The Lake of Fire which is the Second Death (part 3 of 3)

Part 2: https://universalistheretic.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-lake-of-fire-which-is-second-death_02062683433.html

     “Then comes the end”

As I noted in the first post of this series on the second death, although Christians disagree on the nature of punishment in the Lake of Fire - whether it involves conscious torment or simply annihilation - most are agreed that the duration of the punishment will be everlasting. Once one is cast into the Lake of Fire, it is simply not possible to return. This belief arises from (among other things) the assumption that the final chapters of Revelation, in which some are given an allotment on the New Earth and others in the Lake of Fire (21:1-8), describe the final and eternal state of affairs.

    However, Paul, in his treatise on the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, makes it clear that the final chapters of Revelation are actually not describing the final, eternal state of affairs.

For just as in Adam all are dying, so also in the Christ all will be vivified. Yet each in [their] own order: Christ a firstfruit; then the [ones] of the Christ in his presence; then comes the end, when he may hand over the kingdom to the God and Father, when he may have abolished all rule and all authority and power. For it is necessary for him to reign until when He may have put all the enemies under his feet. [The] last enemy abolished [is] the death. For He has subjected all things under his feet. Now when it may be said that all things have been subjected, [it is] clear that the [One] having subjected the all things to him is excepted. Now when the all things may have been subjected to him, then also the Son himself will be subjected to the [One] having subjected the all things to him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Cor. 15:22-28)

According to this passage, the “end” of the resurrection will happen when (1) all enemies are subjected to Christ; (2) all rule, authority, power, and death are abolished; and (3) Christ Himself hands over the kingdom to the Father and is subjected to God [1].

    The problem that this passage provides for the common view is that Revelation 21-22 simply is not describing the same time period as 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, and on this basis, Revelation 21-22 cannot be a description of the final, eternal state. See the following comparison between the two passages:

During the period described by John, the “kings of the earth” still rule over the nations (Rev. 21:24-26), and the saints reign alongside Christ in the New Jerusalem (22:5). Yet at the consummation described by Paul, all rule, power, and authority will be abolished (1 Cor. 15:24).

During the period described by John, there is still mortality and sin on the New Earth (Isa. 65:20 cf. Rev. 22:2, 15), and there are some who have a portion in the “second death” (Rev. 21:8). Yet at the consummation described by Paul, both death and the sting of death, sin, will be abolished (1 Cor. 15:26 cf. 55-56)

During the period described by John, the nations require healing from the leaves of the tree of life, implying corruptible bodies (Rev. 22:2). Yet at the consummation described by Paul, all will be resurrected and given incorruptible bodies (1 Cor. 15:22 cf. 42, 52-54).

During the period described by John, the kingdom is still jointly ruled by God and the Lamb (Christ) who is at His right hand (Rev. 22:3 cf. 21:22-23). Yet at the consummation described by Paul, Christ will hand over the kingdom to the Father and be subjected to God (1 Cor. 15:24-25, 28 cf. Ps. 110:1).

This comparison demonstrates that the period described by John in Revelation 21-22 must come before the consummation described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. Therefore, Rev. 21-22 cannot be a description of the final, eternal state. Rather, it is the second (and probably last) of the “oncoming ages” or “ages of the ages” during which Christ will be reigning, and believers with Him (Lk. 1:33; Eph. 2:6-7; Rev. 11:15; 22:5). The fact that Rev. 21-22 is not describing the final, eternal state raises the possibility that those who undergo the second death will, in fact, be resurrected to salvation. But is this borne out elsewhere in scripture? As I will argue in the next section, it most certainly is.

    When death is abolished, and all are vivified

According to the same passage quoted above (1 Cor. 15:22-28), the consummation or “end” of the resurrection will be marked by the complete abolition of death, which Paul calls the “last enemy.” Elsewhere, Paul states that the abolition of death will involve the “illumination of life and incorruption” (2 Tim. 1:10) - that is, immortality. Of course, in order for death to be totally abolished, all beings must be first released from its clutches and made immortal.

    Now, as I have argued extensively in the first two posts of this series, the second death will involve the literal death of the wicked, in which those who are cast into the Lake of Fire will be truly annihilated and be “no more” (Job 20:4-7; Ps. 37:9-10, 20; Prov. 10:25; 12:7; Obad. 16; etc.). However, if the second death is a true death, and death will be abolished, this means that the second death itself must be abolished at the consummation. No person could possibly remain in its clutches (and, indeed, to suggest that anyone would is to say that Jesus will ultimately fail). Consider the following argument:

Premise 1. To be “cast into the Lake of Fire” or “injured by the second death” is a future punishment which will consist of the literal death of human beings, who will subsequently remain in that lifeless state.

Premise 2. Death is the last enemy and will be abolished at the consummation (1 Cor. 15:26), resulting in the “illumination” of immortality (2 Tim. 1:10).

Conclusion. Those who are “cast into the Lake of Fire” or “injured by the second death” will be released from their subsequent lifeless state at the consummation, and be given immortality.

Now, this argument is fairly strong on its own. But the idea that all people (that is, every human being without exception) will be given immortality at the consummation features extensively throughout Paul’s epistles, in far more than just these two verses. The clearest passages which teach this employ antithetical parallelism to get across the point that every human, all descendants of Adam, will be vivified (given immortality) in Christ at the consummation. The first of these is Romans 5:15-19:

But also, thus the gift [is] not like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one, the many died, much more the grace of God and the gift in grace which [is] of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to the many! And the gift [is] not as through one having sinned. For indeed the judgment [is] out of one [sin] to condemnation, yet the gift [is] out of many trespasses to justification. For if by the trespass of the one, the death reigned through the one, much more the [ones] receiving the abundance of the grace and the gift of the righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

So then, just as through one trespass [it is] to all mankind to condemnation, thus also through one righteous act [it is] to all mankind to justification of life. For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were appointed sinners, thus also through the obedience of the one, the many will be appointed righteous.

As Paul explained in the verses before this, the condemnation which resulted from Adam’s sin is death to all mankind (Rom. 5:12-14). Thus, in order for Jesus’ righteous act to be greater in magnitude than Adam’s sin, it must result in the reversal of this condemnation - the imputation of “justification of life,” resulting in immortality - for all mankind. Paul is very clear on this point, employing parallelism no less than three times to get the point across that Christ’s act is at least as great in extent as Adam’s sin.

    One objection which is often raised by non-universalists against this passage is that Paul calls the number of those justified by Christ “the many,” which could give the impression that it is merely many people, not necessarily all mankind, who will be justified and given immortality in Christ. However, Paul also calls the number of those who die due to Adam’s sin “the many,” and no one argues that less than all mankind is dying from Adam’s sin. Rather, Paul calls this number “the many” in order to distinguish them from “the one” (which is what he calls both Adam and Christ throughout this passage). “The many” is qualified by the “all mankind” of verse 18, not the other way around.

    Furthermore, to argue that anything less than all mankind will be justified by Christ’s act is to completely miss the point of Paul’s argument in this passage. Paul’s entire point is that Christ’s act is greater in effect and extent than Adam’s sin, for “the gift is not like the trespass” (v. 15), and “where sin abounds, grace superexceeds” (v. 20). The parallelism in this passage is unmistakeable; it is the same number who died, were condemned, and were appointed sinners that will have grace abound to them, receive “justification of life,” and be appointed righteous.

    Paul makes virtually the exact same point, albeit rather more concisely, in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22:

For seeing that through a man [is] death, also through a man [is] resurrection of [the] dead. For just as in Adam all are dying, so also in the Christ all will be vivified.

Non-universalists interpret this as saying that, while all who are “in Adam” (i.e., unbelievers) are dying, all who are “in Christ” (i.e., believers) will be made alive. But this objection again misses the clear parallelism which Paul is employing in this passage. Paul does not say that “just as all in Adam are dying, so also all in Christ will be vivified,” but rather that “just as in Adam all are dying, so also in Christ all will be vivified” [2].

    It may be helpful to consider as an analogy the following similarly structured statement: “For just as, in poverty, all the family is hungering, so also, in inheritance, all the family will be filled” [3]. It is clear that this is not describing two different options, where some members of the family are starving in poverty and others are filled in inheritance, but is describing all the members of the family starving in poverty at one point in time and, at a later point in time, being filled in inheritance. In the same way, Paul employs parallelism to show that all the members of the human race who are currently dying due to Adam’s sin will, one day, be vivified due to Christ’s righteous act.

    Finally, the last passage (which is somewhat obscure) that describes the eventual immortality of all mankind is Philippians 3:20-21:

For our citizenship is inherently in [the] heavens, out of which we are also awaiting a savior, [the] Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our body of the humiliation [to] conform to the body of His glory, according to the working [which] enables him even to subject the all things to himself.

According to this passage, the power by which Jesus will “subject the all things to himself” is the same means by which He will transform our bodies into glorified bodies. Since the main distinguishing characteristics of our glorified bodies are immortality and incorruptibility (1 Cor. 15:51-54), we can conclude from this passage that Paul believed the subjection of all things to Christ to be marked by a change into immortality. Therefore, when Paul writes that all things will be subjected to Christ (with the only exception being the Father Himself; 1 Cor. 15:27), it must mean that all people without exception will be raised to immortality at the consummation.

    From these three passages, we can construct the following argument:

Premise 1. To be “cast into the Lake of Fire” or “injured by the second death” is a future punishment which will consist of the literal death of human beings, who will subsequently remain in that lifeless state. 

Premise 2. All human beings without exception will one day be made immortal, thanks to the righteous act of Christ (Rom. 5:15-19; 1 Cor. 15:22), and this will occur at the consummation when death is abolished (Php. 3:21 cf. 1 Cor. 15:26-27).

Conclusion. Everyone who is reduced to a lifeless state by the second death will be resurrected to immortality at the consummation and placed beyond the reach of death.

This argument shows conclusively that everyone who is cast into the Lake of Fire and injured by the second death will be resurrected again to immortality at the consummation, when Christ will subject all things to Himself, abolish death, and finally give up the kingdom and be subjected to the Father. Indeed, if anything less than all people are resurrected to immortality, the very purpose of the cross - to abolish death and reconcile all things - would fail.

    Forever and ever?

