenting Conundrum of Hell” (chapter 8), stated:In all of its many associations, there is not a single hint of time. To be eternal is to have a lasting nature. To have the kind of qualities which endure despite the passing of time (if, in fact, there is any time at all) (p. 162). To say, then, that we will have eternal life in heaven says nothing about how long we will live in heaven. It’s already begun before we get there! The point is that life in heaven will be a qualitatively different kind of life from the one we have known in earth’s space and time (p. 163; see also Hailey, pp. 132-133). “Eternal fire bespeaks the nature of hell’s fire, not its duration. When we hear Jesus speaking about ‘eternal fire’ there’s no reason to think in terms of clocks or calendars. Time is not the issue. Effect is the issue” (p. 174)” (The Eternity of Hell).
“Eternal”
The claim that the Greek term rendered “eternal” has nothing to do with time or duration is simply not true. Vine simply says that this term “describes duration”. Then he notes, “The predominant meaning of aionios, may be seen in 2 Corinthians 4:18, where it is set in contrast with prokairos, lit., ‘for a season’, and in Philemon 15 “For perhaps he was for this reason separated from youfor a while, that you would have him back forever (aionios)” (p. 43). To argue that the term speaks of the nature of the punishment but not its duration is to needlessly confuse. The term eternal is not only applied to hell, it is equally applied when speaking of eternal life or heaven (Titus 1:2), and God (Romans 16:25 “the everlasting God”). It would be rather silly to ask, is the term “eternal” speaking of God’s nature or duration? The answer is, God’s nature is one of everlasting duration. Thus the nature of heaven is unlimited duration with God and the nature of hell is unending punishment.
“The word aionios is used seventy times throughout the New Testament. Three times it is used to describe God’s eternal nature (Romans 16:26; 1 Timothy 6:16; Hebrews 9:14). It is found over forty times in the New Testament in reference to the unending happiness of the righteous (e.g., John 10:28; Romans 5:21; 6:23; 1 John 1:2). Five times it is used in reference to the punishment of the wicked (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Jude 7). In Matthew 25:46, the word appears twice—once in reference to “eternal punishment,” and once in reference to “eternal life.” Simply put, if the punishment mentioned in this verse is temporary, then so is heaven. Contextually, the two are linked. Just as Jesus expected His disciples to understand heaven as a place of permanent, unending happiness for conscious souls of people, He likewise intended for them to understand hell as a place of permanent, unending torment for conscious souls. The fact that Christ made a special point of repeating aionios in the same sentence requires that we stay with the plain meaning of the word. Both heaven and hell will be eternal (unending!) in duration. If God ‘lives for ever (aion) and ever (aion)’ (Revelation 1:18; 10:6; 15:7), and glory is to be given to Him ‘for ever and ever’ (Revelation 1:6; 4:9-10; 5:13; 7:12), and if the saved ‘shall reign for ever and ever’ with the Lord in heaven (Revelation 22:5), then the wicked assuredly ‘will be tormented day and night for ever and ever’ (Revelation 20:10; cf. Revelation 14:11). ‘Forever and ever’ is ‘the formula of eternity’ (Vincent, 1889, 2:418). As Moses Stuart concluded in his book, Exegetical Essays on Several Words Relating to Future Punishment: ‘If the Scriptures have not asserted the endless punishment of the wicked, neither have they asserted the endless happiness of the righteous, nor the endless glory and existence of the Godhead. The one is equally certain with the other. Both are laid in the same balance. They must be tried by the same tests. And if we give up the one, we must, in order to be consistent, give up the other also’ (1830, p. 57)” (The Eternity of Hell).
Jude 7 “Eternal fire”
Another argument of the annihilationist goes something like this: (1) Sodom and Gomorrah were burned to ashes, and were completely annihilated; (2) in the New Testament, hell is likened to Sodom and Gomorrah; thus (3) hell will not be eternal. “‘Eternal punishment’ will no more be punishment throughout an endless eternity than was the immediate, devastating punishment suffered by the people of Sodom and Gomorrah” (Smith p. 175). Of course, if this argument is true, then suffering in hell will be very short-lived, for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were probably instantly consumed. So how are we to interpret the expression, “Are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire”? Does this mean that since the fire that consumed these cities eventually went out in a couple of days that the fire of hell is very short-lived? This would not agree with Jesus’ comment that the fire of hell is “unquenchable” (Mark 9:46). “But someone might ask, ‘How is eternal used in Jude 7 in reference to the punishment of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if their punishment was simply temporary? Is the word eternal used in a different sense in this passage?’ Although Sodom and Gomorrah’s ‘suffering’ of eternal fire” (Jude 7) is used by proponents of the theory of annihilationism to assert that the wicked will not suffer forever in hell, The term ‘suffering’ (hupechousai—literally to hold under) is a present-tense participle, which asserts that the ancient citizens of the twin cities were suffering at the time that this letter was penned. The eternal fire was not that which was rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah, but that into which they entered at death to suffer eternally’ (Jackson, 2003, 39:30)” (The Eternity of Hell).
“Additional evidence from Jude shows that the example of Sodom and Gomorrah was in no way intended to be construed to teach annihilationism. Within the immediate context of the passage, after mentioning Sodom and Gomorrah, the inspired Jude said: ‘Likewise also these dreamers’ (vs. 8). He next recorded a compendium of sins of which ‘these dreamers’ were guilty. Then, in verse 13, just six verses from the statements concerning the wicked twin cities, Jude commented that these sinners were ‘wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever’. His point was clear: just as the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah once suffered earthly destruction, and were at present enduring continuing punishment (as evinced by the present-tense participle), those wicked men during the time of Jude could look forward to the same darkness and punishment for no less time than ‘forever’ (The Eternity of Hell).
Concluding Comments
“Anyone who thinks that such damnation is excessive or unjust clearly does not know how to measure how great was the wickedness in sinning where it was so easy not to sin” (Augustine).
“Those whose consciences have not yet been awakened to consider as Anselm said, ‘How weighty is sin’ are not yet qualified to give an opinion about it (Hebrews 10:31; 12:29)” (Focus p. 22).
“How could a good and loving God allow a hell? We should ask, ‘How could a just and holy God allow sin into His presence?’”(L.E. Maxwell). That is, the real question is not concerning God allowing people to choose eternal punishment as their fate (Matthew 7:13-14), the real puzzling question is in view of how sin is an direct attack upon God Himself, how can God continue to allow this world to exist and mankind to spurn Him countless times each day?
Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net/mdunagan@easystreet.com
