The Heresy of Annihilationism
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Hello CS1! Great article, succinct and to the point. Therefore, instead of them going to the site, I'll post it here:
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Will Wicked People Be Annihilated in Hell?
by Wayne Jackson
Why do you believe that those who die lost will be consciously punished eternally, when the Bible says they will be “destroyed” (Matthew 10:28)?
The question clearly indicates that the author is a conditionalist. A conditionalist is one who believes that at some point following death, those who die estranged from God will be annihilated, i.e., cease to exist. This is the dogma of the Seventh-day Adventists, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and a few other misguided religionists.
In one of his discourses Jesus declared:
“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” (Mt. 10:28 NASB).
The Greek word for “destroy” is apolesai, which derives from the verb form apollumi. The verb occurs about ninety times, and a noun form is found some eighteen times. I do not know of a single reputable English translation that renders the term in any instance, “to go out of existence.” It is translated by such common English words as “perish,” “destroy,” “lose,” or “lost.”
The term is employed of physical items that lose their usefulness. A wineskin that cracks open and is no longer usable is said to “perish” (Lk. 5:37). A sheep that wanders away from the safety of the fold is described as “lost” (Lk. 15:4, 6), i.e., separated from the shepherd. The wayward prodigal son was “lost” to his father (Lk. 15:24), though certainly not annihilated. Food that spoils is said to have “perished” (Jn. 6:27).
When the disciples were fearful of drowning in a storm on the sea of Galilee, they awoke the sleeping Lord, and exclaimed, “[W]e are perishing,” employing a present tense form of apollumi (Mt. 8:25). Surely they were not saying, “Lord, we are in the process of going out of existence.”
Regarding apollumi, W. E. Vine comments: “The idea is not extinction but ruin, loss, not of being, but of well-being” (1991, 211).
Renowned scholar J. H. Thayer defined apollumi, with reference to Matthew 10:28, in the following fashion: “metaphorically, to devote or give over to eternal misery” (1958, 64).
Professor Oepke argues that apollumi does not suggest a mere “extinction of physical existence”; rather it involves the hopeless desperation of eternal separation from God (1964, 396).
Of apollumi in Matthew 10:28, A. T. Robertson writes: “‘Destroy’ here is not annihilation, but eternal punishment” (1930, 83).
It is hardly necessary to pile up additional testimony from respected New Testament scholars.
Finally, the Scriptures themselves clearly give the true sense of apollumi.
In Revelation 17:8, 11, John describes the wicked beast who so opposed God as going into “perdition” (apoleian). However, in 20:10 the same writer, alluding to the same beast, describes his destiny as one of being “tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Clearly, that is not utter extinction.
The conditionalist dogma of eventual annihilation for the wicked is false, and those who advocate this view are doing a great disservice to the cause of truth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Will Wicked People Be Annihilated in Hell?
by Wayne Jackson
Why do you believe that those who die lost will be consciously punished eternally, when the Bible says they will be “destroyed” (Matthew 10:28)?
The question clearly indicates that the author is a conditionalist. A conditionalist is one who believes that at some point following death, those who die estranged from God will be annihilated, i.e., cease to exist. This is the dogma of the Seventh-day Adventists, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and a few other misguided religionists.
In one of his discourses Jesus declared:
“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” (Mt. 10:28 NASB).
The Greek word for “destroy” is apolesai, which derives from the verb form apollumi. The verb occurs about ninety times, and a noun form is found some eighteen times. I do not know of a single reputable English translation that renders the term in any instance, “to go out of existence.” It is translated by such common English words as “perish,” “destroy,” “lose,” or “lost.”
The term is employed of physical items that lose their usefulness. A wineskin that cracks open and is no longer usable is said to “perish” (Lk. 5:37). A sheep that wanders away from the safety of the fold is described as “lost” (Lk. 15:4, 6), i.e., separated from the shepherd. The wayward prodigal son was “lost” to his father (Lk. 15:24), though certainly not annihilated. Food that spoils is said to have “perished” (Jn. 6:27).