One common objection to the view that the Lake of Fire will ever end is that John writes that certain humans (who took the “mark of the beast’s name”) along with the Adversary, beast, and false prophet will be tormented “for ever and ever.” See the following verses:

“And the smoke of their torment ascends for ever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” (Rev. 14:11 NASB)

And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Rev. 20:10 NASB)

Because some individuals will, apparently, be in the Lake of Fire “for ever and ever,” it seems impossible that the Lake of Fire (which is the second death) could ever be abolished. Yet Paul writes, “The last enemy abolished [at the consummation] is the death” (1 Cor. 15:26), and that all individuals will eventually be justified and vivified thanks to Christ’s righteous act (Rom. 5:15-19; 1 Cor. 15:22).

    Is this an irreconcilable contradiction? No - because the Bible actually does not say that the Lake of Fire will last “for ever and ever”! The original Greek text of both of these verses instead states that the torment will last eis (tous) aionas (ton) aionon [4], which literally means “for (the) ages of (the) ages.” Now, most translators take this to be an idiomatic phrase expressing the same idea as “for ever and ever;” an infinite time period which has no end.

    However, as I showed in part 4 of my word study “Just how long is ‘eternal’? A study on the meanings of Αιων and Αιωνιος,” the phrase “for the ages of the ages” instead refers to the oncoming ages during which both Christ and believers will be reigning, which will end at the consummation - the same time at which it is said that death will be abolished. Consider the following passages, while keeping in mind that the reign of both Christ and believers will end at the consummation (per 1 Cor. 15:24-28):

From Jesus Christ... the [one] loving us and loosing us out of our sins through his blood... to Him [is] the glory, and the dominion for the ages of the ages, verily. (Rev. 1:6)

To the [one] sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb [Christ], the praise and the honor and glory and the dominion for the ages of the ages. (Rev. 5:13)

“The kingdom of the world has become [that] of our Lord, and of His Christ, and he will reign for the ages of the ages.” (Rev. 11:15)

And the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will serve Him... and they will reign for the ages of the ages. (Rev. 22:5)

From these passages, we can see that John consistently uses the phrase “for the ages of the ages” to describe the period of time for which Christ and believers will be reigning - a period which will come to an end at the consummation [5]. Thus, the fact that John states that the torment of certain individuals in the Lake of Fire will last “for the ages of the ages” does not prove that this torment will be everlasting. On the contrary, it provides further evidence that the second death will have an end at the consummation. There can be little doubt that all people, without exception, will be saved - even those who undergo the second death.

______________________________

[1] Many object to the view that Christ will actually stop reigning and be subjected to God at the consummation. However, Paul could not be clearer on this point. He states that Christ will, at this time, “hand over the kingdom to the God and Father,” that “He will reign until” such a time, and that “the Son Himself will be subjected to” God.

This idea, that the Messiah must stop reigning once all enemies have been subjected to God, comes from Psalm 110:1-2, one of the most quoted Messianic prophecies in the New Testament: “Yahweh says to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Yahweh shall send the staff of your strength from Zion. Rule in the midst of your enemies!’” The very reason that Jesus now sits at the right hand of God is to subject all to Him; to say that Jesus will never stop reigning is to say that He will ultimately fail in the purpose for which He was sent. And of course, Jesus can only “rule in the midst of [His] enemies” as long as there are enemies.

[2] It is rather interesting that non-universalists are unable to affirm simple truths written in the Bible without switching the word order or qualifying the statement in some way. Simply stating what is said in these verses, without identifying them as passages from the Bible, would get oneself identified as a universalist in any Christian group. Yet when Paul makes the exact same statements, non-universalists fall all over themselves arguing that he didn’t really mean what he said.

[3] https://www.concordantgospel.com/in-christ/

[4] https://biblehub.com/interlinear/revelation/14-11.htm; https://biblehub.com/interlinear/revelation/20-10.htm

[5] Although John did use the same phrase to describe the glory of God (Rev. 7:12, 10:6, 15:7), this no more limits God’s glory to those ages than His title, “Lord of all the earth” (Josh. 3:11, 13), limits His dominion to the earth only. Rather, it emphasizes His glory through Christ and the church, which will be confined to “the ages of the ages” (Eph. 3:21 cf. 2:6-7)

[6] https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-second-death-part-one_9.html

The Lake of Fire which is the Second Death (part 2 of 3)

Part 1: https://universalistheretic.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-lake-of-fire-which-is-second-death.html

     The Lake of Divine Purification?

In the first post of this series on the Lake of Fire and the second death, we looked at the vast scriptural evidence that this punishment involves the literal death (i.e., annihilation) of the wicked. However, among those who believe in the ultimate salvation and reconciliation of all as I do, there is a tendency to interpret the Lake of Fire not as a place of annihilation but as a place of purgation and purification. According to those who believe this, the “second death” does not describe literal death [1], but instead is a description of the “death of the old self” which Paul spoke of in Romans 6:6.

    To support this position, a number of my fellow universalists have appealed to the original Greek text underlying John’s description of “the Lake of Fire and of sulfur” (Rev. 20:10). The word “sulfur” in Greek is theion, which can also mean “divine” when used as an adjective; likewise, the word “fire” is pur in Greek, which is connected to purification [2]. From this, it is argued that “the Lake of Fire and of sulfur” should instead be read as “the lake of divine purification,” and that it is a place where the sins (or the sinful nature) of the wicked will be purged before they enter God’s presence. Some have even connected this to the metaphors of God as a “refiner’s fire” (Mal. 3:2) and “consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29) and argued that the Lake of Fire is God Himself [3].

    However, this argument falls apart pretty much immediately once critically examined. The word theion is definitely being used as a noun, rather than an adjective, in this passage, and so if it were translated as “divine,” we would have to translate the whole phrase as “the lake of fire and of divine.” This is nonsensical, and so we must reject the translation “divine” in favor of the more usual meaning, “sulfur” (or “brimstone”). Furthermore, as explained in footnote 2, any similarity between the Greek word pur and the English word “purify” is purely coincidental. The actual Greek word for “purify,” hagnizo, is nowhere to be seen in this passage.

    In addition to all of these considerations, it should be noted that in every other instance where “fire and sulfur” are mentioned throughout the Bible, it is a symbol of total destruction (and certainly not of purification). See below:

Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire [LXX: theion kai pur], Yahweh out of the heavens. (Gen. 19:24)

“...yet in the same day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur [pur kai theion] rained from heaven and destroyed all.” (Lk. 17:29)

This example is especially pertinent here, because the judgment on Sodom is explicitly said to be a type of the punishment of the wicked on the day of judgment (Jude 7). In fact, Peter wrote that God “ashified” (tephrosas, emphasizing total destruction) Sodom and Gomorrah specifically as an example of what would occur to the “impious” on the day of judgment (2 Pet. 2:6 cf. 3:7).

He will rain coals upon the wicked; fire and sulfur [LXX: pur kai theion] and a burning wind will be the portion of their cup. (Ps. 11:6)

With plague and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur [LXX: pur kai theion]. (Ezek. 38:22)

The picture in this passage is one of destruction and death, definitely not of purification (Ezek. 38:19-39:5).

And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those sitting upon them, having breastplates fiery [purinous] and hyacinthine and sulfurous [theiodeis]. And the heads of the horses were like heads of lions, and out of their mouths proceed fire [pur], and smoke, and sulfur [theion]. From these three plagues one third of mankind was killed, by the fire [pur], and by the smoke, and by the sulfur [theion] proceeding out of their mouths. (Rev. 9:17-18)

...he will also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, having been mixed undiluted in the cup of His anger. And he will be tormented in fire and sulfur [en puri kai theio], before holy messengers and the Lamb. (Rev. 14:10)

It is unclear exactly what punishment is being described in Revelation 14:9-11. However, the context shows that this punishment is in some way related to the judgment of Babylon (compare Rev. 14:11 with 19:3), which will result in the utter destruction of Babylon and the death of its inhabitants (Rev. 18:8, 21-24, 19:21). Thus, it is likely that “fire and sulfur” is also being used as a symbol of death and destruction in this passage as well.

    In summary, there is not a single passage which connects the imagery of “fire and sulfur” to purification. Instead, fire and sulfur are repeatedly used as symbolic of death and destruction. Therefore, the fact that the Lake of Fire is said to burn with fire and sulfur (Rev. 19:20, 20:10, 21:8) certainly does not support the view that it is supposed to be a symbol of purification; rather, it provides further evidence that the Lake of Fire is symbolic of literal death (the “second death”).

    Another argument often employed by those who believe the Lake of Fire to be purificatory involves the Greek word basanizo (see Rev. 20:10) which is typically translated as “torment”. Since this word literally refers to the act of testing a metal’s purity using a touchstone (basanos), it is argued that basanizo in the Lake of Fire describes the testing of purity (or purification) of the wicked.

    However, the etymology of the word basanizo is much more complex than this argument makes it appear. Although basanizo originally only meant “to test with a touchstone,” it later gained the meaning “to investigate using torture,” and by extension simply “to torture/torment” [4]. In the New Testament, this word is almost always used to describe pain and torment without any reference to purification. For example, it is used of a sickness (Matt. 8:6), of the difficulty of rowing a boat in a storm (Mk. 6:48 cf. Matt. 14:24), of incessant insect stings (Rev. 9:5), and of the pain of childbirth (Rev. 12:2).

    Thus, there is really no reason at all to see the Lake of Fire as purificatory. Although I certainly would like the idea that those who are cast into the Lake of Fire undergo the ‘death of the old self’ and are purified, there is simply zero scriptural evidence for such a supposition, and much evidence that it is instead literal death, or annihilation. Those who undergo the second death will literally die for a second time, to be resurrected again to eternal bliss at the consummation when “in Christ, all will be vivified” (1 Cor. 15:22).

    The “Great White Throne” Judgment

Another question which is important for a proper understanding of the nature and purpose of the second death is, who will undergo it? According to most Christians, all unbelievers will undergo (or, as Rev. 2:11 puts it, “be injured by”) the second death, whether this involves ‘eternal conscious torment’ or simply eternal annihilation. Even most universalists believe that all unbelievers will undergo the second death - some even believe that all people, regardless of belief or unbelief, will be cast into the Lake of Fire for purification! [5]

    In contrast to this, I believe that not all of those who are resurrected at the Great Throne Judgment will be injured by the second death (something which I also cover in my older post, “Revelation is Not the End”). Consider Revelation 20:11-15, which describes this judgment:

And I saw a great white throne, and the One sitting upon it, away from whose face the earth and the heaven fled, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the small and the great, having stood before the throne, and scrolls were opened. And another scroll was opened, which is the Scroll of the Life. And the dead were judged by the things having been written in the scrolls, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and the Unseen gave up the dead who were in them, and each were judged according to their works. And Death and the Unseen were cast to the Lake of Fire. This, the Lake of Fire, is the second death. And if someone was not found to have been written in the Scroll of the Life, he was cast to the Lake of Fire.

