CIM Briefing Papers
C.I.M. Outline #20
THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF HELL
I. Introduction
A. The Current Controversy: For most of 2000 years of
church history men of faith have held to the teaching of
the eternal punishment of the wicked. Currently, among
evangelical Christians, some scholars of renown are
espousing the position known as annihilationism. This
is the belief that the wicked ultimately cease to exist,
i.e. punishment is not eternal. These men are Clark
Pinnock, John R. Stott, Phillip E. Hughes (now
deceased), and John Wenham. This view is also held by
Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and The
World-wide Church of God (Armstrongism).
B. Main Questions associated with the teaching of Eternal
Punishment, i.e. Hell:
1. Is hell a reality? Can educated people in this day
and age really believe in a literal hell?
2. How can a loving God confine people to such
punishment?
3. Is hell a literal physical place, or does it exist
only in the spiritual dimension?
4. Is hell forever? Or, are its victims ultimately
destroyed?
5. Will people in hell ever have a second chance?
6. Are there degrees of punishment in hell?
7. What is hell like?
II. Main Passages of Scripture (NIV). Emphasis ours.
Isa. 66:24. "...of those who rebelled against me; their
worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they
will be loathsome to all mankind."
Dan. 12:2. "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth
will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and
everlasting contempt."
Matt. 3:7. "...Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?"
Matt. 3:10. "...every tree that does not produce good fruit
will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
Matt. 3:12. "His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he
will clear his threshing floor, gathering the wheat into
his barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
Matt. 5:22. "But I tell you that anyone who is angry with
his brother will be subject to judgement. Again, anyone who
says, `Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone
who says, `You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of
hell."
Matt. 5:29. "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it
out and throw it away. It is better for your to lose one
part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into
hell." (Repeated in vs. 30.).
Matt. 7:13. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is
the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction..."
Matt. 8:12. "But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown
outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth."
Matt. 8:29. "What do you want with us, Son of God? they
shouted. Have you come here to torture us before the
appointed time?"
Matt. 10:15. "I tell you the truth, it will be more
bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than
for that town." (Note this may be a reference to the
destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.) See also Luke 10:14.
Matt. 10:28. "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body
but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who
can destroy both soul and body in hell."
Matt. 11:22. "But I tell you, it will be more bearable for
Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgement than for you." (This
and verse 23 may also be a reference to 70 A.D.).
Matt. 12:32. "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of
Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy
Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or the age
to come."
Matt. 12:36,37. "But I tell you that men will have to give
account on the day of judgement for every careless word they
spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by
your words you will be condemned."
Matt. 13:30c, 40. "...At that time I will tell the
harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles
to be burned. ...As the weeds are pulled up and burned in
the fire, so it will be at the end of the age."
Matt. 13: 47c-50. "Then they sat down and collected the
good fish in baskets, but threw the bad fish away. This is
how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come
and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them
into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth." See also Luke 13:28.
Matt. 18:8,9. "...It is better for you to enter life maimed
or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown
into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge
it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter
life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into
the fire of hell."
Matt. 22:13. "Then the king told the attendants, `Tie him
hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"
Matt. 23:33. "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will
you escape being condemned to hell?"
Matt. 25:30. "And throw that worthless servant outside,
into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth."
Matt. 25:41. "Then he will say to those on his left, Depart
from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared
for the devil and his angels."
Matt. 25:46. "Then they will go away to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life."
Mark 9:43-48. "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 14:21. "The Son of Man will go just as it is written
about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man!
It would be better for him if he had not been born." See
also Matt. 18:6; 26:24; and Luke 17:2.
Luke 16:22b,23a. "The rich man also died and was buried.
In hell, where he was in torment, ... ."
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."
John 3:18. "Whoever believes in him is not condemned... ."
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."
John 5:28,29. "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is
coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice
and come out--those who have done good will rise to live,
and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned."
Acts 1:25b. "[W]hich Judas left to go where he belongs."
Rom. 2:5,6. "But because of your stubbornness and your
unrepentant heart, your are storing up wrath against
yourself for the day of God's Wrath, when his righteous
judgement will be revealed. God will give to each person
according to what he has done."
Rom. 2:8,9b. "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:..." See also vss. 12 and 16.
Rom. 9:22. "...vessels of His wrath---prepared for
destruction."
I Cor. 1:18. "For the message of the cross is foolishness
to those who are Perishing,.. ."
II Cor. 5:10. "For we must all appear before the judgement
seat of Christ, that each may receive what is due him for
the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."
II Thess. 1:9. "They will be punished with everlasting
destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord..."
Heb. 6:2. "...instruction about baptisms, the laying on of
hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement."
Heb. 9:27. "Just as man is destined to die once, and after
that to face the judgement,... ."
