A good Christian friend of mine recently told me that he had been witnessing to his elderly aunt. His love for her and his concern for her eternal disposition compelled him share with her the good news of the gospel.
When she expressed that, upon her death, she was hoping to be with her deceased husband, my friend explained to her the traditional belief that hell is a place of eternal darkness, apart from God and separated from those we love, where people who do not receive the gracious salvation made available by the death of Jesus on the cross suffer the wrath of God in a state of eternal torment. He was truly distressed with concern for his aunt's ultimate destination.
In an effort to assuage his concern that his message wasn't being received, I reminded him that only God knows the heart and only God can determine the final, just disposition of a person. We are often merely seed-planters. I also mentioned that, while hell certainly should not be anyone's desired destination, in addition to the traditional view of hell as a place of eternal conscious torture, there are other biblically supported views that were held by a number of noted theologians and early church fathers - views that propose other possibilities for the eternal state of those who "refuse to love the truth and so be saved" (2 Thes 2:10).
I was caught a bit off guard when, at just the mention of other possible understandings of hell, my friend insinuated (in a round-about way) that I was some sort of heretic who wanted to create my own god rather than let the Bible define God's plan for those who die in unbelief.
Hell - Three Christian Views
In his book, Hell: Three Christian Views of God's Final Solution to the Problem of Sin, Steve Gregg provides biblical support for three possible understandings of hell that have been proposed by scholars and theologians throughout church history. Here is a brief synopsis of the three views:
1. Eternal torment
This is the traditional orthodox view that, I believe, is held by most churches today. It is the view that I was taught in Sunday School. It was also proposed by Tertullian, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas.
At the root of this understanding is the belief that human beings, by virtue of being made in the image of God, are immortal. We never cease to exist. Therefore, death is not the end, but the beginning of an eternity somewhere.
Adherents of this view will cite verses in the Bible which depict people who die in rebellion to God receiving "eternal punishment" (Mat 25:46), and being "tormented forever" (Rev 20:10). Such verses stand in counterpoint to passages which describe people who come to faith in Jesus as enjoying "eternal/everlasting life" (John 3:16) and receiving an "eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Cor 4:17).
Eternal torment, they say, is the just judgment for a life lived in rebellion against an infinite God.
2. Annihilation
This understanding is sometimes referred to as "conditional immortality" and has been proposed by John R. W. Stott, Clark Pinnock, and Greg Boyd.
Contrary to the traditional view that man is immortal, proponents of this view maintain that only God is immortal. Man is not.
. . . the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality . . . (1 Timothy 6:15-16 ESV).
And since man is mortal, he must seek and be granted immortality (Rom 2:7), which is only achieved through faith in Jesus Christ.
Most proponents of Annihilation hold that the unbeliever, then, will be punished in proportion to his sinful life, and then destroyed. They propose that while the punishment established by God is eternal, that is, it will always exist and death lasts forever, the punishing of the individual is not eternal. They point to biblical phrases that use the words, "destruction", "death", "perish", "consumed" in describing the fate of the rebellious.
Proponents of this view put forth that annihilation/destruction of the unbeliever is the only just solution that actually removes sin forever from the universe.
3. Reconciliation
As the name suggests, this view proposes that the purpose of punishment in hell is to bring the sinner to repentance, bringing reconciliation with God. This, they say, is the only solution in which Christ actually receives all that he died for. Proponents of this view include Origen, Clement of Alexandria, and William Barclay.
To support their position, these "Restorationists" will point to statements about Christ's victory over death (Col 2:15, Heb 2:14, 1 John 3:8), and to the passages that seem to infer a universality in salvation (i.e. Isa 53:11, John 12:32, Rom 5:18-19, 1 Tim 4:10).
One significant distinction between this view and the Catholic notion of purgatory is the understanding that only true repentance can restore the soul of the lost. There is no provision for "indulgences" - the act of purchasing the reduction of punishment for sin after the final judgment.
Finally, this is the only view, they say, that preserves the character of God as "merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love" (Ps 103:8, et al.).
Final Thought
My friend's visceral response to my suggestion that there might be other biblically-supported, non-traditional views of hell illustrates the power that traditional teaching can often have in preventing a comprehensive, unbiased search for biblical truth.
The more time I spend in the scriptures, the more I have come to realize that much of what I was taught in Sunday School does not match up with what I read in my Bible. . While my friend's traditional view of hell might be right, I propose that we could benefit from being less dogmatic, less laden with traditional religious thinking, and more like little children, allowing the Spirit and our God-given ability to reason be our guides, testing all things, and holding fast to what is good (1 Thes 5:21).
If the topic of hell interests you, I highly recommend Steve Gregg's book, Hell: Three Christian Views of God's Final Solution to the Problem of Sin. In his book, Mr. Gregg doesn't take a position or promote a preferred view, but offers an even-handed perspective on all three views.
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