A plain reading of this passage would suggest that all who had died were resurrected, judged according to their works written in the scrolls, and those who were not written in the Scroll of the Life were cast into the Lake of Fire while the others went on to enjoy their reward in the New Heavens and Earth (Rev. 21:1-7). If all of those at this judgment are cast into the Lake of Fire, it would be very redundant to open the scrolls and check whose names were in the Scroll of the Life; wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that “all of the dead were cast to the Lake of Fire,” rather than “everyone not having been written in the Scroll of the Life was cast to the Lake of Fire”?

    This view, that the dead who did good deeds will be allowed to live while those who did evil will be cast to the Lake of Fire, appears to be confirmed by Paul’s words in Romans 2:5-10. According to this passage,

...in the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment of God... [He] will give to each according to his works, indeed, to the ones who are seeking glory and honor and incorruptibility with endurance in good work, age-during life; yet to the ones [seeking] rivalry and disobeying the truth, who are persuaded to the unrighteousness, wrath and anger. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul working the evil, both of Jewish first and of Greek; yet glory, honor, and peace to all working the good, both of Jewish first and of Greek.

Like with Rev. 20:11-15, a plain reading of this passage would suggest that, in the (singular) “day of wrath and revelation of God’s righteous judgment,” there will be some (who did good deeds) who will be given a reward, and others (who did evil deeds) who will be given “wrath and anger, tribulation and anguish.” Significantly, Paul writes that this judgment will be “according to... works,” which is also what John says of the Great White Throne judgment (Rev. 20:12-13). Both of these passages strongly suggest, if only implicitly, that those unbelievers who worked good deeds in their life will escape the second death and be allowed to live on the New Earth during the final age. 

    However, there is even more concrete scriptural evidence for the idea that some unbelievers will pass the Great White Throne judgment. According to Isaiah’s prophecy of the New Heavens and Earth in Isa. 65:17-25, some of the people living on the New Earth will still be mortal and sinful, and there will be childbearing at this time [6]. This is supported by the prophecy in Revelation, which states that the “nations” living outside of New Jerusalem will still need healing from the leaves of the “tree of life” (meaning that their bodies will be corruptible) and will be sinful (Rev. 22:2, 15). However, by this time, all believers will have been made immortal and thus sinless (Lk. 20:35-36, 1 Cor. 15:50-56). Therefore, the nations living outside of New Jerusalem on the New Earth must be comprised of unbelievers. Consider the following argument:

Premise 1. The nations living outside of New Jerusalem on the New Earth will still be mortal and sinful, and able to bear offspring (Isa. 65:17-25 cf. Rev. 22:2, 15).

Premise 2. Believers will be made immortal prior to the creation of the New Earth, as well as unable to bear offspring (Lk. 20:35-36, 1 Cor. 15:50-56 cf. 1 Cor. 15:23).

Conclusion. The nations living outside of New Jerusalem on the New Earth are not believers, but are unbelievers. (from P1, P2) Therefore, at least some unbelievers will necessarily pass the Great White Throne judgment and be uninjured by the second death.

    This argument seems airtight, but there is one objection to this view. Since John states that one of the groups which will be cast into the Lake of Fire will be “unbelievers” (Rev. 21:8), it is often argued that all unbelievers will necessarily undergo the second death. However, the word “unbeliever” (apistos) does not always refer to those who simply do not believe; it can also be used to describe those who are untrustworthy or perfidious [7]. It is more likely that this is the meaning John had in mind, since he does not simply say that “all apistois” is a portion in the Lake of Fire, but that apistois among other groups (such as “to murderers,” “to sorcerers,” and “to all liars”) is a portion in the Lake of Fire.

    Now that we have established that not all unbelievers will be injured by the second death, but merely those who have done evil deeds and thus fit into the categories of Rev. 21:8, the question remains: by what standard will God actually judge unbelievers at the Great White Throne? It cannot be by God’s absolute standard of righteousness, since every human has fallen short of that standard by sinning (Rom. 3:23), and so no unbelievers would pass the judgment in that case. Instead, it must be by the relative standard of righteousness by which certain individuals throughout the Bible are called “righteous” as opposed to “the wicked” (Deut. 6:25, Ps. 18:20, Ezek. 18:5-9, Mal. 3:18 cf. Gen. 6:9, 15:6, Ezek. 14:14, Mk. 6:20, Lk. 1:5-6, 2 Pet. 2:7-8, etc.).

    It is likely that the standard at the Great White Throne will be even more lenient than most people think. For example, Jesus said to the people of Capernaum that “it will be more tolerable for [the people of] Sodom in the day of judgment than for you” (Matt. 11:24), and according to the prophet Ezekiel, this is because the people of Sodom will actually be restored at that time! (Ezek. 16:53-55) If even the people of Sodom will escape the second death on the day of judgment, it’s probable that only the worst of the worst — the Hitlers and Husseins of the world, along with those who rejected Jesus during His earthly ministry (Matt. 10:14-15) — will be punished by the second death at that time [8].

    So then, the purpose of the Great White Throne is not to pronounce a judgment on sin, which was finished at the cross (2 Cor. 5:19). Rather, the purpose of the Great White Throne (and, by extension, the second death) is to act as a judgment of good and evil, where all the wrong and injustice in the world will finally be put right.

    Is the second death ‘out of character’ for God?

A number of my fellow universalists have objected that, if the second death is a literal death, it is irreconcilable with what we know of our God’s fully loving character. As one person asked, “In what biblical story did Jesus ever engage in seeing folks burned to death and annihilated?” [9] God’s punishments are always for the ultimate greater good of the those He loves (Heb. 12:5-11 cf. Rom. 8:28), and He loves all people including His enemies (Matt. 5:43-48), so how can He kill anyone as a retributive punishment?

    Although this argument may seem superficially true, it is inconsistent with what we know of God’s actions in the past to suggest that He could not kill anyone in retribution. Was God acting ‘out of character’ when He killed multitudes of humans and animals in a flood (Gen. 6:7); annihilated Sodom and the other cities of the plain with fire and sulfur (Gen. 19:24-25); struck the land of Egypt with ten terrible plagues (Exod. 7:14-12:30); ordered the killing of all the Canaanites in the promised land (Deut. 7:1-2, 20:16-18); destroyed Jerusalem with the sword, famine, and pestilence in 586 BC (Jer. 14:11-12); killed Ananias and Sapphira for lying (Acts 5:1-11); struck the magician Elymas with blindness (Acts 13:8-12); and destroyed Jerusalem again in AD 70? (Matt. 24:1-2)

    Of course these judgments were not ‘out of character’ for God. God’s character never changes (Num. 23:19; Mal. 3:6; Jas. 1:17), so all of these punishments on evil were entirely in line with His loving character as revealed in both the Old and New Testaments. God is love (1 Jn. 4:8, 16), but justice is still one of His attributes, and God does not let the wicked go unpunished (Jer. 30:11; Nah. 1:3; 2 Pet. 2:9).

    Furthermore, according to multiple passages of scripture, God actually determines the length of every person’s life beforehand, in accordance with the fact that He “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11). Most notably, Job (14:5) states that “[man’s] days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have set his limits so that he cannot pass.” This is supported by other passages which show God controlling whether a person lives or dies (Deut. 32:39, 2 Sam. 2:6, Jas. 4:15 cf. Isa. 38:1-5, Lk. 12:19-20). If it is not ‘out of character’ for God to bring about the circumstances of every person’s death (including natural disaster and disease), why would it be ‘out of character’ for Him to bring about a second death for certain individuals?

    I don’t like the idea of God bringing about the annihilation of certain wicked individuals, even if His intention is to resurrect them again (as I will argue in my next post), any more than I like the idea of Him ordering the death of the Canaanites, killing Ananias and Sapphira, etc. But the fact remains that God did do all of these things, and so it certainly does not go against His loving nature to punish the wicked. Furthermore, we have no reason to believe that the second death will not ultimately be for the greater good of those punished -- the experience of annihilation may provide a better contrast with the bliss they experience after being resurrected again, for example. Thus, the objection that the literal death of the wicked at the Great White Throne is contrary to God’s nature is baseless.

Part 3: https://universalistheretic.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-lake-of-fire-which-is-second-death_0257692746.html

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[1] Contra the many passages outside of Revelation which suggest that it is a literal death. For example, see Job 20:4-7, Ps. 37:9-10, 20, Prov. 10:25, 12:7, and Obad. 16 which speak of the wicked being “no more” and not existing; Ps. 9:17, 31:17, Prov. 5:3-5, 15:24, and 23:13-14 which state that the wicked will go to Sheol/the Unseen (the state of the dead); and Isa. 51:7-8, Mal. 4:1, Matt. 3:12, 13:40, and Jn. 15:6 which use metaphors of actual destruction (moths eating wool, fire burning chaff, etc.) to describe the punishment of the wicked.

[2] There is actually no etymological connection between these two words. Greek pur comes from proto-Indo-European péh-wr̥, whereas English ‘purify’ comes from Latin purus, which comes from proto-Indo-European pewH. Any resemblance is merely artificial.

[3] This is despite the fact that the context of these verses shows that God is a “refiner’s fire” only in the sense that He destroys the wicked and preserves the righteous (Mal. 3:5-6, Heb. 12:26-27), not in the sense that He refines each person individually.

[4] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/βασανίζω#Ancient_Greek

[5] This is based on one interpretation of Mark 9:49, which states that “everyone will be salted with fire.” However, this interpretation would contradict Rev. 2:11 which indicates that it is possible to escape the second death, as well as the immediate context in Mk. 9:43-48 which indicates that escape from Gehenna is both possible and desirable. When Jesus spoke of “everyone” being “salted with fire,” He was most likely referring to everyone who does not take His advice from the previous verses.

[6] For a more detailed examination of this prophecy, see my older post, “Revelation is Not the End.”

[7] https://biblehub.com/greek/571.htm

[8] Based on Matthew 18:34-35 (among a few other passages), it seems possible that the other unbelievers will somehow be able to work off their ‘debt’ on the New Earth. However, we aren’t told about this in enough detail to say for certain.

[9] Although I understand the sentiment behind such a question, it should be noted that there actually is one such story in the gospel accounts: “As for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them in my presence” (Lk. 19:27).

