The problem of some who debate the subject of man’s nature and destiny is to allege that the meaning of “eternal punishment” in Matthew 25:46 -- “and these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” -- indicates the literal eternity, in terms of infinite time, for the lost ones. But things are not so, by no means. Let us see:
a) Actually, the word “eternal” (aionios in the Greek original) is the same for both saved and lost. The question under discussion is related to the aspect of the “eternal” destination of the two groups.
b) They are RELATED in terms of final destination of both, however NOT EQUALED, for there is a contrast between the condition of eternal life of the group of redeemed, and of eternal death of the other group.
c) Christ is establishing the ANTITHESIS of the saved and lost ones and their final destination is, of course, eternal, definitive, for both groups. The word “eternal” is related in both cases, but not equaled in its absolute meaning because there are other information in the Bible to understand the lot of the saved and the lost ones, indicating eternal life with God for the redeemed, and “perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7). After all, the Bible says clearly that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).
d) In the analysis of men’s final destination subject we cannot ignore the beginning of human history, taking for granted the not proved premise that inside of the human being there is an immortal particle, created by God in the beginning (Genesis 1 and 2), in function of which the reprobates will have that to live eternally in the fire of gehenna, where they are thrown. Such information simply doesn’t occur in the description man’s creation (Gen. 2:7). We don’t have a soul, we are living souls.
e) If we should not ignore the beginning of history, also the end shouldn’t be overlooked, or what the Bible teaches on the lot of the lost ones—the lake of fire. The fact is that immediately after mentioning the lake of fire action, which is the second death, we a description of a “a new heaven and a new earth . . . and there was no more sea [nor lake of fire]”. Thus, there is no room for any lake of fire to continue its destructive work on the surface of this renewed planet, nor there is any information of about it jumping out of the Earth’s surface to go on burning in another place of the universe (see Revelation 20:14--21:8').
f) Also there is a tremendous difficulty for the advocates of the thesis of the literal eternal punishment of the lost ones, since Christ speaks of the resurrection in terms of all coming from the tombs, the ones who did good for the “resurrection of life”, and evildoers, for the “resurrection of the condemnation” (John 5:28, 29). But if the lost ones, finally, are thrown in the fire lake, they would have to possess bodies of such a structure that were eternally refractory to the fire! However, only the redeemed ones are told to have “incorruptible” bodies, as Paul asserts in Philippians 3:20, 21 and 1 Corinthians 15:35--55.
g) Moreover, the biblical language of destruction is very clear, both in the Old as in the New Testament. Psalmist David speaks of the punishment of the ungodly will be “as wax melteth” (68: 2), or “as the chaff which the wind driveth away”, or made as “smoke shall they consume away” (see Psalms 1:4; 37:10, 20). Ezekiel speaks of the “king of Tyre”, in a representation of Satan himself, that will be destroyed entirely, or “shalt be . . . any more”, as some versions bring it (Ezekiel 28:14-18). Malachi 4:1-3 speaks of the condemned one whom will not be left “neither root nor branch”, but will become like ashes! In the New Testament we have Paul speaking of the reprobates being destroyed and banished of God’s face (2 Tessalonians 1:7-10) when Christ comes bringing the “flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God”. That is significant, for it demonstrates that the hell fire DOESN’T EXIST yet--the punishment is future! And 2 Peter 3:6-10 deals with this final destruction in very clear terms, using the word apollumi and derived ones, tracing a parallel of the sinners’ destruction at the end of history with that of the antediluvians. By any chance those who lived at the Flood time “perished” in the water, remaining there being left there in eternal liquid tortures?
h) The words “eternal” and “for ever” do not always have in Hebrew (olam) and Greek (aion, aionios) the absolute meaning of unending time in English. Let us see three examples of use of three Hebrew words (Old Testament) for “everlasting” and three in Greek (New Testament) that don’t convey any notion of unending time:
Hebrew – Old Testament
1 – In Psalm 23:6 it says: “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever-olam”. However, comparing different versions one notices that different translators preferred to translate olam in this verse as “for long days” or, as it is presented in the French version of Louis Segond, “jusq’au fin de mes jours” [until the end of my days]!
2 - The prophet Jonah, tells of his plight in these terms: “I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever-olam; yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God” (Jonas 2:6). What a brief “forever” was that—it lasted a total of. . . just three days and three nights!
3 - The leprosy of Naaman would fall again on Geazi, the servant of Elisha, who lied and deceived the king and the prophet, and on his descent “for ever-olam”. Would it be case that those lepers today suffering from that terrible disease are of the problematic prophet’s aide descent? (see 2 Kings 5:27).
Greek (New Testament)
1 - Hebrews 6:2 speak of the “eternal-aionios judgment”. This does not mean that the judgment is a process that has a start but does not have an end, rather that the judgment is of eternal consequences and/or effect.
2 - Philemom, ver. 15, brings “for ever-aionios” in the sense of the lifetime of a man (either the servant’s or his owner).
3 - The fire that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha was “eternal” (Jude 7), however the city is not burning until today, because it was a eternal fire in its consequences (or effects).
Finally, Greek dictionaries explain this:
“The word aion can be used of a man's lifetime, as when Paul contemplates eating 'no flesh for evermore' (1 Cor. 8:13)”. -- Alan Richardson, A Theological Word Book of the Bible, 1950, art. “Time”, p. 266.
“Describes duration . . . not endless”. -- W. E. Vine, Dictionary of the New Testament Words, on “Eternal”.
And discussing the meaning of the Hebrew olam, Genesius in his Hebrew and Chaldean Lexicon of the Old Testament Scriptures explains:
“It more often refers to future time, in such a manner, that what is called the terminus ad quem, is always defined from the nature of the thing itself. When it is applied to human affairs, and specially . . . to individual men, it commonly signifies all the days of life”.
And the Cambridge Bible on Exo. 21:6. “for ever] i.e., till his life's end: cf. 'for ever' in 1 S. i. 22, and esp. in the expression, 'servant for ever', xxvii. 12, Job xli, 4 [xl. 28 Heb.]”
Conclusion: We should not take texts or isolated terms of the Holy Writ to fix doctrines, according to deeply inbred ideas in the popular mentality. A detailed analysis of the meaning of key-words, as the adjectives “eternal”, “everlasting” and expressions such as “forever”, “will not be quenched” (ref. the fire of the punishment) needs to be undertaken before arriving at a conclusion of the real sense of what the author wants to transmit, when describing the final punishment of the reprobate.
To take words loosely, isolated from its immediate or global context, terms of doubtful meaning, or to literally interpret metaphors and hyperboles without considering the linguistic characteristics of the original were never the best methodology for the study of the divine message to the men throughout the Bible. -- Study composed by Prof. Azenilto G. Brito.
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