Giving titles to views can be very misleading. The term ‘the traditional view of hell’ indicates that it is the historical and original view. I dispute that to be the case and even to use the term ‘traditional evangelical view’ would also mislead. There are many who are happy with the label ‘evangelical’ who would not hold to eternal, unending punishment (John Stott famously being one such person, and I think the majority of scholars) many holding to ‘conditional immortality’ (commonly but wrongly termed annihilation) and not a few are universalists (all will be ‘saved’).
Whole books have been written, this being a short blog will only touch on it and indicate why I long since abandoned any concept of endless punishing.
Any challenge to the so-called (wrongly-called!!) traditional view is often responded to with ‘why then should I receive Jesus as my Saviour?’ or ‘why then do missionaries go to the unreached?’ or ‘why then should we evangelise?’. Each one of those questions reveal so many presuppositions and foundational premises but in a nutshell do not connect to the cross (as I understand the cross) as they all pre-suppose that Jesus died on the cross to save me from ‘hell’. I think a search of the Gospels (Jesus and disciples mission to the Jewish world) or the later NT with the mission into the Imperial world of an (almost) one-world government would show that the view of saved from hell is not present. Even in the Jewish mission Matthew says Jesus will save his people from their sins (a corporate expression and related to the results of their corporate ‘missing the mark’).
Here then are a few points to consider:
- ‘Eternal’ is an adjective meaning ‘of the age’ and is applied to life or death. It is life at a different level to the life of this age – hence we have eternal life now, and the death is related to a death of that age. Of itself it does not carry automatically the sense of ‘unending’.
- The soul is not immortal – Scripture is clear on that from Genesis onwards with a barrier set up to stop access to the tree of life ‘so that they might not live forever’ and in the NT we read that ‘God alone has immortality’.
- It is not possible to know if Jesus held to the ‘wrongly-termed’ traditional view of hell (Gehenna). His references all fit into the Roman war on Jerusalem. We could speculate that he held a view but I do not believe it is justifiable to take his words and seek to apply them to something he does not seem to comment on. (The rich man and Lazarus is a re-working of a well worn Jewish story, and as is often the case with a twist. The rich man in the world of the day is ‘safe’, the financial blessings on his life being the evidence for that… Jesus’ retelling has a twist that runs deep!)
- The common imagery of the ‘smoke rising up’ comes from the Sodom and Gomorrah judgement – when Abraham looks out in the morning all he sees is the smoke of judgement… everything that was present has disappeared, burnt up.
- The ‘worm not dying, the fire not being quenched’ is rooted in the final judgement in Isaiah 66, where all that remains is ‘their dead bodies’. Final judgement.
- If one holds to eternal punishment we should note that the language is not that of eternal punishing – the latter could indicate ongoing with no end; the former is a sentence that is not reversed. That fits better the term ‘the second death’. A death after which there is no life.
There are many other points that can be raised. Salvation is not to escape it is to find life, it is to come home after being lost; witnessing is an ongoing challenge (for me summed up in ‘giving an answer for the hope that is in me’ – the hope that I draw from the words ‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth’). The call to follow the Lamb wherever he goes is to push for those new creation realities… So much bigger and so much more full of life. Life in abundance, life with an overflow; truly salvation from our sins.
I so hope this is true or even better, Christian Universalism. I cannot imagine why an eternal place of torment could exist in the light of God’s character, Jesus sacrifice on the cross and resurrection but yet I have a haunting fear that it does which I find horribly disturbing and distressing? Plus many Christians are convinced of it too and is standard doctrine of most denominations still? It’s so confusing because there are so many different ways of interpreting the scriptures in this regard. Thank you for explaining how you see it!
Thanks Joanna… Do we get everything and understand it all? For sure, no… but I CANNOT see eternal, never ending punishing in Scripture.
Thank you Martin is very reassuring
Hi Martin: I am still trying to wrap my head around what then you mean by eternal life? I walked away from the notion of eternal punishment long ago. But I need a bit more clarity on your first point please. . . eternal as related to this age. If I have eternal life now how does that differ from everyone else’s life? Better? Worse? Just different somehow?
Anne – thanks for all the comments and now this question – I will answer it personally as you are asking me how I understand ‘eternal’ life. Here goes!
Eternal is the Greek adjective meaning ‘of the age’; in broad terms we have ‘this age’ and ‘the age of the life to come’. This immediately takes us away from ‘heaven and hell’, ‘a ticket to the sweet by and by’, but gives hope for the grave is not the end. And then the promise is for that life in the here and now – not in totality but substantially. The upside is a growing acquaintance/ knowledge of / relationship with the Transcendent one as revealed in Jesus. The ‘downside’ (the provocation) is that the claim of ‘I experience eternal life’ needs to be matched by my actions – how I relate to all others (and maybe particularly those who are other to me) and to creation. The reconciliation of all things is the full manifestation of the life if the age to come.
Then I see Paul being very practical: live at peace with all… as far as is possible, and certainly proposes compromises in relationships such as master/slave, husband/wife. Into that eternal life has to push beyond the compromises of scripture. Jesus is the embodiment of eternal life.
I affirm life in the new heavens and earth in resurrected form, re-united with those who have died, but both want to experience (in part) and manifest that life now.
Blah, blah…
Okay, I think I get it. But how does your hope that the grave is not the end square with a soul that is not immortal? Are you differentiating soul and spirit or something?
I do appreciate all the deep and critical thinking going on here. It is clear to me that the Christianity I learned and studies (two degrees in theology) in the 80’s really misunderstood a lot. And today contributes, unfortunately, to many ills in our world. So I appreciate the rethink.
Thanks for the compliment on the rethink… I studied first time round in 1970s… Grateful for a lot of it, but would have to ditch a considerable amount now with reflection.
An aside first, one of the Brits who was an ardent ‘hell and brimstone teacher’ knew the fallacy in an ‘immortal soul’ and he moved to teach ‘raised an immortal body!!!!!’, so all receive a resurrected body that cannot be destroyed – so will burn forever.
Immortality is a gift given through Jesus. All in Christ will be raised immortal – it is not something inherent in humanity. Not created immortal, but created for immortality. Who is in Christ? Now we move to the Universalist possibility… all in Adam… all in Christ. I am optimistic to quote another who said there is a ‘wideness in the mercy of God’ – hence optimistic with regard to many evangelicals will ‘make it’!!
The move from ‘the creation project’ and our part in bringing it to fullness, to ‘saved from hell’ has so moved the centre (center) that it distorts everything. To ask if Jesus was divine or even to push it further was he God is a question that the Scriptures wrestle with, but to ask if he was human but to deny it was to align with antiChrist. Seems Jesus messes up a lot of theology, and brings us back to the center as he (and now s/he or neither post resurrection) is the firstborn of ALL CREATION.
In the same way that we are not living with the inevitability of the world all burning up but (and thanks to you, Anne for this perspective) can we align at some level this new creation that we are now living in with that ultimate new creation that will manifest future; so we as individuals and community are called to manifest ‘eternal / that age’ life and values now.
The grave is not the end as death could not hold the firstborn one… tasted death for everyone so that (all) may experience life beyond and through the grave.