A Face-Value Introduction To The Biblical Case For Evangelical Conditionalism

Any Christian doctrine as weighty and significant as that of God’s judgment will require extensive study. But we all have to start somewhere. ¹Las citas bíblicas presentadas en esta traducción al español son tomadas de la Reina Valera 1960. For this reason, this treatment of the topic is meant to be introductory, something for someone who is new to the topic, or for you to send to a friend who is new to it. Even in this introduction, there is a lot to cover, but hopefully you will find it worthwhile.

Below will be a primer of the biblical case for evangelical conditionalism (also called annihilationism). ² For more on what is meant by “annihilation” by annihilationists/evangelical conditionalists, see “Introduction to Evangelical Conditionalism: What Do We Mean by ‘Annihilation’?“ ³ Emphasis added in bold where appropriate. Each point will be touched upon briefly, but there will be many suggestions for further study (especially in the endnotes). ⁴ I know endnotes are the worst thing ever, but in a blog, proper footnotes are impractical.

Eternal Life Is For the Saved, Death Is for the Unsaved

Two of the most commonly used verses in evangelism tell us something about the fate of the unsaved that is often overlooked.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). ⁵ For more on John 3:16, see Peter Grice, “‘Fixing John 3:16 – 500 Years After the Reformation“.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). ⁶ For more on this, see Peter Grice, “Warned of Sins Wages: A Concise Explanation of Death in Genesis 2:17 and Romans 6:23“.

When people typically think of a person being dead, we don’t typically think of them as being conscious. In fact, while a person can be alive and temporarily unconscious, we really never speak of a person as being conscious but not alive in any context – except when discussing hell in the Bible. For an entity to be conscious is for that entity to have life. ⁷ Given that any historical form of Christianity will include a resurrection of saved and unsaved, the idea that the unsaved in eternal conscious hell do not have eternal life in hell is even harder to justify. For more on this, see Chris Date, “Obfuscating Traditionalism: No Eternal Life in Hell?“

You have to be conscious in order to suffer any sort of suffering in hell. For this reason, it is extremely common for those who believe in eternal conscious hell (commonly referred to as traditionalists) to specifically and explicitly say that those in hell do not die, that they are immortal, they live forever, they have eternal life, etc. This happens to a sometimes shocking degree. ⁸For an extensive sampling of this, see Rethinking Hell Podcast Episode 58 by Ronnie Demler. For a written and further polished version of his exceptional presentation, see also Ronnie Demler, “Sic et Non: Traditionalism’s Scandal,” A Consuming Passion: Essays on Hell and Immortality Written in Honor of Edward Fudge (Pickwick, 2015), 255-276.

However, that is the opposite of what the Bible says. The wages of sin is death. Apart from Christ, you would perish. But in Christ, you will receive eternal life.

When doing evangelism, traditionalists cite these two passages often and do not give it a second thought. But now, you are giving it a second thought.

The life/death dichotomy is further implied in numerous passages that speak of one of the two elements without explicitly bringing up the other. For example:

If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell (Matthew 18:9). ⁹ Matthew 18:9 is, of course, adjacent to Mark 18:8, which is used as a prooftext for eternal conscious hell. For an explanation of why Mark 18:18 and similar passages (like Matthew 25:41) do not teach eternal conscious hell, see “What the Bible Actually Says About ‘Eternal Fire”” Part 1 and Part 2.

If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell (Mark 9:45). ¹⁰ Mark 9:45 is, of course, adjacent to Mark 9:48, which is used as a prooftext for eternal conscious hell. For an explanation of why Mark 9:48 and surrounding verses do not teach eternal conscious hell, see “Introduction to Evangelical Conditionalism – Mark 9:48“. For a more in-depth look, see Chris Date, “Their Worm Does Not Die: Annihilation and Mark 9:48″ and “The Fire Is Not Quenched: Annihilation and Mark 9:48 (Part 2)“. See also Glenn Peoples, “Worms and Fire: The Rabbis and Isaiah“.

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36).

If the alternatives are life/eternal life, versus hell/damnation/a fate that isn’t life, then it only stands to reason that only one group receives life. You can’t “live forever somewhere” if you don’t have life in the first place. ¹¹Some other relevant passages include John 6:40, 6:68, 12:25, Romans 8:6, and Galatians 6:8).

Lastly, consider this passage from the book of James:

…let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins (James 5:20).

So much for the idea that the soul cannot die. Speaking of which…

It Is A Myth That Everyone has an “Immortal Soul” – Only the Saved Have Immortality

Despite talk of the “immortal soul” being ubiquitous in Christian circles, no passage of God’s word attributes immortality to the unsaved. Ever.

