Jefferson Vann

soul searching

I’m involved in a translation project now, which will take me a few years. As I go from text to text of scripture, it gives me opportunity to test my presuppositions about the meaning of certain words. One of those words is “soul.” I trust the Bible to give me an understanding of what a soul is, and what it does. I do not trust the popular understanding of the term. I think the popular understanding draws from the wrong well. We will see.

The Hebrew word translated “soul” in the Old Testament is nefesh, and its Greek equivalent in the New Testament is psuché. The Hebrew term appears 757 times in 686 verses, and the Greek term appears 103 times in 93 verses. However, most of those references do not really help to define the word. They simply use the term in reference to people, either saying that so and so is a soul, or using the phrase “my soul” or “his soul” as another way of saying “me” or “him.” That is, they use the word pronominally.

Of particular importance to me are those instances where the terms are not translated “soul” by the ancient and modern translators. These texts where the terms are present in the original but “hidden” in translation are significant. Their numbers are significant as well. If one looks at the total occurrences of nefesh/psuché (860) compared to the number of times a translation renders it as “soul” this is what one finds:

None of the translations use the word “soul” exclusively to translate nefesh/psuché. The version that is the most literal is (of course) Young’s Literal Translation, but even it translates with some other terms besides “soul” 35% of the time. The older versions tend to use the term “soul” more readily than the newer ones do. But even the older versions had trouble translating a significant percentage of texts where nefesh/psuché appear utilizing the English word soul.

I am guessing that the problem these translators had related to their theological understanding of the word soul. If they assumed that a soul is an immortal, imperishable inner being of a human person, they would have trouble using the term if the passages they are translating rule out or do not suggest that idea.

My original question as a translator was “how shall I translate these terms?” I have decided to try to be consistent with a word-for-word approach, and see what happens. My theological understanding is that there is no immortal entity thriving inside each human body. For that reason, I assume that the word “soul” will not give me the translation problems others have struggled with. As I said, we will see.

Examples from Genesis

And God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms of living souls, and let birds fly above the land across the divider of the sky.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living soul that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [1]

The very first instances of nefesh are indicative that the popular definition needs help. It appears before the creation of Adam, so does not refer to human beings at all. God uses the term to indicate fish and other sea animals. The Geneva Bible translates the plural of nefesh here as “every creeping thing.” Most translations simply render it as “creatures.” There is no hint of immortality here.

And God said, “Let the land bring forth living souls according to their kinds- livestock and creeping things and animals of the land according to their kinds.” And it became that way.[2]

The land was filled with living souls too, before humanity. Here again, most translators chose to render the word as creature or living thing. If having a soul makes one immortal, then the animals are too.

And to every beast of the land and to every bird of the sky and to everything that creeps on the land, everything that has a living soul in it, I have given all flora for food.” And it became that way.[3]

Anything capable of eating a salad has a soul in it. That hardly narrows the definition. It certainly does not exclude anything but humans.

And out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living soul, that was its name.[4]

Adam named every living soul. Of course, if only humans are souls, that would be easy. All he would have had to say was “Adam.”

But you shall not eat flesh with its soul, that is, its blood. And for the blood of your souls I will require the same: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require the same for killing the soul of man.[5]

Fast-forward to the story of Noah, and God is telling us not to eat animals with their souls still in them. In other words, do not eat anything that is still alive, with their blood still pumping through their veins. He also warns all his creatures that he will vindicate those who are murdered. He implies that such murder is killing the soul. Our translations could not handle this way of putting it, so they steered away from the idea of killing a soul.

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “See, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living soul that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the land with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the land. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the land.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living soul that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the land. When I place clouds over the land and the rainbow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living soul of all flesh. And the water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living soul of all flesh that is on the land.”[6]

God establishes his covenant with Noah, his family, and every living soul on the planet. But there were no humans besides Noah and his family left alive. Who were those living souls? They were the animals who came out of the ark. Once again, the translators could not be consistent, but the texts are. They show that “living soul” refers to anything alive, not just humans.

So Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had accumulated, and the souls that they had made in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan.[7]

OK, now it gets really interesting. The translators consistently interpret the reference to souls here as the servants acquired from outside the family, and added to Abram’s household while they were sojourning in Haran. But the verb they usually translate as “acquired” is the simple verb “to make.” It is translated that way numerous times in Genesis prior to this text.[8] But the translators must have had problems with the idea of Abraham’s clan making souls. So, instead, they translate the verse as if it refers to new servants being added to the clan. Actually, it seems to refer to new souls being born into the clan. If a soul is simply a living being, not an immortal essence given by God himself, there is no problem to speak of making that soul through the reproductive process. Chew on that for a while!

Say you are my sister, that things may go well with me because of you, and that my soul may be kept alive for your sake.[9]

Young’s translates the word soul, but all the others surveyed use the word life instead. Abram obviously was not in fear of losing his immortal essence (as if he had one). No, he was afraid that the Egyptians would see his life as an obstacle to getting what they wanted – his beautiful wife. So he asked her to tell them that she was his sister. Saving his soul meant keeping himself alive. That is all it has ever meant.

And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the souls, but take the property for yourself.[10]

The king of Sodom used the term soul consistent with how Moses uses it elsewhere in Genesis – in reference to a living being as opposed to a piece of property. But the translators of our Bibles (even Young, here) could not bring themselves to do so. For them, the word soul was a technical theological term describing the inward being, not a general term identifying a person. But it is clear that the king of Sodom is asking for the persons, not the property. So, all of the translators use the term persons or people for nefesh here.

Traditionalist theologians have grappled with this problem. They usually respond to it be saying that the term as used here is an example of metonymy: where a term indicating a part of a thing is used to signify the whole. Thus, they say, the souls are the inward beings of these men, but the king would ask for them, knowing that the bodies would come with them. That is inferring a great deal of modern theological understanding on the part of this ancient near eastern king. It is also an unnecessary assumption. The translators are right, of course, if by accident. Souls does mean persons in this case. But the translators’ refusal to use the term souls in this verse also shows that they probably have bought into an unproven theological premise about the nature of human souls.

Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul will be cut off from his people by death; he has broken my covenant.[11]

This is one of the many circumstances where reference to a person as a soul is simply taken by the translators as pronominal. But it is significant that the LORD refers to people’s souls being cut off – a metaphor for death. Parents who dare not circumcise their children are marking them for death. The soul dying is a reference to the whole person dying.

And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your soul. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, so you will not be swept away.” But Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. See, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my soul. But I cannot escape to the hills, or the disaster will overtake me and I will die. See, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there- is it not a little one?- and my soul will be saved!”[12]

The angels rescuing Lot from Sodom apparently felt that Lot’s soul was in danger of being destroyed, not just his body. This makes perfect sense if destruction kills the soul. If the soul is impervious to death – not so much. But translating this passage literally would entail giving an entirely unacceptable meaning to saving one’s soul, and that would never do. So, some of the translators hid the idea of soul using other language. Kudos for the ancient translations (Geneva and King James) and for Young’s, who kept the word soul, regardless.

And he said to them, “If your souls are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”[13]

Sarah has died and Abraham is negotiating a burial place with the Hittites. This use of nefesh is taken by all the translators as pronominal, and rightfully so. It was not necessary for them to exclude the term soul, but it is understandable. For so many, the term soul has an exclusive meaning that does not fit all of these generic uses. My point is that that exclusive meaning flies in the face of hundreds of times, like this, when it appears in the Bible. We should be taking our understanding of its meaning from its uses in the texts. Instead, translators have brought their understanding to the text, and so often avoid using the term soul if that understanding does not fit the text. That is a translation fault and is a product of eisegesis.

Examples from Matthew

The New Testament use of psuché is just as telling as the Old Testament use of nefesh is. How do the translators fare in their literal rendering of it, and in what circumstances do they find it necessary to use some other word? We shall see.

But after the dying of Herod, see, an angel of the Lord appears in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, He is saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who wanted to kill the soul of the child are dead.”[14]

Herod was doing a little soul searching of his own. Matthew described him as pursuing the soul of baby Jesus in order to kill it. It is quite obvious why traditionalist translators would steer away from a literal rendering here. It suggests that even Jesus had a mortal soul that could be killed by a soldier’s sword. This statement Matthew makes is consistent with Moses’ uses of the term in Genesis. The soul is a life that can be taken. That is what Herod wanted to do.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be distracted by your soul, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor by your body, what you will put on. Is not the soul more than what it eats, and the body more than what it wears?[15]

Wow, Matthew is confused. Could Jesus have ever made that mistake? Matthew has him saying that the body wears clothing, but it is the soul that eats food. Huh? The translators help Matthew with his embarrassment by consistently rendering the word psuché as life here. He really flubbed up there.

But, wait a minute. Luke records Jesus as saying essentially the same thing!

And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be distracted by your soul, what you will eat, nor by your body, what you will put on.[16]

Could it be that Jesus himself did not know that souls are incorporeal, and cannot eat anything? Didn’t he read Plato in Rabbi school? It seems clear that Jesus is using the term psuché in a way that is consistent with the Old Testament usage of nefesh, but inconsistent with the way the Greeks conceived the soul. Plato regarding the soul as an incorporeal entity inside the shell of the body, destined to be set free from bodily restraints and appetites by death. But Matthew has told us (so far) two things about the soul that oppose that view: the soul can be killed by a sword, and the soul needs food to live.

Whoever finds his soul will lose it, and whoever loses his soul for my sake will find it.[17]

Here, Jesus is telling us that if we really want to find our souls, we have to be prepared to lose them. The Greek concept of psuché is quite clear on the subject: you cannot lose your soul. Even if you die, your incorporeal entity is going to hang around forever, being essentially you without an outer shell. So, this use by Jesus of the term psuché is problematic for the translators as well. They consistently substitute the word life for psuché, even though they all use the word soul for the same word eleven verses earlier in the same chapter.

Because whoever wants to save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses his soul for my sake will find it. For what would it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?[18]

This is essentially an elaboration on the previous text, six chapters later. The phrase appears four times in the two verses of text. Each version surveyed always uses the word life to translate psuché in verse 25. Five of the versions then consistently retranslate that same word as soul in verse 26! Three of the modern translations (ESV,NET, and NRSV) at least consistently use the phrase his life in all four occurrences. Why the consistent inconsistency? Well, one answer would be that the translators felt that it was possible to forfeit one’s soul (to hell), but not possible to lose it (because it stays alive even in hell). Their traditionalist theology prevented them from translating the same term consistently in four connected statements. However, eliminate the foreign presupposition of the soul’s immortality, and these two verses can be translated quite easily.

…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give away his soul as a ransom for many.[19]

Here is another text in which the translators consistently use the word life instead of soul. Jesus said that he came for the purpose of giving away his soul as a ransom for the lost that his sacrifice will save. But traditionalist theology sees giving away one’s soul as an entirely negative thing. It is forfeiting one’s soul to burn in hell. Jesus did not do that. He was talking about his death on the cross. His bodily death on the cross was what he described as giving his soul as a sacrifice. The translators all recognize that, so they – again, consistently — translate the word psuché in the text as life. My point is that the fact that requires the translators to render psuché as life here is the theological misunderstanding of the translators. Rather than accept that Jesus was talking about giving away his soul, they purposely chose a term that they could use which would not challenge their understanding of the meaning of psuché.

Jesus anticipated his soul dying. In Gethsemane, he told his disciples that his soul was very sorrowful, “crushed with grief to the point of death.”[20] The translators did not mess with that one. But it, too, speaks of the psuché as potentially dying. Every reference to psuché in Matthew speaks of the soul as dying along with the body, with the apparent exception of Matthew 10:28.

