Eternal Punishment or Annihilation?
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Name: Tim Jeffries
Eternal Punishment or Annihilation: What Should We Believe?
Due Date: 19/05/2005
Word Count: 3300
Subject: Theology 403Grace and Eschatology
Lecturer: Peter Adam
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Whether hell is eternal punishment or annihilation has been a hotly debated
topic among evangelicals in recent years.1 This essay will seek to show the
differing views on a biblical, historical and systematic level while engaging
with a range of scholars from both perspectives. Finally this essay will draw its
own conclusions based on the information presented.
The Old Testament says very little specifically about hell. It does more
frequently speak of ‘sheol’ which appears to refer of the grave or possibly at
times an intermediate state.2
John F. Walvoord, a traditionalist appealing to texts such as Deuteronomy
32:22, Job 21:30-34, Psalm 94:1-2, 23, Isaiah 33:14-15 and Isaiah 66:24,
believes that the Old Testament clearly teaches divine judgement and
punishment for the wicked and that there ‘is no intimation that this punishment
should not be taken literally and continue eternally.’3 A thorough assessment
of these passages shows that they do point to judgement, but their reference
to eternal conscious punishment is so weak, that they could equally be
appealed to by annihilationists.
1 It is important to state that both these views are seeking to uphold the evangelical tradition by seeing the bible as the ultimate authority in matters of doctrine. In the debate, advocates of the traditional view (eternal punishment) have sought to point the finger at those who hold the view of annihilation and say that they are not taking their bible seriously. However as this essay will show, that is nothing more than an emotive tactic employed by the traditionalists and should not affect people’s judgement on the issue. As Clark H. Pinnock states ‘The fact of the matter is that the issue concerning the nature of hell does not involve the doctrine of biblical inerrancy at all but is entirely a matter of the valid interpretation of texts and of sound theological reasoning.’ (W.V. Crockett, [et al.] Four View on Hell (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992) 39)2 W.V. Crockett, [et al.] Four View on Hell (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992) 14-17.3 Ibid. 18.
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Robert Peterson, another traditionalist, sees two key passages in the Old
Testament. The first is Isaiah 66:22-24, where he finds eternal punishment in
verse 24 where it says that ‘their worm shall not die; their fire shall not be
quenched, and they shall be abhorrent to all flesh.’ Peterson’s view is that the
bodies of those who have rebelled against the Lord are being shamed by
being left on the battlefield, that the worm not dying and the fire not being
quenched point to their fuel not ever being consumed; the destructive work of
the worm and the fire is never complete.4 Annihilationist Edward Fudge
interprets this text differently. He believes ‘the righteous view the “dead
bodies” of the wicked. They see corpses, not living people. They view
destruction, not conscious misery.’5 He understands that the worm does not
die, nor is the fire quenched until their task is done. The point is not that they
last forever, but that they do not die or go out before the body is completely
destroyed. His understanding of this scripture is that it ‘says nothing about
conscious suffering and certainly nothing about suffering forever.’6
Daniel 12:1-2 is Petersons other key passage and he takes verse 2, ‘Many of
those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life,
and some to shame and everlasting contempt’, to mean that those who are
awoken to shame and everlasting contempt will experience eternal
punishment. The word eternal is used for both life and contempt, pointing to
this contempt continuing forever.7 Fudge understands the shame and
contempt to be the destruction of those who rebelled against God, it is eternal
4 E.W. Fudge and R.A. Peterson, Two Views of Hell: A Biblical & Theological Dialogue (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000) 130-133.5 Ibid. 32.6 Ibid. 32.7 Ibid. 133-137.
