Conflicting Bible Texts About Eternal
Hell
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Perhaps the most
difficult textual conflict in Scriptures concerns
Gods punishment of the wicked. Millions of
Christians assume the wicked will languish with
the devil in hell forever. This is the opposite
of the reward for the righteous living forever
with God in eternal bliss. Of course, an
assumption of eternal hell does not require the
person to believe in immortal souls (not subject
to death), but this detail is not considered
important. To be fair, certain Bible verses seem
to support the concept of an eternally burning
hell. Let us begin this study by considering 1
Peter 3: 18-22 (within all following Bible
quotations, underlines, italics, and insertions
in parenthesis or brackets mine):
1 Peter 3: 18-22 For
Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous
for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was
put to death in the body but made alive by the
Spirit, through whom also he went and preached
to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago
God waited patiently in the days of Noah while
the ark was being built
This text could be
interested to mean that after Jesus died on the
cross, He preached salvation to the wicked
spirits who have been tortured in hell (prison)
since Noahs day. An individual belief about
how God punishes wicked people will influence the
interpretation of 1 Peter 3. So, with Peters
words in mind, consider five passages:
Jude 1:7
In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and
the surrounding towns gave themselves up to
sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as
an example of those who suffer the punishment
of eternal (Greek: aionios) fire.
Revelation 14:11
And the smoke of their torment rises for
ever and ever. There is no rest day or night
for those who worship the beast and his image, or
for anyone who receives the mark of his name.
Revelation 19: 3
And again they shouted: Hallelujah!
The smoke from her [the great whore] goes up
for ever and ever.
Revelation 20:10
And the devil, who deceived them, was
thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the
beast and false prophet had been thrown. They
will be tormented day and night for ever and
ever.
Matthew 18: 8 if
your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it
off and throw it away. It is better for you to
enter life maimed or crippled than to have two
hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal
(aionios) fire.
For those people who
believe that textual conflicts can be resolved by
digging deeply into the catacombs of the original
Greek language, the confusion only gets worse.
Jude and Jesus used the Greek word aionios
to describe fire because aionios generally means
eternal, everlasting, or forever. Notice how aionios
is used in other Bible passages: As Jesus
started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell
on his knees before him. Good teacher,
he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal
(aionios) life? (Mark 10:17)
For God so loved the world that he gave his
one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal (aionios)
life. (John 3:16) Jesus said, But
whoever drinks the water I give him will never
thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become
in him a spring of water welling up to eternal (aionios)
life. (John 4:14)
A man once said to me,
I have proof texts! Jesus said eternal
fire and eternal life and thats
how it is! Im not budging. Do you
understand the problem? If we cherry pick
the Bible and limit our study on Gods
punishment of the wicked to the six passages
presented previously, we leave Scripture in a
state of internal conflict because there are
other Bible verses which have equal authority
that contradict these texts. Truth is proven
true by the harmony that comes from the sum of
its parts. Also, consider these words that
Jesus spoke:
John 6:40 For
my Fathers will is that everyone who looks
to the Son and believes in him shall eternal
life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Luke 14: 13, 14
But when you give a banquet, invite the
poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you
will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you
will be repaid at the resurrection of the
righteous.
John 12: 47, 48
As for the person who hears my words but
does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did
not come to judge the world, but to save it. There
is a judge for the one who rejects me and does
not accept my words; that very word which I spoke
will condemn him at the last day.
Luke 20: 35, 36
But those who are considered worthy of
taking part in that age and in the resurrection
from the dead will neither marry nor be given
in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they
are like the angels. They are Gods
children, since they are children of the
resurrection.
John 5: 28, 29
Do not be amazed at this, for a time is
coming when all who are in their graves will
hear his voice and come out those who
have done good will rise to live, and those
who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
With these five passages
in mind, consider this: If Abel was murdered and
went to Heaven 6,000 years ago, why does he need
to be resurrected at the last day? If
Cain died and went to Hell 6,000 years ago, why
does he need to be resurrected at the end of the
1,000 years?
Some people believe Cain
and Abel will be resurrected to receive new
bodies. This does not make sense to me because
why would Cain need a new body after 6,000 years
in Hell? Why would Abel, Enoch, Elijah, Moses,
and the 24 elders have to wait for the Second
Coming to get a new body? Elijah and Moses
already have new bodies. The disciples saw them
on the Mount of Transfiguration and John saw the
24 elders with new bodies around the throne!
(Luke 9: 30; Revelation 4:4) Advocates for an
eternally burning hell cannot offer a biblical
reason why Abel and Cain are resurrected.
However, when we understand Gods ways and
plans, the Bible reveals why separate
resurrections are needed for the righteous and
the wicked!