When you ask for proof that the soul is immortal, you will mainly get theological arguments that man is made in God’s image so therefore we are immortal, or unrelated prooftexts of eternal conscious hell.

But it isn’t just that there is a lack of biblical confirmation of everyone being immortal. The Bible teaches the opposite:

…but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Timothy 1:10).

Note that in 2 Timothy 1:10, life and immortality are what Jesus brings through the gospel. You cannot get them apart from the gospel.

Now, one might say that death, in all its forms, still exists now and has not been abolished yet. This is a textbook case of prolepsis, a common figure of speech in both the Bible and modern English. It refers to speaking of a future event as present for emphasis. For example, on death row, someone who is clearly still alive might be called a “dead man walking” by fellow prisoners because he is doomed to die. This actually comes up a lot with life/death passages, where prolepsis makes the most sense of passages falsely believed to teach that “death” means conscious separation from God. ¹² For more on prolepsis and death/life, see “Prolepsis and Hell: A Matter of Life and Death” Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Consider also Romans 2:6-7:

[God] who will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life…

Note that immortality is not the universal condition of man (we do not all have immortal souls), but rather, it is something to be sought by the righteous. In fact, we know that we can only get immortality from God because God alone has immortality:

…which He [God] will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen (1 Timothy 6:15-16).

The Unrepentant Will Be Destroyed

The Bible teaches that the wicked will be destroyed. They will not be around to suffer forever in hell. In fact, not only is hell not a place of everlasting torment, but the Lord Jesus Christ tells us that hell is specifically where the body and the (supposedly immortal) soul are destroyed! ¹³ For more on gehenna and hell, see “Do Evangelical Conditionalists Believe in Hell? That Depends on What You Mean by ‘Hell’“.

Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

For good measure, the Lord even gives the dichotomy between destruction and life, in case there was a question about whether this destruction somehow still included life. It doesn’t.

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it (Matthew 7:13-14).

Además:

…in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God (Philippians 1:24).

…whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things (Philippians 3:19).

But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul (Hebrews 10:29).

But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed (2 Peter 2:12).

2 Peter 2:12 is especially noteworthy. It depends on translation somewhat, but many do render it like the NASB (1995) above, indicating that the wicked are not just destroyed but specifically destroyed like animals. If this is an accurate rendering, then not only is it one of many passages (above is just a sample) that say the wicked will be destroyed/face destruction, but it emphasizes all the more that the unsaved will really be destroyed, like an animal, and not be given eternal life in any sense.

And that is an important thing to take note of. Not only do many passages use words like (the Greek and Hebrew equivalents of ) “destroy” and “destruction,” but they also do like 2 Peter 2:12 arguably does: they describe the destruction in ways that show it as literal and completely incompatible with eternal conscious hell. Along those lines…

The Wicked Will Be Burnt Up

You cannot torment ashes. Rather, in hell, traditionalists have traditionally claimed that the fire of hell will torment the wicked but will not burn them up. Increasingly, theologians who hold to the eternal conscious hell view are saying that the fire is metaphorical and even that hell is more about emotional regret than any external pain imposed on the wicked out of retribution for their sins. Frankly, l consider this view to be not just false but exceptionally weak and unjustifiable. ¹⁴ For more on why fireless (and especially the softer) views of eternal conscious hell are especially weak and even less likely to be true than eternal conscious hell in general, see “The Many and Varied Problems With the Modern, Metaphorical View of Eternal Conscious Hell” by yours truly. But either way, ashes are not conscious humans, and it is hard to imagine what imagery an ancient writer could have possibly used to better communicate that someone will be fully dead and lack any conscious existence than by saying they burn up to ashes.

With that in mind, consider what Jesus says while explaining the parable of the wheat and the tares to his disciples.

So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:40-42).

Note that I am not appealing to the parable, but rather, to Jesus’s explanation of the parable, when he says that the wicked will be burnt like dried weeds in a raging fire. This is the exact opposite of the kind of explanation we would expect if they were to live forever in that fire. And if hell will be eternal and conscious but fireless, as many believe today, then saying that they burn like weeds when they are neither destroyed nor even burned at all makes even less sense! ¹⁵ Regarding the reference to weeping and gnashing of teeth, and why that isn’t remotely proof of eternal conscious anything, see “Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth Do Not Indicate Eternal Torment“.

…and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter…(2 Peter 2:6).