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in the sense that it will never be reversed, not that it is a process which
continues eternally.8
Fudge claims that as we come to understand the symbols of judgement in the
Old Testament we will be better able to interpret their usage in the New
Testament. He points to the use of fire that none can endure (Nahum 1:6),
God pursuing his enemies into darkness (Nahum 1:8) and his enemies being
consumed like dry straw (Nahum 1:10). He also refers to the total destruction
seen in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and sees this as shaping the usage
of the image in future texts in the Old and New Testaments.9 Pinnock makes a
similar point referring to Psalm 37 where the wicked ‘fade like the grass, and
wither like the green herb’ (v2), the wicked are also ‘cut off’ (v9) are ‘no more’
(v10), ‘like smoke they vanish away’ (v20) and finally they are altogether
destroyed (v38).10
Fudge highlights two other Old Testament passages worth noting. Isaiah
33:10-2411 and Malachi 4:1-312 where there is prophesy about the end times
that points to the wicked being burned up.13
There are some writings relevant to this discussion found in the Apocrypha
and other extra biblical material but space and time do not allow this essay to
assess such material. It would appear anyway that ‘there was no single
Jewish view of hell. Many sources present the destruction of the wicked (e.g.,
8 Ibid. 33.9 Ibid. 26-29.10 W.V. Crockett, [et al.] Four View on Hell (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992) 145.11 Note that verse 15 answers the question of verse 14, only ‘those who walk righteously and speak uprightly.’12 Fudge points out that ‘this all-consuming fire will leave them without “a root or a branch,” an expression which removes any hope of a remnant or a survivor’.13 E.W. Fudge and R.A. Peterson, 31 + 33.
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Wisd. Sol. 4:18-19; 5:14-15), while others speak of everlasting conscious
torment (e.g., 1 Enoch 27:1-3).’14
The New Testament contains many more explicit references to hell, although
again there are a variety of interpretations as to the meaning of these
passages. We turn now to examine the main passages quoted by both the
annihilationists and the traditionalists.
Throughout the New Testament there is much ‘destruction’ language used for
those who have rebelled against God, the annihilationists argue that this
creates a clear picture of annihilation in hell. In Matthew 3:10 John the Baptist
talks of trees being ‘cut down and thrown into the fire.’ In Matthew 7:13-14
Jesus says that the wide gate leads to destruction. In Matthew 7:15-23 it is
Jesus this time speaking of trees that are cut down and thrown into the fire. In
Matthew 10:28 Jesus says of God, ‘fear him who can destroy both soul and
body in hell.’ In Romans 6:23 Paul warns that the ‘wages of sin is death.’ In
Galatians 6:8 (NIV) Paul speaks of reaping destruction. In Philippians 3:18-19
Paul speaks of those who are enemies of the cross of Christ, that ‘their end is
destruction’. Again we have very strong destruction language in 2
Thessalonians 1:5-10, ‘those who do not know God’ and ‘those who do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus’ will ‘suffer the punishment of eternal
destruction’. 2 Peter 3:7 speaks of the ‘destruction of the godless.’ And finally
Revelation 11:18 speaks of the time for judging the dead and God ‘destroying
those who destroy the earth.’15
14 W.V. Crockett, [et al.] 138.15 E.W. Fudge and R.A. Peterson, 37-79.
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Jude 7 and 2 Peter 2:6 present a strong case for annihilation. Jude 7 says
‘Sodom and Gomorrah … serve as an example by undergoing a punishment
of eternal fire.’ And 2 Peter 2:6 concurs when reflecting on how God
condemned those cities to extinction, making them an example of what is
coming to the ungodly. Those cities were totally annihilated, these passages
point to that as an example of what will happen to the ungodly. Fudge goes as
far as to say that ‘this passage defines ‘eternal fire’. It is a fire that destroys
sinners totally and forever.’16
Matthew 8:11-12, Matthew 13:40-43 and Matthew 13:48-50 all speak of
weeping and gnashing of teeth which to the traditionalists refers to an eternal
punishment. However Fudge comments that ‘weeping is a common biblical
symbol for fear, misery or extreme grief- often because of God’s judgement on
sinners.’17 Gnashing of teeth, or grinding of teeth, also has other biblical
appearances that can be used to help its interpretation. We see people
gnashing their teeth who are so angry they are compared to wild beasts who
could devour their victims (Job 15:9; Ps 37:12; Lam 2:16) and in the story of
Stephen we see people become enraged and grind their teeth at him (Acts
7:54). But possibly the most helpful passage from the bible in understanding
these images is Psalm 112:1-10. Verse 10 says, ‘The wicked see it and are
angry; they gnash their teeth and melt away’. So the wicked are angered,
gnashing their teeth and they ‘disintegrate and waste away until nothing of
them is left.’18 Using the background of these images to make his point, Fudge
believes they point to annihilation.