Heb. 10:26,27. "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we
have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for
sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgement
and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
Heb. 10:29b, 30.31. "How much severely do you think a man
deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God
under foot... . 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.
Heb. 10:39. "But we are not of those who shrink back and
are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved."
Heb. 12:29. "for our God is a consuming fire."
II Pet. 2:6-9. "...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...if this is so,
then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and
to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgement, while
continuing their punishment."
Jude 7. "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."
Rev. 14:9-11. "If anyone worships the beast 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 in 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 forever and ever." See also 19:3.
Rev. 20:10. "And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown
into the lake of fire of burning sulfur, where the beast and
the false prophet had been thrown. They will tormented day
and night for ever and ever."
Rev. 20:14,15. "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."
III. The Duration of Hell
A. Annihilationism (also called "Conditional
Immortality")
1. Variations (three types)
a. The unsaved cease to exist at physical death.
Immortality is not a characteristic of humans.
It is only acquired at conversion.
b. The unsaved are resurrected for the Last
Judgement, receive their sentence, and then
are condemned to eternal death, which means
that they pass out of existence.
c. The unsaved are resurrected for the Last
Judgement, sentenced to hell, which is of
limited duration depending on the sins in this
life. At the end of the penalty, the wicked
are annihilated. This view reasons that the
sins of this life are of a finite nature,
therefore the penalty is also finite.
2. Arguments
a. The word "destruction" in Scripture means
"cease to exist". Those who hold this
position say it would be strange of Scripture
to speak of the "sinner's destruction" if in
fact they are not destroyed.
b. The imagery of hell as eternal fire is not to
cause pain, but to secure destruction, which
fire is known to do. Fire consumes what it
burns.
c. Eternal punishment would be disproportionate
to sins committed in time. The appeal here is
made to divine justice. Punishment that never
ends does not seem fair. The punishment must
match the crime.
d. The eternal existence of the impenitent in
hell would be hard to reconcile with God's
promises of final victory over evil. In
otherwords, how can Scripture say that every
knee will bow and tongue confess when some
(those in Hell) will not. Metaphysical evil
will still be present in the universe.
B. Eternal Punishment
1. Supporting arguments
(Some of the arguments are logical; some are
Scriptural)
a. For 2000 years of Church History this has been
the teaching of the church. While this is not
an infallible guide to doctrine, a red flag
should always be raised when a teaching
disagrees with what the Holy Spirit has taught
the Church throughout its history. The
majority of the church's great theologians
taught that the punishment of the unconverted
was eternal.
b. "Destruction" does not necessarily mean a final
state of non-existence. It can also connote a
state of existence, and the state is specified
by language qualifying that existence. This
is evident in the following passages: Matt.
10:28, and Luke 12:5. Hence "destruction" can
mean a state of ruin.
c. If Judas' final end was to be his soul's
annihilation how is his final state worse than
if he had never been born? Matt. 26:24.
d. The argument that eternal punishment is
inconsistent with God's character is
contradicted by Scripture. In Rev. 20:10, at
least three individuals are said to be doomed
to eternal punishment (The devil, the beast,
and the false prophet). These too, are finite
creatures who sinned in time, and it says they
"experience no rest day and night." This
language is hardly in keeping with
annihilation. It also says in the same
passage that the same fate awaits the
unrepentitent.
e. In Matt. 25:26, the same word for "eternal" is
used with both "life" and "punishment". Our
Lord is using a parallelism here, and if
"life" is unending, so is the "punishment".
Also, the greek word used here for
"punishment" (kolasis) never means
"annihilation".
f. In Jn 3:36, it says "the wrath of God remains
on him (the unbeliever). The Greek tense
indicates continuing action.
g. The annihilationists fail to explain why there
is an intermediate state, or why the
unbeliever experiences torment in this state.
This is clearly taught in Luke 16, in the
parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
h. Jesus' plea to cut off hands and feet rather
than risk eternal punishment would not make
sense if annihilation were meant. Matt.
18:8,9.
i. How can there be weeping and gnashing of teeth
in hell if annihilation were meant? The
obvious suggestion is conscious pain and woe.
Matt. 22:13, et al.
j. It is incomprehensible how there could be
degrees of punishment (see Luke 12:47-48,
Matt. 11:22,24 and Rev. 20:12,13.) if is
annihilation takes place immediately after
physical death or after the judgement.
k. Romans 2:8,9 says there will be "wrath" and
"anger", and "trouble" and "distress" for
those who do evil. It is difficult to see how
these promises can harmonize with cessation of
existence.
l. I Cor. 1:18 says "For the message of the cross
is foolishness to those who are perishing..."
