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