The Lake of Fire which is the Second Death (part 1 of 3)

“Yet to the cowardly, and unbelieving, and detestable, and murderers, and male prostitutes, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars: their part [is] in the lake burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Rev. 21:8)

The Lake of Fire referred to in the book of Revelation is typically considered to be the same as ‘hell,’ the place where all unbelievers will be punished for their sins. According to most Christians, they will be punished consciously by torment without end (although the nature of this torment is debated). A minority of Christians, those who subscribe to the ‘annihilationist’ viewpoint, believe instead that the punishment of the Lake of Fire will involve the everlasting destruction of those cast within.

    However, regardless of what position one holds on the nature of the punishment, virtually all Christians are agreed that those who are cast into the Lake of Fire will never be saved, and that their punishment (whatever it consists of) will be without end. In other words, they believe that God is either unable to save all people (in the Arminian school of theology) or unwilling to save all people (in the Calvinist/Reformed school of theology). In stark contrast to this position, scripture tells us that God not only wills the salvation of all people (1 Tim. 2:4), but also effected the means to bring this about when Christ died as a “correspondent ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:6), making God “the Savior of all mankind” (1 Tim. 4:10).

    Since we know that all mankind will be saved, the punishment of the Lake of Fire - however terrible it may be - cannot be without end. Eventually, all of God’s enemies will be subjected and reconciled to Him, and He will become “all things in all” (1 Cor. 15:27-28 cf. Col. 1:20); the punishment of the Lake of Fire can only last until this time, and no longer. But the question still remains, what exactly is the nature of this punishment? In this post, we will take a look at the scriptural evidence to determine what the nature and purpose of the Lake of Fire is.

    “The lake burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death”

The book of Revelation contains many symbols and signs. For example, in chapter 17, we are told of a beast with seven heads and ten horns (cf. Rev. 13:1-10) upon which sits a prostitute, who also sits upon many waters, all of which symbolize different aspects of the future tribulation. For each of these symbols, John tells us exactly what they represent: “the seven heads are seven mountains” (Rev. 17:9); “the beast... is... an eighth [kingdom]” (Rev. 17:11); “the ten horns... are ten kings” (Rev. 17:12); “the waters... are peoples and crowds and nations and languages” (Rev. 17:15); “the woman... is the great city” (Rev. 17:18).

    In the same way, when John tells us that “this, the Lake of Fire, is the second death” (Rev. 20:14 cf. 21:8), we should understand that the Lake of Fire is a symbol which represents the punishment of “the second death.” This shouldn’t be too difficult to understand. Since death is the absence of life and consciousness [1], those who are cast into the Lake of Fire in John’s vision return to the state of unconsciousness which they were in prior to their resurrection to judgment (Rev. 20:5, 13). It is called the second death by virtue of the fact that everyone who enters it has already died once (Heb. 9:27).

    In spite of this clear statement that the Lake of Fire symbolizes the actual death of those cast within, most Christians believe that the Lake of Fire will involve conscious torment, and that those who are within it will remain alive (even immortal). However, this reduces “the second death” to something figurative, which would mean that the explanation of the symbol is, itself, a symbol. This is entirely without precedent in scripture; when a symbol is explained, the explanation is, of course, expected to be the actual truth behind the symbol and not further symbolism.

    Some who believe that the second death is actually a conscious experience argue that, because it is called the second death and not merely death, it could be figurative for something else [2]. However, as noted above, the reason that it is called the second death is simply because, for those cast within, it will be their second experience of death (see Heb. 9:27). As James Coram noted [3], the word “second” is merely adjectival, and does not change the essence of the noun, “death.” the second death can no more be a period of life than a second illness can be a period of good health.

    Another argument for the view that the second death is not a true death is based on Hebrews 9:27, which states that “it is appointed for men to die once, and after this the judgment.” From this, it is argued that a man cannot die twice, seeing as it is only appointed for men to die once. However, this argument is faulty; the word “once” (hapax) does not always refer to something which happens only one time, it can also refer to the first occurrence of an event (for example, see Php. 4:16 and 1 Thess. 2:18 in which Paul speaks of events which occurred “both once and twice”). The fact that it is appointed for men to die once prior to the judgment does not exclude a second death after the judgment.

    The fact that the second death constitutes literal death (the absence of life), and not a period of life (whether in torment or otherwise), is confirmed by what we read in Revelation 2:10-11:

“Do not be fearing what you are about to suffer. Lo, the Adversary is about to cast you out into prison, so that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation of ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give to you the crown of life. The [one] having an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the assemblies: ‘The [one] overcoming may in no way be injured by the second death.’”

According to this passage, those who remain “faithful until death” will receive “the crown of life” and thus will not be injured by “the second death.” Now, from what Jesus said in Lk. 20:35-36, we know that the reward obtained by “those deemed worthy to attain to that age” (i.e., by remaining faithful until death) will involve being “unable to die anymore.” From this, we can determine that the crown of life likely refers to the gift of immortality, and so the fact that immortality prevents one from undergoing “the second death” confirms that the second death is actual death.

    This argument is rather circuitous, but it is strengthened by what we read in Revelation 20:15 and 22:14-15, in which we read that those who enter the Lake of Fire (i.e., the second death) are not written in the “scroll of life” and are thus unable to have access to the “tree of life.” The fact that the crown of life, scroll of life, and tree of life are inaccessible to those who undergo the second death all points to the fact that the second death is simply the absence of life — that is, literal death.

    If this is the case, however, that the Lake of Fire represents literal death, then how is it possible that “Death and the Unseen [4] were cast into it” (Rev. 20:14)? Some have argued that this means that death itself will be destroyed at that time (cf. 1 Cor. 15:26, 55-56); however, this interpretation can be discounted on the grounds that mortality and sin will still exist on the New Earth (Isa. 65:17-20), whereas death is not destroyed until every person is placed beyond its reach. Thus, for death and the Unseen to be cast into the Lake of Fire simply means that, for the duration of the judgment, the state of death will be confined to the symbolic ‘Lake of Fire’ which represents the “second death.” Those who are cast into the Lake, into which death and the Unseen have been cast, will simply be returning to that lifeless state which they were in prior to their resurrection (Rev. 20:5, 13).

    Now that we have established that the Lake of Fire represents the literal death of those who, in John’s vision, are cast into it, let us take a look at the exceptions to this rule. There are, in fact, three individuals who do remain living after having been cast into the Lake:

And the beast was captured, and the false prophet with him (the [one] having done the signs before him, by which he led astray the [ones] having taken the mark of the beast and the [ones] worshipping its image); and the two were cast, living, into the Lake of Fire burning with sulfur. (Rev. 19:20)

And the Adversary, the [one] deceiving them, was cast to the Lake of Fire and of sulfur, where also the beast and the false prophet [were], and they will be tormented day and night for the ages of the ages. (Rev. 20:10)

In the first verse, we are told that the beast and false prophet are cast living into the Lake of Fire, in contrast to the fate of the kings and armies alongside them who are “killed by the sword of [Jesus]” (Rev. 19:21), and of the others whose later punishment in the Lake of Fire constitutes the termination of life. Furthermore, just over a thousand years later, the beast and the false prophet are still living in the Lake, and are tormented there alongside the Adversary (Rev. 20:10). We are not told what their “torment” consists of, merely that it occurs while they are still living and conscious [5]. But if the Lake of Fire represents the second death, then how can any being remain alive within it?

    When it comes to the Adversary, it is not difficult to see how he would be unaffected by the second death; after all, he is not mortal “flesh and blood,” but is an immortal spirit being (Eph. 6:11-12 cf. 1 Cor. 15:50, Heb. 2:14), and thus unable to die. But what about the beast and false prophet? Although a number of futurists believe that these beings are mortal humans, the scriptural evidence seems to better support the view that they are instead immortal spirit beings (see Rev. 16:13-14). We are told that the beast arises out of “the abyss” (Rev. 11:7, 17:8), which is elsewhere said to be a prison for rebellious spirits (Lk. 8:30-31, Rev. 9:11, 20:1-3 cf. 2 Pet. 2:4, Jude 6). And although the beast represents the final kingdom of Daniel’s prophecy (Rev. 13:2 cf. Dan. 7:1-7), it likely also represents the spiritual “prince” of that kingdom (see Dan. 10:12, 20, 12:1 cf. 1 Cor. 10:20).

    Because of this, these three exceptions to the second death present no challenge to the view that the Lake of Fire represents literal death. The beast, false prophet, and Adversary are all immortal spirit beings, and so the second death would be unable to affect them. Instead, they will be incarcerated in the Lake of Fire for “the ages of the ages” and tormented while they are still living.

    The annihilation of the wicked

The testimony of John as to the punishment of the wicked is extremely clear; they will be punished by annihilation at the “second death.” But John is certainly not the first author of the Bible to prophecy that the punishment of the wicked will involve literal death. Indeed, this idea appears throughout all of scripture. Consider the following passages from the ‘wisdom literature’ of the Old Testament:

“Do you know this from of old, from the establishment of man on earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless momentary? Though his loftiness reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds, he perishes forever like his refuse; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’” (Job 20:4-7 NASB)

For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for Yahweh, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; and you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there... But the wicked will perish; and the enemies of Yahweh will be like the glory of the pastures, they vanish — like smoke they vanish away. (Ps. 37:9-10, 20)

...when the wicked sprouted up like grass and all who did iniquity flourished, it was only that they might be destroyed for the age of the age. (Ps. 92:7)

Yahweh keeps all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. (Ps. 145:20)

When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation... The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand. (Prov. 10:25, 12:7 NASB)

All of these passages are clear that the wicked will be destroyed, such that they will be absolutely “no more” and nowhere to be found. This cannot be describing any kind of torment or purification, but simple annihilation as retribution for wicked acts. Consider also the following:

The wicked will return to the Unseen, even all the nations who forget God. (Ps. 9:17)

Let me not be put to shame, O Yahweh, for I call upon You; let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in the Unseen. (Ps. 31:17)

For the lips of an adulteress drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold of the Unseen. (Prov. 5:3-5)

The path of life leads upward for the wise that he may keep away from the Unseen below. (Prov. 15:24)

Do not hold back discipline from the child, although you strike him with the rod, he will not die. You shall strike him with the rod and rescue his soul from the Unseen. (Prov. 23:13-14)

All of these passages seem to state that “the Unseen” (sheol, which refers to the state of the dead, either of nonexistence or the grave; see footnote 4) is the end specifically of the wicked. However, we know from elsewhere in scripture that both the righteous and the wicked go to the Unseen at death (Job 17:13-16, Ecc. 3:19-20, 9:10 cf. Gen. 37:35, Ps. 88:3), for they both return to the dust of the earth (Job. 34:15, Ecc. 12:7). Thus, this must refer to another death specifically for the wicked, following the first death, in which the wicked (and not the righteous) go to the Unseen. It is surely no coincidence that John’s vision shows both death and the Unseen (the state of death) as being cast into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:14).