When the disciples were fearful of drowning in a storm on the sea of Galilee, they awoke the sleeping Lord, and exclaimed, “[W]e are perishing,” employing a present tense form of apollumi (Mt. 8:25). Surely they were not saying, “Lord, we are in the process of going out of existence.”
Regarding apollumi, W. E. Vine comments: “The idea is not extinction but ruin, loss, not of being, but of well-being” (1991, 211).
Renowned scholar J. H. Thayer defined apollumi, with reference to Matthew 10:28, in the following fashion: “metaphorically, to devote or give over to eternal misery” (1958, 64).
Professor Oepke argues that apollumi does not suggest a mere “extinction of physical existence”; rather it involves the hopeless desperation of eternal separation from God (1964, 396).
Of apollumi in Matthew 10:28, A. T. Robertson writes: “‘Destroy’ here is not annihilation, but eternal punishment” (1930, 83).
It is hardly necessary to pile up additional testimony from respected New Testament scholars.
Finally, the Scriptures themselves clearly give the true sense of apollumi.
In Revelation 17:8, 11, John describes the wicked beast who so opposed God as going into “perdition” (apoleian). However, in 20:10 the same writer, alluding to the same beast, describes his destiny as one of being “tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Clearly, that is not utter extinction.
The conditionalist dogma of eventual annihilation for the wicked is false, and those who advocate this view are doing a great disservice to the cause of truth.
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I disagree that it is deflection. Those who think they were born without Gods' eternal Spirit in them but only receive His eternal Spirit after their new birth, will automatically be able to do no other than believe the second death is actual and total death rather than an eternal life of misery.
So if you can see that this is really where the root of their objection is, the topic of receiving eternal life versus already having eternal life almost has to come up. And if it doesn't, it is always lurking there beneath the surface, making them look plain old stupid to you.
So if you can see that this is really where the root of their objection is, the topic of receiving eternal life versus already having eternal life almost has to come up. And if it doesn't, it is always lurking there beneath the surface, making them look plain old stupid to you.
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I disagree that it is deflection. Those who think they were born without Gods' eternal Spirit in them but only receive His eternal Spirit after their new birth, will automatically be able to do no other than believe the second death is actual and total death rather than an eternal life of misery.
So if you can see that this is really where the root of their objection is, the topic of receiving eternal life versus already having eternal life almost has to come up. And if it doesn't, it is always lurking there beneath the surface, making them look plain old stupid to you.
So if you can see that this is really where the root of their objection is, the topic of receiving eternal life versus already having eternal life almost has to come up. And if it doesn't, it is always lurking there beneath the surface, making them look plain old stupid to you.
I disagree that it is deflection. Those who think they were born without Gods' eternal Spirit in them but only receive His eternal Spirit after their new birth, will automatically be able to do no other than believe the second death is actual and total death rather than an eternal life of misery.
So if you can see that this is really where the root of their objection is, the topic of receiving eternal life versus already having eternal life almost has to come up. And if it doesn't, it is always lurking there beneath the surface, making them look plain old stupid to you.
So if you can see that this is really where the root of their objection is, the topic of receiving eternal life versus already having eternal life almost has to come up. And if it doesn't, it is always lurking there beneath the surface, making them look plain old stupid to you.
your argument is with what Jesus said .
- God made Hell because of who he is - holy, holy, holy (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8) - and thus is too pure to look upon sin (Hab 1:13).
- (2) God is love (1 John 4:7-8) and while he spoke more concerning Heaven than he did Hell, in his holiness and honesty Jesus spoke about Hell (i.e. Gehenna) a considerable amount of times too - since he is the Word, Jesus is actually the author of every usage of Hell in the Bible (Matt 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5; parallels to the same; Matt 7:21-23; 8:12; 13:42; 24:29-31, 45-51; 25:30-32, 41-46; Rev 2:11, etc.).
