Eternal Torment or Destruction? The Final Destiny of the Wicked in the Bible

In the past thirty years the doctrine of hell has been the subject of much controversy. According to the dominant historic Christian view, hell is a place of eternal conscious torment for rebellious, unbelieving humans (and demons and Satan). Notice that there are five necessary elements to the traditional view of hell:

1. a place in the afterlife,
2. for rebellious humans,
3. who will be conscious,
4. and suffering,
5. forever.

But does the Bible clearly teach eternal conscious torment (ECT)?

Some evangelicals don’t think so. In 1982, Edward Fudge, a lawyer and fervent student of Scripture, published The Fire that Consumes. In that book, Fudge presented a strong biblical case for the view known as annihilationism, or as some call it conditionalism. According to annihilationism, the wicked will receive the punishment they deserve in the afterlife, and then they will be annihilated or they will cease to exist.

But is that just one person’s eccentric views? No. Several early Church Fathers, such as Ignatius, Irenaeus, and Polycarp, spoke of the literal destruction of the wicked. And several modern Christian scholars have either affirmed that view or shown openness to it. Among their ranks are E. Earl Ellis, John Wenham, I. H. Marshall, F. F. Bruce, John Stott, R. T. France, Richard Bauckham, N. T. Wright, John Stackhouse, and Preston Sprinkle. Here’s how Stott expressed himself on the subject:

I do not dogmatize about the position to which I have come. I hold it tentatively. But I do plead for frank dialogue among Evangelicals on the basis of Scripture. I also believe that the ultimate annihilation of the wicked should at least be accepted as a legitimate, biblically founded alternative to their eternal conscious torment.

So what is the biblical case for annihilationism?

Support for Annihilationism

I.  The clear teaching of Scripture regarding the fate of the wicked is found in the most commonly used words in Scripture regarding their fate: death, perish, and destruction. The key words are highlighted in the following verses.

•  Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt. 10:28)
•  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 life. (Jn. 3:16)
•  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:23)
•  For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor. 1:18)
• If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. (1 Cor. 3:17)
• Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Gal. 6:8)
• without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. (Phil. 1:28)
• Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. (Phil. 3:19)
• They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. (2 Thess. 1:9)

II. The Greek words translated death, perish, and destruction, mean death, perish, and destruction. They do not indicate eternal conscious torment. The New Testament was originally written in Greek and the same Greek words used above to describe the fate of the wicked are used below to refer to death and destruction in everyday speech.

• The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” (Matt. 8:25)
• But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. (Matt. 12:14)
• For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. (Matt. 16:25)
• The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. (Matt. 22:7)
• “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. (Matt. 26:52)
• But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. (Matt. 27:20)
• You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” (Jn. 11:50)
• After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. (Acts 5:37)
• We should not test Christ,as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. (1 Cor. 10:9-10)
• Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. (Jude 5)

“In order to compare the usage of apollumi (destroy) in relevantly similar contexts, we may observe that in the Synoptic Gospels whenever this verb is used in the active voice to describe what one person or agent does to another, the intended meaning is always literal killing.” (Peoples, ch. 2, Rethinking Hell.)

Matthew 9:17 (“ruined wineskins”) and John 6:12 (“spoiled food”) are sometimes used as two examples of the Greek word for destruction not meaning literal destruction. But they are not used in reference to humans and they still indicate destruction of the item that used to exist: the wineskin is no longer usable as a wineskin and the food is no longer edible.

III. There is no explicit statement of eternal conscious punishment for condemned human beings in Scripture. Keep in mind the five elements needed to support the traditional view of hell: 1.) a place in the afterlife, 2.) for rebellious humans, 3.) who will be conscious, 4.) and suffering, 5.) forever.

• The story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16 cannot be used to support the traditional view because it does not include an explicit statement of duration. Additionally, the place where the rich man goes is called Hades and according to Revelation 20, Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire which is the second death. Therefore, Hades is a temporary holding place.
• The strongest support for the traditional view of hell comes from Matthew 25:46, Revelation 14:10-11, and Revelation 20:14-15. For interaction with these passages, see my book Surprised by Hell.