    The depiction of the wicked as dead, and not undergoing torment or purification, continues throughout the Old Testament prophets:

“Do not fear the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. For the moth will eat them like a garment, and the grub will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will be for the age, and My salvation to all generations.” (Isa. 51:7-8)

“Then they will go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched; and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.” (Isa. 66:24 NASB)

“Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die... The soul who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.” (Ezek. 18:4, 20 NASB)

“When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has committed he will die. But when I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness, if a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the statutes which ensure life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.” (Ezek. 33:13-15 NASB)

Ezekiel 33:8-19 states that the wicked will die while the righteous live. Clearly, this is not describing the first death, which is common to both the wicked and the righteous. Therefore, it must be describing a second death, much like the one in John’s vision.

“Because just as you drank on My holy mountain, all the nations will drink [of God’s wrath] continually. They will drink and swallow and become as if they had never existed.” (Obad. 16 NASB)

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says Yahweh of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” (Mal. 4:1)

Based on all of these passages, it is clear that the writers of the Old Testament had the expectation that the wicked would be destroyed. Although traditionally, these passages are understood as describing ‘spiritual death’ [6], referring to separation from God, such an interpretation cannot be sustained in light of the fact that these same writers also say that the wicked will be “no more” (i.e., entirely annihilated) and compare their punishment to the burning up of chaff.

    Contrary to popular opinion, the New Testament writers also wrote that the punishment of the wicked would involve annihilation rather than torment and/or purgation. Jesus also used the metaphor of the burning up of chaff to describe the wicked’s punishment (Matt. 3:12, 13:40, Jn. 15:6), which clearly implies the actual death of the wicked. See also all of the following passages:

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate [is] wide and the way [is] broad leading to destruction, and many are the [ones] entering through it.” (Matt. 7:13-14)

The [one] believing in the Son has age-during life, yet the [one] not obeying the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (Jn. 3:36)

“Moses indeed said, ‘The Lord God will raise up to you a prophet like me out of your brethren; you will listen to him’ in all things, as many as he may say to you. Now it will be [that] every soul who may not listen to that prophet shall be utterly destroyed out of the people.” (Acts 3:22-23)

In [the] day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment of God... as many as have sinned without [the] Law will also perish without [the] Law. (Rom. 2:5, 12)

For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. Therefore, what fruit did you have then, upon [the things] of which you are now ashamed? For the consummation of those things is death... For the reward of sin [is] death, yet the gift of God [is] age-during life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:20-21, 23)

For many are walking (whom I often told you [of], yet now also weeping say) the enemies of the cross of the Christ, whose consummation [is] destruction, whose God [is] the belly, and their glory [is] in their shame, minding the earthly things. (Php. 3:18-19)

Then the coveting, having conceived, begets sin; now the sin, having been completed, gives birth to death. (Jas. 1:15)

My brethren, if anyone among you may be led astray from the truth, and someone may bring him back, let him know that the [one] having brought back a sinner out of [the] error of his way will save his soul out of death and will cover over a plethora of sins. (Jas. 5:19-20)

Yet we are not of [those] drawing back to destruction, but of faith to [the] preserving of [the] soul. (Heb. 10:39)

...and [the] cities of Sodom and Gomorrah having reduced to ashes, He condemned [them] to destruction, having placed an example of [what is] coming upon [the] impious... Yet these, just as irrational animals, having been natural-born for capture and destruction (in what they are ignorant of, blaspheming) also in their destruction will be destroyed. (2 Pet. 2:6, 12)

Yet now the heavens and the earth by the same word exist, having been stored up for fire, being kept to [the] day of judgment and destruction of impious men. (2 Pet. 3:7)

These many passages, along with even a few others, demonstrate virtually beyond a shadow of a doubt that the punishment of the wicked will consist of death and annihilation. In contrast, there are only two passages in the New Testament which are often considered to describe the torment of mortal humans in ‘hell’ [7].

    Although not all of these passages refer to the same event in time - for example, 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10 describes the destruction of the wicked at the second coming of Christ, whereas 2 Peter 3:7 describes their destruction at the Great White Throne judgment just over a thousand years later - it is clear that the wicked’s punishment will be their death, and not any kind of torment or purgation. This reinforces the premise argued for earlier in this post, which is that the “second death” involves the literal death of those who, in John’s vision, are cast into the Lake of Fire.

Part 2: https://universalistheretic.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-lake-of-fire-which-is-second-death_02062683433.html

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[1] This fact should be uncontested, as it accords with both personal observation and scriptural revelation. For example, it is explicitly said that the dead do not live in Rev. 20:5 (cf. 2 Kings 20:1), and life is repeatedly contrasted with death throughout the Bible (e.g., Gen. 42:2, Deut. 33:6, Ps. 118:17). However, for a more detailed defense of the position that death is the absence of life and consciousness, see my posts “Defying Death: A Defense of the Doctrine of Soul Sleep” and “Body, Spirit, and Soul.”

[2] Paul’s description of the believer’s conversion as the “death of the old self” (Rom. 6:6) is often appealed to as an example of figurative ‘death.’ However, this death of the old self cannot be understood as the same as the Lake of Fire, since those who undergo the death of the old self are “justified from sin” (Rom. 6:7), whereas those who are cast into the Lake are still seen as sinners (Rev. 21:8, 22:15).

[3] Unsearchable Riches Vol. 84, p. 227

[4] “The Unseen” is usually translated as “Hades,” however, the word hades in Greek literally means “unseen.” This word is used in scripture to describe either the state of nonexistence (see for example Matt. 11:23), which (for humans) is returned to at death, or the grave where the body returns to the dust of the earth (see esp. Job 17:16).

Although some believe that Hades is a place where ‘disembodied souls’ live on after death, the scriptural usage of the word refutes this view. Job (17:16) equates “going down to the Unseen” with “descending to the dust of the earth.” In the Unseen there are said to be gray hairs (Gen. 42:38, 44:29, 31, 1 Kings 2:6, 9), bones (Ps. 141:7, Ezek. 32:27), worms and maggots (Job 17:13-14, 24:19-20, Isa. 14:11), and swords and shields (Ezek. 32:27) - all material objects which exist in the grave, not a realm of ‘disembodied souls.’ The Unseen is said to be a place where bodies decay (Ps. 16:10, 49:14, Hos. 13:14). It is also said to be under the earth, a location which can be descended to alive - synonymous with “the pit” (Num. 16:30-33, Deut. 32:22, Job 11:8, Ps. 30:3, Prov. 1:12, Isa. 14:15, Ezek. 31:16, Amos 9:2).

[5] Some believe that this torment involves literal burning with fire, while others speculate that their torment might simply derive from the fact that their freedom will be severely reduced while they are confined to the Lake of Fire. But until this torment actually occurs, we cannot know for certain.

[6] In most streams of Christianity, separation from God is considered to be ‘spiritual death’ based on the misinterpretation of passages like Genesis 2:17 and Ephesians 2:1-5. However, the context of each of these passages demonstrates that they are not referring to any kind of ‘spiritual death,’ but fall into one of two categories: (1) referring to the wicked as proleptically “dead in their sins,” because their sins result in death (cf. Rom. 6:21, Php. 3:18-19), or (2) using death as a metaphor (e.g., Rev. 3:1-2).

[7] For my interpretation of these passages (which are Luke 16:19-31 and Revelation 14:9-11), see the last section of my older post, “Gehenna and the Lake of Fire (Part 2).”

Paul’s Gospel and Christianity

    Within Christianity, there are many ideas about how one becomes part of the body of Christ. [1] The largest Christian denominations, those of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, believe that in order to be part of the body of Christ, one needs to first take the ‘sacraments’ (especially baptism and the ‘eucharist’ or Lord’s supper) throughout one’s life and confess one’s sins. In contrast, most Protestant churches believe that one becomes part of the body of Christ by praying a specific prayer called a ‘sinner’s prayer,’ in which one “accepts Jesus as one’s Lord and Savior.” [2]

    Contrary to all of these viewpoints, Paul wrote that in order to be saved according to his gospel, one must simply believe in the message he communicated in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4:

Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I evangelized to you, and which you received, and in which you have stood, and through which you are being saved if you hold fast to what word I evangelized to you, unless you have believed in vain. For I handed over to you that which I also first received: that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried; and that he was raised the third day, according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the Twelve.

This gospel evangelized by Paul involves two separate truths, of Christ’s death and resurrection (cf. Rom. 10:9-10, 2 Cor. 5:15, 1 Thess. 4:14), as well as scriptural and physical evidence for each of these truths: [3]

1) “Christ died for our sins”

Scriptural proof: “according to the Scriptures”

Physical proof: “he was buried”

2) “Christ was raised the third day”

Scriptural proof: “according to the Scriptures”

Physical proof: “he was seen by Cephas, then by the Twelve”

Believing this “word of truth” causes one to be sealed by holy spirit, making one irrevocably a part of the body of Christ (Eph. 1:13-14, 4:30; cf. Php. 1:6).

    According to Paul, this gospel is something which must be taught and learned (Col. 1:5-7), not intuitively understood. Despite this, the truths that Christ died for our sins and was raised the third day shouldn’t be too difficult to understand — unless, that is, one already holds beliefs that contradict these truths. Unfortunately, as I will show in this article, this is the case for most professing Christians, based on three key doctrines of Christianity which prevent them from believing in Paul’s gospel. Belief in these doctrines prevents most Christians from believing in the first part of Paul’s gospel, the simple truth that “Christ died for our sins,” thus preventing them from being in the body of Christ.

    1. The Immortality of the Soul

The first fundamental truth of Paul’s gospel is that “Christ died for our sins,” for which he provides a physical proof: that “he was buried.” The fact that Jesus died and was buried is not difficult to understand. Even a child could tell you that death is the opposite of, and the absence of, life; in other words, the death of any human being, Jesus included, involves the complete cessation of existence.

    However, despite the simplicity of the statements that Jesus died and was buried, virtually all Christians do not affirm them, though they may sincerely believe that they do. When pressed on this issue, Christians who believe in the soul’s immortality will admit that they actually believe that it was merely Christ’s body that died and was buried, whereas Christ Himself lived on. This is because of the doctrine of “the immortality of the soul” — the idea that humans are actually immortal souls which live on after death, who in fact cannot die.

