ETERNAL PUNISHMENT

This expression designates the lot reserved for the unrepentant in the world to come (Mt. 25:46). A more used term is “hell” (Latin: “inferior”); This term appears in the Reina-Valera version as a translation of “gehenna.”

Hell is inspired by Eph. 4:9 (Christ descended to the lower parts of the earth, that is, the abode of the dead). In principle it did not have the meaning that is commonly given to it, and which restricts it to the place of torment, but rather it had a meaning equivalent to “Sheol.”

(a) DESCRIPTION.
Where do we find a biblical description of eternal punishment? Among many others we can mention:
Perpetual shame and confusion (Dan. 12:2);
the fire of “gehenna” (Mt. 18:9);
the fire that cannot be quenched (Mark 9:43);
the fiery furnace (Mt. 13:41-42);
the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt. 22:13);
the outer darkness (Mt. 8:12);
the punishment of eternal fire (Jude 7);
the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15), etc.

From all these expressions it is seen that eternal punishment is a horrendous reality. It is true that images are used: fire, darkness, worms, crying, gnashing of teeth, etc. The Scriptures speak to us in human language to give us an idea of the world to come; but the description we find in them is totally different from the grotesque representations of the Middle Ages.

The idea that dominates all these texts is that eternal punishment consists of separation from God, with all its consequences: “Who will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, excluded from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. »

However, regarding the consequences of this exclusion, it must be remembered that eternal punishment will fall on the entire person. The wicked will suffer the penalty of eternal punishment after the resurrection of their bodies, so it is wrong to insist excessively that the above images are mere symbols.

And it must also be remembered that images, symbols, etc., are used to express a reality that is fuller, not less, than that of the symbols themselves. It is evident that the pains of the soul will be spiritual; but it is no less true that the resurrected wicked will receive a punishment that, appropriate to their measure of responsibility, will fall on the fullness of their being (Mt. 10:28).

What is gehenna? This term is the transcription of the Hebrew term. “ge-Hinon”, cursed place where certain Israelites and their unfaithful kings had burned their sons and daughters alive in honor of Molech (2 Kings 23:10).

It seems that in the time of Christ the garbage of Jerusalem was burned there. Jesus used the term “gehenna” to speak of the fire of hell, in the same way that the Scriptures use the terms furnace, darkness, and sulfur in the same sense.

(b) SUFFERING.

The suffering of hell. The biblical texts insist a lot on the ignominy, the torment, the crying, the gnashing of teeth, the tribulation, the anguish, the suffering that the reprobates suffer (Dn. 12:2; Lk. 16:23-24; Mt. 13 :42; Rom. 2:8-9; Jude. 7).

And the apostle John adds: «And the smoke of his torment ascends forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night… and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 14:10-11; 20:10).

How can such sufferings be imagined, and especially how can they be reconciled with the conception of a God of love? Let us point out first that perdition will be caused precisely by the rejection of the love of God; On the other hand, the Lord will not do anything to torment those who did not want his salvation, except to distance them from Him (Mt. 25:41).

Did he not once say to the Israelites who, because of their unbelief, had refused to enter the Promised Land: “And you will know what it is to be deprived of my presence”? (Num. 14:34, Keil-Delitzsch).

(c) AMOUNT.

The punishment will be proportional to the individual responsibility of each person. God is not unjust, and each of the wicked will be judged exactly according to his works (Rev. 20: 12-13; Eccl. 12: 1, 16; Mt. 12:36; Rom. 2:16; Jude. 14-15).

The responsibility of the guilty will be evaluated according to the light received, and those who have sinned without the law will perish without the law (Rom. 2:12).
Cities that rejected Christ’s teachings will be judged much more severely than Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 10:14-15; 11:20-24).

Some will be beaten with few stripes, others with many stripes (Lk. 12:47-48); just as in heaven there will be rewards proportionate to each person’s work (1 Cor. 3:8).

(d) DURATION.

The duration of hell. The Bible assigns an eternal duration to the punishment of the wicked. In Hebrew, as in Greek, the same terms are used to designate eternal life and eternal torment (Dan. 12:2; Mt. 25:46).

It is a fire that cannot be quenched, a worm that does not die (Mt. 3:12; Mark 9:48). See also in other passages the use of the term eternal, in Gk. “aionios” (Mk. 3:29; 2 Thes. 1:9; Heb. 6:2; Jude. 6, 7, 13).

This term appears 71 times in the NT. There are some who think that it only means “of great duration, in relation to the century (aion) to come.” Now, 64 times eternal is applied to the endless glorious realities of the other world: God, the Spirit, the Gospel, salvation, redemption, inheritance, glory, the kingdom, eternal life, etc. And this same word is applied 7 times to perdition. Shouldn’t it also mean an endless reality?