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

Traditionalist theology makes much of this verse, which appears to show a distinction between the body and the soul. At first glance, it seems to be saying what Plato said about the human soul, that it cannot be killed, and so will live on forever, no matter what it believes, or whom it fears. But, wait, that cannot be right either. The verse goes on to say that God can destroy the soul, and will do so in hell. That is why we should fear him, and not the people around us.

People are able to “kill the body” but only God can kill the soul. So, rather than saying that hell is going to be filled with undying souls, this verse teaches that it will be filled with dead souls – destroyed souls and bodies. It will be a lake of fire that consumes everything thrown into it.

Responding to this, traditionalists simply choose to redefine yet another word – the word destroy. They say that God will destroy souls in hell by keeping them alive forever in agony. Someone has already translated away all of those pesky passages for them that might indicate that souls can die, so they seem to have no choice but to hold this view.

Here are the words of Jesus as Luke recorded them:

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who can only kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will advise you whom you should fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has the right to cast you into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear him!”[21]

Matthew’s text is an abbreviation of what Jesus said, as recorded in Luke. Also, Luke, being a Gentile, and more acquainted with the Greek concept of the immortal soul, took pains not to give it credence. Jesus is contrasting not two parts of humanity, but two kinds of death. The death of the body is real, but not permanent. Death in Gehenna hell will be permanent. Therefore, fear God, not man.

Our soul searching has shown us evidence which has been hidden in many texts of scripture – evidence that the soul can be killed, lost, taken away, or given away as a sacrifice. That evidence contradicts the doctrine of humanity that many Christians believe. It contradicts, Plato, Augustine, Calvin, Wesley and many others. But it is right there in the texts of the Bible where those of us who dare to look can see. Will we dare to let the text triumph over tradition?

[1] Genesis 1:20-21.

[2] Genesis 1:24.

[3] Genesis 1:30.

[4] Genesis 2:19.

[5] Genesis 9:4-5.

[6] Genesis 9:8-16.

[7] Genesis 12:5.

[8] Genesis 1:7, 16, 25f, 31; 2:2ff, 18; 3:1, 7, 21; 5:1; 6:6f, 14ff; 7:4; 8:6; 9:6; 11:4; 12:2.

[9] Genesis 12:13.

[10] Genesis 14:21.

[11] Genesis 17:14.

[12] Genesis 19:17-20.

[13] Genesis 23:8-9.

[14] Matthew 2:19-20.

[15] Matthew 6:25.

[16] Luke 12:22.

[17] Matthew 10:39. {I have not forgotten 10:28. We will come back to that. This survey is of those passages which contain psuché but which the translators typically use some other term besides soul to translate it.}

[18] Matthew 16:25-26.

[19] Matthew 20:28.

[20] Matthew 26:38 NLT.

[21] Luke 12:4-5.

ACST 65: The Reign

When Jesus began his earthly ministry among us, he urged people to repent – not so that they could go to heaven, but because God’s kingdom was coming down from heaven.[1] The gospel he preached was the good news of the inauguration and soon arrival of that kingdom. It was called the gospel of the kingdom.[2] Yet, the church has seldom emphasized the future reality the Bible refers to as the kingdom. In fact, Christian scholars have questioned whether the phrase “kingdom of heaven” implied some future event:

“For many years scholars argued over the Greek expression most commonly translated, “the kingdom of God”, as to whether it might better be translated, “the reign of God.” The argument revolved around whether Jesus was speaking of a geographical realm into which the faithful will enter at his future coming, coincident with the resurrection and judgment, or whether he was referring to a dynamic reign already present and active in human history, and expanding with his ministry.”[3]

Some of Jesus’ statements can be read as if he was referring to this dynamic reign, this dominion over a domain. He commanded his disciples to seek the kingdom.[4] He compared the kingdom to a field currently planted with various seeds,[5] a mustard seed currently sprouting in a field,[6] and yeast currently permeating a loaf of bread.[7] There is obviously a current aspect of the kingdom.

Yet, much of what Jesus said about the kingdom is profoundly future oriented. Those who are poor in spirit and persecuted now are promised the kingdom as an inheritance later.[8] Those who uphold the commandments will be called great in the coming kingdom.[9] Many who think they are religious will, in fact, never enter this kingdom.[10] Many who claim that Jesus is their Lord will not enter it.[11] Jesus taught us to pray for this kingdom to come, and when it does, what God wants will happen on earth, just as it is happening in heaven now.[12] Burge urges us to put what the Bible says about both aspects of the kingdom in perspective:

“the vast majority [of texts] look toward the coming of God’s kingdom to this earth, when Messiah, David’s greater son, will sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem and reign over Israel and the world forever. … Our modern fascination with the present should not be allowed to obscure this fact, nor cause us to miss so much of what the Lord has revealed to us, for our benefit, about his coming kingdom.”[13]

Christ’s spiritual/physical reign over the earth will begin immediately upon his return, but will manifest itself in a number of special events: The last world war (Armageddon), The greatest reunion (The Marriage Supper of the Lamb), and the restoration of all things (The Millennium). This will be a time for redeemed humanity to undo all the damage done to this earth by Satan since the fall. It will also be an age of warfare against all the spiritual beings who have fostered rebellion against Christ and his kingdom.

Most of what we know about this millennial reign is found in the first six verses of Revelation 20:

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. ² And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, ³ and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. ⁴ Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. ⁵ The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.”[14]

Some believers honestly question whether the statements in Revelation 20 should be interpreted as referring to a literal reign of Christ on this earth. They question the need for such a limited reign, not seeing why the earth must be subjected to another earthly reign after Christ returns. Those objections should be taken seriously, and answered from Scripture. The following is an attempt to do so:

objection #1 There is no need for a millennium

We are used to seeing Christ’s return as the culmination of the eschaton. His return will bring about the judgment of the lost, and the eternal reward of the saved. Placing a millennial reign before the judgment and restoration suggests another event, and one wonders why it is necessary. Paul taught the Corinthians that we will all be changed in the blink of an eye at the sounding of the last trumpet.[15] Since both the resurrection and the rapture/ translation of the saints occurs immediately at Christ’s parousia, why place an earthly reign between the parousia and the eternal reign?

