HELL IS NOT ANNIHILATIONISM

HELL IS NOT ANNIHILATIONISM

Another alternative doctrine to hell, annihilationism, attempts to take hell out of eternity.

Annihilationism.

Annihilationism is the doctrine that teaches that the souls of unrepentant people will be destroyed out of existence rather than be banished to an everlasting, conscious hell. The existence of the unrepentant will be extinguished, while the righteous Christians will enter into everlasting bliss in heaven.

Alleged biblical support for annihilationism.

Annihilationists cite various Bible passages to attempt to support annihilationism.

“The Second Death.”

Annihilationists cite the Bible references to the fate of the unrepentant as “the second death” (Revelation 20:14) in support of their view. Since a person loses consciousness of this world at the first death (physical death), it is argued that the “second death” will involve unconsciousness in the world to come.

“Eternal Destruction.”

The apostle Paul wrote about those who don’t know God and reject Jesus as being destroyed in hell. “He (Jesus) will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 NLT).
In addition, Paul also wrote about the destruction of those who refuse to love and accept the truth that will spiritually save them. “Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming. This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them.  So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 NLT).
Annihilationists insist that the word “destruction” is incompatible with a continued, conscious existence.

“Perdition.” 

The ungodly are said to go into “perdition” (KJV) or “destruction” (NIV) (2 Peter 3:7), and Judas is called the “son of perdition” (John 17:12 KJV). The word “perdition (apoleia)” means to perish. Accordingly, annihilationists argue that perdition indicates that the ungodly will perish or go out of existence.

Like not having been born.

Jesus said of Judas, who was sent to perdition, that “it would have been better for that man if he had not been born” (Mark 14:21 ESV). Before a person is conceived, the person does not exist. Therefore, for hell to be like the prebirth condition, it must be a state of nonexistence.

“The wicked will perish.” 

Repeatedly, the Old Testament states that the wicked will perish. The psalmist wrote: “But the wicked will perish: The Lord’s enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish-vanish like smoke” (Psalm 37:20 ESV; cf. 68:2, 112:10). But to perish implies a state of nothingness.

Answering biblical arguments for annihilationism.

When examined carefully in context, none of the above passages proves annihilationism. At some points, language may permit such a construction, but nowhere does the text demand annihilationism. In context and comparison with other passages, annihilationism should be rejected every time.

Separation, not extinction. 

The first death is simply the separation of the soul from the body (James 2:26), not the annihilation of the soul. Death in the Bible is a conscious separation. Adam and Eve died spiritually the moment they sinned, yet they still existed and could hear God’s voice (Genesis 3:10). Before a person is spiritually saved, the person is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1 ESV), and yet the person still carries God’s image (Genesis 1:27; cf. Genesis 9:6; James 3:9). Though the “spiritually dead” are unable to come to Christ without the intervention of God, they are sufficiently aware that God holds them accountable to believe (Acts 16:31) and repent (Acts 17:30). The biblical second death involves separation from God and the inability to save oneself, but continued awareness of the separation and inability.

Destruction, not nonexistence. 

“Everlasting” destruction is inconsistent with annihilation, which only takes an instant and is over. If person undergoes everlasting destruction, then that person must have everlasting existence.

Perdition as conscious judgment, not nonexistence.

Since the word “perdition” means to die, perish, or to come to ruin, the same objections apply. In 2 Peter 3:7, perdition is used in the context of judgment, clearly implying consciousness.  Jesus spoke of hell as a place where the fire would not cease and where a person’s resurrected body would not be consumed (Mark 9:48). In addition to comments on death and perdition above, the Hebrew word used to describe the wicked perishing in the Old Testament (abad) is also used to describe the righteous perishing (see Isaiah 57:1; Micah 7:2). But even the annihilationists admit that the righteous are not annihilated out of existence. Therefore, they also should not conclude that the ungodly, unrepentant, wicked and the spiritually lost will cease to exist based on the word perdition. Finally, the same word (abad) is used to describe things that are merely lost but then later found (Deuteronomy 22:3), which establishes that lost does not mean nonexistent.

