The Evangelical Annihilationist

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

King David

“Do not be agitated by evildoers…. For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender green plants…. For evildoers will be destroyed, but those who put their hope in the LORD will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked person will be no more; though you look for him, he will not be there.”

Rethinking Hell

“Those who are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ have their sins forgiven, and receive the gift of eternal life…. The unsaved do not have eternal ‘life’ in hell, but will be resurrected in order to face judgment, and receive the penalty of death (‘The Second Death’), which is permanent (eternally effective).”

John R. W. Stott

“We need to survey the biblical material afresh. I do plead for frank dialogue among evangelicals on the basis of Scripture. I also believe that the ultimate annihilation of the wicked should at least be accepted as a legitimate, biblically founded alternative to their eternal conscious torment.”

Important information

about life, death, and eternity

The gospel is God’s covenant commitment to the world to give his only Son so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. God alone possesses innate immortality. No other being, human or otherwise, possesses immortality innately except by God’s specific gift. Annihilation awaits the damned: the eternal punishment of ultimate destruction in hell—a permanent end to conscious existence. It was by physical death that Jesus stood as substitute for believers. The saved will not die, since Jesus died for them. But the lost must finally die.

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Conditionalist Texts

1 Timothy 6:16

[God] alone is immortal and … lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

John 3:15–16

Everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

John 10:28

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.

John 17:2

You gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him.

Romans 2:6–8

He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:50, 54

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption…. When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory.

Galatians 6:8

The one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

1 John 5:11

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

2 Thessalonians 1:9

They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength

Isaiah 5:24

Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Armies, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Psalm 1:4

The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.

Jude 7

Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns committed sexual immorality and perversions, and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

Matthew 7:13

Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it.

Matthew 10:28

Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

James 4:12

There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy.

1 Thessalonians 5:13

When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

Rethinking Hell: Readings in Evangelical Conditionalism

Most evangelical Christians believe that those people who are not saved before they die will be punished in hell forever. But is this what the Bible truly teaches? Do Christians need to rethink their understanding of hell? In the late twentieth century, a growing number of evangelical theologians, biblical scholars, and philosophers began to reject the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hell in favor of a minority theological perspective called conditional immortality. This view contends that the unsaved are resurrected to face divine judgment, just as Christians have always believed, but due to the fact that immortality is only given to those who are in Christ, the unsaved do not exist forever in hell. Instead, they face the punishment of the “second death”—an end to their conscious existence. This volume brings together excerpts from a variety of well-respected evangelical thinkers, including John Stott, John Wenham, and E. Earle Ellis, as they articulate the biblical, theological, and philosophical arguments for conditionalism. These readings will give thoughtful Christians strong evidence that there are indeed compelling reasons for rethinking hell.

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A Consuming Passion: Essays on Hell and Immortality in Honor of Edward Fudge

This diverse collection of essays in honor of Edward William Fudge explores the topics of hell and immortality, for which Fudge has been widely known through his magnum opus, The Fire That Consumes. Most Christians believe people will live and suffer in hell forever, but Fudge defends a view known historically as “conditional immortality.” He and a growing minority of Christians believe God will grant immortality only to those who meet the condition of being united with Christ on the Last Day, while those who do not will perish forever. Although Christians sharing Fudge’s view have defended it both before and after him, conditionalists today still point to The Fire That Consumes as the seminal treatment of the topic. In July 2014, Christians from around the world gathered at the inaugural Rethinking Hell conference, to celebrate Fudge’s life and work and to discuss the nature of hell in an open and respectful forum. This volume contains most of the essays presented at that conference, and several others volunteered by conditionalists since then, as a gift to Fudge for the tremendous impact he has had on them, and for the continued work he does for God’s kingdom.

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The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment

Evangelical Christians affirm together that a dreadful destiny awaits those who reject God’s grace throughout life. According to the traditional view, that destiny will involve unending conscious torment in hell. However, believers are increasingly questioning that understanding, as both unbiblical and inconsistent with the character of God revealed in the Scriptures and in the man Jesus Christ. This internationally acclaimed book—now fully updated, revised, and expanded—carefully examines the complete teaching of Scripture on the subject of final punishment. It concludes that hell is a place of total annihilation, everlasting destruction, although the destructive process encompasses conscious torment of whatever sort, intensity, and duration God might require in each individual case.
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Two Views of Hell: A Biblical & Theological Dialogue

Hell is real and terrible. It is the fate of those who reject God. Evangelicals agree about this unhappy truth. Yet on some questions about hell disagreements arise. Some evangelicals believe the wicked will experience perpetual, conscious torment after death. Others argue that the wicked will experience a limited period of conscious punishment and then they will cease to exist. In this book you will find an irenic yet frank debate between two evangelical theologians who present strong scriptural and theological evidence for and against each view. Both make a case that their view is more consistent with Scripture and with the holy and just nature of a loving God. Robert Peterson defends the traditional view that those who do not have faith in Christ will suffer eternally in hell. Edward Fudge advocates the conditionalist perspective that after a period of suffering, the unfaithful will experience a complete extinguishing, or annihilation, of existence. In addition, each author presents a rebuttal to the viewpoint of the other. Here is a dialogue that will inform and challenge those on both sides, while impressing on all the need for faithful proclamation of the gospel of deliverance from sin and death.

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All You Want to Know About Hell: Three Christian Views of God’s Final Solution to the Problem of Sin

How could a God of love send anyone to hell? This is the question that torments more people than, probably, any other theological issue. Did you know that there are three different answers to that question offered by biblical scholars, based on three different understandings of what hell actually is for? All You Want to Know About Hell examines the three views historically taught by Bible-believing Christians. The “traditional” view sees hell as a place of eternal torment, but the Bible also seems to allow other possibilities, including the annihilationist view and the early Christian view that hell is a place of suffering intended to purge sin and to bring about repentance. You won’t find another book that presents a more balanced presentation of the evidence for and against each of the views.
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The Doctrine of Immortality in the Early Church

Do you have an immortal soul that is automatically destined to live forever somewhere, or is “ ashes to ashes and dust to dust” your final destination if God doesn’t raise you from the dead and grant you immortality? You may not realize that Christians have been debating this question for almost 2,000 years. How did this debate start? What positions were held by the first few generations of believers? What can we learn about immortality from those who wrote between the time of the Apostle John and the Council of Nicea? This book is an unbiased survey of the writings of the Early Church on what is literally a life-and-death matter.

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