The answer to this objection can also be found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. He told them that Christ must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The reign must precede the end.[16] The order is as follows 1) Christ returns, 2) the dead in Christ are raised immortal, 3) they reign with him until he puts all his enemies under his feet (destroys them), 4) Christ hands the kingdom over to his Father.

Also, many prophecies relating to the reign of Christ over Israel require the kind of environment one would expect in the millennium.

“’Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’”[17]

“Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain.”[18]

“And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.”[19]

objection #2 there is no place for a literal millennium

Peter said that the earth will be destroyed on the day of the Lord’s return.[20] Some have objected to a literal millennium because there will be no old earth in which to reign. Christ will make all things new.

But 2 Peter 3 is the very passage that compares a day with the Lord to 1000 years. That day will begin with the Lord’s sudden appearance “like a thief.” It will conclude with the heavens and the earth being destroyed and laid bare.[21] The sequence of events is precisely the same as in Rev. 20. The day that Peter describes is the whole sequence of events, and is not limited to a single 24 hour period.

objection #3 there will be no time for a literal millennium

A similar objection is based on what Jesus said about the resurrection, implying that the resurrections of both the righteous and the wicked take place at the same time.[22] In the Revelation 20 text, the millennial reign occurs between these two resurrections.

Again, the context of John 5 shows that Jesus uses the term “time” in a way that allows for it to mean a long period of time. In verse 25 he speaks of this present time in which the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. He speaks not of resurrection but of salvation. This “time has lasted for thousands of years. So, it is not without reason to assume that the time of the resurrection that Jesus refers to in John 5:28-29 might begin at the resurrection of the saved and end at the resurrection of the lost one thousand years later.

objection #4 there is no purpose for a millennium

Paul taught that the moment Christ returns, believers will be reunited with their Savior, and will never be absent from him again.[23] For some, teaching an earthly reign just takes away from the majesty of that reality. They see no purpose to a mundane kingdom on earth when eternity has already began for believers as soon as their bridegroom appeared.

But Paul was not outlining the whole of the eschatological timetable in 1 Thessalonians 4. He was addressing the question of what has happened to those believers who had fallen asleep (died) before the return. Paul taught that when Christ returns, He will raise the dead in Christ and rapture the living in Christ. From that time alone, believers will never be separated from Christ again. The millennium will not change that reality.

But the earthly reign has a purpose. The earthly reign is God’s fulfillment of his promises to his people. He promised that we will reign with Christ, and assist him in the overthrow of his enemies.[24] The millennium is God’s affirmation of human dominion over the planet. It is not necessary. Jesus could destroy all sin and sinners the moment he returns. But his destiny and ours is to reign together, and together clean up what Satan has done to this planet.

[1] Matthew 4:17.

[2] Matthew 4:23.

[3] David Burge, Heaven is Not My Home. (Auckland: Resurrection Publishers, 2010), 9.

[4] Matthew 6:33.

[5] Matthew 13:24.

[6] Matthew 13:31.

[7] Matthew 13:33.

[8] Matthew 5:3,10.

[9] Matthew 5:19.

[10] Matthew 5:20.

[11] Matthew 7:21.

[12] Matthew 6:10.

[13] Burge, 11.

[14] Revelation 20:1-6 ESV.

[15] 1 Corinthians 15:51-52,

[16] 1 Corinthians 15:22-25.

[17] Jeremiah 33:6-9 ESV.

[18] Zechariah 14:16-17 ESV.

[19] Isaiah 61:6 NIV.

[20] 2 Peter 3:10-14.

[21] 2 Peter 3:8-12.

[22] John 5:28-29.

[23] 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

[24] 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 20:6.

ACST 64: The Apostasy

Chapter 62 introduced the argument that the worldwide apostasy predicted by the apostle Paul has already begun. In fact, Paul taught that elements of the apostasy were already present in his time. He said that “the hidden power of lawlessness is already at work.”[1] Someone was “holding him back” in the first century, but that someone would soon be “taken out of the way.” The reformers believed that that “lawless one” was the head of an apostate movement which essentially took the place of the visible church for over 1000 years.

The Protestant Reformation was an attempt to take the visible church back from that apostasy. It was not entirely successful. There is still a visible church today which has as its foundation a gospel other than the gospel of grace, a head other than Christ himself, and a way to God other than the Way. We evangelicals have pretty much ignored this. In our desire to get along with others who claim Christ, we have been careful to avoid speaking of this apostasy, which the Bible predicted, and has come to pass.

In fact, we have been guilty of following popular teachings which lead readers to other conclusions about the Antichrist and his rebellion. The popular teaching that he will not appear until after the rapture is one such teaching. In that take on 2 Thessalonians 2, the one who holds back the Antichrist is the Holy Spirit, who will be taken out of the way when the church ascends. Two major facts argue against this interpretation:

1. The Lord’s coming will not pave the way for the Antichrist. Instead, at his coming, Jesus will destroy the Antichrist “by the breath of his mouth” and wipe him out “by the manifestation of his arrival.[2] Paul was not teaching that the world would wait until the second advent for the apostasy to happen. He taught that the Apostasy was a very real threat for professing believers themselves. Those who professed faith in Christ but actually “have not believed the truth but delighted in evil”[3] would be the recipients of “all kinds of miracles and false wonders” and “every kind of evil deception” from the Antichrist.[4] Since they refuse to believe the gospel, God himself will send a deluding influence upon them, so that they fall for the claims of the apostasy.[5]

2. The Holy Spirit can never be taken out of the way. One of the foundational truths taught in Scripture is that God’s Holy Spirit is omnipresent. Even when the church is taken up into the clouds for the marriage supper of the Lamb, the Holy Spirit will still be here, empowering the avenging angels as they war against God’s enemies at Armageddon. No, the reformers understood that the power that held back the apostate church was not the Holy Spirit, but was the Roman empire. As the empire dissolved, the Roman Catholic Church emerged as both a political and religious power, and effectively took over.

