The Teaching of the New
Testament
We now turn to the New Testament with the greatest interest, for here full light is shed upon every theological subject; here the ideas that have their beginnings in the Old Testament are fully developed; here are the teachings of the Son of God himself, and of the apostles to whom Christ gave the promise that they would be led into all truth.
1. The Gospels
First then, we study the teachings of Jesus, and discover that eternal punishment is prominent in them. The fact that the loving and wise Savior has more to say about hell than any other individual in the Bible is certainly thought-provoking. As W.T.G. Shedd, whose chapter on "Hell" in his Dogmatic Theology is one of the best on the subject, says, "The strongest support of the doctrine of Endless Punishment is the teaching of Christ, the Redeemer of man. Though the doctrine is plainly taught in the Pauline Epistles, and other parts of Scripture, yet without the explicit and reiterated statements of God incarnate, it is doubtful whether so
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awful a truth would have had such a conspicuous place as it always has had in the creed of Christendom . . . . Christ could not have warned men so frequently and earnestly as He did against 'the fire that never shall be quenched,' and 'the worm that dieth not,' had He known that there is no future peril to fully correspond to them. That omniscient Being who made the statements respecting the day of Judgment, and the final sentence, that are recorded in Matthew 25:31-46, could neither have believed nor expected that all men without exception will eventually be holy and happy . . . . Jesus Christ is the Person who is responsible for the doctrine of Eternal Perdition. He is the Being with whom all opponents of this theological tenet are in conflict. Neither the Christian church, nor the Christian ministry are the authors of it."1 The Christian doctrine of eternal punishment is Christ's doctrine; we believe it because he taught it. Even some of the antagonists of this doctrine will admit this. For example, Theodore Parker in his Two Sermons says, "I believe that Jesus Christ taught eternal punishment . . . . I do not accept it on his authority."2
Since we believe in eternal punishment above all because of our Lord's teachings, nothing is more important than a careful study of what he said on the subject.
The bulk of Jesus' teaching on the subject is found in the Gospel according to Matthew. The first place that Jesus mentions eternal punishment is in the Sermon on the Mount. There, speaking of the seriousness of hatred, he says, "But I say unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire" (Matthew 5:22). Shortly afterward in the Sermon, in connection with his comment on the adulterous nature of a lustful look, he says,
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"And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell. And if thy right hand causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body go into hell" (Matthew 5:29-30). In both of these passages, hell is a translation of the Greek word "Gehenna." It is worth noticing that Jesus here speaks of the body going into hell, and of its condition there being so terrible that the loss of an eye or a hand for life would be far less severe. Later in the same sermon Jesus is comparing a human life to a tree, and he says, "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire" (Matthew 7:19). A few verses later, speaking of shallow professors of faith, he says that in the Judgment Day he will say to them, "I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:23). It is important to notice that separation from Christ is stated as being a part of the punishment of the wicked in the life to come.
In commending the faith of the centurion, Jesus says, "But the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 8:12). Hell is described in terms of exclusion from the heavenly feast, and is said to produce sorrow on the part of those excluded. This passage is omitted in the parallel account in Luke.
In seeking to give his disciples courage, Jesus says, "And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). Both body and soul are said to be destroyed in hell, the word again being a translation of Gehenna. The punishment is obviously severe, being much worse that physical death.
In condemning the unbelief of his own nation, Jesus says,
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"But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? Thou shalt go down unto Hades: for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in thee, it would have remained until this day" (Matthew 11:22-24). We have the thought of difference of degrees of punishment due to greater or lesser opportunity to know the truth. Notice that Hades is the word that is used, and that it is described as the antithesis of heaven.
Matthew 12 also contains a reference to the eternal consequences of sin: "Therefore I say unto you, Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come" (Matthew 12:31-32). Here we learn that there is such a thing as a sin which shall never be forgiven. This passage has a parallel in Mark 3:29 where the sin is described as an eternal sin.
In the Parable of the Tares, Jesus says, "As therefore the tares are gathered up and burned with fire; so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:40-42). The punishment is described as taking place in a furnace of fire, and the sorrow produced is described by the same formula as in the passage in the eighth chapter. A few verses later, in the verses 49 and 50, in the Parable of the Net, the punishment and the resulting anguish are described in identical words.
