We grieve when someone we love dies. However, if this person was a Christian, our sorrow finds comfort in the hope of eternal life. On the other hand, if the person we loved did not place his faith in Jesus Christ, our grief greatly intensifies because we know he will not enjoy eternity with God and Jesus or with us. Yet an agony far greater than even this grief is believing that someone we knew and loved is suffering eternal torture in hell. Where is comfort for the surviving spouse, parent, child, or friend who believes that every minute of the day their loved one is enduring excruciating pain?
Many Christians believe that a person who dies without Jesus Christ goes to hell immediately at the moment of death. There they burn in the fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. There they will spend eternity writhing in torment over their foolish failure to accept Jesus. This doctrine of punishment may offer incentive for some sinners to seek the Lord, but does it accurately reflect what the Scriptures teach?
This study examines scriptures often used to support the everlasting punishment doctrine and shows they fail to prove this view. If there is any comfort at all in someone dying without Christ, it is that his punishment, according to Scripture, lasts only a short time and then ends for eternity. We offer for your consideration four reasons why the fate of sinners will not involve endless agony in a burning hell.
Incompatible With a Loving God
The doctrine of eternal torment does not agree with the greater and fuller picture painted of God in the Bible. Endless torture, even of the worst sinners, is incompatible with the characteristics of our loving Lord.
The Bible describes God repeatedly in the noblest of terms:
But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness (Psalm 86:15, NIV);
The Lord is very compassionate and merciful (James 5:11); and
God is love (1 John 4:8).
All Bible readers should agree that the plain and oft-repeated statements of Scripture, like those just quoted, picture God as merciful, loving, and just. These, in fact, are among His primary attributes. God loves His creatures, and He does what is equitable and right by them.
However, God's loving and just disposition does not nullify His promise of punishment for sin. Isaiah 66:16 states, "For by fire and by His sword the Lord will judge all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many." In the New Testament writings we find "'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.' So then each of us shall give account of himself to God" (Romans 14:11, 12).
The Bible teaches that God's judgment of sinners results in death and not eternal torment. The love and mercy of God set one of two destinies before humanity: "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
The doctrine of eternal torment, however, attributes to God an action that can never be loving or merciful or just. This doctrine says that our God has planned the horrific, anguished suffering of human beings for ages without end.
Such a plan is inconsistent with the traits of love, mercy, and justice so often attributed to the God of Scripture.
To plan the perpetual suffering of others is not love. To will endless suffering when it achieves no redemptive purpose is not mercy. To condemn any person to infinite punishment for finite sins is not justice.
Reasoning from the big picture of God in Scripture, it is logically impossible to accept the idea of eternal torment for anyone. Beyond this, it is unnecessary to do so from any single Bible text. Those passages often quoted to support the teaching of an eternal hell may easily be understood in a different sense.
Better Explanations
The alternate interpretations offered here harmonize with God's mercy and justice without doing violence either to the context or to the words of these passages.
The first three Gospels speak of everlasting fire and punishment, of a fire that is not quenched:
He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17; see also Mark 9:44);
Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire . . . these will go away into everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:41, 46).
These texts seem to give support for the traditional view of hell. But please note, the fire that will destroy the wicked may be described as "everlasting" and "unquenchable" simply because it cannot be extinguished; it will not cease to burn until its work of destruction and death is completed. Sinners will not escape from that fire because the fire cannot be quenched.
An unquenchable fire may burn itself out. Jeremiah 17:27 speaks of an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem. It burned only a short while in Jeremiah's time. In the same sense, the now non-existent fires of Sodom and Gomorrah are described as "eternal fires" in Jude 7.
The everlastingness of the punishment accurately describes the fire's effect, not its duration. The final punishment for sin is death from which there is no return. Thus, the punishment is everlasting, not the punishing. "'And the day which is coming shall burn them up . . . That will leave them neither root nor branch . . . You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet'" (Malachi 4:1, 3).
Mark 9:43-48 is often cited to support the doctrine of eternal torment. Here the phrase their worm does not die is repeated three times. No biblical support exists for the idea that the "worm" of Mark 9 refers to human consciousness or the human soul. The Greek word for hell in this passage, and in many others in the New Testament, is gehenna. It referred directly to the city dump of Jerusalem, a place where the ever-smoldering flames and the ever-present worms eventually destroyed or consumed everything cast into it.
Jesus' remarks are taken from Isaiah 66:24: "They shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.' The bodies of the condemned were cast into the city dump where they were completely destroyed by fire, decomposition, and worms. "Gehenna" in this way symbolized the final destruction of the wicked.
Another text often cited to support an everlasting, burning hell is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. Details of this parable are taken literally to support this doctrine:
1. Burning torment is for the wicked dead (vv. 23, 24).
2. Abraham's bosom is the home of the righteous (v. 22).
3. Souls in torment can see the eternal dwelling place of the righteous and its inhabitants (v. 23).
4. Communication occurs between Abraham and those in the burning fire (vv. 24-31).
Considering these elements of the parable, it obviously was not intended to be taken literally. In context, Jesus cited this parable when the Pharisees ridiculed Him and His teaching that man cannot serve both God and money (vv. 13, 14). Jesus' judgment of their attitude was, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts" (v. 15). He then related the parable of the rich man and Lazarus to illustate their hypocrisy.
The real meaning of the parable is revealed in the rich man's appeal from hell: "If one goes to them from the dead, they will repent" (v. 30) and Abraham's response: "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead" (v. 31).