16 Ibid. 71.17 Ibid. 39.18 Ibid. 40.
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The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) is a classic traditionalist passage,
however John Stott points out that this parable is most likely referring to ‘the
so-called intermediate (or interim) state between death and resurrection.’19 It
does not refer to hell or the time of God’s judgement, but Hades or Sheol as it
is referred to in the Old Testament.
Matthew 18:6-9 is a key traditionalist passage. Peterson takes the terms
eternal fire and hell of fire to mean eternal punishment. He comments that the
two destinies are contrast and that ‘Jesus paints a picture of hellfire to warn
his listeners of the pain of God’s judgement. When he speaks of ‘eternal fire’,
he means that the torments of hell will have no end.’20 Opposing this view
Fudge sees the fire as eternal for two reasons; firstly because it is from the
age to come, not this age. Secondly because ‘those who go into it suffer
everlasting destruction. When the unquenchable fire finally destroys the lost,
they will be gone forever.’21
In Matthew 25:31-46 traditionalists see a clear indication that the wicked will
suffer eternal punishment. Verse 41 has the Son of Man sending them into
the ‘eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ Rev 20:10 speaks of
the devil being thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur and tormented day and
night forever and ever with the beast and the false prophet. The eternal
torment of the devil, beast and prophet causes traditionalists to believe that
the wicked who are also sent to this eternal fire will suffer the same fate.
Another key element of this view is the apparent balance of the wording in
19 D.L. Edwards and J.R.W. Stott, Essentials: A liberal-evangelical dialogue (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1988) 31720 E.W. Fudge and R.A. Peterson, 138.21 Ibid. 44.
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verse 46, ‘And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous
into eternal life.’ Annihilationists point out that the nature of the punishment is
not made clear by this passage. It is clear that the punishment will be eternal,
but not exactly what that punishment will look like.22
Mark 9:42-48 picks up the Old Testament imagery of the worm that doesn’t
die and the fire that cannot be quenched. The traditionalist appeals to this as
evidence for eternal punishment, the idea that the ‘forces of destruction will go
on and on acting on the lost.’23 The annihilationist response is that those
seeking to prove eternal punishment are taking this image and using in ways
Jesus did not mean it (see above for the annihilationist reading of this
passage). John Stott notes that ‘the worm will not die and the fire will not be
quenched … until presumably their work of destruction is done.’24
Revelation 14:9-11 is understood as a crucial passage for the traditional view.
Verse 11 says that ‘the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.
There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast …’ Peterson
points to the smoke going up forever and ever and that there is no rest day or
night as signs of eternal punishment.25 On the image of smoke going up
Fudge refers back to Genesis 19:28, here we see Abraham looking out to
where God had recently destroyed Sodom, he ‘saw the smoke of the land
going up like the smoke of a furnace.’ Fudge argues that in the original image
we see something totally annihilated and smoke rising from where it was, he
believes we should see that here also. This image is used again in Isaiah
22 Edwards D.L. and Stott J.R.W., 31723 Fernando A., Crucial Questions About Hell (Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1991) 38.24 D.L. Edwards and J.R.W. Stott, 317.25 E.W. Fudge and R.A. Peterson, 161.
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34:10 where we also see a night and day reference. Fudge argues that the
night and day imagery ‘does not require us to understand that the suffering
lasts all day and all night … or that it lasts for an infinite number of days and
nights. It requires that we understand only that the sufferers are not immune
to their torment at any time of the day or night so long as the torment may
last.’26
Our final biblical text is Revelation 20:10-15. As noted above Peterson
understands that the devil, the beast and the false prophet who are tormented
forever prescribes that anyone else who is thrown into the lake of fire will
suffer the same fate. He understands the second death to mean eternal
punishment.27 Stott however sees the devil, the beast and the false prophet as
‘not individual people but symbols of the world in its varied hostility to God.’28
As the genre of Revelation is a apocalyptic and so full of imagery Stott
encourages us ‘that the most natural way to understand the reality behind the
imagery is that ultimately all enmity and resistance to God will be destroyed.’29
Finally Fudge points to the term second death and comments that ‘rather than
the wicked experiencing a ‘deathless death”, John tells us that there will be a
second death – and that that death itself will die and be no more.’30
It is important to recognise the genre of the book of Revelation at this point in
our study. As a piece of apocalyptic literature one has to be very careful when
trying to draw specific details and clear messages from the text. It is worth
26 Ibid. 76.27 Ibid. 164-165.28 D.L. Edwards and J.R.W. Stott, 318.29 Ibid. 318.30 E.W. Fudge and R.A. Peterson, 79.
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noting that the traditional view is quite reliant on specific direction and details
from the book of Revelation.