In speaking of the serious responsibility involved in dealing with children, Jesus says, "And whosoever shall cause
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one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it were better for him if a great millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea" (Mark 9:42). These words are found in Mark, and are a parallel to those in Matthew 18:6. Again, it is clearly stated that there is a fate worse than physical death, even if that physical death be of a most horrible kind. Jesus then adds, "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:43-48). This is again from Mark, and the parallel passage is found in Matthew 18:8-9. It is similar except that it uses the phrase eternal fire in place of unquenchable fire. Here we have another instance in which Jesus emphasizes the fact that hell is worse than the loss of a member of the body in this life. Again hell is a translation of the Greek "Gehenna" which is here described as a place of unquenchable fire. Notice also that Jesus here uses the phraseology of Isaiah 66:24 in speaking of the worm and the fire. This is the first passage which we have come to in which Jesus uses the word "eternal" to describe future punishment.
Jesus again refers to hell in terms of exclusion, outer darkness and remorse in the Parable of the Wedding Feast, "Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him out into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 22:13).
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He uses the word "Gehenna" again in his criticism of the Pharisees, "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so ye make him two-fold more a son of hell than yourselves" (Matthew 23:15). Jesus here evidently refers to a hellish nature, and states that there are degrees of such hellishness. Later on in his criticism, Jesus says, "Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell" (Matthew 23:31)? Again the word used is "Gehenna." This phrase probably has the meaning, "from the verdict that consigns to hell" (Lenski). The Parable of the Talents repeats the familiar phrases "outer darkness" and "there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 25:30). The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats which follows that the Talents describes this punishment in the following terms, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). A combination of separation from Christ and eternal fire are here mentioned. Notice that this fire is described as not originally intended for man. Describing the punishment of the same group, Jesus adds, "And these shall go away into eternal punishment; but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46).
In his pronouncement against Judas, Jesus describes the punishment of the wicked by means of another comparison. "The Son of man goeth, even as it is written of him; but woe unto the man through whom the Son of man is betrayed: it were better for that man if had never been born" (Matthew 26:24). According to this passage the fate of Judas will be far worse than annihilation.
All the passages in Matthew that deal with the subject have been considered, along with parallel passages in Mark. There are passages in Mark which have no exact parallel in Matthew. Mark 12:40 states, "They that devour widows'
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houses, and for a pretence make long prayers; these shall receive greater condemnation." This is an illustration of the principle that there are degrees of punishment. This same passage is found in Luke 20:47. In Mark 16:16, Jesus says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned."
Luke also has a few relevant passages which have no parallels in the other Gospels. In the Parable of the Waiting Servants, we read "And that servant who knew his lord's will, and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And to whosoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more" (Luke 12:47-48). This illustrates the principle that there are various degrees of punishment depending on the degree of knowledge of God's will.
Luke records the important parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). This parable so clearly teaches the orthodox doctrine of eternal punishment that the opponents of the doctrine are hard pressed to know what to do with it. Hudson, one of the leading advocates of annihilationism, admits that the parable "assumes and implies a judgment, or some kind of retribution after death."3 He goes on to admit that "It teaches, further, that the retribution consists in conscious suffering . . . . The Passage teaches, thirdly, that this suffering follows death at once . . . 'there is a great gulf fixed' implies that the case of the rich man is hopeless."4 Another annihilationist, Whately, admits that "It seems to imply, indeed, very plainly that there is a future state of rewards and punishments."5 Still another, H.H. Dobney, admits that "It teaches a terrible and hopeless state for the
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wicked after death,"6 but he goes on to insist that it doesn't prove that this state is eternal.
The absurd interpretations of some other scholars who try to avoid the obvious teaching of the parable are quite fantastic, and prove to what extent one must go in order to escape the true doctrine as it is so clearly set forth in this parable. For example, the annihilationists Ellis and Reed say, "In this parable, the Jewish priesthood, personated by the rich man, died, the priesthood being abolished."7 Blain has a similar interpretation, although he believes that it is probably the political rather than the ecclesiastical condition for the Jews which is being described.8
The evangelical recognizes the metaphorical nature of the language of the parable, but this in no way detracts from its clear teaching. As Bartlett, a defender of the orthodox position, says "We fail to receive literally the circumstances of dipping the tip of one's finger in water and cooling the tongue, the flame, the lying in Abraham's bosom, the gulf, and even the oral communications between Abraham and the rich man . . . This mode of representation is employed from necessity. We have no language, nor modes of conception, with which to speak of God and heaven and spiritual beings, except the language and conceptions drawn from earth and sense."9 Keeping this in mind, what do we learn from this parable? One important teaching is certainly the impassability of the gulf between the lost and the saved. This is not just scenery, this is one of the fundamental points of the parable. Those who wish to believe in progressive salvation beyond death point out that the rich man now has a concern for his brothers which they believe indicates an improvement of his character. There is no evidence however that he had no concern for his brothers while he was yet in
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this life. More significant is the teaching of Jesus at this point that those who will not believe the testimony of Scripture would not be converted by one who returned from the dead. In other words Jesus doesn't share the optimism of those who think that men will be saved if they are only given a second chance.
