Doubt 4a - Final Punishment in Hell
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and nothing more. I will warn you who to fear. Fear him who, after you are killed, has authority to cast you into hell. Yes, fear him!” (Luke 12:4, 5).
The concept of hell is not believed by many in our culture in modern times. Sometimes because they question if there is a God at all, other times because they just can’t fathom a God who would put people in such a place as hell for eternity, to suffer endlessly. Maybe that seems OK for a Hitler, or for Nero, or many others who defied God and hurt many people without shame, but for the generally good person who simply never becomes a Christian? Surely, they won’t suffer in hell for eternity, will they?
Many Bible scholars through the years have said those who reject Christ will suffer in hell forever. They don’t say it out of spite but based on believing Bible verses such as: “If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:47-48). Or from the parable of the sheep and the goats: “Then he will say to those on his left ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” and then in the chapters last verse: “And these will go away into eternal punishment…” (Matt. 25:41, 46).
So, there is this place called hell that appears to last forever, and thus the punishment continues forever; but does that mean the person sent there is there forever? As a comparison, let’s consider death row and capital punishment for crimes committed during this life. And let’s say the government decrees that this process and punishment will stay in place forever. Does that mean the person who goes to death row and who is executed for their crime in punished forever? No. Just because the punishment lasts forever does not mean the one punished will last forever. The Greek word Jesus uses for hell is “Gehenna,” and it was translated from the Hebrew “Valley of Hinnom.” A deep gorge that holds no water, to the southwest of Jerusalem, and it was used for disposing of trash and dead things. In Jesus’ time it’s said it was used as a garbage dump, with fires burning day and night to destroy rotting things. The fires continued, but what was placed there would be burnt up and destroyed.
In the book The Fire That Consumes by Edward Fudge, he makes the point that over and over in the Old Testament and the New, punishment for sin is described as being destroyed, much like the people in Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone when God rained punishment on them.
Psalm 37:38 tells us, “Transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.” Is it possible that although hell may last forever, those who go there may only be punished in accordance with how they’ve lived their life (sin they’ve not allowed Christ to forgive), and once appropriate justice has taken place, once they’ve paid for their sins, they will cease to exist? Doesn’t that fit the nature of God better than eternally being punished, without considering how the person has lived?
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 2:5-11, “Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury…for God shows no partiality.” Jesus says in Rev. 5, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.”
It's hard to cover this topic on one page, so much more needs to be said. My belief is that the God of love will demonstrate his love through rewards for the faithful, and degrees of punishment for the unfaithful. The faithful will spend eternity with God in heaven (a renewed earth), and the unfaithful will spend just enough time in hell to satisfy God’s wrath according to how they lived their life. It’s still separation from God and should be feared!
Cross Point: “Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence, for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12).
The concept of hell is not believed by many in our culture in modern times. Sometimes because they question if there is a God at all, other times because they just can’t fathom a God who would put people in such a place as hell for eternity, to suffer endlessly. Maybe that seems OK for a Hitler, or for Nero, or many others who defied God and hurt many people without shame, but for the generally good person who simply never becomes a Christian? Surely, they won’t suffer in hell for eternity, will they?
Many Bible scholars through the years have said those who reject Christ will suffer in hell forever. They don’t say it out of spite but based on believing Bible verses such as: “If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:47-48). Or from the parable of the sheep and the goats: “Then he will say to those on his left ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” and then in the chapters last verse: “And these will go away into eternal punishment…” (Matt. 25:41, 46).
So, there is this place called hell that appears to last forever, and thus the punishment continues forever; but does that mean the person sent there is there forever? As a comparison, let’s consider death row and capital punishment for crimes committed during this life. And let’s say the government decrees that this process and punishment will stay in place forever. Does that mean the person who goes to death row and who is executed for their crime in punished forever? No. Just because the punishment lasts forever does not mean the one punished will last forever. The Greek word Jesus uses for hell is “Gehenna,” and it was translated from the Hebrew “Valley of Hinnom.” A deep gorge that holds no water, to the southwest of Jerusalem, and it was used for disposing of trash and dead things. In Jesus’ time it’s said it was used as a garbage dump, with fires burning day and night to destroy rotting things. The fires continued, but what was placed there would be burnt up and destroyed.
In the book The Fire That Consumes by Edward Fudge, he makes the point that over and over in the Old Testament and the New, punishment for sin is described as being destroyed, much like the people in Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone when God rained punishment on them.
Psalm 37:38 tells us, “Transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.” Is it possible that although hell may last forever, those who go there may only be punished in accordance with how they’ve lived their life (sin they’ve not allowed Christ to forgive), and once appropriate justice has taken place, once they’ve paid for their sins, they will cease to exist? Doesn’t that fit the nature of God better than eternally being punished, without considering how the person has lived?
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 2:5-11, “Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury…for God shows no partiality.” Jesus says in Rev. 5, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.”
It's hard to cover this topic on one page, so much more needs to be said. My belief is that the God of love will demonstrate his love through rewards for the faithful, and degrees of punishment for the unfaithful. The faithful will spend eternity with God in heaven (a renewed earth), and the unfaithful will spend just enough time in hell to satisfy God’s wrath according to how they lived their life. It’s still separation from God and should be feared!
Cross Point: “Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence, for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12).
Posted in Cross Points