Daniel’s Fourth Beast

In Daniel 7, the world’s empires are presented as four enormous beasts. The lion represents Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian empire. After him comes the bear, the empire of the Medes and Persians. Then, comes the Macedonian empire, represented by the leopard with four wings. Finally a great, unnamed beast emerged, which would be the final world empire before the Ancient of Days gave dominion of the earth to “one like a son of man.” Daniel wrote of this Messiah “And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”[6]

the little horn

But just before this happens, something will happen within the fourth empire. A little horn will emerge. Daniel says: “and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.”[7] This is the last event Daniel sees before he sees the second coming of Christ. What does Daniel predict Christ will do when he comes? He says “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.”[8] It is no coincidence that both Daniel and Paul speak of Christ coming and destroying the Antichrist.

Combining the aspects of both Daniel’s prophecy and Paul’s prophecy, one is left with this timeline:

1. The Roman empire is replaced by another kingdom, but which is still Roman.

2. This king will speak great things, and will deceive those in the church who are not true believers in the gospel.

3. Christ will return and destroy this beast, taking over the nations of the world for his legitimate rule.

It should also be noted that both in Daniel’s day, and in Paul’s day, there was no clear distinction between sacred and secular. All the world’s emperors claimed to be divine and to be ruling by divine appointment. In a sense, all of them were usurping the legitimate authority of the Messiah. What the apostasy did was replace Christ’s legitimate authority as king of kings with the authority of a church.

John

The apostle John, like Paul, also addressed a church on the verge of becoming part of the apostasy. He reveals that many antichrists were already beginning to deceive the church in his time:

“Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us- eternal life. 26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything- and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you- abide in him.”[9]

The Church was already being led astray by deceiving influences, and John called these deceivers antichrists. Probably the deceivers to whom John referred were Gnostics, who denied the deity of Christ. But John did not say that the future Antichrist would be a Gnostic. He merely implied that the future Antichrist would be a deceiver, and would, like the Gnostics, try to get people to accept another gospel.

John warned his readers against accepting such deceivers into their households:

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.”[10]

The Apostasy would be a replacement church with a replacement gospel, but its adherents would seek to convince true believers to join them in their apostasy. The difference that John encouraged believers to look for was a doctrinal difference. The apostates will have gone ahead and stopped abiding in the teaching of Christ. The teaching of Christ was the gospel of salvation by grace.

The Roman Catholic Church replaced sharing the gospel of grace with obeying the law of the Church. They replaced repentance with penance. They replaced forgiveness by the blood with merit through works. The replaced the headship of Christ with the headship of the Pope, who is called the Vicar of Christ. Antichrist means not “against Christ” but “instead of Christ.” They replaced the hope of resurrection with the despair of purgatory. They replaced believer’s baptism with the christening of infants, who cannot profess faith because they do not yet have a faith to profess. The Lord’s Supper was a meal where we are supposed to remember what Christ did for us. They turned it into an animistic ritual where adherents repeatedly sacrifice Christ all over again. Christ had told his disciples to lead by serving. The Roman Catholic Church produced leaders who lord it over their followers, and provided everything for them. They also replaced the purity of worshipping Christ alone to the idolatry of praying to and venerating the “saints.”

In the book of Revelation, John showed that this Apostasy would be a prostitute bride. She would ride the beast of Rome, and give glory to that empire, not the coming reign of Christ. Instead of unifying the church in the gospel, she would unify them under the Latin culture:

‘Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” 3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.”[11]

“Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. 13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”[12]

The letters of the Greek word lateinos, a designation for a person of the Latin language and culture, added up to 666. The Church Father Irenaeus pointed to this as the “probable solution” to the number, as it referred to “the name of the last kingdom.”[13] The prostitute is a symbol from the Old Testament, indicating not a foreign power, but an apostate religion – and sexual immorality was a symbol of idolatry. The mark of the beast was a mark of protection. Just as God marked Cain to protect him from vengeance,[14] and marked those who would survive the judgment during the exile,[15] so the Antichrist would mark his own to protect them from God’s judgment,[16] but it will not work.

Although the Protestant Reformation did much to swing the ecclesiastical pendulum back toward sola scriptura and sola fide, the church remains in danger of succumbing to this apostasy. Regardless of what we call ourselves, we are in danger of joining the apostasy when we get our eyes off the coming Christ and put all our hopes in the present church. We are in danger when we add our own works to the finished work of Christ on the cross. We are in danger when we seek unity by borrowing beliefs from the world around us, instead of trusting the sure word the Holy Spirit gave us.

a word to the offended

Those who are members and leaders of the Roman Catholic Church are obviously offended at such teaching. Perhaps this offense is the reason so many of our other Protestant brothers have stopped teaching it. In this age of relativism, it seems somehow wrong to attack another church, and brand it as part of the Apostasy. Yet, this very relativism is a sign that we do not have to wait until after Christ returns. The Apostasy is here, now. If the Roman Church is not the Apostasy, what is? No other worldwide religious body has keep the world under its control for over a thousand years. No other church has been responsible for such comprehensive syncretism and violence against true faith.

The true catholic (universal) church is not Roman. It belongs to Christ, extends to all nations, and is made up of people representing all cultures. When Jesus comes, he will set the record straight. Until then, it is the responsibility of his present church to preach Christ, not itself. It is our responsibility to stay true to the gospel, not human traditions. It is our responsibility to proclaim faith in God’s grace through Christ’s sacrifice. We cannot afford to replace that responsibility with any other.

[1] 2 Thessalonians 2:7 NET.

[2] 2 Thessalonians 2:8 NET.

[3] 2 Thessalonians 2:12.

[4] 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10.

[5] 2 Thessalonians 2:11.

[6] Daniel 7:14 ESV.