"Perishing" is present middle voice. The use
of this tense is awkward, even misleading, if
annihilation were meant.
m. Heb. 9:27 definitely refutes the idea that
annihilation occurs immediately following
physical death.
n. The annihilationist argues that "burning up
the chaff with unquenchable fire" in Matt.
3:12 is not one of torment but one of
consuming with a view to annihilation. But
the question remains: why use the word
"unquenchable"? If the chaff is instantly
consumed by the fire there would be no need
for it to be unquenchable!
o. In Isa. 66:24 and Mark 9;47-48 it is said that
"their worm does not die". The worms are
maggots, and it is obviously a figure of
speech. But why say of the unrepentitent that
"their worm does not die", if annihilation is
in view?
p. In Matt. 8:29 it would appear the demons
believe it is conscious torment that is meant
and not annihilation that awaits them.
Q. It escapes us as to just how annihilation can
be conceived of as being punishment. It would
seem to be a great escape!
2. Summation of Arguments
It seems clear that from the abundance of Scripture
that divine judgement is certain, just, and
eternal.
IV. The Justice of Eternal Punishment
A. It is a biblical principle that the penalty inflicted
must be commensurate with the evil done. The
annihilationists charge that eternal punishment is
therefore unjust. Even if we accept this argument,
annihilationism is inconsistent, because the effects of
annihilation are also eternal! In our opinion, those
holding to forms of annihilation do not fully grasp the
righteousness and holiness of God, nor the infinite
offense of sin in His perfectly created universe. The
doctrine of eternal punishment we believe is consistent
with God's character.
B. God is not a sadist who enjoys tormenting people. "God
is not willing that any should perish" (II Pet. 3:9).
The eternal death sentence is retributive in nature.
God not only gives people what they deserve but what
they desire. In the OT, the Children of Israel
succumbed to the Babylonian mystery religions. God
finally said: "You like Babylonian religions so much
I'll send you to Babylon!" When men shut God out of
their lives God simply gives what they themselves have
opted for--eternity without God. Retribution means
that the sinner gets what he deserves; no more no less.
C.S. Lewis said sin is man's saying to God throughout
life, "Go away and leave me alone." Hell is God's
finally saying to man, "You may have your wish." It is
God's leaving man to himself, as man has chosen.
V. What is Hell Like?
A. The imagery
1. Although we cannot be certain, it seems likely that
the Bible's description of hell is given in symbolic
language. The writers are using the most extreme
imagery possible to describe torment, i.e. fire and
darkness, and both these figures are coupled with
adjectives of extremity, such as "unquenchable" fire
and "outer" darkness. While the description may
consist of symbols one should bear in mind that the
reality is far worse.
2. The hellishness of hell is something that sinful
mortals can never fully comprehend. Someone once
said that even a spiritual christian has more in
common with Hitler than with Jesus Christ. What
exactly would a condition be like which is totally
absent of God's presence? A total negation of
common grace?
3. From the biblical description, I think we can
conclude at least the following; Hell will be
solitary confinement, a place of perfect memory
recall concerning all God's revelation, and a
knowledge that he is confined by his own choice. It
will be a place of physical and mental torment, a
place devoid of all pleasure, love, joy, beauty,
sensory perception (except pain), no purpose, no
light, and no hope!
B. Conclusion
We believe the doctrine of annihilationism arises from
time to time as a result of human speculation as to how
we wish God were rather than what His word says He is.
To embrace a doctrine of annihilationism is in our
opinion, a serious departure from orthodoxy. It's view
of deity is clouded and is only a step away from
soteriological universalism.
When one contemplates the many biblical passages on the
subject of eternal punishment there will be two
responses: (1) A hatred for the biblical God, or an
attempt to remake Him. (2) The response of the redeemed
can only be to raise hands heavenward in praise for His
unmerited grace. The redeemed know that they deserve
hell; they know that God's righteous Son experienced the
wrath of God in full measure in their place. To the
extent that believers comprehend the grace of God and
the reality of hell they will have an unending desire to
praise God for all eternity, and they will have an
unending compassion for the most heinous sinner.
"WHERE, O DEATH IS YOUR VICTORY? WHERE, O DEATH IS YOUR
STING?
VI. For Further Study
Blanchard, John. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO HELL?
Buis, H. THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT.
Carty, Jay. PLAYING WITH FIRE: DO NICE PEOPLE REALLY GO TO
HELL?
Helm, Paul. THE LAST THINGS: DEATH, JUDGEMENT, HEAVEN AND
HELL.
Hendricksen, William. THE BIBLE ON THE LIFE HEREAFTER.
Hoekema, A. THE BIBLE AND THE FUTURE.
Morey, Robert. DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE.
Toon, Peter. Heaven and Hell.
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