“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [Gehenna].”—Matt 10:28
The verse given above (along with other verses like it) has been used to support the idea of annihilationism—that is, the idea that instead of suffering in eternal torment (albeit in varying degrees), people who miss heaven will simply be snuffed out. This teaching is not part of the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. The traditional concept of hell is the one that was held to by the vast overwhelming majority of the early Christians. Could so many Christians, living so close in time to the Apostles, have missed it on this point? It is extremely unlikely!
Speaking specifically about the verse given above, we should consider that the Greek word apollumi (ap-ol’-loo-mee), which is translated “destroy” in this verse, is the very same Greek word that is translated “lost” in Luke 15:4 (and in other places), and we know that in Luke 15, the lost sheep was not annihilated or snuffed out, because it was found and brought home. This same dual usage of a word is seen with the Hebrew word abad which is used to describe those who “perish” (whether righteous or wicked). This word also is used to describe things that are lost but then later found [Dt 22:3].
But before we consider some Biblical and historical (NLT 200 A.D.) evidence that gives to support the idea that there will be suffering in hell (instead of people simply being snuffed out) and that hell [Gehenna] itself is eternal (instead of being temporary), let us admit that there are plenty of verses from both the Old Testament and the New Testament that could be brought forth to support this belief of annihilationism, and let us admit that words found in Scripture such as ‘eternal,’ ‘forever,’ and ‘perpetual’ do not always carry the literal meanings that we think they might. But is annihilationism the correct interpretation of what Jesus and the Apostles taught on the subject of eternal punishment? Is this the interpretation that was carefully passed on from the Apostles to the early Christians? Was annihilationism part of “the faith”? Weigh the evidence for yourself.
Biblical Evidence Against Annihilationism
Isaiah 66:24—”And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
Daniel 12:2—”And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
Matt 3:12—”His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Matt 8:11-12—”And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matt 13:42—”and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” [cf. v.50]
Matt 18:6—”But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Matt 18:8—”If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire.”
Matt 22:13—”Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”
Matt 24:51—”and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matt 25:30—”And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”
Matt 25:41—”Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:”
Matt 25:46—”And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matt 26:24—”The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”
Mark 9:43—”If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched”
Mark 9:47-48—”And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell [Gehenna], where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.”
Luke 12:4, 5—”And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!”
Luke 13:28—”There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.”
John 3:36—”He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Romans 2:7-9—”eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness–indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;”
2 Thes 1:9—”These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,”
2 Peter 2:17—”These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”
Heb 6:2—”of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”
Heb 10:28-29—”Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”
Jude 7—”as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
Jude 13—”raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”
Rev 14:9-11—”Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
Rev 20:10—”The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Early Christian Evidence Against Annihilationism (these quotations taken from the Ante-Nicene Fathers set published by Hendrickson are meant to show how the Biblical evidence was interpreted in the early days of Christianity)
Barnabas [c. 70-130 A.D.]—”The way of darkness is crooked, and it is full of cursing. It is the way of eternal death with punishment. (Vol. 1, pg 149)
Letter to Diognetus [c. 125-200 A.D.]—”You should fear what is truly death, which is reserved for those who will be condemned to the eternal fire.” (Vol. 1, pg 29)
Martyrdom of Polycarp [c. 135 A.D.]—”…they despised all the torments of this world, redeeming themselves from eternal punishment by [the suffering of] a single hour. For this reason the fire of their savage executioners appeared cool to them. For they kept before their view escape from that fire which is eternal and never shall be quenched…” (Vol. 1, pg 39)