Given its name it is not surprising that the traditional view has been the
dominate understanding throughout church history. Major historical
proponents of this view began with Tertullian. His work On the Resurrection of
the Flesh written in A.D. 208 is quite clear that it is biblical for eternal
punishment to last forever. Augustine (354-430 A.D.) also taught that hell was
eternal punishment and coming across the problem of how a body could burn
endlessly without being consumed he decided that God could overcome this
with miracles to keep people alive while being punished. A text from
Constantinople from A.D. 543 declared that ‘If anyone says that the
punishment of devils and wicked men is temporary and will eventually cease,
let him be anathema’.31 Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) refuted the idea that the
punishment of the wicked would cease after some time and believed that it
was just for God to deliver eternal punishment to people for their sins. In his
work Summa Theologiae he responded to the claims of injustice on God’s
behalf of eternal punishment for sins that were committed by finite beings.
Aquinas said that ‘the magnitude of the punishment matches the magnitude of
the sin. … Now a sin that is against God is infinite; the higher the person
against whom it is committed the graver the sin … and God is of infinite
greatness. Therefore an infinite punishment is deserved for a sin committed
against him.’32 Martin Luther (1483-1546) was also an advocate of the eternal
punishment view. He understood that hell to be worse than anyone could
imagine. John Calvin (1509-1564) understood that the bible uses figurative
31 W.V. Crockett, [et al.] 138.32 E.W. Fudge and R.A. Peterson, 121.
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language and imagery to describe the horrors of hell and believed that the
wicked in hell would never know relief. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is well
know for his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and his work
gives the understanding that it was a pleasure for God to torture those who
have rebelled against him forever and that the saved would enjoy it. John
Wesley (1703-1791) believed that hell included both an eternal punishment of
removal from God’s presence resulting in total loss of joy and eternal
punishment by torment of the body and soul.33
Some significant modern advocates of eternal punishment are Francis Pieper,
Louis Berkhof, Lewis Sperry Chafer, Millard Erickson34, G. Bray, K. S.
Harmon, D. Pawson and R. A. Peterson.35
Historically the view of annihilation has not received much attention. Pinnock
believes that the idea of annihilation can be found in the Didache.36 It is
possible that 16:11 refers to annihilation when it says, ‘Then all created
mankind shall come to the fire of testing, and many shall be offended and
perish’37. ‘It was first explicitly defended by Arnobius of Sicca (c. AD 310),
though scholars have detected it earlier, at least in outline.’38 Regardless, the
view didn’t become in any way popular until more recently; ‘it emerged
seriously in English-language theology in the late 19th century and in
evangelical theology in the late 20th century, and has recently been defended
33 Ibid. 124.34 Ibid. 125-126.35 New Dictionary of Biblical Theology Ed T.D. Alexander and B.S. Rosner, (Leicester: Intervarsity Press, 2000) 543.36 W.V. Crockett, [et al.] Four View on Hell (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992) 138.37 Didache English Translation by J.B. Lightfoot.38 New Dictionary of Biblical Theology Ed T.D. Alexander and B.S. Rosner, (Leicester: Intervarsity Press, 2000) 544.
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in detail by E. W. Fudge, J. W. Wenham, E. E. Ellis and D. Powys’39 as well as
John Stott.
It is worth noting that while the bulk of historical evidence points towards the
view of eternal punishment, Fudge finds some supporting data for annihilation
from these historical figures (although it is always refuted by the
traditionalists). On the subject of punishment he notes that Augustine
conceded that ‘where a very serious crime is punished by death and the
execution of the sentence takes only a minute, no laws consider that minute
as the measure of the punishment but rather the fact that the criminal is
forever removed from the community of the living.’40 In this quote Fudge sees
room for annihilation in Augustine’s thinking. Fudge also looks to Jonathan
Edwards for support when he ‘concedes that irreversible extinction would
properly be called “eternal punishment.”’41
Finally we turn to systematic theology and look at the implication that these
opposing views of hell have on other theological ideas.