- (3) God is the Judge and sends the unsaved to Hell (Matt 25:41; 2 Pet 2:4, 9).
- (4) In another sense, people send themselves to Hell, as they willing sin against God (Rom 2:5; 3:23; 1 Cor 6:9).
- (5) Hell was prepared for the Devil and his angels (Matt 25:41), but Satan's seed (Gen 3:15) will spend eternity there as well (Rev 20:14).
- (6) Hell is a place where one can never stop sinning (Rom 8:7-8; Rev 21:8; 22:14-15). Since the sinners in Hell keep sinning there is perpetual punishment.
- (7) Hell is a waterless place with no exit (Luke 16:24-26).
- (8) Hell is a bottomless pit (Rev 20:1).
- (9) Hell is a lake of fire into which the wicked will be cast alive forever (Rev 19:20; 20:15).
- (10) Hell is a place of eternal torments (Luke 16:23).
- (11) Hell is a place of everlasting punishment (Matt 25:46).
- (12) Hell is a place of everlasting destruction from the presence of God (2 Thess 1:6-10).
- (13) Hell is a place of being cut into pieces (Matt 24:51).
- (14) Hell is a place where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48).
- (15) Hell is a place of outer darkness, of weeping, and gnashing of teeth (Matt 25:30).
- (16) It's not enough for God to take us out of Hell; he must remove Hell out of us; and thus he sent his only begotten Son to die for the sins of his people (Rom 5:8; Jude 1:23; John 1:29).
This is what Strongs says about the word translated into English as perish:
Strong's Concordance
apollumi: to destroy, destroy utterly
Original Word: ἀπόλλυμι
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: apollumi
Phonetic Spelling: (ap-ol'-loo-mee)
Short Definition: I destroy, lose, am perishing
Definition: (a) I kill, destroy, (b) I lose, mid: I am perishing (the resultant death being viewed as certain).
HELPS Word-studies
622 apóllymi (from 575 /apó, "away from," which intensifies ollymi, "to destroy") – properly, fully destroy, cutting off entirely (note the force of the prefix, 575 /apó).
622 /apóllymi ("violently/completely perish") implies permanent (absolute) destruction, i.e. to cancel out (remove); "to die, with the implication of ruin and destruction" (L & N, 1, 23.106); cause to be lost (utterly perish) by experiencing a miserable end.
[This is also the meaning of 622 /apóllymi dating back to Homer (900 bc.]
Strong's Concordance
apollumi: to destroy, destroy utterly
Original Word: ἀπόλλυμι
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: apollumi
Phonetic Spelling: (ap-ol'-loo-mee)
Short Definition: I destroy, lose, am perishing
Definition: (a) I kill, destroy, (b) I lose, mid: I am perishing (the resultant death being viewed as certain).
HELPS Word-studies
622 apóllymi (from 575 /apó, "away from," which intensifies ollymi, "to destroy") – properly, fully destroy, cutting off entirely (note the force of the prefix, 575 /apó).
622 /apóllymi ("violently/completely perish") implies permanent (absolute) destruction, i.e. to cancel out (remove); "to die, with the implication of ruin and destruction" (L & N, 1, 23.106); cause to be lost (utterly perish) by experiencing a miserable end.
[This is also the meaning of 622 /apóllymi dating back to Homer (900 bc.]
Ever wonder why Jesus uses the metaphor "sleep" for "death"? When you are asleep you are not aware of anything going on - sleep = a condition of body and mind such as that which typically recurs for several hours every night, in which the nervous system is relatively inactive, the eyes closed, the postural muscles relaxed, and consciousness practically suspended. When we die our next conscious thought will be when Christ "awakes" us from the dead. Those that die will sleep until the return of Christ and he calls them out of the grave, those that are alive will be caught up.
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