Genesis 19 recounts the story of God’s judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. God rained burning sulfur on the cities, completely destroying them and killing everyone almost instantly. Peter emphasizes that if you want to see what God will ultimately do to the wicked, look at how he incinerated Sodom and Gomorrah. Peter actually cites several examples of God’s past judgment in the verses leading up to this one, but it is specifically turning Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes that he appeals to as the example of what is yet to come.

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 the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the Lord of hosts (Malachi 4:1-3).

The Old Testament tends to come up much less often than the New Testament in discussions of hell. This is not to discount the Old Testament as God’s word. The New Testament simply speaks directly to the issue on a more frequent basis.

This is a notable exception, as it describes God’s final judgment in emphatic terms of destruction, burning up, and being eliminated root and branch. Even if the fire and ashes imagery is not literal, the emphasis on its effect is undeniable. The language of destruction and annihilation could not be more clear.

The fact that this is about the final judgment is not hard to see in this passage alone, and it is made clearer in context from the previous chapter. God is responding to complaints that the wicked prosper and the righteous see no benefit from following him. Speaking of a time when this is rectified must be a time when the righteous are all alive to be spared his wrath and the wicked are there to receive it in front of the righteous. This would necessarily be the final judgment. ¹⁶ For more on Malachi 4:1-3 and this point, see “Malachi 4:1-3 and the Final Destruction of the Unrepentant“. ¹⁷ For solid treatment of another Old Testament passage that speaks to hell and judgment, see Mark Corbett, “Psalm 37 – A Song of Annihilation“.

The Biblical Vision of Eternity

In addition to the above arguments for annihilation based on the death and destruction passages, the way that the Bible describes the world to come as being free of pain and suffering and opposition to God is incompatible with the doctrine of eternal conscious hell.

This has been written about in greater detail at Rethinking Hell and elsewhere (see endnotes for links). ¹⁸For more on this, see “The Biblical Vision of Eternity“. ¹⁹ Glenn Peoples, “Why I Am an Annihilationist,” 6-10, Academia.edu, n.d., https://www.academia.edu/45290811/Why_I_am_an_Annihilationist (accessed August March 31, 2024).). As such, I will just touch upon two key passages:

When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).

…with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things [m]in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him…(Ephesians 1:10).

The biblical vision of eternity is not merely a philosophical claim about what ending is better. Rather, the scripture itself says that God will be “all in all.” and seeing as how this is a future end, it is not simply describing the way that God is omnipresent now.

Similarly, Ephesians 1:10 tells us that all things will be summed up, in Christ, in the fulfillment of all things. Whether “in Christ” goes as far as to indicate all that remains in existence is now in Christ, or even if the text communicates merely that Christ is the mechanism through which all things are brought together in unity, the picture of a redeemed and unified creation at the end goes against the idea of eternal suffering, rebellion against God, etc.

While universalists can appeal to these passages in the same way, the way that these passages (and others) describe the world to come is incompatible with the eternal existence of pain, suffering, and (in most models) opposition to God that would exist for eternity in an eternal conscious hell.

Points To Take Away

I must emphasize that the case for evangelical conditionalism is not just a handful of obscure passages – something I myself wrongly believed when first studying the issue. When you see the many references to destruction, life versus death, perishing, incineration, and more, it becomes clear that this is actually taught frequently throughout the Bible. And this treatment is just scratching the surface. I cannot over-emphasize what a surface-level introduction this is.

Advocates for the doctrine of eternal conscious hell do, of course, have responses to these points. As I am well aware, not everything is what it seems like when taken at face value. ²⁰ For more on this, see “Traditionalism and Annihilationism in Light of the ‘Face Value’ Meaning of Scripture“. I would argue that the responses are quite weak and will often even backfire. But they do exist, and as part of any study they will have to be explored.

Thankfully, Rethinking Hell has been around for over 12 years now, and so in addition to centuries of work on the topic by various scholars, there are free resources right here on this site, both arguing for annihilationism and rebutting all kinds of arguments for eternal conscious hell (as well as universalism).

It is a lengthy debate, and given how dominant (though never universal) the eternal conscious hell doctrine has been, changing one’s view should not be done lightly. ²¹ For more on how annihilationism (and universalism) have been around since the early church, see “Introduction to Evangelical Conditionalism: The Doctrine of Eternal Torment Was Not Universal in the Early Church“. But if you choose to study this issue more in-depth, and if you are open to changing your mind if you believe that the Bible teaches that evangelical conditionalism is true, then I think you will find that there is a reason why the Bible speaks in a way that, at face value, really seems to teach the annihilation, and not eternal torment, of the wicked. It is because that is what the Bible actually teaches.

Liked it? Take a second to support Rethinking Hell on Patreon!