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INTRODUCTION
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Initially, we believed that annihilation is true and that the traditional view of eternal conscious torment (ECT) in hell is unbiblical. So, we set out to prove that the traditional view is incorrect. However, after looking at many verses in the Bible, we have found that there is some truth in both doctrines and some things that we disagree with. In our view, both doctrines are not entirely correct. We have also found that proponents of these doctrines tend to surmise and form their views based on things that are not directly or strictly said in the Bible. Thus in writing this article, we have tried our best to avoid making the same mistakes, that is, if it is not clearly stated in the Bible, we would try not to assume, surmise or infer. If it is not stated, then it is simply not stated. Let us briefly discuss the said doctrines related to the issue of ECT in hell.
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BRIEF DISCUSSION ON TYPICAL DOCTRINES RELATED TO ECT IN HELL
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Annihilationism – The main idea of annihilationism holds that those who are not saved by God will cease to exist upon their physical deaths. Others believe that in annihilationism, the saved will only cease to exist (or annihilated) after they have paid the penalty for their sins in hell, that is, their souls are unable to perish until they have suffered for their sins. But once they have paid for their sins in full, they will be extinguished forever. Thus, whether the unsaved is annihilated immediately upon physical death or annihilated after some time in hell, all of the unsaved will eventually cease to exist. In other words, their conscious torment in hell will be limited and not everlasting.
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Conditional Immortality (Annihilationism): The idea of conditional immortality is that all humans are not immortal. They are only immortal on condition that God gives them immortality, that is, only true believers will live on forever because immortality is a gift given only on condition of true faith in Christ. As for those who have not been given eternal life, they will cease to exist when they are cast into hell to be destroyed. And because they cease to exist, their conscious torment in hell will not be eternal. Therefore, conditional immortality can also be referred to as annihilationism or closely related to annihilationism.
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Traditional View: From what we understand, the traditional Christian view holds that hell is a place far beneath the surface of the earth where those who are not saved are tormented continuously without ceasing for all of eternity. In that place there are gnawing worms, unquenchable fires and darkness. Once there, no escape or mitigation of ECT is possible. In our opinion, this traditional view is unbiblical and unreasonable for the most part and those who hold this view are misreading the Bible. With sincerity, we hope their misreading was not on purpose. But let us discuss this further.
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ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY
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According to some theologians, a sin committed against an infinite God deserves an infinite punishment. We agree with this idea as it seems reasonable. But till today, we have not found any verse in Scripture that clearly supports this. To them, infinite punishment means ECT in hell. In the Bible, there are verses that support conscious torment, but its duration is not mentioned, and there are also verses that support eternal punishment, but nothing is said about conscious torment. The only verse that gives the clearest indication of ECT in hell is found in Revelations 14:11. But even this verse has a limited scope in that only a particular group of unbelievers is mentioned. Let us now go through some of the commonly used verses that tell us about hell and see if they speak of ECT in hell, keeping in mind the principle that if it is not clearly stated in the Bible, we should not assume, surmise or infer.
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Daniel 12:2 (NASB95) states:
(2) Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
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Daniel 12:22 Commentary: In Dan 12:2, nothing is said about ECT or annihilation. The group who is very likely unsaved, only wakes up to disgrace and everlasting contempt. How is that even alarming at all to the wicked or to those who hate God? They would probably take their disgrace and everlasting contempt and wear it like a badge of honor But let us read on.
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Matt 3:12 (NASB95) states:
(12) His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
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Matt 3:12 Commentary: It is obvious, despite John’s use of symbols, that a separation process is coming. Those who are saved are His wheat, and those who are not saved are the chaff that will be thrown into the fire to be burnt up. But there is no mention of ECT by John the Baptist, not even symbolically. In fact, the phrase, “He will burn up the chaff” indicates annihilation and destruction rather than eternal conscious torment. Physically, wheat chaff is very flammable. Even if a pile of chaff is sprayed with water, it can still be burnt up in no more than an hour.
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Matt 10:28 (NASB95) states:
(28) Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both the soul and body in hell.
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Matt 10:28 Commentary: A straightforward statement by Jesus without the usage of symbols or metaphors. He told His listeners to fear Him who is able to destroy both the soul and the body in hell. Here, the Greek word for “destroy” is, “apollumi” which means full destruction. There is no indication of eternal conscious torment (ECT) at all. The word, “hell” here means Gehenna. Please see our article, “What is Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, Tartarus, Outer Darkness and the Lake of Fire?” for more information. Unlike Sheol or Hades, Gehenna is the Lake of fire, and it is the final destruction.
