June 24, 2007

Cawson St. Church of Christ

Hopewell, Virginia

Mural Worthey

 

What About Hell, #2

 

Introduction: Questions about the traditional view

 

In addition to those who deny the existence of hell, others question what seems to be clearly taught in Scripture. Taking each of the following, I would like to discuss whether the traditional view is biblical.

 

1—That Hell Exists. This objection seems to fade in the face of the plain statements made by Jesus himself. See the first message on hell for several of these references. It is difficult to deny that the Bible teaches that hell exists. One can reject the Bible and thus reject the idea of hell. But one cannot accept the Bible and the authority of Jesus Christ and deny that hell exists.

 

R. H. Savage wrote: “If the doctrine of eternal punishment was clearly and unmistakably taught in every leaf of the Bible, and on every leaf of all the Bibles of all the world, I could not believe a word of it. I should appeal from these misconceptions of even the seers and the great men to the infinite and eternal Good, who only is God, and who only on such terms could be worshipped.” (Life After Death, quoted in Four Views on Hell, ed. by William Crockett, 13.)

 

But if one appeals from the prophets to God, then one finds that God (Jesus Christ) said, “These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous unto life eternal.” (Matt. 25:46.) In reality, one must reject the Word of God and appeal to one’s own understanding and thoughts. Isaiah wrote, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, said the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:8-9.)

 

Man often objects to hell based on his thoughts and wisdom.

 

2—The Purpose of Hell. Debate rages over whether hell is punitive or remedial. Is it for the eventual good of man, to purge him of sin and impurities? Or is it for punishment? The largest religious body in the world that confesses Christ believes that hell is to purge man and make him suitable for heaven.

 

Yet, the Bible speaks of hell in terms of punishment.  Again, we appeal to Jesus Christ. He said, “These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous unto life eternal.” (Matt. 25:46.) The Greek word, kolasis, means penal infliction, punishment, or torment. Peter wrote, “For the Lord knows who to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the Day of Judgment to be punished.” (2 Peter 2:9.) “. . . when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the lord and from the glory of his power.” (2 Thess. 1:7-9.) “He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing. . . .” (Heb. 10:28-29.)

 

Hell is most often associated with two other things: punishment and the Day of Judgment. Judgment itself has an immediate association with penalty, punishment and condemnation. Jesus said, Judge not that you be not judged. We should be careful about condemning others or judging them rashly. That is not our role; it belongs only to Jesus Christ. God has committed all judgment to the Son. (John 5:22.)

 

The concept of purgatory is understandable since the spirit of man needs to be perfected. In the resurrection, our mortal bodies take on immortality. The corruptible takes on incorruption. But when do our spirits become perfected? Some religious bodies address this issue by saying that it must occur this side of the grave through sanctification, an act of the Holy Spirit upon the spirit of man. Another body seeks to address the topic by teaching that it occurs on the other side of the grave. Many other religious bodies have no doctrine that addresses the question of the complete sanctification of the spirit of man.

 

The Hebrew writer describes the heavenly Zion by saying: “But you are come unto Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to the innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all men, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. . . .” (Heb. 12:22-24.)

 

There is not much more said on the subject. In conversion, it is the spirit of man that is born again. (John 3:6.) We know that Christians die with imperfect spirits, though in fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. In the scene described above, the spirits of such Christians are made perfect or complete. This must be done in death and the ascension of the spirit to God. This perfection is a work of God just as the immediate change of our bodies is the work of God.

 

3—The Duration of Hell. The traditional view is that hell is forever or eternal. The only other view is that hell is limited in duration. Putting the last point, the nature of hell, along with this consideration, the traditional view is that hell is everlasting punishment. This concept is incompatible with human thought and wisdom. Man reasons that such is unacceptable regardless of what the Bible says.

