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.
______________________________
[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).
No comments:
Post a Comment