Jesus' ministry was a constant fulfillment of "Moses and the prophets," yet the Pharisees rejected Him, ignoring the evidence; and they still rejected Him after His resurrection. This is the important lesson of the parable - not a description of hell and heaven within mutual sight of each other, with interaction between the lost and the redeemed.
The book of Revelation contains language some use to press the idea of never-ending suffering for the wicked. It is important to note closely who will experience what in these verses.
One passage says of anyone who worships the beast, "He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image . . ." (Revelation 14:10b, 11).
One scripture from the Old Testament and one from the New give insight for these verses:
"He [the Lord] said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give
you rest" (Exodus 33:14). There is no rest without the Presence of the
Lord. Unrepentant sinners "cast into outer darkness" are not in the
presence of the Lord and can have no rest. That "rest" spoken of in
Exodus 33:14 is typical of the kingdom of God, as shown in Hebrews 3 and 4.
When Jesus invites, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I
will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28, NIV), He is speaking of the rest
enjoyed by believers in His kingdom.
So, when the passages cited above from the book of Revelation speak of individuals having "no rest day nor night," possibly they are speaking of being eternally barred from the promised kingdom rest, rather than being deprived of rest by unending torture.
Another passage says of the Devil, the beast, and the false prophet, "They will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (20:10b).
Further, Bible students are aware that forever and ever in some texts means merely "as long as the thing shall last." For example, Exodus 21:5, 6 and Jonah 2:5, 6 refer to forever as either a lifetime or no more than three days and nights.
Another revealing passage showing the biblical usage of these terms is Isaiah
34:9, 10: "Its [Edom's] streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust
into brimstone; its land shall become burning pitch! It will not be quenched
night or day; its smoke shall ascend forever." This passage refers to an
event that occurred hundreds of years before Christ.
Notice, then, how these punishments are described: "But the cowardly,
unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and
all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8).
But what about Satan? Will he not suffer throughout eternity in hell? Actually, no! Speaking of what Jesus accomplished by sharing in our humanity, it was so "that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Hebrews 2:14b).
The scriptures reveal that neither lost humanity nor the Devil will be tormented endlessly in hellfire. Wording which sounds that way is symbolic of God's wrath and the finality of judgment. The wages of sin is death, not eternal life in torment (Romans 6:23)!
Everlasting torment would be a gruesome form of immortality, whereas at present, only deity has immortality: "He [God] who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see" (1 Timothy 6:15b-16).
The only human immortality and eternal life known in Scripture come as the gift of God through the gospel of Christ! "[It] has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has . . . brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10).
Many Conclusive Texts
The majority of texts dealing with the fate of the wicked speak with a clear note of finality. Unrepentant sinners will come to their appointed end, which is death, destruction, and annihilation. Notice the words used in the following texts dealing with God's final judgment:
Hebrews 10:27: Fiery indignation will devour the adversaries.
Philippians 3:19: Their end is destruction.
John 3:16: "Whoever believes in Him should not perish," implying that unbelievers will perish.
Ezekiel 18:4: The soul who sins shall die.
Malachi 4:1-3: The wicked shall be burned up, leaving neither root nor branch - only ashes under foot.
Psalm 1:4: The wicked are blown away like chaff.
Proverbs 10:25: The wicked are no more.
Psalm 37:22, 28, 34, 38: The wicked shall be cut off.
Psalm 37:20: "The wicked shall perish . . . into smoke they shall vanish away."
Psalm 37:36: The wicked cannot be found.
These scriptures, and more, paint an overwhelmingly clear picture of what lies ahead for the unbelieving sinner: separation, desolation, destruction, death, annihilation, nonexistence. Matthew 10:28 says God "is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." The foregoing passages show that God is not only able to destroy, He will destroy both soul and body of the wicked.
It is a mistake to establish a doctrine from the doubtful interpretation of difficult verses. Rather, we should let the many clear verses regarding the fate of sinners speak for themselves - unchallenged. It is a mistake to question God's intentions for the fate of sinners, when He has made His righteous judgment so plain and definite.
Positive Motivation the Best
When considering "hellfire and brimstone" tactics to persuade sinners to repent and accept Jesus as Lord, give careful thought to this: The best reasons to trust and obey the Lord do not use the threat of punishment. Instead, they spring from our love for God: "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
It is almost inconceivable that a benevolent God would use the threat of eternal torment to coerce His creatures, to whom He had given the right to choose life or death. Although Luke 14:26-31 teaches us to "count the cost" of giving up the pleasures of this life in preference to the pleasures of the Kingdom of God, it is just as logical to count the cost of not accepting God's salvation. However, it is not right to overstate that cost. The enticing "carrot" of salvation is better motivation than the horror stories of eternal torment.
Positive motivation springs from internal desires, loving relationships, rewards, good examples, and encouragement. Under their influence, we do things because we want to, not from coercion. Negative motivation, on the other hand, is heavy with fear, guilt, and threat. Such persuasion may be effective for short periods, but commonly has no lasting effect.
We should be taught early in life to develop a healthy respect for the judgment seat of God, for "The Lord will judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:30, 31).
However, it is neither biblical nor rational that the threat of eternal torment should be the strongest motivation to be saved instead of a response to the gospel's loving appeal of Jesus Christ, which leads to eternal life.
The goodness of God - not an exaggeration of His wrath - leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:32). How much less would He be pleased to give them everlasting life in torment! God is "longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
To sum up the matter, Yes, God will destroy the wicked. But no, He will not punish them forever!