    The idea that one’s consciousness lives on after death is completely unscriptural, as I showed in another post. Instead, the Bible tells us that it is possible to kill one’s soul (Num. 31:19; 35:11, 15, 30; Josh. 20:3, 9; Matt. 10:28; Mk. 3:4), that a soul can be dead (Lev. 21:11; Num. 6:6; 19:11, 13; Josh. 2:13; Jas. 5:20; Rev. 16:3), and that “the soul that sins shall die” (Ezek. 18:4, 20). Souls, or consciousnesses, are the emergent property of a union between a body and a spirit (Gen. 2:7), and so cease to exist when the body and spirit separate at death (Ecc. 12:7). A person is always said to be where their body is after death, rather than their soul or spirit (Gen. 35:18-19; Job 34:14-15; Ps. 146:4; Acts 7:59-8:2).

    The dead are repeatedly and emphatically said to be “no more” (Gen. 37:30; 42:13, 36; Job 27:19; Ps. 37:10, 36; 39:13; 104:35; Isa. 17:14; Jer. 31:15; Lam. 5:7; Ezek. 26:21; 27:36; 28:19; Matt. 2:18, etc.). They are completely silent and unable to praise God (Ps. 6:5; 30:9; 88:10-12; 115:17; Isa. 38:18), having no knowledge, thoughts, emotion, or ability to work (Ps. 146:4; Ecc. 9:5-10), thus apparently without any conscious experience at all. Indeed, it is as though they are asleep (Job 3:11-17; 14:10-12; Ps. 13:3; Dan. 12:2; Matt. 27:52; Jn. 11:11-14; Acts 7:60; 1 Cor. 15:20; 1 Thess. 4:13). Our only hope is in the resurrection; otherwise, there is no gain for the believer, and the dead have truly perished (1 Cor. 15:16-19, 29-32; 2 Cor. 5:4; 1 Thess. 4:13-18).

    Now, all of this scriptural evidence clearly points to one simple conclusion: that those who die are actually dead, without life or conscious experience. Death is an enemy and something which we must be saved from (1 Cor. 15:26, 55; cf. Hos. 13:14), not a transition to a “better place,” however disquieting that conclusion may be. But a better and more pertinent question is, when Christ died, was his experience the same as all other humans — that is, no conscious experience at all?

    The scriptural evidence argues conclusively that the answer to this question is “yes,” that Jesus was well and truly dead for the three days between his crucifixion and resurrection. His spirit separated from his body when he breathed his last, as happens to all other humans upon death (Lk. 23:46; cf. Ecc. 12:7). Since, as noted above, the soul (or consciousness) is merely an emergent property arising from the combination of a body and spirit (Gen. 2:7), we may conclude that Jesus’ soul (or consciousness) ceased to exist when He breathed His last.

    Furthermore, we are repeatedly told that it was Jesus himself — and not merely his body — that died and was entombed. Indeed, an integral part of Paul’s gospel is that “Christ died” and “he was buried.” Another important passage which teaches this is Matthew 28:5-6:

Now answering, the messenger said to the woman, “Do not fear, for I have known that you seek Jesus, the [one] having been crucified. He is not here, for he rose, as he said. Come, see the place where he had lain.”

It was Jesus, not merely his body, who was crucified and laid in the tomb. Because Jesus, for the three days between His crucifixion and resurrection, is always said to be where his body is (in the tomb), he cannot have been alive elsewhere as a ‘disembodied soul.’ Consider the following argument:

Premise 1. When Jesus died, his spirit returned to God (Lk. 23:46) and his body was entombed (Matt. 27:58-60).

Premise 2. It was Jesus himself who was entombed and laid in the earth for three days (Matt. 12:40; 28:6; Jn. 19:42; Acts 13:29; 1 Cor. 15:4; cf. Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12).

Conclusion. It was Jesus’ dead body which fully constituted his personal remains during the time He was dead, and not His spirit or ‘disembodied soul.’ (For a more detailed defense of this argument, see this article by Aaron Welch.)

Thus, even apart from Paul’s clear statements that Christ (not just his body) actually died and was buried, the scriptural evidence allows us to conclude that Jesus’ death was real and he had no conscious experience during those three days.

    Despite this, there are several passages which are thought by many to teach that Jesus was alive, in a disembodied form, for those three days. The first of these passages describes Jesus’ soul as being in Hades during that time:

“For David says about him [Jesus]: ‘I foresaw the Lord [God] before me through all, because he is at my right, that I may not be shaken. Because of this my heart was merry, and my tongue exalted, and now also my flesh will dwell in hope, for you will not desert my soul to Hades, nor will you let your holy [one] see decay. You have made known to me [the] paths of life; you will fill me with merriment with your face.’

“Men, brothers, it is permitted me to speak with freedom to you about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God swore an oath to him to set the fruit of his loins upon his throne, having foreseen, he spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he deserted to Hades, nor did his flesh see decay.” (Acts 2:25-31)

    Now, according to Peter, the prophecy that “you will not desert my soul to Hades” (Ps. 16:8-11) was written concerning Jesus’ resurrection. This means that for the time that Jesus was dead, his soul was in “Hades.” But what is Hades? It literally means “Unseen,” and often figuratively refers to a place of nonexistence. For example, Jesus prophesied that the city of Capernaum would “go down to the Unseen” (Matt. 11:23); this city did not go to a realm of ‘disembodied souls,’ but it was abandoned in the Middle Ages and ceased to exist as a city.

    There is also another more common meaning of “Unseen” in scripture, as referring to the grave. Job (17:16) equates “going down to the Unseen” with “descending to the dust of the earth.” In the Unseen there are said to be gray hairs (Gen. 42:38; 44:29, 31; 1 Kings 2:6, 9), bones (Ps. 141:7; Ezek. 32:27), worms and maggots (Job 17:13-14; 24:19-20; Isa. 14:11), and swords and shields (Ezek. 32:27) — all material objects which exist in the grave, not a realm of ‘disembodied souls.’ The Unseen is said to be a place where bodies decay (Ps. 16:10; 49:14; Hos. 13:14). It is also said to be under the earth, a location which can be descended to alive — synonymous with “the pit” (Num. 16:30-33; Deut. 32:22; Job 11:8; Ps. 30:3; Prov. 1:12; Isa. 14:15; Ezek. 31:16; Amos 9:2).

    The context of Acts 2:31 confirms that this is the meaning of “Hades” being used in reference to Jesus. Using the Hebraic literary device of synonymous parallelism, David implies that the meaning of “you will not desert me to Hades” is the same as “you will not let your holy one see decay.” Obviously, decay is something that happens in the grave, not an abode of ‘disembodied souls.’ This is supported by v. 29, which emphasizes the fact that David’s tomb was still among them. So then, “you will not desert [the Messiah] to Hades” is merely an emphatic way of declaring that the Messiah would not be left in the grave, but would be resurrected. This does not in any way prove that Jesus was still alive in a spiritual realm of ‘disembodied souls’ during the three days between his crucifixion and resurrection.

    Another passage which is sometimes purported to show that Jesus did not truly die is 1 Peter 3:18-20. This passage states that

…Christ also suffered once for sins, righteous on behalf of unrighteous, so that he might bring you to God, indeed, having been put to death in flesh, yet vivified in spirit, in which also he preached, having gone to the spirits in prison who once disobeyed when the longsuffering of God was waiting in [the] days of Noah…

This is often claimed to demonstrate that Christ, during the three days between his crucifixion and resurrection, was preaching to “the spirits in prison,” and so was not truly dead during that time. However, this is not at all the plain meaning of Peter’s words here. Rather, Peter says that Christ preached to the imprisoned spirits after being “vivified in spirit” — that is, after his resurrection. Therefore, this doesn’t show that Jesus was alive in a ‘disembodied’ state for those three days. [4]

    Why is the doctrine of the immortality of the soul so dangerous, especially when applied to Jesus himself? Simply because, if one believes that the soul is immortal, this contradicts Paul’s gospel that “Christ died for our sins.” Of course, it’s possible to hold these two ideas in tension, as people do with so many other ideas (but cognitive dissonance isn’t very pleasant). Nonetheless, a belief in the immortality of the soul makes it difficult for one to believe Paul’s gospel and enter the body of Christ.

    2. The Deity of Christ

Another fundamental Christian doctrine which contradicts the divine truth of Paul’s gospel that “Christ died” is the doctrine of the ‘deity of Christ.’ According to this doctrine, Jesus was and is the supreme God, Yahweh. In most traditions of Christianity, the ‘deity of Christ’ is also associated with the doctrine of the Trinity, the belief that “the one God exists as or in three equally divine Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” [5] The Trinity is the official position of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, as well as the vast majority of Protestant denominations.

    Essentially, what the doctrine of ‘deity of Christ’ postulates is that Jesus simply is the supreme Deity, Yahweh, to the same extent that his Father is (Jn. 8:54), although the relations between Jesus and his Father are variously understood by different doctrinal positions (one-self vs. three-self trinitarinism). In stark contrast to this position, the Bible presents Jesus as the fully human Messiah, the Son of the living God who lived his life in perfect obedience to his God and Father, died on a cross, and was resurrected to sit at the right hand of God in the heavens. For a detailed scriptural defense of this position, see the many other posts on this blog dealing with the doctrine of Christ’s deity. [6]

    Here are a number of scripturally based arguments which show the ‘deity of Christ’ to be false:

Premise 1. Jesus’ authority was given to him upon his resurrection (Matt. 28:18; Acts 2:36; Rom. 14:9; Php. 2:9-11; Heb. 2:9).

Premise 2. God does not need to be, and has never been, given authority.

Conclusion. Jesus is not God.

Premise 1. “Yahweh our God” whose oneness is affirmed in the Shema (Deut. 6:4), apart from whom there is no other God, is the God of both Jesus and the Israelites (Mk. 12:29-30, 32).

Premise 2. The Father alone is the God of both Jesus and the Israelites (Jn. 20:17 cf. 4:21-24; 8:54).

Conclusion. The Father alone (and not Jesus) is “Yahweh our God” who is one, and apart from whom there is no other God. 

Premise 1. There is no God apart from the one God (1 Cor. 8:4 cf. Deut. 4:35; 32:39; 1 Kings 8:60; 2 Kings 5:15).

Premise 2. The Father alone is the one God, whereas this title is repeatedly distinguished from Jesus (Jn. 5:43-44; 8:40; 17:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 4:5-6; 1 Tim. 2:5).

Conclusion. The Father alone (and not Jesus) is the one God, and there is no God apart from him.