There are additional relevant passages in the Gospel according to John. In John 3:16 we have the familiar words, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life." Here is mentioned an awful alternative to possessing everlasting life, which alternative is described as perishing. Perishing is evidently the fate of those who do not believe in Christ. In the passage that follows, those who fail to believe are described as "judged." The idea of judgment certainly carries with it appropriate punishment. John 5:28-29 is a very clear passage, "Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment." To the unbelieving Jews, Jesus said, "Whither I go, ye cannot come" (John 8:21). This is another illustration of the principle that the punishment of unbelief includes exclusion and separation from Christ. Jesus adds, "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:24). In John 15:6 we read, "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." This is certainly an abiding form of punishment. In John 17:12 Jesus describes Judas as perishing and as being the son of perdition.
What conclusion shall be drawn from all of these passages in the Gospels? Our conclusion will depend on who we believe Jesus is. Believing that Jesus is God incarnate, that
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he spoke nothing but the Truth of God, that he had a perfect knowledge of what the world to come is like, we can come to only one conclusion: there is eternal punishment for the wicked. It is an inescapable fact that Jesus, without going to the grotesque extremes to which some of the apocalyptic writers went, places the stamp of his approval upon the general Gehenna concept which had developed during the Inter-Testamental period. He does not oppose this idea of punishment beyond death, he is not silent on the subject; rather, again and again he uses the popular language describing Gehenna to warn men concerning the terrible consequences of sin! Jesus certainly did not teach the doctrine because his Jewish contemporaries taught it, but the fact that Jesus did teach this doctrine proves that although his contemporaries were wrong in so many of their ideas, they were correct in believing in the existence of Gehenna. Jesus' teaching further proves that the Inter-Testamental development of the doctrine was in reality a sound extension of the beginnings of that doctrine which are found in the Old Testament.
When Jesus speaks of such things as the worm and the fire, we believe he was using figurative language. This idea will be developed at greater length later, but at this point note the following observations: Figurative language is used in many places in the Bible; a number of passages can be understood only under such an assumption. Furthermore, Jesus used figurative language on a number of occasions. For example, he said, "I am the door," and "I am the vine." Another reason for considering these descriptions as figurative is that otherwise they would be contradictory. Jesus speaks of hell in terms of fire and also in terms of darkness. These cannot both be literally true. Furthermore, by the very nature of the process involved, literal fire cannot consume a literal body for eternity. The language is evidently figurative, but it stands for a terrible reality! Like the figurative language describing heaven, symbols are used because the
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realities are indescribably terrible on the one hand, and indescribably wonderful on the other.
The teachings of our Savior may be summarized as follows: There are only two ultimate destinies, heaven and hell. The existence of the wicked in the future state is a very terrible reality and endless. Part of the punishment lies in exclusion from the presence of Jesus himself. There are degrees of punishment depending upon the kind of life lived on this earth, and upon the greatness of the opportunities which were neglected.
2. The Apostolic Teaching
In the writings of the Apostle Paul we find that much less is stated about punishment in the future state than was revealed by Jesus. However, his very earnestness in pressing forward to preach the gospel can only be understood as resulting from a strong conviction regarding the serious alternatives which are involved. In Romans 2, Paul speaks of the judgment of God in these words, "So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? 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. God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; . . . All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law" (Romans 2:3-9, 12).
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Having spoken of the Christian as a temple, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:17, "If any man destroys the temple of God, God shall destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, and that temple you are." He speaks again of the judgment in 2 Corinthians 5:10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." According to 1 Thessalonians 5:3, there will be a judgment day which will bring destruction to some, "When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape." 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 is one of the clearest passages in which Paul speaks of future punishment, "God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power." Notice again in this passage, as in the teachings of Christ, the element of the eternity of the punishment and of separation from Christ.