“But Polycarp said, ‘Thou threatenest me with fire which burneth for an hour, and after a little is extinguished, but art ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly.'” (Vol. 1, pg 41)
Justin Martyr [c. 160 A.D.]—”Plato used to say that Rhadamanthus and Minos would punish the wicked who came before them; and we say that the same thing will be done, but at the hand of Christ, and upon the wicked in the same bodies united again to their spirits which are now to undergo everlasting punishment; and not only, as Plato said, for a period of a thousand years.” (Vol. 1, pg 165)
“…we hold this view…that each man goes to everlasting punishment or salvation according to the value of his actions. For if all men knew this, no one would choose wickedness even for a little, knowing that he goes to the everlasting punishment of fire..” (Vol. 1, pg 166)
“…we believe…that every man will suffer punishment in eternal fire according to the merit of his deed, and will render account according to the power he has received from God, as Christ intimated when He said, ‘To whom God has given more, of him shall more be required. [Lk 12:48]” (Vol. 1 pg 168)
“…they died the death common to all, which if it issued in insensibility, would be a godsend to all the wicked. But since sensation remains to all who have ever lived, and eternal punishment is laid up (i.e., for the wicked), see that ye neglect not to be convinced…” (Vol. 1, pg 168-169)
“…we expect to receive again our own bodies though they be dead and cast into the earth…for we know that our Master Jesus Christ said, that ‘what is impossible with men is possible with God,’ and, ‘Fear not them that kill you, and after that can do no more; but fear Him who after death is able to cast both soul and body into hell.’ And hell is a place where those are to be punished who have lived wickedly, and who do not believe that those things which God has taught us by Christ will come to pass.” (Vol. 1, pg 169)
“…we believe that those who live wickedly and do not repent are punished in everlasting fire.” (Vol. 1, pg 170)
“For among us the prince of the wicked spirits is called the serpent, and Satan, and the devil, as you can learn by looking into our writings. And that he would be sent into the fire with his host, and the men who follow him, and would be punished for an endless duration, Christ foretold.” (Vol. 1, pg 172)
“And if you also read these words in a hostile spirit, ye can do no more, as I said before, than kill us; which indeed does no harm to us, but to you and all who unjustly hate us, and do not repent, brings eternal punishment by fire. (Vol. 1, pg 178)
“He [Jesus] shall come from heaven with glory, accompanied by His angelic host, when also He shall raise the bodies of all men who have lived, and shall clothe those of the worthy with immortality, and shall send those of the wicked, endued with eternal sensibility, into everlasting fire with the wicked devils….And in what kind of sensation and punishment the wicked are to be, hear from what was said in like manner with reference to this; it is as follows” ‘Their worm shall not rest, and their fire shall not be quenched;’ and then shall they repent, when it profits them not.” (Vol. 1, pg 180)
“…those who have been persuaded that the unjust and intemperate shall be punished in eternal fire, but that the virtuous and those who lived like Christ shall dwell with God in a state that is free from suffering—we mean, those who have become Christians…” (Vol. 1, pg 188)
“But when she came to the knowledge of the teachings of Christ she became sober-minded, and endeavored to persuade her husband likewise to be temperate, citing the teaching of Christ, and assuring him that there shall be punishment in eternal fire inflicted upon those who do not live temperately…(Vol. 1, pg 188)
“But since God in the beginning made the race of angels and men with free-will, they will justly suffer in eternal fire the punishment of whatever sins they have committed.” (Vol. 1, pg 190)
“For if they [the demons] are even now overthrown by [Christian] men through the name of Jesus Christ, this is an intimation of the punishment in eternal fire which is to be inflicted on themselves and those [men] who serve them. For thus did both all the prophets foretell, and our own teacher Jesus teach.” (Vol. 1, pg 191)
“And that no one may say…that our assertions that the wicked are punished in eternal fire are big words and bugbears [a bugbear is an object of obsessive dread]…I will briefly reply to this, that if this be not so, God does not exist…(Vol. 1, pg 191)
“….Christ…submitted to become incarnate, and be born of this virgin of the family of David, in order that…the serpent that sinned from the beginning, and the angels like him, may be destroyed, and that death may be contemned, and for ever quit, at the second coming of Christ Himself…when some are sent to be punished unceasingly into judgment and condemnation of fire; but others shall exist in freedom from suffering, from corruption, and from grief, and in immortality.” (Vol. 1, pg 217)