 

The problem with the question of duration is over the meaning of “forever.” In modern usage, it seems quite simple. We traditionally use the word to mean everlasting. Sometimes, of course, we use the word as hyperbole. We might say, I was stuck in the elevator forever. Or I was in the doctor’s office waiting forever.

 

Another simple issue with the word, aion, which is either translated forever or everlasting, is that it has a beginning. When we speak about the eternal God, we traditionally mean eternality in the past and future. But with hell, we use the word to speak of something having once begun that it will not have an end. But we do not use the word in the same sense in which we speak of the eternity of God, without beginning or ending.

 

In addition, in the Old Testament, we often find the word to mean something less than eternal in duration as well as having a beginning. For example, ordinances were established in the Law of Moses at Sinai and it is said of that ordinance that it is a statute forever in Israel.  (Exodus 27:21, Exodus 28:43, Exodus 29:9, Lev. 17:7, etc.) But we know that all such ordinances were designed to come to an end in the New Covenant. They were not forever in the traditional usage of that word.

 

Why do we traditionally speak of hell as being forever or everlasting? We do so because the context demands it. We admit the above considerations. However, the question is this: Is hell spoken of in the New Testament as being without end? Can aion be so understood? I believe the answer is yes. Note the following.

 

1)      If hell is limited in duration, so also is heaven. But I do not know of anyone who believes that heaven is limited. The word, aionion, is used twice in Matthew 25:46 in reference to everlasting punishment and life eternal.

2)    Paul contrasted things that are temporal with things that are eternal. The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor. 4:18.)

3)    There are no passages that demand a temporal interpretation. They all seem to speak of an ongoing existence. If hell comes to an end, what then? Where are the passages that describe what happens when the punishment of the wicked cease? Do they enter into the presence of God?

 

One author asked, “What human crimes could possibly deserve everlasting conscious torture?” (Clark H. Pinnock, Four Views on Hell, “The Conditional View,” 140.) In modern society, we have celebrities who cry and wail because they are sentenced to two or three weeks for threatening the lives of others for driving drunk and without licenses. Man makes the mistake of thinking that his sins are minor and the punishment is always too severe. Some protest the imprisonment of terrorists, saying that they have the right to lawyers paid for by American citizens whom they seek to kill. Secondly, the Bible does not call it torture. It calls it everlasting punishment.

 

But consider the crimes of mankind that deserve punishment.

1) I saw recently on TV the bodies of living mutilated little children whose arms and legs had been cruelly chopped off with a machete. God said that we should take vengeance, but that vengeance belonged to him. If we do not execute personal judgment upon the evil-doers and God does not, then there is no justice in the world against evil.

 

2) Terrorists who flew airplanes into the world trade center killing about three thousand innocent people. I would remind us that people had to jump from the building to keep from being burned alive. Their bodies hit the tops of store below with a loud thump! They held hands while they jumped from the burning offices.

 

3) Hitler killed about nine million people, all non-Germans, in his madness and self promotion. What sort of punishment would you suggest? Six months in prison with probation for good behavior??

 

4) What about those who have constantly grumble and complain in our churches causing dissension with the poison of their tongues. James said that the destruction power of the tongue comes from hell itself.

 

5) What about those who refuse to submit to the will of God and mock the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? There are Christians who disobey God and refuse to change their sinful behavior.

 

6) What about pedophiles who harm little children in churches?

 

7) What about those who despise and reject Jesus Christ? Paul wrote, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.” (1 Cor. 16:22.)

 

4—Is Hell Literal? The traditional view of hell is that the fire, at least, is literal, physical fire like fires that we know on earth. I object to this component of the traditional view of hell. If the fire in hell is identical to the fires we have on earth, they can be put out. All fires that have burned on earth have been extinguished.

 

If the fires of hell are identical to those on earth, they give off light. But the Bible describes hell as a place of outer darkness. Therefore, the two cannot be the same, or literal, physical fires. Heaven and hell are described using earthly terms. They are symbolic words to give us some idea of the nature of heaven and hell.