We have seen that in Revelation it is stated that the torment continues “forever and ever” (Rev. 14:11; 19:3; 20:10). And also in the same book this term qualifies 10 times the duration of the existence of God, of his glory, kingdom, and of the kingdom of the elect in heaven (Rev. 1: 6, 18; 11:15; 22 : 5, etc.).

Faced with such statements, we are deeply saddened. Furthermore, it is not possible to doubt the wisdom, love, and justice of God. One day, in his presence, we will understand: “Judgment will turn to righteousness, and all the upright in heart will pursue it” (Ps. 94:15).

(e) ANNIHILATION.

Will not the wicked be annihilated in the world to come? This is not what the Scriptures show, for his torment has no end. However, supporters of “conditionalism” claim that, like God, “he alone has immortality” (1 Tim. 6:16).

He only grants it to those who believe; failing which they would cease to exist. Now, it is true that only the Lord can say: “I am the life” and that to know Him is eternal life (John 14:6; 17:3); this true life is only communicated to the believer (John 3:36; 1 John 5:12).

But the Bible teaches that spiritual death, far from being the absence of existence, is separation from God, and the deprivation of the only true happiness.

Adam and Eve were excluded from Eden after their fall based on Gen. 2:17; the prodigal son was “dead” in his estrangement from his Father (Lk. 15:24 cp 1 Tim. 5:6); the Ephesians had been in his crimes and sins (Eph 2:1,5).

As for the second death that follows the Last Judgment, it is not annihilation but the lake of fire, a place of eternal torment (Rev. 20:10; 21:8; 14:10-11).

(f) ALL SAVED.

Won’t they all be saved one day? Universalists insist on the words “all” in the following texts: “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive… so that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:22, 28; cp Phil. 2:10-11; Rom. 11:32; Col. 1:20).

They say that the triumph of Christ would not be complete if only one creature escaped from his love; One day, they continue, all sinners, and the devil himself, will be saved, after having been purified by the fire of hell (Stroter).

The biblical texts say something very different. Paul says, “In Christ all will be made alive…those who are Christ’s at his coming” (1 Cor. 15:23). In Christ is the key word. Those who are in Christ are believers (Rom. 6:5-11, 23; 8:1; cp. Eph. 2:10; Col. 3:11).

It is evident that we are talking about all believers. Every knee will one day bow before the Lord; that is, everyone, including his enemies, will submit to him. On the other hand, if the sufferings of a purifying fire saved the souls of those who have rejected the gospel here and now, their redemption would not take place through the blood of Christ. And against this cp. Ps. 49:8.

(g) PURGATORY.

Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory.
Purgatory is a fiction of Roman Catholicism. All the biblical passages that deal with the afterlife only present two destinations:
The heaven and the hell,

the wide road of perdition and the narrow gate of life (Mt. 7:13, 14),
the tares thrown into the oven and the wheat put into the heavenly granary (Mt. 13:41-43, 49, 50),
the foolish virgins are left outside and the wise receive entrance (Mt. 25:10, 11),

The unfaithful servant is cast into outer darkness and the faithful servant enters into the joy of his master (Mt. 13:21, 30),
The cursed go to the fire to eternal punishment, the blessed to eternal life (Mt. 13:33-46),

the wicked rich man goes to torment without the power to receive any help; and Lazarus goes to Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22-23);
there is one resurrection to shame and eternal damnation, another to eternal life (Dn. 12:2; Jn. 5:29);

the wicked are thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, and the elect enter the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1-4, 8).
Christ died saying, “It is finished!” (John 19:30).

Man is justified “freely by his grace.” …by faith without works” (Rom. 3:23, 28).
It is not, then, suffering in a “purgatory” that atones for the sin already abolished by the cross (Heb. 9:26; 10:10, 17-18), and from which only the blood of Christ purifies us entirely. (1 Jn. 1:7, 9).

(h) HOW TO ESCAPE.

How to escape hell.
Since the punishment in the world to come is so horrendous, our main interest should be to avoid it at all costs. This is also God’s desire for us, and the condition he has set for it is most simple. He has given his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish (John 3:16).

Everyone who hears his word and believes…has eternal life and will not come into condemnation, but has passed from death to life (John 5:24). “Whoever wants, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17). In short, those who want it go to hell, and those who want it go to heaven.

One day, Christ wept over Jerusalem saying: “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Matt. 23:37). May it be in such a way that he never makes such a reproach to us.