Premise 1. Yahweh God is greater than all (Exod. 18:11; Ps. 113:4-6).

Premise 2. The Father alone is greater than all (Jn. 10:29; Eph. 4:6), including Jesus (Jn. 14:28 cf. 20:17; Rom. 15:6; Rev. 1:6; 3:12; etc.).

Conclusion. The Father alone (and not Jesus) is Yahweh God.

Premise 1. Singular pronouns and verbs are used when describing God’s uniqueness; e.g., “you [singular] alone are God” (Ps. 86:10), “I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God” (Isa. 44:6), “I am Yahweh, and there is no other, beside me there is no God” (Isa. 45:5).

Premise 2. When Jesus and the Father are spoken of together, plural pronouns and verbs are used (e.g., Jn. 10:30; 14:23).

Conclusion. The one God, Yahweh, is not more than one person (not both Jesus and the Father) but is the Father alone.

All of these scripturally informed arguments demonstrate conclusively that the one God, Yahweh, is the Father alone, and thus that Jesus is not the supreme Deity. Although there are a number of verses purported to show that Jesus is God, none of these are conclusive at all; rather, when examined in context, it is clear that the doctrine of Christ’s deity is being read into them. [7]

    Jesus is certainly the greatest man who ever lived, who now sits at the right hand of the Father with all authority in heaven and earth having been given to him. But it is a great dishonor to both God and Christ to claim that Christ is God. Rather, Christ is a fully human being (Jn. 8:40; 1 Tim. 2:5), the Son and servant of God (Matt. 16:16; Lk. 1:32-35; Acts 3:13, 26).

    Why is the fact that Christ is not God so important, and the belief that he is, so dangerous? Well, first of all, the greatest commandment is to love God with all your being (Mk. 12:29-30), and so a proper understanding of who God is (the Father alone) is of paramount importance. Worshipping Jesus as supreme God, in place of the Father, is idolatry, [8] and Christians who believe in Christ’s deity are particularly prone to this form of idolatry. [9] On the other hand, worshipping Jesus as God’s son is, of course, more than acceptable! (Matt. 14:33; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 5:13-14)

    Perhaps even more importantly, the doctrine of Christ’s deity (like that of the immortality of the soul) also contradicts Paul’s gospel that “Christ died,” thus disqualifying any who believe in it from entry into the body of Christ. Although humans are not immortal in any way, God is both immortal and incorruptible, and thus unable to die (Rom. 1:23; 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16). His years shall never end (Ps. 102:27). Indeed, as he is the source of all life and being (Acts 17:25, 28), if he ever died, the entire universe would simply cease to exist. Thus, it logically follows that either Jesus is not God, or he did not die.

    Since we know that Christ did die, we can easily conclude that he is not God. Yet the reverse is also true: if we believe that Christ is God, then we must also believe that he did not truly die, for God cannot die. Even if, as some trinitarian apologists argue, Christ’s ‘human nature’ died while his ‘divine nature’ lived on, [10] this still would mean that some conscious part of Jesus lived on, and so he did not truly die. Consistent trinitarians acknowledge this, and, surprisingly, admit that they do not believe Christ truly died. For example, consider the following excerpt from a debate between unitarian Dale Tuggy and trinitarian Michael Brown:

Tuggy: Right, so you just said that a body died on the cross… then you said a man died on the cross. It sounded like you think there’s this ‘other self’ there, the eternal Son. Do you have two Sons? Do you have a man and do you also have this eternal spirit?

Brown: …I’m not, I don’t think I follow the question, but to be clear, you said that a man, Jesus, hangs on the cross, he says, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” I’m assuming you believe that he had a spirit, he wasn’t just a physical being only, [he] had a spirit, right?…

Tuggy: Right, but Dr. Brown, you said that the Father and the Son are the same God at one time… But that’s just nonsense. [The same God] can’t be dead and [alive at the same time].

Brown: I think it’s much, much better if you didn’t put words in my mouth. I never said the Son died, I said the Son didn’t die, and now you say I said he did die. (video here, timestamp 1:11:08)

This surprising admission, I believe, highlights an inconsistency in the minds of Christians who believe in the deity of Christ. Although they claim to believe that Christ died, they actually believe that it was merely his body (or at most, his ‘human nature’) which died on the cross. In the minds of trinitarians, Christ himself, the ‘divine person,’ did not die, and could not have actually died.

    Because of this, the doctrine of the deity of Christ is incompatible with the actual message of Paul’s gospel that “Christ died for our sins.” Although there are inconsistent trinitarians who believe in the deity of Christ, while also believing that he truly died — for example, the official position of the Seventh Day Adventist denomination includes both Christian mortalism (the belief that death is a true loss of life) and trinitarianism — it’s safe to say that a belief in Christ’s deity makes it difficult to also affirm the truth that “Christ died.” Ironically, the belief that Jesus truly died is considered extremely heretical by the majority of Christianity, despite the fact that this belief is necessary for salvation under Paul’s gospel and inclusion in the body of Christ.

    3. Particularism [11]

The first two doctrines, the immortality of the soul and the deity of Christ, all result in a denial of the fact that “Christ died.” However, Paul’s gospel also contains the message that Christ’s death was “for our sins” (huper ton hamartion hemon, lit. “on behalf of the sins of us”). Though the fact that Jesus died is easy to understand, what Paul might have meant that this was “for our sins” is more confusing — for example, who is included in “our?” And how, exactly, did his death deal with sin?

    The reason that Paul did not elaborate on what he meant by “for our sins” is probably because the intended recipients of the letter, the Corinthian church, were already aware of the details of Paul’s gospel (1 Cor. 15:1). Thus, we must look elsewhere in Paul’s epistles to determine exactly what he meant by this. Probably the most important passage for understanding the meaning of “for our sins” is 1 Timothy 2:4-7:

God our Savior… wills all mankind to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a correspondent ransom for all, the testimony in its own seasons, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Significantly, this passage states that it was for the testimony that Christ “gave himself a correspondent ransom for all” that Paul was appointed a preacher, apostle, and teacher of the Gentiles. Elsewhere, it is said that Paul was appointed to these positions for the gospel (2 Tim. 1:10-11 cf. Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:17). Thus, this testimony must be an essential part of Paul’s gospel. Paul must have considered the statement that Christ “gave himself a correspondent ransom for all” to have basically the same meaning as “Christ died for our sins.”

    This still leaves the question, what exactly does “correspondent ransom for all” mean? The first word of this phrase, antilutron (which is translated “correspondent ransom”) describes a ransom price which is paid in full. Translating this word hyper-literally, it means “instead-of-loosening” — that which fully corresponds to the ransom price needed, and thus looses the prisoner from their captivity. Thus, Jesus’ death resulted in our loosening from the consequences of sin, and ultimately, our sins being no longer reckoned to us (cf. Rom. 4:7-8; 2 Cor. 5:19).

    The second word of this phrase is huper (translated “for”), which also appears in the statement, “Christ died for our sins.” The force of this word might be better translated as “on behalf of.” When used of a transaction, it describes an exchange which is decidedly a benefit to the party under consideration. [12] This word is especially used to describe the effects of sin offerings made by the high priest (Heb. 5:1, 3; 7:27; 9:7; 10:12), which resulted in the sins of the people on behalf of whom the offerings were made being blotted out and forgiven (Lev. 4:20, 26, 35; 5:10, etc.). Since Jesus is both a high priest (Heb. 7:11-28) and a sin offering (2 Cor. 5:21), the use of huper here is especially fitting.

    It’s worth noting that, when the yearly sin offering was made by the high priest on behalf of (huper) Israel, it was entirely a transaction between the high priest and God — the people themselves were not involved (Lev. 16:15-19, 29-34; cf. Heb. 9:7, 12). So when Christ offered himself as a “correspondent ransom for [huper] all” to God, this sin offering would have been immediately efficacious for all those on behalf of whom it was offered, without any reaction needed on the part of the people. Thus, we can conclude that all those huper whom Christ offered himself as an antilutron will necessarily be ransomed from the consequences of sin, without qualification. [13]

    Finally, the last word of the phrase “correspondent ransom for all” is pantōn (translated “all”). The word pas describes the whole of whatever group is in view; [14] for example, when Paul spoke of praying for “all [pantōn] those in authority” (1 Tim. 2:2), he was necessarily referring to every person who is in an authoritative position. Although this word is sometimes used hyperbolically (e.g., Matt. 3:5-6), as it is in English, there is no indication that pantōn in 1 Tim. 2:6 is hyperbole. So what group is in view in 1 Tim. 2:6, then? In v. 4, the focus is on “all mankind,” and again in v. 5, we are told that Jesus is “mediator between God and mankind.” Because of this, it is safe to assume that panton in v. 6 refers to “all mankind.”

    The fact that Christ’s death was for all mankind, every person without exception, is confirmed elsewhere in Paul’s epistles. We are told that Christ “died for all” (2 Cor. 5:14-15), that every person condemned by Adam’s sin is also justified by Christ’s death (Rom. 5:15-19), and that all who die in Adam will be given life in Christ (1 Cor. 15:22). Even elsewhere in the first epistle to Timothy, Paul wrote that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1:15) [15] and that God is “Savior of all mankind” (4:10). Thus, the “all” (panton) in 1 Tim. 2:6 is undoubtedly “all mankind.”

    Taking all of this together, we can conclude that Christ giving himself as “a correspondent ransom for all” (antilutron huper pantōn) means that Christ, through his death, has paid the ransom price in full for all mankind, and so all mankind will undoubtedly be saved. Consider the following argument:

Premise 1. Every person who was ransomed by Christ will be saved.

Premise 2. All mankind has been ransomed by Christ.

Conclusion. All mankind will be saved.

These premises are fully supported by scripture, as is the conclusion. [16] One might ask, however, if Christ gave himself as a ransom, what exactly is he ransoming us from? According to most Christians, what Christ ransomed us from is ‘eternal conscious torment.’ However, the truth is much simpler. Because we know that the consequence of sinning is death (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 1:32; 6:21, 23; 1 Cor. 15:56), the ransom which Christ paid “for our sins” (cf. Matt. 1:21) must be to free us from the grip of mortality and death.

    The fact that Christ ransomed us from mortality and death is confirmed elsewhere in Paul’s epistles. In Hosea 13:14 (which Paul quotes in 1 Cor. 15:55 after discussing the resurrection to immortality), God states, “I will ransom them from the power of the Unseen; I will redeem them from death” (cf. Ps. 49:15). And in 1 Cor. 15:16-19, Paul writes,

For if dead do not rise, then Christ has not risen. And if Christ has not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then also those who fell asleep in Christ have perished. If only in this life we have hope in Christ, we are the most pitiable of all men.

