There are two main views on hell in the Bible in Christianity. One is that hell is a place where the wicked will be tortured in flames for all eternity. The other is that people will be annihilated in hell, thus their pain and suffering will be of limited duration. Those cast into hell will be destroyed, never to resurrect to live again. These two views are mutually exclusive, yet both are supported by passages from scripture quoted by their respective proponents. So, which is it? Eternal damnation in hell fire, or annihilation?
The Two Views
The view of Eternal damnation is vested in the idea that every person’s soul is inherently immortal. Since the soul cannot be destroyed, it stands to reason that those who end up in hell will experience the punishment it offers forever. Annihilationism, in contrast, teaches the principle of conditional immortality. Only those who believe and are saved receive eternal life. The wicked, therefore, do not have eternal life and consequently will eventually die due to the fires of hell. Let’s examine the arguments for and against each perspective, thereby shedding light on their theological and scriptural underpinnings.
What may complicate the study of hell in the Bible is the inconsistent way some translations translate words like sheol and hades. The King James Version sometimes renders these two words—which are Hebrew and Greek terms for “grave”—as “hell.” This is the case in Deuteronomy 32:22, 2 Samuel 22:6, Job 11:6, and Psalm 9:17 among others.
In the King James Version, the term hell appears 31 times, while not appearing in the Old Testament at all in the English Standard Version, The New International Version, or the International Standard Version. Other translations, such as the New International Version, are consistent in their translation of these words, which makes for a more reliable source for research on this subject.
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Eternal Damnation
Eternal damnation is a long-held belief within traditional Christianity, from the time of Church Fathers such as Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas to today. Bible passages that are often quoted on this subject include:
Isaiah 66:24 “… For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
Matthew 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Matthew 25:46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment…”
Jude 1:7 “just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”
Revelation 20:9-10 “And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
References to eternal fire and phrases like “they will be tormented day and night forever and ever,” do seem to support the idea of the eternal suffering of the wicked alongside the devil, the beast, and the false prophet. This view seems to support the idea that death is merely another form of conscious existence. If that existence is eternal, how would it not constitute eternal life in a different form?
Conditional Immortality and Annihilationism
Conditional immortality refers to the belief that the soul is not inherently immortal. Immortality is a reward given to the faithful at the second coming of Jesus. Proponents reference 1 Corinthians 15:51-51 as proof:
“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
According to this view, immortality is a gift exclusively for believers. Those who live at the second coming will be changed from mortal to immortal, and those that have passed will be raised immortal. The wicked do not receive immortality and can, therefore, perish, never to revive.
Since Annihilationists do not believe in the immortality of the soul, they point to verses that promise eternal life only to believers. Two such examples are Matthew 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,” and Matthew 25:46: “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Here, eternal life is juxtaposed with being punished and perishing. Some make the argument that references to eternal or everlasting punishment speak to the effect, not the suffering itself. It implies that the wicked will suffer punishment until they die, and the result of the punishment lasts forever: There is no coming back or resurrecting from the fire of hell in the Bible.
Proponents argue that this view is supported by several associated with hell in the Bible:
Isaiah 66:24 “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
Malachi 4:1,3 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. … And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.”
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
2 Thessalonians 1:9 “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might”
These verses do seem to suggest that the final destination of the wicked is destruction and ultimately death. The references to stubble and ashes, for instance, suggest that the wicked burn until they have been consumed, rather than burning without being destroyed in the process.
In some instances, like Matthew 25:46, the two camps make use of the same verses to support mutually exclusive views. This may indicate how confirmation bias influences the way readers interpret the Bible.
The Second Death
The Book of Revelation teaches that there are two deaths. From the first death, all people who experience it will resurrect: the righteous before the millennium begins, and the wicked after the millennium ends. The wicked, however, suffer a second death.
For proponents of eternal damnation, the second death is eternal existence in hell fire. From the annihilationist perspective, the second death differs from the first in the sense that there is no return or revivification like there is with the first death. It is complete non-existence.
The Philosophical Argument
Those that believe in eternal damnation understand never-ending torture of the wicked as a righteous reward for rebellion against God. The annihilationist view is that eternal damnation and never-ending punishment seem incompatible with a loving God. It is even considered an onslaught on the character of God. The argument goes something like this: How can a loving God keep people alive for the sole purpose of torturing them and inflicting pain with no possibility of repentance or rehabilitation?
Conclusion
In Christianity, there are primarily two views on hell. One group believes in eternal damnation where the wicked suffer torture in the fires of hell for all eternity. The other group believes that the wicked will suffer the fires of hell, but only until they have been consumed away. They then cease to exist for they do not possess an immortal soul. In the end, it is up to each person to study the Scriptures for themselves to determine what God says about hell in the Bible.