“…when He shall raise all men from the dead, and appoint some to be incorruptible, immortal, and free from sorrow in the everlasting and imperishable kingdom; but shall send others away to the everlasting punishment of fire.” (Vol. 1, pg 257)
“And this was a mysterious type of Christ being about to cut your [Jewish] nation in two, and to raise those worthy of the honor to the everlasting kingdom along with the holy patriarchs and prophets; but He has said that He will send others to the condemnation of the unquenchable fire along with similar disobedient and impenitent men from all the nations. [then he quotes Matt 8:11-12]” (Vol. 1, pg 259)
“…shall He not on His glorious advent destroy by all means all those who hated Him and who unrighteously departed from Him… (Vol. 1, pg 260)
“…since we know from Isaiah that the members of those who have transgressed shall be consumed by the worm and unquenchable fire, remaining immortal; so that they become a spectacle to all flesh.” (Vol. 1, pg 265)
Tatian [c. 160 A.D.]—”We who are now easily susceptible to death will afterwards receive immortality with either enjoyment or with pain.” (Vol. 1, pg 71)
Athenagoras [c. 175 A.D.]—”For if we believed that we should live only the present life, then we might be suspected of sinning, through being enslaved to flesh and blood, or overmastered by gain or carnal desire; but since we know that God is witness to what we think and what we say both by night and by day, and that He being Himself light, sees all things in our heart, we are persuaded that when we are removed from the present life we shall live another life, better than the present one…we shall abide near God, and with God, free from all change or suffering in the soul, not as flesh, even though we shall have flesh, but as heavenly spirit. Or, falling with the rest, we shall have a worse life—one in fire. For God has not made us as sheep or beasts of burden, who are mere by-works. For animals perish and are annihilated. On these grounds it is not likely that we should wish to do evil, or deliver ourselves over to the great Judge to be punished.” (Vol. 2, pg 146)
“We are persuaded that nothing will escape the scrutiny of God. Rather, even the body that has ministered to the irrational impulses of the soul, and to its desires, will be punished along with it.” (Vol. 2, pg 148)
Theophilus [c. 180 A.D.]—”He…will examine all things, and will judge righteous judgment, rendering merited awards to each. To those who seek immortality by patient endurance in well-doing, He will give life everlasting, joy, peace, rest, and an abundance of good things. To the unbelieving and despisers, who do not obey the truth, but are obedient to unrighteousness, when they will have been filled with adulteries and fornications…there will be anger and wrath, tribulation and anguish. At the end, everlasting fire will possess such men. (Vol. 2, pg 93)
“He who acts righteously will escape the eternal punishments, and he will be thought worthy of the eternal life from God.” (Vol. 2, pg 108)
Irenaeus [c. 180 A.D.]—”Eternal fire is prepared for sinners. The Lord has plainly declared this, and the rest of the Scriptures demonstrate it. (Vol. 1, pg 401)
“He will send into eternal fire those who transform the truth and who despise His Father and His coming.” (Vol. 1, pg 412)
“He has prepared darkness suitable to persons who oppose the light, and He has inflicted an appropriate punishment upon those who try to avoid being subject to Him….He has prepared the eternal fire for the ringleader of the apostasy—the devil—and for those who revolted with him. The Lord has declared that those who have been set apart by themselves on His left hand will be sent into this fire.” (Vol. 1, pg 523)
“Those, therefore, who cast away these aforementioned things because of apostasy are in fact destitute of all good. So, they experience every kind of punishment…Now, good things are eternal and without end with God, and therefore the loss of these things is also eternal and never-ending.” (Vol. 1, pg 556)
Clement of Alexandria [c. 195 A.D.]—”All souls are immortal, even those of the wicked. Yet, it would be better for them if they were not deathless. For they are punished with the endless vengeance of quenchless fire. Since they do not die, it is impossible for them to have an end put to their misery.” (Vol. 2, pg 580)
Tertullian [c. 197 A.D.]—”…as being about, at the end of all, to adjudge His worshippers to everlasting life, and the wicked to the doom of fire—at once without ending and without break; raising up again all the dead, from the beginning, reforming and renewing them with the object of awarding either recompense.” (Vol. 3, pg 32)