[7] Daniel 7:8 ESV.

[8] Daniel 7:11 ESV.

[9] 1 John 2:18-27 ESV.

[10] 2 John 1:7-11 ESV.

[11] Revelation 17:1-6 ESV.

[12] Revelation 13:11-18 ESV.

[13] Irenaeus, Against Heresies (Book V, Chapter 30). (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103530.htm).

[14] Genesis 4:15.

[15] Ezekiel 9.

[16] Revelation 16:2; 19:20.

a different mission

“So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”” Acts 1:6-8 ESV

______________________________________

I would not blame anyone for being a little distracted right now. There is a great deal going on globally, and things here in the United States seem a bit shaky. I would not be surprised if the history books list this as a crucial time, a time when major decisions were made with lasting effects.

I am going to ask you to go back with me in time to the first century AD, the time when the words of this text were first spoken. They were given in a time like this. They were spoken when powerful men made decisions that plunged the world into war, decisions that cost millions of lives, and brought pain and ruin to the lives of millions of others.

All of these words were spoken in Jerusalem, a city whose inhabitants were convinced that they would someday rule the world. The believers in Jesus got together and were sure that now was the time for them to take over. Jesus had demonstrated his power over everything. Even death could not stop him. Logic dictated that the believers form armies and overcome their oppressors. Jesus said no.

Jesus did not object to the theology behind his disciples’ question. He implied that some day his people would join him in a reign over all the earth. Jesus objected to the mission implied by their question. He commanded that they gear themselves up for a different mission.

That mission is still ours today. In fact, it is the only mission we have. Jesus’ great commission was essentially the same. We were commanded to make disciples of all nations, and this was to begin in Jerusalem. It was a mission that would be ours until the end of the age,[1] and we are not to stop until we have reached the last unreached place on earth.

A HOLY MISSION

The power behind our mission is the Holy Spirit himself. The believers at Pentecost were empowered by the Holy Spirit to reach Jerusalem for Christ. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began telling the mighty works of God in different languages. Those who heard their words responded to the gospel as preached by Peter, and came to Christ themselves. Soon, the whole region was filled with the message. Then the Holy Spirit moves Philip to preach in Samaria, and Peter and John get in on the action, “preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.”[2] Then The Holy Spirit sends Peter to Joppa, and sets aside Paul & Barnabas to preach the same message to other gentiles. So, the book of Acts records how the Holy Spirit began accomplishing the mission.

Wherever the Holy Spirit goes, holiness happens. He takes our ordinary lives and reboots them, restoring them to their originally intended function. Wherever the gospel goes, people are confronted with their own sinfulness, because they meet Christ. He does not demand that we change, he offers grace. But his grace changes us.

A JESUS MISSION

From that point on, life ceases to be about us, and what we are about. Life becomes about letting the world know that Jesus lives, who he is, and what he has done. That is what it means to be a his witness. A witness is someone who testifies of something that he has seen and experienced.

You cannot be Jesus’ witness until you actually experience him. Once you experience him, you cannot help being his witness. You may not do it well, but you already are his witness.

A WORLD MISSION

The scope of our mission is always global. No matter who you are, no matter what your gifts, no matter what your background, Jesus challenges you to have an impact on every nation on the planet.

We are living in a time when that is more possible than it ever has been. Although we travel every year, there is no way for Penny and I to visit even the seven Asia –Pacific countries whose ministries we oversee for the denomination. But we can still be regularly involved in the ministries of those countries because of this remarkable time we are living in. We keep in regular contact with church and mission leaders in 20 countries, as part of the Global Training Initiative. I write and post articles and devotions on the internet that are being read by people in over 90 countries.

You and your church are making a global impact when you pray for missionaries and national leaders. You are making a global impact when you give to missions. I applaud you for doing that. But I want to challenge you to go beyond that. There is no telling what you and your church could do if you caught on to what it means to be a world Christian today.

[1] Matthew 28:16.

[2] Acts 8:25.

ACST 63: The Destinies

There are only two eternal destinies: life or death. The saved will be rewarded with permanent life, while the lost will suffer permanent death.

In this chapter, I contrast the two eternal destinies: The inheritance of the saved is permanent life, and the fate of the lost is permanent death.

John

The apostle John had a way of taking ultimate reality and boiling it down to simple statements that captured its essence. For example, he divided the whole of the human race into two categories – two destinies. He said “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”[1] By that he meant that the objective of life today is to gain eternal life in the future, and only those who are in Christ will accomplish that objective. Jesus implied the same thing when he said “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”[2] He spoke of only two eternal destinies: to perish forever, or to live forever. Those destinies will each begin with a resurrection. Believers will experience a “resurrection of life” but unbelievers will experience a “resurrection of judgment.”[3] That judgment will culminate in the second death.[4]

Paul

Paul taught that the world has those same two destinies. He said “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”[5] You will notice that both apostles only refer to believers as having life. They each must have been out of class the day their teacher taught them Platonic dualism, and the notion of all human souls being immortal. Paul taught that only God is now immortal,[6] and that Jesus brought immortality to light through the gospel.[7] Only those who respond to the gospel and put their faith in Christ will receive immortality, and even then it will only be at the resurrection when Jesus comes.[8] In the mean time, people have a choice. They can either live according to the flesh, and earn the judgment of destruction, or live according to the Holy Spirit, and reap the grace of eternal life.[9]

So, Paul designates two kinds of people. Those who are being saved are contrasted with those who are perishing.[10] He presents it this way so that his readers may know that the choices they make today will determine the nature of their eternal destiny. For Paul, there are two main events in history, and we stand between them. The first main event is the cross, where Jesus took on the punishment for all the sins of the world. But for those who regard the message of the cross as foolishness, God will allow them the privilege of paying for their own sins in hell. Those who choose to do so are perishing, even as they live. Their “destiny is destruction.”[11] But for those of us who choose to cling to the cross, we are being saved, even as we die.