This confusion about Gods
punishment of the wicked can be resolved, but the
solution requires some knowledge of the following
four Bible topics: The creation of man, the state
of man in death, the judgment of man, and the
doctrine of restitution. These topics perfectly
fit into a wonderful judicial system because God
is generous, reasonable, fair, loving, and
changeless. Please consider a few summary
statements on these four topics:
The creation of
man and the state of man in death:
The Lord God formed the man from the
dust of the ground and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and the man
became a living being. (Genesis 2:7) After
Adam sinned, God said: By the sweat of your
brow you will eat your food until you return to
the ground, since from it you were taken; for
dust you are and to dust you will return.
(Genesis 3:19) Solomon
wrote, For the living know they will die,
but the dead know nothing; they have no
further reward, and even the memory of them is
forgotten
And the dust returns to the
ground it came from, and the spirit
[breath of life] returns to God who gave it.
(Ecclesiastes 9: 5, 6; 12: 7)
David was astonished at
the power of death: What man can live
and not see death, or save himself from the
power of the grave? (Psalm 89: 48) David
knew that dead people are not in Heaven: It
is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go
down to silence: it is we [the living] who
extol the Lord, both now and forevermore
(Psalm 115: 17, 18) God told Ezekiel, For
every living soul belongs to me, the father as
well as the son both alike belong to me. The
soul who sins is the one who will die.
(Ezekiel 18:4) Paul summarizes the human
condition: For all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God [and all must die
because]
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord. (Romans 3: 23; 6: 23)
The Bible teaches that
man is made of dust. He has no intelligence
before birth and he has no intelligence after he
dies. When a person dies, his body returns to
dust, the gift of life (the spirit) returns to
God, and his soul (his intelligence and
personality) no longer exists. However, when God
resurrects each dead person, He will faithfully
reconstruct that person from His perfect record
of each person. (Ecclesiastes 12: 14; 1
Corinthians 13: 12; 15: 42, 49)
The judgment of
man: The Bible teaches that God has
appointed a time, near the end of the world, when
He will judge mankind. For he [the Father] has
set a day when he will judge the world with
justice by the man [Jesus] he has appointed. He
has given proof of this to all men by raising him
from the dead. (Acts 17:31)
Jesus is the judge:
For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that each one may
receive what is due him for the things while in
the body, whether good or bad. (2
Corinthians 5:10) Every word and deed will be
reviewed. For God will bring every deed
into judgment, including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil. (Ecclesiastes
12:14) Prior to the Second Coming, the eternal
destiny of every person will be determined.
(Revelation 14:19) At the Second Coming, the
wicked dead will not be disturbed, but the
wicked who are alive will be killed. (Revelation
19: 20, 21) The righteous dead will be
resurrected and together with the righteous
living they will be caught up to meet the Lord in
the air. (1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18) The saints
will ascend to the Holy City and reign with
Christ in Heaven for 1,000 years. (John 14: 1-3;
Revelation 20:4)
The doctrine of
restitution: During the 1,000 years the
saints will be given authority with Jesus to
review the record of each wicked person and determines
the amount of suffering which each wicked person
must endure. (1 Corinthians 6: 2, 3) Gods
justice requires that predators must suffer
according to the amount of suffering they causes,
e.g., an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, bruise
for bruise, etc. (Exodus 21; 2 Thessalonians
1:6; Romans 12: 19; Revelation 2: 23)
At the end of the 1,000
years, the Holy City will descend from Heaven
with the saints inside. (Revelation 21:2) All
of the wicked will be resurrected. Revelation
20: 12-15) Jesus will then explain to each wicked
person why He could not save them and He will
also reveal the judgment decreed by the saints,
e.g., the amount of suffering required for
restitution. This declaration will enrage the
wicked. The devil will lead the wicked to attack
the Holy City and fire will fall from Heaven
and Hell will begin. (Revelation 20: 7-10) Hell
will linger for each
person according to the length of time determined
by the saints. When justice has been served,
the fires of Hell will go out. (Malachi 4: 1-3)
Then a new Heaven and Earth will be created.
(Revelation 21:1)
Given what the Bible
teaches on these four topics and my desire to
harmonize everything said in the Bible about Gods
judicial system, I understand the following
passages to mean:
Jude 1: 7
In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and
the surrounding towns gave themselves up to
sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as
an example of those who [will] suffer
the punishment of eternal [the age of
unquenchable] fire.
Revelation 14: 11
the smoke of their torment
rises [for as long as they burn] for ever
and ever. There is no rest day of night
for those who worship the beast and his image, or
for anyone who receives the mark of his name.
Revelation 19: 3
And again they shouted: Hallelujah!
The smoke from her [the great whore] goes up
[for as long as she burns] for ever and ever.
Revelation 20: 10
And the devil, who deceives them was thrown
into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast
and the false prophet had been thrown. They will
be tormented day and night [for as long as
needed] for ever and ever.
Matthew 18: 8 If
your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it
off and throw it away. It is better for you to
enter life maimed or crippled than to have two
hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal
[the age of unquenchable] fire.
To be continued.
Larry Wilson
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