The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews is also deeply concerned about a judgment which shall result in severe punishment to the unsaved. "For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard" (Hebrews 2:2-3). He considers "eternal judgment" as a fundamental of the faith, "Wherefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on unto perfection; not laying again a foundation
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of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the teaching of baptisms, and of the laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgments" (Hebrews 6:1-2). Of this judgment he says, "And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Even as Christ taught, so also the punishment to those who reject Christ, is, to the writer to the Hebrews, something worse than death. "Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people."It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:28-31). He concludes, "But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul" (Hebrews 10:39).
Peter, in his second Epistle, writes on the subject in very forceful language. "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment (2 Peter 2:4-9).
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The word "hell" here is a translation of Tartarus, the Roman and Greek equivalent of the Hebrew conception of Gehenna. A few verses later, Peter adds, "But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done (2 Peter 2:12-13a). "These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them" (2 Peter 2:17). "It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them" (2 Peter 2:21). In this last passage an inference is made as to the degrees of punishment based on the amount of knowledge of the way of salvation.
Jude writes, "And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire" (Jude 6-7). "They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 13-15). Notice especially in these passages the everlasting nature of the fire and the darkness.
In the Revelation given to John by Jesus Christ, a great deal is said about eternal punishment. In chapter 14:9-11, "A third angel followed them and said in a
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loud voice: If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name" (Rev. 14:9-11). In chapter 20:12-15 we read, "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." In Revelation 21:8 we read, "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." In Revelation 22:11 we read, "Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy." This last passage indicates a permanence of condition.
Of these passages in Revelation, Dearmer, a bitter opponent of the doctrine of eternal punishment, says, "In the splendid imagery of this great book the sharp contrast between heaven and hell is unmistakably set forth, and we can hardly wonder that the doctrine of eternal punishment was
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established from it in ages that imagined it to be the work of that Beloved Disciple who would reflect in a special way the most intimate thought of Christ."10
These passages from the Epistles and Revelation give evidence that the apostles follow their Master in teaching the serious alternatives of life. They teach clearly the fact of judgment, resulting in eternal life or eternal death, which is not a cessation of existence, but rather an existence in which the lost experience the terrible results of their sins. They teach that this existence is endless. The New Testament is very reserved in its descriptions of this state of punishment, especially in comparison to some other literature on the subject such as the non-canonical apocalyptic literature and also some later commentators. Nevertheless, the New Testament leaves the inescapable impression that this state is very real and highly undesirable.
Because there are so many who deny that the word "eternal" means endless, it will be profitable to make a careful study of the meaning of that word. In the Greek, it is the word aionios which in the Bible is rendered eternal or, less frequently, everlasting. This word in turn comes from the word aion meaning primarily "the age." The classical Greek writers such as Homer used it in reference to the period of a man's life. However, by Plato aion was used of the Eternal Being as compared with Time. Aristotle used the word to describe the ultimate principle of existence. The Hellenistic Jewish translators of the Septuagint used the word in both the older classical sense and in the later Platonic sense. Examples of the older usage are Deuteronomy 15:17, "Then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for ever," and 1 Samuel 27:12, "Achish trusted David and said to himself, "He has become so odious to his people, the Israelites, that he will be my servant forever." The later Platonic sense is found in
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such passages as Micah 4:5, "For all the peoples walk every one in the name of his god; and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God for ever and ever." And Daniel 12:3, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."