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Matt 13:41-42 (NASB95) states:
(41) The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, (42) and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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Matt 13:41-42 Commentary: This is another straightforward statement by Jesus. The words, “gather out of His kingdom” tell us that there are some who have blended (infiltrated) into Christian fellowships and into churches but have never truly believed. These false Christians who are stumbling blocks (stumbling blocks are those who influence people to sin) as well as those who are lifestyle sinners will be extracted from among His people and thrown into hell. It is clear from verse 42 that in that furnace of fire, there is conscious torment. But we wish to highlight that there is no mention of its duration, thus the conscious torment may not be eternal.
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Matt 18:7-9 (NASB95) states:
(7) “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! (8) If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. (9) If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.
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Matt 18:7-9 Commentary: Many Bible commentators misunderstand what Jesus was saying here. But we are glad that at least they commented that Jesus was not telling His disciples to mutilate themselves in their fight against sin. The key to understanding verses 8-9 is verse 7. Jesus said in the second part of verse 7, “but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!” Immediately after verse 7, Jesus said, “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off…” We must all think reasonably. how is it possible for a person’s hand or foot or even his eye to cause that person to sin? Even if every part of him is chopped off, there is still the likelihood of him sinning again as long as his head is still on his body. It is the person’s mind that ultimately makes the decision whether to sin or to flee from sin. So, should we chop off our heads as well, just in case? Of course not. Therefore, Jesus was not talking about body mutilation at all. He was referring to people who are close to believers who may be a stumbling block to them. Please read verse 7 again and see that a stumbling block is almost always caused by another human being, not a piece of rock and certainly not body part. Please see Matt 16:23 for more evidence. It is another human who will entice, seduce, influence or persuade believers to sin, and it is not uncommon that some may be very close to believers. Close relatives, close friends, bosom buddies, sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, fellow “Christians” etc. It is better to cut off relations with such stumbling blocks than to continue having them in their lives and be cast into fiery hell. The more they try to influence believers to sin, the more likely believers will eventually sin. Nonetheless, readers will notice that we have not included spouses in the possible removal of stumbling blocks because cutting off relations with spouses is not a simple matter – there are many things for a Christian to consider. Please see our article, “can Christians divorce and remarry?” We have digressed from our discussion about ECT. So back to our topic, here in these verses, we see that the fire of hell itself , is eternal (v8). But the duration of those who will be burning in hell is not mentioned.
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Matt 25:41-46 (NASB95) states:
(41) “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; (42) for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; (43) I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ (44) Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You? (45) Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ (46) These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
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Matt 25:41-46 Commentary (I): To summarize Matt 25:41-46, those who are truly Christians will love the brethren and care for them when they need help. Not to digress, in order to disprove ECT in verse 46, we need to discuss the words, “eternal punishment.” Is “eternal” really never ending or just “an age?” And is “punishment” a penalty for an offence or does it refer to torment for the unrighteous? The Greek word for, “eternal” is “aionion.” Some argue that aionion can also be interpretated as “an age” or “an agelong” duration. Implying that it may not be never-ending. This is not correct. If we look at John 3:16, it states: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal (aionion) life.” The Greek word for eternal in John 3:16 is also, “aionion.” So if the word, “eternal” in John 3:16 only lasts an age, how would one explain, “shall not perish?” If all of us who believe in Christ, perish after “an age” is over, then Christ is a liar. But Christ always tells the truth. He said very clearly in no uncertain terms that those who believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Believers will not perish in eternal fire but have eternal, never-ending life with Christ. Believers who are now perishable, will one day put on the imperishable (1 Cor 15:53).
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Matt 25:41-46 Commentary (II): Thus, those who say that the word, “eternal” in Matt 25:46 is somehow not really eternal, are certainly misinformed. It is clear from John 3:16 that the Greek word, “aionion” means eternal and never-ending. With regard to the word, “punishment” we have checked 18 different English versions of the Bible (including the KJV, NASB, ESV, and NIV) none of them have a different translation. The word, “punishment” is punishment and not torment – while torment is a form of punishment, punishment may or may not involve torment. It could be a combination of torment and eternal annihilation or whatever punishment that God deems fit for that person. Therefore those who have been separated into the goat category will receive eternal punishment (not eternal torment). They will go the same place where the devil is also going (Matt 25:41) that is, into the eternal fire. The location of this place of eternal fire is the lake of fire (Rev 20:10). Now the devil’s punishment has already been decided – he will be tormented day and night forever and ever. His punishment is clearly a never-ending torment. But the punishment for those in the goat category was not stated. Scripture only says that it will be eternal, and it will be in the lake of fire. Essentially, those in the goat category may not necessarily be receiving the same punishment as the devil.
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ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY II
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Matt 25:14-30 (NASB95) states:
(14) For it is just like a man…
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ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY II
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Matt 25:14-30 (NASB95) states:
(14) For it is just like a man…
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ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY III
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CONCLUSION
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