Theology Series 5: Eternal Punishment - Hell

I’ve never put much thought into “what happens after a Christian dies?” I just always knew I would be with the Lord, however that may look. As I began my studies on surveys of Christian Theology via Erickson’s textbook (Research Profession of Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas); I found his explanation to align with my understanding growing up. Scripture makes it clear to us that when those who believe pass away, they will go to be with the Lord. Believers who pass away will be in, what is called a spiritual intermediate state with the Lord until the New Heavens and the New Earth is established (Revelation 21-22). Paul claims this in 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, “So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are not at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” This verse alone supports the reality that our body will remain in the ground (or in ashes), while the spirit of a Christian will be with Christ until the day of resurrection. At his return, he will cry out and with the sound of the trumpet, the sleeping physical bodies of Christians will be resurrected (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Those who are with Christ will make a great return in our glorified body when Jesus reigns as King forever to usher the new Eden!

On the flip side, unbelievers in their spirit will be in hades—wherein those in hades will “receive the unrighteous for the period between death and resurrection” (Erickson, 2013). They will be held here and suffer in eternal fire until the final judgment. In the final judgment, like believers who will be reunited in body and soul, unbelievers will be reunited in the same manner but instead suffer in their entire being for all eternity in their physical body.

I feel as if Heaven is spoken of quite regularly…in fact there are even numerous songs about eternity for Christians. The glory, the peace of God, the eternal bliss—no more tears, no more suffering. The Bible speaks of Heaven a place of rest (Hebrews 3:11;18; 4:9-11), a place of worship (Revelation 19), and a place of serving God (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:28-30; Revelation 22:3). However, American Christianity tends to shift away from the discussion of the eternality of future judgment or hell, and even in the Christian circle, hell is resisted. Believers and unbelievers have the right to know what eternity awaits them. Especially believers. If we are to preach the Gospel, shouldn’t we know what kind of hell we are desiring for our family, friends, neighbors to be saved from? Unbelievers and even those who think they are a believer unconsciously wait for their eternal punishment…it is the unfortunate, true, and less talked about reality of how eternity unfolds for those who are not in Christ.

So, let’s talk about eternity in hell in regard to the Doctrine of Annihilation. Annihilation is a doctrine where the school of thought believes there is only one class of future existence for believers and unbelievers. Bottomline—those who are saved will have eternal life, and those who are not saved will be annihilated or simply cease to exist; this Doctrine grants that not everyone deserves to have eternal life in Heaven, but also NO ONE deserves endless suffering. There are three primary concepts regarding Annihilation within the eternality of hell:

1. Pure Mortalism – As a result of human life being knit closely to the physicality of this world, when the body dies the whole person becomes nonexistent. This view was never popular amongst Christianity due to its contradiction that man was made in the image of God. In Pure Mortalism, it places humanity just a bit above an animal—thus an easy rejection because it goes against humanity’s creation in the image of God.

Erickson did not give much scripture context to his recollection of BB Warfield’s description of Pure Mortalism. Essentially, there is no life after death for unbelievers. As a Christian or even as a nonbeliever person, you hear this concept and think it’s not that bad to live as the world because hell non-existent. A person can live as they please, for themselves on earth; they receive no eternal reward in Heaven. Their reward was their life.  

2. Conditional Immortality – This concept is common within some Christian circles. It maintains that humanity is naturally mortal—meaning able to die off in hell. But there is a condition as the view indicates, “conditional”. The condition being, if you are going to hell, you will be mortal, so you do not have to suffer punishment. But if you are a believer and deemed for Heaven, you will receive immortality to overcome death and live an eternal life in Heaven.

Here, a person can potentially live as you please on earth, and not be sent to hell—you simply cease to exist. 2 Peter 2:6, “if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly.” is used as an example to say that unbelievers will ultimate be destroyed both soul and body as Jesus “indicates” in Matthew 10:28. There are other scriptural examples that are used from Genesis referencing God’s intention for the mortal body to die.

This view is, in my opinion, common with some Christian circles because it is nice to think that a God as good as God can’t have a hell for people to be eternally punished for just not believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

3. Annihilationism Proper – The death of an unbeliever is the result of sin. This concept says, because humans are immortal in nature based on how God created them, they must have an life after death. In Annihilation Proper, there are two subtypes. The first argues that annihilation is a natural result of an individual’s sin and “sees the extinction of the evil person at death as a direct result of their sin”. Hence Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.” As the unbeliever goes through punishment, they simply wear out and become nonexistent. The second subtype holds that God won’t allow an unbeliever to have eternal life. However, there is still punishment for the sin that was practiced during an individual’s life. This view takes it a step further to say that an unbeliever will only be punished for enough time. Once the time has expired, God will destroy the unbeliever out of existence.

I see this as if one’s life in hell is a burning candle. Once the wax runs out, the candlelight dies and can never be ignited again.

Scripture used to support this view are those verses and passages regarding the expression of “fire” such as Matthew 3:12, 5:22, 18:8-9, 25:41; Luke 3:17; Revelation 20:14-25. Annihilationist’s maintain that the fire in hell isn’t the experience of pain, but the function is to bring destruction an incinerating of unbelievers—to be consumed by fir forever, not tormented forever. Hence the smoke from the fire in Revelation 14:11 is of the burning of mankind.

The three forms of eternal punishment are good food for thought to ponder on, especially as I visualize Luke 16:19-31. I’ve always believed eternal punishment to be eternal, unlike the notion of the personhood of an individual dwindling away after periods of torment. What was the point of walking through the Doctrine of Annihilationism? I wanted to bring to awareness of what I believe many Christians believe today, and if they aren’t believing it, they’re evangelizing as if they believe it—as if it doesn’t matter if unbelievers do not believe because they will just die off with not eternal life reward. Did you know that a higher percentage of people in the world believe in the existence of  heaven more than then believe in the existence of hell? As human beings who have been created by an eternal God to be immortal and for the purpose of experiencing eternity, we will either suffer punishment or delight–both arrangements of God’s glory. Scripture supports this as well. Matthew 25:46 states, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteousness to eternal life.” This gives a clear message on how our life is eternal no matter the result. Revelation 14:11 and 20:10 provide us with assurance that God will judge the unrighteous and will no longer pass mercy. As Erickson states, “Humans were designed to live eternally with God; if they pervert their destiny, they will experience eternally the consequences of that act” (Erickson, 2013). Those who are sent to hell will acknowledge and experience just how perfect God’s justice is (Psalm 76:10), while those who are sent to Heaven will not only acknowledge but soak in God’s perfect peace. I fear that one day, when the time comes, those who I love will hear Jesus say to them, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41)”

Nevertheless hold this truth, God does not find it amusing nor does he find pleasure in the eternal suffering of his unbelieving creation. In Ezekiel 33:11 God declared, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” God created all things to be good and has full intent on restoring his creation to Eden—that is why he sent down his Son. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17). God is not slow in his promises to his children. His Kingdom is coming, we can be sure of it. But his slowness is his long suffering embedded in the love he has for his creation; he is long suffering toward all because he does not desire anyone to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). 

Come now family, friends, and all…judgment is coming but salvation in Christ is here. The decisions that we make in our life now will decide for us the future condition that we will face for all eternity. Our life is just a transitory state that is relatively insignificant when comparing to the eternity that is to come. The veil between Heaven, earth, and hell is thinner than ever. Don’t we feel it…the weight of this pressure caving in? The decision to commit to Christ as far more severe than ever before.

CY