As we consider our roles as disciple-makers, we obviously could find no better model than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. His sense of urgency to call people to repentance is reflected in His repeated willingness to warn others about the reality of the coming judgment. It seems clear that Jesus believed in hell and that it motivated Him to beseech those around Him to come to Him for safety.
In the next two articles, we’ll seek to follow the Lord’s lead by (1) pondering the reality of hell; and (2) considering how this reality should influence our interactions with the lost.
So what is hell? In a nutshell, hell is a place of eternal conscious punishment for the wicked.1
1. Hell is eternal. There are numerous ways that the Scriptures communicate this reality. While the Greek word aionios (“eternal”) can refer to a finite period of time, there are three reasons why it is best to take this word to refer to a literal eternity in the case of hell.
First, the New Testament shows eternal punishment to be parallel with eternal life. Matthew 25:46 uses aionios of both punishment and life: “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” A cardinal rule of biblical interpretation is that we shouldn’t assign different meanings to multiple uses of the same word in the same passage, especially uses that are obviously parallel, as in this case. If the life enjoyed by the righteous is literally eternal, so also must be the punishment of the wicked.
Second, there is a usage of aionios that appears to always refer to literal eternity. We know this because of the kinds of realities to which the NT authors apply it. Wherever we find aionas ton aionon, which is translated “forever and ever,” it refers to indisputably literally eternal realities. For example, it is used to describe the duration of God’s glory (Gal 1:5; Eph 3:21; Phil 4:20; 1 Tim 1:17; 2 Tim 4:18; Heb 13:21; Rev 5:13, 7:12), the duration of God’s throne (Heb 1:8), the duration of God’s dominion (1 Pet 4:11, 5:11; Rev 1:6, 11:15), the duration of God’s existence (Rev 4:9, 10; 10:6; 15:7), and the duration of the saint’s reign with Christ (Rev 22:5). In this broader context of usage, it is natural to understand Revelation 20:10 the same way, where John describes the fate of those cast into the lake of fire: they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Third, other passages use broader language to point to the eternality of hell. In Matthew 3:12, John the Baptist refers to the judgment as “unquenchable fire.” That is, fire that cannot be put out. In Mark 9:48, Jesus describes hell as the place “where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” All of these factors taken together indicate an eternal hell.
2. Hell is conscious punishment. The Lord teaches in Matthew 18:8-9: And 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 crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. If hell is not conscious punishment, in what sense would the above teaching hold? The natural sense is that hell is worse that cutting off an appendage or tearing out an eye.
Other NT language strongly implies conscious punishment. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the present of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” Jesus notes repeatedly that hell will be a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” indicating conscious suffering (Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Lk. 13:28). In several of those contexts, He refers to hell as “outer darkness.” Additionally, the NT authors repeatedly use the word “torment” to describe the experience of those who endure the judgment of God (Luke 16:23, 28; Rev 14:10-11; 20:10). Hebrews 10:27-31 speaks of this judgment as utterly fearful. James 5:1-5 describes it as the “coming miseries.”
3. Hell is the destination of the wicked. Who are the wicked? Most people would like to say, “Everyone worse than me.” However, the Scriptures are clear that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). There is none righteousness, not even one (Rom 3:10). The wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…(Rom 1:18).
In other words, hell is the due penalty for the sins of all people. The good news is that God gave His Son as an atoning sacrifice. All who receive Him by faith are justified before God (Rom 3:23-25). However, all who continue in sin abide under the wrath of God (John 3:36).
All this is to say that hell is a punishment perhaps impossible to comprehend. It is the destination of everyone around us who has not repented and trusted in Christ. And the NT authors uniformly affirm that this judgment is just (Explicit: Acts 17:31; Rom 2:2, 5; 2 Thess 1:5; Rev 19:11. Assumed: Matt 5:20-30; 23:33; 24:45-25:46; Mark 9:42-48; Luke 16:19-31; Rom 1:18-3:20; Heb 10:27-31; James 4:12; 5:1-5; 2 Pet 2:4-17; Jude 6-23; Rev 20:10-15).
How should the reality of this coming judgment influence our interactions with those around us? We’ll consider that next time.
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1 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Leicester: Inter-Varsity; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 1149.
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