VERSION 2.0
Revised 2022
Revised 2022
PROVE ALL THINGS, HOLD FAST THAT WHICH IS GOOD
1 Thessalonians 5:21
1 Thessalonians 5:21
SECTION VII NOTES
Other Verses Which Contain Clear Warnings to the Wicked - No Mention of Hell or Eternal Torment
Genesis 2:17, 3:17-19
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. (Genesis 2:17 |
This is the original warning to our first parents of the penalty for sin and disobedience. It is inconceivable to think that this warning and the description of the penalty incurred, given directly from the mouth of God, could have been so obscure given the doctrine of eternal torment in hell.
I ask the teachers of eternal torment: Where in these texts is there any hint that the punishment inflicted upon Adam and Eve, or their fallen posterity consisted of torment in fire for all eternity? 'Ye shall surely die' 'For you are dust, and to dust you shall return' There is nothing obscure about these texts. It is a serious error to read a doctrine of eternal torment back into this verses where no such thing in mentioned or even implied. |
Old Testament Verses Concerning the Fate and Destruction of the Wicked
Obad 16 - "They shall be as though they had not been." |
Proverbs 12:7 - "Overthrown, and are not" |
The Old Testament teaching concerning the fate of the wicked is clear, and emphatic. The wicked are to be consumed and be 'as though they had not been.' Compare the language in these passages to others which supposedly 'prove' the doctrine of eternal torment. Could God have used any clearer language to tell us that the wicked are to be destroyed?
Some attempt to teach that 'destroy' actually means 'torment forever'. They say for example that just because something is destroyed does not mean it ceases to have any being. This argument is however silly, and an attempt to twist the clear words of scripture at any cost. When the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD and destroyedthe temple, although there were indeed ruins left, was the temple still a temple? If you destroy a glass bottle by melting it back into molten glass, is it still a bottle? |
Man is a living soul: A body fashioned from the dust of the earth, combined with the breath of life which comes from God (Gen 2:7). Man has his existence only by the combination of these two elements, and man is destroyed by the separation of these two elements. The body is consumed and returns to the natural elements it was fashioned from, the breath of life returns to God (Eccl 12:7), and the man (the combination of the two) is destroyed. He is NOWHERE. He ceases to be as it was before he was born.
Please see also Man Became a Living Soul - Chapter One: What is Man.
Please see also Man Became a Living Soul - Chapter One: What is Man.
Psalm 92:7, Job 20:4-9
When the wicked spring as the grass, and when the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed forever (Heb. adei ad ). Psalm (92:7) |
Like the Hebrew word 'Olam', the words here rendered 'forver' (adei ad), carry the sense of perpetual time, and not always eternity. These words should be taken in the sense of 'until', and should not be confused with our modern notions of 'eternal'. Please see notes on Isa 32:13-16 in the next section.
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New Testament Verses on the Fate of the Wicked - "Death"
2 Corinthians 1-9-10 - "Sentence of death...delivered from death" |
In every case, Paul makes clear the penalty for sin. Why does Paul never mention hell? The wages of sin is not hell, but death, the end of sin is death, and sin reigns unto death.
If the price for sin was eternal torment in hell then why use language that would clearly confuse the issue? Romans 1:32 does not say that those who do such things are worthy of hell. Why are so many Christians comfortable with this torturous reading of the language of scripture? |
New Testament Verses on the Fate of the Wicked - "Perish"
2 Peter 3:9 - "Not willing that any should perish" |
In each case, 'perish' must be read as 'torment eternally in hell' to order to maintain the traditional doctrine of eternal torment.
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New Testament Verses on the Fate of the Wicked
2 Thessalonians 1:9 - "Everlasting Destruction"
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. |
By "everlasting destruction", does Paul mean that the wicked and unsaved are to be tormented for all eternity? Believers in the doctrine of eternal torment must deal with what - to them - must surely be an uncomfortable fact; namely, that the Apostle Paul never speaks of "hell" or of eternal torment in any of his inspired letters.
At the very most this verse would seem to teach the annihilation of the wicked, but certainly not their torment in hell for all eternity. The words of Paul must be reinterpreted again and again in order to make him say what he never actually wrote. |
In Section VIII I explore the question of whether or not the lost and unsaved may, at some distant future time, experience restoration and reconciliation to God. This is a concept so foreign to many Christians that most never take the time to consider it. Does a verse such as 2 Thessalonians 1:9 make such a belief impossible? Some might say yes, but there are issues worth exploring.
The first mental hurdle that believers must overcome is to understand that the Greek word Aionion which is translated throughout the New Testament as "eternal", "everlasting", "for ever" etc., simply does not carry that same meaning in the original language. A careful look at the passages in which the word appears will bear this out. Many may be unaware of the scriptural contradictions which are created when we attempt to force a definition of "forever" into the Biblical tex where no such concept exists in the original languages. We will explore those issues in Section VIII.
New Testament scholar Marvin Vincent in his Word Studies in the New Testament has commented extensively on 2 Thessalonians 1:9 and the correct understanding of the Greek word Aionion within that context.
Please see:
Marvin Vincent on Aioion
The first mental hurdle that believers must overcome is to understand that the Greek word Aionion which is translated throughout the New Testament as "eternal", "everlasting", "for ever" etc., simply does not carry that same meaning in the original language. A careful look at the passages in which the word appears will bear this out. Many may be unaware of the scriptural contradictions which are created when we attempt to force a definition of "forever" into the Biblical tex where no such concept exists in the original languages. We will explore those issues in Section VIII.
New Testament scholar Marvin Vincent in his Word Studies in the New Testament has commented extensively on 2 Thessalonians 1:9 and the correct understanding of the Greek word Aionion within that context.
Please see:
Marvin Vincent on Aioion
New Testament Verses on the Fate of the Wicked - "Destruction"
1 Thessalonians 5:3 - "Sudden destruction shall come upon them" |
Hebrews 2:14 - "That through death he might |
These verses are clear and require no explanation. The end of the wicked is to be their destruction. If 'eternal torment' was what was meant, then why use language that would clearly confuse the reader? In every case in this section the advocate of eternal torment is forced to read the language in a way that goes contrary to its natural and plain meaning.
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