    Here, Paul equates being “in your sins” with having “perished,” which in context means dying without hope of resurrection (cf. Jn. 8:24). And as Paul goes on to say, while Adam’s sin results in death for all, in Christ, all will be vivified, or placed beyond reach of death (1 Cor. 15:22 cf. Rom. 5:18). Death, not ‘eternal conscious torment,’ is the greatest enemy and will one day be abolished (1 Cor. 15:26). The transformation of our bodies into immortal, glorified bodies is the same power by which Christ will subject all to Himself in the end (Php. 3:21 cf. 1 Cor. 15:27-28). Finally, and most significantly, we read in 2 Timothy 1:11 that

Our Savior Christ Jesus… abolished death and illuminated life and incorruption [i.e. immortality] through the gospel of which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

Thus, what Jesus procured through his death is the ultimate abolition of death, and immortality for all mankind. (After all, death cannot be fully abolished unless every person is placed beyond its reach.)

    Since Paul’s gospel includes the essential truth that “Christ died for our sins” (which, per 1 Tim. 2:6-7, is the same truth as “Christ gave himself a correspondent ransom for all”), a belief that all mankind has been ransomed by Christ is necessary for salvation under Paul’s gospel and inclusion in the body of Christ. However, in stark contrast to this truth, the vast majority of Christians believe that not all mankind — indeed, very few people — will ultimately be saved, and that those who are not saved will undergo ‘eternal conscious torment’ in ‘hell’ in the afterlife.

    This is an abominable doctrine, and is based entirely on the mistranslation of the Greek words aiōn and aiōnios as “eternal” and misinterpretation of key passages like Matt. 7:13-14 and Matt. 25:46. [17] Although it is true that few are saved to enter the Messianic Age and kingdom (Lk. 13:22-30), this does not change the fact that all beings, including God’s enemies, will be saved and reconciled at the end of the ages (1 Cor. 15:22-28; Col. 1:20), an idea which Paul expressed many times over in his epistles. But unfortunately, like the immortality of the soul and the deity of Christ, the gospel-denying doctrine of eternal torment is simply taken for granted by most Christians.

    The False Gospel of Christianity

Paul’s gospel is not difficult to understand. It is the simple truth that Christ actually died (i.e., entered a fully unconscious state), and that as a result of this, all people will eventually be ransomed from the consequences of sin and placed beyond the reach of death. This is expressed many times over throughout Paul’s epistles. So why are so many Christians unable to understand Paul’s gospel in order to enter into the body of Christ?

    According to Paul, the answer is this:

Even if our gospel is concealed, it is concealed in those who are perishing, in whom the god of this age blinds the minds of the unbelieving so that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God, does not shine on them. (2 Cor. 4:3-4)

It’s not at all surprising that the religious majority is incorrect on so many crucial points. When Jesus’ disciples asked him why the “many crowds” were unable to discern the meanings of his words, while his relatively few disciples were able, he simply replied, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it has not been given” (Matt. 13:11 cf. Mk. 4:11-12). And as our Lord said in his sermon on the mount, “Narrow is the gate and difficult the way which leads to life, and few find it” (Matt. 7:14). God’s modus operandi in “this present wicked age” (Gal. 1:4) is to work with only a small remnant (Rom. 11:5). In light of this, it would be more surprising if Christianity, the largest religion in the world, did have the correct interpretation of scripture.

    One common objection to this view is that, because Christianity’s interpretation of scripture has been accepted since soon after the New Testament was written, it must be correct. However, this is merely a fallacious argument from authority. And in fact, it is false that these doctrines have been accepted since sub-apostolic times. Instead, their introduction into Christianity was gradual: the immortality of the soul was accepted only in the second century because of Platonic influences, and the doctrines of the deity of Christ and particularism were only fully approved as ‘orthodox’ in the fourth and sixth centuries respectively. [18]

    Even if these three doctrines had been accepted since the sub-apostolic era, this would still not be evidence for their truthfulness. The New Testament writers never expected gospel truth to be accurately upheld by the succeeding ‘church fathers’ — quite the opposite, in fact. In his later epistles, Paul’s warnings against false teachings became more frequent and urgent, as he warned that profane and impious words would “grow like a gangrene” and that false teachers would “advance to the worse, leading astray” (2 Tim. 2:16-17; 3:13). He noted that already the entire province of Asia Minor had fallen away from his teachings (2 Tim. 1:15), and prophesied that his gospel would be abandoned by most soon after his death (Acts 20:28-32).

    Postscript

Does this mean that the majority of Christians are hopeless and unsaved? Quite the contrary! Along with all other people, every Christian who does not know Paul’s gospel will eventually “be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3-6). All that it means is that they’re not part of the body of Christ now. This can’t be counted against them, because it only means God hasn’t given them the faith needed to believe the gospel (Rom. 9:15-18; 12:3; Php. 1:29; 2 Thess. 2:13; cf. Matt. 11:25; 13:10f). We should pray, as Paul did for his opponents, that God will grant them knowledge of the truth (2 Tim. 2:25f).

    Furthermore, there is a broader definition of salvation in the New Testament, which appears to be available for those who don’t believe Paul’s gospel (and are thus outside the body of Christ). To qualify for this salvation, one must simply believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and follow his commandments to love God and others (John 14:15-24; 15:10-12; 20:31; 1 John 2:3-11; 3:18-24; 4:7-5:5; cf. Matt. 22:35-40). If one does this, then they have the “life of the [Messianic] Age,” which is to “know you, the only true God, and Jesus the Messiah whom you sent” (John 17:3).

    This is more than a mere intellectual knowledge, and involves God and his Son actually coming to dwell in communion with us (John 14:23; 1 John 1:3; 2:24; 3:23-24; 4:12-13; cf. 1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 3:17). The love of God is being “perfected” in those who are in communion with the Father and the Son (1 John 2:5; 4:12, 18), so that we are being “conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29; cf. 2 Cor. 3:18). According to Paul, this “life of the [Messianic] Age” is defined by “glory, honor, and peace,” and is available not just to those who believe his gospel, but to all those who “persist in doing good” (Rom. 2:6-11), and recognize Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God (this extra qualifier is added by John 20:31; 1 John 4:7-5:5). [19]

    Therefore, Christians who fail to believe Paul’s gospel are not without salvation, so long as they recognize Jesus as the Messiah and persist in loving others. In fact, this salvation is available not just to Christians, but to Messianic Jews and many Muslims as well, so long as they love God and others. [20] Note, however, that because they don’t believe Paul’s gospel, they are not in the body of Christ. We who are in the body of Christ have the added benefit of being “the first fruits of salvation through... belief in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13), and the extra task of being “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17-20).

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[1] This idea is usually framed in terms of “getting saved,” but I would argue that the question is not about being saved. Everyone will be “saved” in the end, because Christ died as a ransom for all (1 Tim. 2:6) so that all people will eventually be ransomed from death and made immortal (1 Cor. 15:22-28, 55; cf. Hos. 13:14). Rather, it is about becoming part of the body of Christ and thereby reigning with him in the oncoming ages (Eph. 2:6-7).

[2] Of course, there are variations on this idea, but most Protestants believe that the “faith” which Paul spoke of as resulting in justification is an ambiguous faith “in Jesus” (largely because of a mistranslation of the phrase pistis Christou, which should be rendered “faith of Christ” rather than “faith in Christ”) which comes from trusting Jesus as one’s Lord and Savior.

[3] https://doctrine.org/the-gospel

[4] Nor are the “spirits in prison” disembodied human souls, as is sometimes supposed. Rather, as the context shows, these are the angelic beings who disobeyed God in the days before the flood of Noah (Gen. 6:1-2 cf. 1 Pet. 3:19-20, 2 Pet. 2:4-5, Jude 6).

[5] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/trinity/

[6] See my posts on the evidence for unitarianism, and the nature of Messiah, as well as my refutation of Answers in Genesis’ article, “Is Jesus God?” Also see Troy Salinger’s article “Who Is God According To The Authors Of The NT?” which demonstrates that the authors of the New Testament viewed God as the Father alone, and not his son Jesus.

[7] See my comprehensive series of posts refuting trinitarian prooftexts, and my refutation of Answers in Genesis’ article, “Is Jesus God?” Also see the Biblical Unitarian and Trinity Delusion websites, which are great resources refuting prooftexts for the Trinity and deity of Christ.

[8] Since those who do so fail to properly recognize the true and living God, of whom Jesus is the Son (1 Thess. 1:9-10 cf. Jer. 10:9-11, Matt. 16:16). Worshipping Jesus in His proper place, as God’s Son, is of course approved and applauded.

[9] Case in point: the contemporary Christian song which states, “I’m comin’ back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about you, it’s all about you, Jesus.” Although worship of Jesus is proper and good, He is not the heart of worship. When done properly, our worship of Jesus ultimately is for the glory of the Father (Php. 2:11 cf. Jn. 5:23, 12:44, 13:20).

[10] For example, http://www.centerforbaptistrenewal.com/blog/2019/12/14/did-god-die-on-the-cross-the-trinity-and-the-crucifixion

[11] Particularism is the belief that not all will be saved, the opposite of universalism.

[12] https://biblehub.com/greek/5228.htm

[13] This is the basis of the Reformed doctrine of “limited atonement,” although I believe that Calvinists are incorrect to think that God and Christ do not will the salvation of all, as I argued in more detail elsewhere.

[14] https://biblehub.com/greek/3956.htm

[15] Since Paul adds no qualifications to “sinners,” we can conclude that Jesus came to save any person who is a sinner, which is, of course, every person without exception (Rom. 3:23).

[16] See my earlier post, “Pauline Universalist Prooftexts in Context.” Also see “The Ultimate Outcome of Christ’s Death According to Paul” by Aaron Welch.

[17] See my series of posts delving into the meaning of the words aiōn and aiōnios, as well as their Hebrew equivalent olam, throughout the Bible.

[18] See the series of posts discussing the popularity and eventual demise of universal salvation and unitarianism in the early Church.

[19] “Glory, honor, and peace” are spiritual blessings which are enjoyed in our present life as believers (see Rom. 8:6; 14:17; 15:13; 2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 5:22-24; Phil. 4:7, 19; Col. 1:27; 2 Thess. 2:14; 3:16; etc.).

[20] Although they disagree on other key points, all these religions recognize Jesus as the Messiah, which is the main issue with regard to “life of the [Messianic] Age” (John 20:31; 1 John 5:1-5).