“…we make a real effort to attain a blameless life. We do this under the influence of…the magnitude of the threatened torment. For it is not merely long-enduring; rather, it is everlasting.” (Vol. 3, pg 50)
“…the profane…will be consigned to the punishment of everlasting fire. That fire, from its very nature indeed, directly attends to their incorruptibility….There is a distinction between ordinary fire and a secret fire. That [fire] which is in common use is far different from that which we see in divine judgments….For [the secret fire] does not consume what it scorches. Instead, it repairs while it burns…” (Vol. 3, pg 54)
[speaking to mockers] “…let them [eternal punishments and rewards] be absurd if you will, yet they are of use: they make all who believe them better men and women, under the fear of never-ending punishment and the hope of never-ending bliss. It is not, then, wise to brand as false, nor to regard as absurd, things the truth of which it is expedient to presume. On no ground is it right positively to condemn as bad what beyond all doubt is profitable.” (Vol. 3, pg 54)
“…we set before you the promise which our sacred system offers. It guarantees eternal life to such as follow and observe it; on the other hand, it threatens with the eternal punishment of an unending fire those who are profane and hostile; while to both classes alike is preached a resurrection from the dead. (Vol. 3, pg 116)
“By the sentence of the judgment, we say that the wicked will have to spend an eternity in endless fire. The godly and innocent will spend it in a region of bliss.” (Vol. 3, pg 127)
“We maintain that, after life has passed away, you still remain in existence and anticipate a day of judgment. Furthermore, according to your deserts, you are assigned either to misery or to bliss. Either way, it will be forever…..If you have no power of suffering after death, if no feeling remains, if (in a word) severance from the body is merely annihilation,…why do you fear at all? There is nothing after death to be feared if there is nothing to be felt.” (Vol. 3, pg 177)
“We, however, so understand the soul’s immortality as to believe it to be “lost”—not in the sense of destruction—but of punishment, that is, in Gehenna.” (Vol. 3, pg 569)
“If, therefore, anyone will violently suppose that the destruction of the soul and the flesh in Gehenna amounts to a final annihilation of the two substances—and not to their penal treatment—let him recollect that the fire of Gehenna is eternal.” (Vol. 3, pg 570)
“Since, then, after the resurrection, the body has to be “killed” by God in Gehenna (along with the soul),…its killing is eternal. Otherwise, it would be most absurd if the flesh were to be raised up and destined to the killing in Gehenna in order to be brought to an end. For it would suffer such an annihilation if it were not raised again at all!” (Vol. 3, pg 571)
“How much more does it behoove us to be found with a character in accordance with our Lord,—servants as we are of the living God, whose judgment on His servants turns not on a fetter or a cap of freedom, but on an eternity either of penalty or of salvation…” (Vol. 3, pg 709)
“It is the system of Christian modesty which is being shaken to its foundation—(Christian modesty), which derives its all from heaven; is nature, ‘through the laver of regeneration;’ its discipline, through the instrumentality of preaching; its censorial rigor, through the judgments which each Testament exhibits; and is subject to a more constant external compulsion, arising from the apprehension or the desire of the eternal fire or kingdom.” (Vol. 4, pg 74)
Mark Minucius Felix [c. 200 A.D.]—I am not ignorant that many…would rather be altogether extinguished than to be restored for the purpose of punishment.” (Vol. 4, pg 194)
“There is neither limit nor termination of these torments. There, the intelligent fire burns the limbs and restores them. It feeds on them and nourishes them….That penal fire is not fed by the waste of those who burn, but is nourished by the unexhausted eating away of their bodies. However, no one except a profane man hesitates to believe that those who do not know God are deservedly tormented as impious, as unrighteous persons.” (Vol. 4, pg 195)
Conclusion
In looking at the course of church history, men usually turn aside from the traditional teachings of the faith (that appear to have been received from the Apostles) because they think that they have found out, either through direct revelation from God or through their own scholarship, what the “correct” interpretation really is. We should be very careful in doing this. When we prefer our own interpretations over the interpretations that seem to have been handed down by the Apostles, doesn’t this show a certain arrogance on our part? Or maybe it is our wishful thinking that makes us do that. Whatever the case, are we so much smarter and wiser than the early Christians were that we can just ignore what they all have to say?