The author of Hebrews

The author of Hebrews speaks of these two destinies as well. He says that those who have faith “preserve their souls” — a reference to not being eternally lost. But those who “shrink back” and do not have faith will be destroyed.[12]

Peter

Peter spoke of believers being heirs of the grace of life.[13] He said that God has called believers to his own glory and excellence, and his power has granted us all things to pertain to life and godliness.[14] But the unsaved will be “destroyed in their destruction.”[15] They are being “stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”[16] Two destinies – count them – two.

Jesus

Jesus had taught those same two destinies. He was even more clear in distinguishing the two. He said that the right choice leads to life, but the wrong choice leads to destruction.[17] He said that we should fear God, who is able to destroy souls and bodies entirely in hell.[18] He warned the Jewish leaders who were not tending the Master’s vineyard that they would be destroyed when the Master returns.[19]

Jesus never defined salvation as a ticket to a nice place to retire after you die. He defined salvation in reference to destruction in Gehenna hell. That is what people are being saved from. Eternal life in the new heaven and earth is what people are being saved for.

Having determined that the Bible is clear about the ultimate destinies of both the saved and the lost, we can now examine the steps that our LORD will take in bringing about those two destinies.

The Destiny of the Saved

1. A GLORIOUS REUNION

Believers will be reunited with Christ when he returns. Paul taught that the same God who foreknew us in eternity past, also predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. The same God who called us and justified us by the death of Jesus, also has glorified us.[20] For God, it has all been done, since he resides outside time. For us, some of it has been done, and some of it awaits our reunion with Christ, for it to be perfected. We are foreknown and predestined, but we do not yet conform completely to our Savior’s likeness. We have been called and justified, but we await the reunion for our glorification.

The reunion will be with Christ, but it will also be a reunion with all those in Christ who have fallen asleep. The Lord will appear, call the believing dead from their graves, and then those in Christ who are alive at that time will join that meeting in the clouds. It is then, and only then, that all believers will be “with the Lord.”[21] This event is what Paul was referring to when he said he desired to depart and be with Christ.[22] Being with Christ at the reunion is the best thing that could happen to us today. It is better than any ministry we could have in this life, or any martyrdom we could have in death.

Jesus promised that we would be with him at that reunion. He said he was going to prepare a place for us – but not for us to go to at death. He said “if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”[23] Jesus is the way to the Father.[24] No one gets to the Father’s presence until Jesus comes back and takes us. This will happen at the reunion, and not before. Death does not take us into the Father’s presence – Jesus will.

2. A GLORIOUS TRANSFORMATION

At the same moment when we are reunited with our Savior, we will also be changed into his likeness. Our mortality will be replaced by his immortality. Paul puts it this way “we will 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 will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.”[25]

Some translations add the word “body” to this text, because the translators believe that souls are already immortal, so they think Paul is talking about immortal souls putting on resurrection bodies. But that is not what Paul is talking about. Most of the mortal bodies will have already died. Most of the perishable bodies will have already perished and totally decayed into nothingness. For Paul, the whole being is “this mortal” and “this perishable.” The whole being takes on immortality, never to perish again.

John told his readers that “we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him”[26] Our transformation will include more than just immortality. It would be a crime to impose immortality on a race of beings who do not have the purity and integrity of Christ.

Plato believed that all souls are given immortality at their creation, and Augustine followed him in that belief. Out of that syncretistic combination of Greek philosophy and Roman Catholic dogma came the terrible doctrine of an unending hell. God is charged with the crime of predestining the vast majority of the souls he created to an eternity of suffering.

The real story of eternity is that God plans it only for those who are transformed by grace to be in the likeness of Christ. As the four spiritual laws put it, God has a wonderful plan for your life. That plan begins to take place the moment of your glorification. Our entire lives are lived in anticipation of that event.

3. A GLORIOUS CELEBRATION

While the battle of Armageddon is raging on this planet, destroying and causing chaos as never imagined before, believers will be safe in the clouds with our Savior. John writes “Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.””[27] All the hopes of humanity will come true at this great feast, while all the fears of humanity will come to pass at the battle of Armageddon.

4. A GLORIOUS DOMINION

As strange as it may seem, Christ’s return will not immediately destroy all evil

from this planet. It will, however, end all opposition to his rule in the political and religious realms. John describes this reality when he speaks of the beast and false prophet being thrown into the lake of fire.[28] They will be tormented for their crimes for ages and ages, but will eventually be destroyed, because the lake of fire is the second death (not another form of life). The beast and false prophet are spirit beings, but not immortal beings. They will receive punishment appropriate for their sins, and the sins that they caused the kings and false prophets of the earth to commit. That will take ages and ages, but not forever.

Removing them from the scene will allow Christ’s will to prevail in the political and religious realms. Imagine that – no opposition to Christ’s rule on earth, no deception or rebellion caused by false religion. Christ must reign on the earth “until he has put all his enemies under his feet.”[29] Those who serve him today will reign with him then.[30] They will rule as princes and lead people to him as priests. This reign will last for a thousand years.[31]

5. A GLORIOUS VINDICATION

Believers will be absolved of all guilt at the judgment. Although they will be judged according to their works, like all others, they will be vindicated and declared not guilty due to the finished work of Christ, the Lamb. The book of life lists all these believers in Christ, and is the basis for this vindication.[32] As a result of this vindication on the Judgment Day, believers will not be destroyed in the lake of fire, but all others will.

6. A GLORIOUS SATISFACTION

Believers will receive rewards for faithful service, for those deeds done out of a Spirit led obedience to Christ and his kingdom. No good work will escape judgment, although some works that we might think are worthy of reward will burn up when evaluated. They will not have proved to be quality work.[33] Paul’s instruction is that believers should be careful to build their works on the proper foundation. Even good works are eternally insignificant if they do not follow Christ’s commands, or lead people to the cross of Christ and his grace.