The New Testament divides all of history into the present aion and the aion which is to come. The Greek language contains no other word which better describes the concept of endlessness. Aionios is used in the New Testament sixty-six times: fifty-one times of the happiness of the righteous, two times of the duration of God and his glory, six other times where there is no doubt as to its meaning being endless, and seven times of the punishment of the wicked. Aion is used ninety-five times: fifty-five times of unlimited duration, thirty-one times of duration that has limits and nine times to denote the duration of future punishment. A clear example of the usage of the word to express endless duration is found in 2 Corinthians 4:18, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." It is true, (especially in the writing of the Apostle John), that the word is often used to describe the quality of existence, rather than as having a quantitative aspect. However, the very nature of this quality presupposes endlessness. The strongest evidence that the word aionios is meant to teach the endlessness of the punishment of the wicked is in the fact that the same word is used to describe the blessed life of the godly. In a number of passages the two uses of the word lie side by side. Only a violent twisting of meaning can lead to any other conclusion than this: if aionion describes life which is endless, so must aionion describe punishment which is endless. Here the doctrine of heaven and the doctrine of hell stand or fall together. W.R. Inge says, "No sound Greek scholar can pretend that aionios
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means anything less than eternal."11 It should also be mentioned that the endless duration of the punishment doesn't depend entirely on the translation of aionios since there are such statements in the Bible as "the fire is never quenched" and the "worm never dies." Baron von Hugel states that in the New Testament "There is everywhere an assumption or an implication of man's life here below as a choice between immense alternatives with corresponding abiding consequences."12 He also says, "If we follow the New Testament the essence of hell lies assuredly above all in its endlessness."13
It must be recognized that the King James Version translated some words describing punishment in too strong a sense. For example, some places where the King James Version has "damn," the American Standard translators felt that a more accurate translation is "judged." Also "Hades," even where it has a neutral connotation, is in the King James Version, rendered "hell."
Plumptre, who would like to disprove the endlessness of hell, if possible, says of universalism, "It fails to prove that the element of duration is, as has been maintained, altogether absent from the word which defines the divine law of retribution as eternal in its issues."14 An even more significant admission is made by Dearmer, who is an opponent of the doctrine of eternal punishment. After trying to detract as much as possible from the meaning of the Greek words involved, he states, "There are however in the Synoptics, and especially in Matthew, passages which, however accurately they are translated, are inconsistent with the teachings of Christ."15
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He then goes on to argue that these passages are not the words of Jesus, basing his arguments on the conjectural solutions of the synoptic problem advocated by liberal scholars. He insists that the Gospels are not to be considered inerrant.
The crux of the problem here comes to view. The orthodox doctrine of inspiration and the doctrine of eternal punishment stand or fall together. The only way to escape the doctrine of eternal punishment is to deny the infallibility of Scripture, and to deny that it is the one rule of faith and practice, which is historically a cardinal doctrine of Protestant churches. A man like Savage in his book "Life and Death is at least honest when he writes "If the doctrine of eternal punishment was clearly and unmistakably taught in every leaf of the Bible, and on every leaf of all the Bibles of the all the world, I could not believe a word of it. I should appeal from these misconceptions of even the seers and the great men to the infinite and eternal God, who only is God, and who only on such terms could be worshipped."16 Other opponents of the orthodox doctrine give evidence of the fact that their positions are not squarely based on Scripture. For example, C.F. Hudson describes the purpose of one of his books to be "To meet the convenience of those who rely, for their views of future life, upon their reading and interpretation of the Scripture."17 A little later, however, he admits that he doubts if an exclusively Scriptural argument will prove satisfactory to very many, however clearly it may appear to be made out.18
Let us return for a moment to Dearmer's statement that the doctrine of eternal punishment is inconsistent with the teachings of Christ. The question must be asked, "But what are the teachings of Christ?" Are they the teachings which have been recorded by the evangelists, or are they whatever
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parts of the record we happen to like? The second alternative is hopelessly subjective, yet it is the premise upon which Dearmer bases his statement. This is not the place to enter into the complex subject of higher criticism. Suffice it to say that the denial of the authenticity of parts of Scripture is not based on scientific facts, but on theories, theories often influenced by the desire to deny certain teachings of the Scriptures.
Chapter 4 || Table of Contents
1. W.G.T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1888), pp. 675, 676, 680.
2. Bartlett, Op.Cit., p. 15.
3. As quoted in Bartlett, Op.Cit., p.219.
4. Ibid., p. 222.
5. Ibid., p. 227.
6. Ibid., p. 227
7. Ibid. (In Bible vs. Tradition, p.214), p.225.
8. As quoted in Bartlett, p. 225.
9. Ibid., pp. 223, 224.
10. Percy Dearmer, The Legend of Hell (Cassell and Co., London, 1929).
11. Inge and others, What is Hell? (Harper and Bros., New York, 1930), p.6
12. Ibid., p. 11.
13. Ibid., p. 7.
14. E.H. Plumptre, The Spirits in Prison (London, Isbister and Co., 1898), p. 14.
15. P. Dearmer, Op. Cit.
16. A.H. Strong, Systematic Theology (Philadelphia, The Judson Press, 1907), p. 1035.
17. Bartlett, Op. Cit., p. 20.
18. Ibid., p. 21.