Stott believes that God’s character of justice fits better with the view of
annihilation. He believes that ‘God will judge people ‘according to what they
have done’ (e.g. Revelation 20:12), which implies that the penalty inflicted will
be commensurate with the evil done.’42 He questions whether an
understanding of hell as eternal punishment is just. ‘Could sins committed in
time really warrant torment consciously experienced throughout eternity?’43
39 Ibid. 544.40 E.W. Fudge and R.A. Peterson, 45.41 Ibid. 46.42 D.L. Edwards and J.R.W. Stott, 318.43 Ibid. 318.
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Fudge has a similar question along the lines of morality, ‘are we to believe
that God, who “so loved” the world that he gave his only Son to die for our
sins (John 3:16), will also keep millions of sinners alive forever so he can
torment them endlessly throughout all eternity?’44 In the doctrine eternal
punishment we see a division between God’s character of justice and of love
that the rest of sound Christian theology can hold together. John Walvoord
argues for the traditional case by saying that those asking these questions
above God’s love and justice have a ‘lack of understanding of the infinite
nature of sin as contrasted to the infinite righteousness of God. If the slightest
sin is infinite in its significance, then it also demands infinite punishment as a
divine judgement.’45
Another systematic concern that annihilationists have with the traditional view
is in the area of metaphysics, Charles Pinnock calls it cosmological dualism.
Essentially the problem is that in ‘what is supposed to be the victory of Christ,
evil and rebellion continue in hell under conditions of burning and torturing. In
what is supposed to be a resolution, heaven and hell go on existing alongside
each other forever in everlasting cosmological dualism.’46 Stott makes the
point that ‘the eternal existence of the impenitent in hell would be hard to
reconcile with the promises of God’s final victory over evil’.47
Another systematic concern with these views arises when linking Christ’s
death on the cross with an understanding of what eternal punishment means.
There are problems for both perspectives here if Christ’s death is a window
44 E.W. Fudge and R.A. Peterson, 81.45 W.V. Crockett, [et al.] 27.46 Ibid. 154.47 D.L. Edwards and J.R.W. Stott, 319.
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into the punishment for the wicked. For the traditional view, Christ doesn’t
experience eternal punishment on behalf of believers. For the annihilation
perspective, could the God-Man be annihilated? Could a member of the
Trinity cease to exist and then be recreated by God? Perhaps we should not
draw a direct understanding of the punishment of the wicked from Christ’s
experience on the cross. He was after all quite different from the average
sinner who will be separated from God in judgement.48
To decide whether we should believe in eternal punishment or annihilation is
a task that must be approached with care and humility. There are many
important factors to consider; a strong historical tradition of eternal
punishment, a broad range of biblical material which comes from many
genres making interpretation complex and systematic concerns for both
perspectives. This essay has been swayed predominately by the argument
made for annihilation due to its biblical weight and handling of Old Testament
imagery used in the New Testament. Also a realistic engagement with hard
texts is something that seems to be found only among the scholars presenting
an annihilationist view and finally the systematic issues raised against the
annihilationist view seemed less convincing than those surround the
traditional perspective.
48 Drawn from a theology lecture by David Powys at Ridley College 18/5/05.
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Bibliography
Crockett W.V., [et al.] Four View on Hell (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992)
Didache English Translation by J.B. Lightfoot
Edwards D.L. and Stott J.R.W., Essentials: A liberal-evangelical dialogue
(London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1988)
Erickson M.J., Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1985)
Fernando A., Crucial Questions About Hell (Eastbourne: Kingsway
Publications, 1991)
Fudge E.W. and Peterson R.A., Two Views of Hell: A Biblical & Theological
Dialogue (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000)
New Dictionary of Biblical Theology Ed Alexander T.D. and Rosner B.S.,
(Leicester: Intervarsity Press, 2000)
New Dictionary of Theology Ed Ferguson S.B. and Wright D.F., (Leicester:
Inter-Varsity Press, 1998)
The IVP Dictionary of the New Testament Ed Reid D.G., (Downers Grove:
InterVarsity Press, 2004)
Bible versions used NRSV and NIV
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