7. A GLORIOUS PERPETUATION

Believers will live and reign eternally in the new heavens and new earth. John envisioned a continuation of the millennial reign which will go on forever and ever, after judgment and the destruction of all evil.[34] This is the ultimate answer to what it means to be saved, and it is the reason that we are saved to begin with. Our loving God wants us to have eternal freedom from sin, eternal sanctification, and eternal life.[35]

The Destiny of the Lost

1. THE LOST WILL SUFFER SHAME AND REJECTION.

The lost will suffer public shame at having their sinful lives exposed on the judgment day. Those who have pretended to be believers will be exposed as the imposters they are.[36] Those who have trusted in other ways of salvation will discover that their gamble has not paid off. There was only one way to salvation and they rejected the way and chose the wrong way.[37] No secrets will remain unannounced.[38]

2. THE LOST WILL SUFFER JUST PUNISHMENT FOR THEIR SINS.

Unbelievers will also experience just punishment for every transgression they have committed, whether in word or deed, commission or omission. The nature, severity, and duration of that punishment will be determined by God, whose omniscience and righteousness insures that it will be just. God cannot overlook sin which has not been atoned for. Thus this punishment awaits all who are not protected by the blood of Christ. The Bible describes this punishment as trouble and distress,[39] torment,[40] darkness, weeping (out of remorse for losing salvation) and gnashing of teeth (out of anger against God),[41] and being beaten with whips.[42] While some of those images are no doubt symbolic, they describe a future reality that is horrible to imagine. We need to keep these images in mind so that we can pray urgently for our unsaved friends, loved ones, and enemies, and seek to win them all to Christ.

3. THE LOST WILL EVENTUALLY SUFFER PERMANENT DEATH.

On the previous two points, all evangelical believers would agree. But some insist that God will not only punish sinners for their rejection, but keep on punishing them throughout eternity. Thus they say that not only is God’s punishment eternal, but also the act of punishing itself. Many base this belief on the assumption that human souls are already immortal by nature. That issue has already been addressed.[43]

The Bible makes it clear that the punishment received at the judgment is not the last part of the bad news. The wages of sin is not perpetual suffering in hell, it is death.[44] Those who overcome are promised not that they will avoid an eternity in a bad place, but that they will avoid the second death.[45] The unsaved will suffer punishment according to their sins, and then will experience this second death.[46] The lake of fire must consume and bring about the second death to all those thrown into it, then it will destroy death and Hades.[47]

Typically, those who favor the view of eternal conscious torment redefine the term death as it has to do with the destiny of the lost. Since, in their view, both saved and lost will continue to live eternally, death cannot mean the loss of life.

But Jesus’ descriptions of the fate of the lost imply loss of existence, not just a conscious painful existence forever.

He spoke of the house built on the sand collapsing and falling over.[48] That is the end of the house.
He spoke of the weeds gathered up and burned with fire.[49] That is the end of the weeds.
He spoke of the good fish being gathered into containers, but the bad fish are thrown away to rot.[50] No more bad fish.
He spoke of plants not planted by his Father as being uprooted.[51] An uprooted plant dies.
He spoke of branches that do not abide in the vine as being thrown away, drying up, being gathered and cast into the fire.[52] Burning branches burn up.
He spoke of tenants who reject their master’s authority as being destroyed,[53] not just punished.
He said that the unrepentant will perish like those on whom the tower of Siloam fell.[54] Those unfortunate people didn’t just suffer. They died.
He likened hell to Noah’s flood, which destroyed everyone outside the ark.[55]
He said that hell would be like the day Lot went out from Sodom, and all the inhabitants of Sodom were destroyed.[56]

There are only two eternal destinies: life or death. The saved will be rewarded with permanent life, while the lost will suffer permanent death.

[1] 1 John 5:12 ESV.

[2] John 3:14-16 ESV.

[3] John 5:28-29.

[4] Revelation 21:8.

[5] Romans 6:23 ESV.

[6] 1 Timothy 6:16.

[7] 2 Timothy 1:10.

[8] Romans 2:7; 1 Corinthians 15:53-54.

[9] Galatians 6:8 NIV. The ESV uses the word corruption for the Greek fthora, but Peter uses the same term in 2 Peter 2:12, and there the ESV translates it “born to be caught and destroyed.”

[10] 1 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 2:15; Philippians 1:27-28.

[11] Philippians 3:9 NIV.

[12] Hebrews 10:39.

[13] 1 Peter 3:7.

[14] 2 Peter 1:3.

[15] 2 Peter 2:11.

[16] 2 Peter 3:7 ESV.

[17] Matthew 7:13-14.

[18] Matthew 10:28.

[19] Luke 20:16.

[20] Romans 8:28-30.

[21] 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

[22] Philippians 1:23.

[23] John 14:3 ESV.

[24] John 14:6.

[25] 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 NASB (1995).

[26] 1 John 3:2 NLT.

[27] Revelation 19:7-9 NLT.

[28] Revelation 19:20-21.

[29] 1 Corinthians 15:25 ESV.

[30] 2 Timothy 2:12.

[31] Revelation 20:6. {see chapter 65: The Reign, for more details}.

[32] Revelation 20:11-15.

[33] 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.

[34] Revelation 22:3-5.

[35] Romans 6:22-23.

[36] Matthew 7:21-23.

[37] John 14:6.

[38] Luke 12:3.

[39] Romans 2:8-9.

[40] Revelation 14:9-10.

[41] Matthew 25:30.

[42] Luke 12:47-48.

[43] see chapter 15: The Immortal One, and chapter 21: The Mortal Being.

[44] Romans 6:23.

[45] Revelation 2:11; 20:6.

[46] Revelation 21:8.

[47] Revelation 20:14.

[48] Matthew 7:26-27.

[49] Matthew 13:40.

[50] Matthew 13:47-48.

[51] Matthew 15:13.

[52] John 15:6.

[53] Luke 20:16.

[54] Luke 13:4-5.

[55] Luke 17:27.

[56] Luke 17:29.