“It would have been better.…” 

When Jesus stated that it would have been better if Judas had not been born, Jesus was not comparing Judas’s perdition to his nonexistence before conception, but to his existence before birth. This hyperbolic phrase most likely indicates the severity of his punishment, not a statement about it being better never to be alive than to be alive.  Jesus similarly condemned the unbelievers in Capernaum when he said Sodom would have repented had they seen his miracles (Matthew 11:23-24). This condemnation does not mean that they actually would have repented or God would surely have shown them these miracles because God does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). It is simply a powerful figure of speech indicating that the unbelievers’ sin was so great that “it would be more tolerable” in the day of judgment for Sodom than for them.

Biblical arguments for eternal conscious punishment.

In addition to the lack of convincing biblical passages in favor of annihilationism, there are numerous biblical texts that support the doctrine of eternal conscious punishment. A brief summary includes:

The rich man in hell. 

Unlike parables which have no real persons in them, Jesus told the story of the deaths of an actual beggar named Lazarus and a rich man. Lazarus died and  went to Abraham in intermediate present heaven. The rich man died and went to hades or intermediate present hell and was in conscious torment (Luke 16:22-28). The rich man cried out to Abraham to have pity on him and to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool off the rich man’s tongue because he was flaming in agony (Luke 16:24) But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony’” (Luke 16:25 NIV). The rich man then begged that his brothers be warned “so that they will not also come to this place of torment” (Luke 16:.27 NIV). There is no evidence of annihilation in this passage; the rich man is suffering constant and conscious torment.

A place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus repeatedly said the people in hell are in continual agony. He declared that “the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12 NIV; cf. 22:13, 24:51, 25:30). But a place of weeping is a place of conscious sorrow. Those who are not conscious do not weep and gnash their teeth.

A place of unquenchable flames. 

Jesus repeatedly called hell a place of unquenchable flames (Mark 9:43-48) where the very bodies of the wicked will never die (cf. Luke 12:4–5). But everlasting flames and bodies make no sense without any souls in them to experience the torment.

A place of everlasting torment. 

The apostle John described hell as a place of eternal torment. He declared that “the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Rev. 20:10 NIV). Eternal torment indicates that the everlasting state of regret is conscious.

A place for the Satan’s beast and false prophet. 

Satan’s beast and false prophet are clear examples of beings who were still conscious after a thousand years of conscious torment in hell. “The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur” (Revelation 19:20 NIV) before the devil Satan was bound “for a thousand years” (Rev. 20:2 NIV) and was thrown “into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short period of time” (Revelation 20:3 NIV). Yet after the thousand years ended, Satan, who deceived them, “was thrown into the lake of burning sulfer, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10 NIV). Not only were Satan’s beast and false prophet “alive” when they entered, but they were still alive after a thousand years of conscious torment.

A place of conscious punishment. 

The fact that those who do not know God and obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus are “punished with everlasting destruction” (2 Thesalonians 1:9 NIV) strongly implies that they must be conscious. In addition, one of the most detailed descriptions of eternal conscious punishment in hell of anyone who worships Satan’s beast is when the third angel from heaven shouted, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name” (Revelation 14:9-11 NIV).
One cannot suffer punishment without existence.  An unconscious person is unaware of any punishment. Annihilation would not be a punishment, but a release from all punishment. Job suffered something worse than annihilation in his life. The punishment of evil men in the afterlife would have to be conscious. If not, then God is not just, since he would have given less punishment to some wicked than to some godly righteous people. For not all ungodly wicked people suffer as much as some godly righteous people do in their lives.

A place that is everlasting.

Hell is of the same duration as heaven, “everlasting” (Matthew 25:41). As Christians in heaven are said to be in conscious bliss (Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians. 5:8; Philippians 1:23), the sinners in hell are in conscious punishment and torment (cf. Luke 16). In addition, there are degrees of punishment in hell (Matthew 5:22; Revelation 20:12–14). But there can be no degrees of annihilation. Nonexistence is the same for everyone in hell.

Conclusion.

The support for the doctrine of annihilation is based upon more of a personal emotional argument than on a biblical argument. Although there are some bible passages that can be construed to support annihilationism, there are none that are clear and convincing. Furthermore, numerous passages clearly state that the ungodly will suffer consciously and eternally in hell.
Normal L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 22-24; Erwin Lutzer, One Minute After You Die: A Preview of Your Final Destination (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1997), 102-110; Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994, Appendix 6 and glossary copyright 2000), 1149-1153; Kenneth D. Boa and Robert Bowman Jr., Sense and Nonsense about Heaven and Hell (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), chapter 4; Lee Strobel, The Case for Heaven: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for Life After Death (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2021), chapters 7 and 8.