Eric Davis serves as pastor-teacher of Cornerstone Church in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in the United States. He recently posted a contribution to the Cripplegate blog titled “Not Going to Hell.” In it, he rejoices over the fact that the gospel delivers sinners from the penalty of hell. He is right to rejoice in that fact, and all believers is Jesus Christ should share his joy. His explanation of hell, however, falls short of the biblical picture.
Davis makes three observations about the biblical teaching on hell: (1) Hell is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth; (2) hell is a place of fire; and (3) hell is a place that has no end or exit. He is correct in asserting that the Bible teaches these three things; however, as he explains what these teachings mean, he veers from a consistent interpretation of Scripture.
Hell is a Place of Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth
Davis begins by referencing Scriptures which teach that final punishment will involve weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28). He then makes the common mistake of interpreting these symbols without trying to show how they are used in Scripture in accordance with his interpretation. He simply writes, “Among other things, this means hell is a place of unspeakable grief and conscious pain.” For Davis, in other words, weeping represents “unspeakable grief” while gnashing of teeth represents “conscious pain.”
As it is used in Scripture, weeping can indeed speak of grief (Deuteronomy 34:8; 2 Samuel 19:1; Job 30:31; etc.). Of course, people can weep for other reasons (disappointment, fear, conviction, sorrow, etc.), but it is by no means a stretch of the imagination to argue that grief can produce weeping.
When he argues that gnashing of teeth refers to “conscious pain,” however, Davis misses the mark. To someone who wants gnashing of teeth to speak of pain, it is understandable how he might reach that interpretation. Since we are dealing with the text of Scripture, however, we must first look to how Scripture itself uses terminology, before we thrust our own interpretations upon it.
David wrote of people who “gnashed their teeth at him,” not in pain, but “with godless mockery” (Psalm 35:16). These enemies are pictured as being enraged against David. They gnash their teeth, not in pain, but in anger. Jeremiah likewise wrote of Judah’s “enemies” who “hiss and gnash their teeth” (Lamentations 2:16). Once more, there is no hint of pain in this text, but instead of an opponent angrily gnashing his teeth against one he wishes to destroy. Gnashing of teeth is directly tied to anger and despair rather than pain in Psalm 112:101The CSB speaks of the one who “will gnash his teeth in despair.” Other translations—ESV, NKJV, KJV, NASB—speak of the one who gnashes his teeth melting away. and Job 16:9. Stephen’s Jewish audience “were enraged and gnashed their teeth at him” as he preached Jesus as Messiah (Acts 7:54).
In the examples that Davis cites, gnashing of teeth is twice the action of one cast into fire (Matthew 13:40–42, 49–50), though in neither instance does Jesus directly tie the gnashing of teeth to pain. In each of the other instances, there is no reason to assume that the teeth-gnasher is in any form of pain.
Simply put, there is no good reason to tie any of the teeth gnashing in Davis’s examples to pain, and every reason, from other Scriptures, not to do so. The imagery seems to be of sinners at final judgment gnashing their teeth in anger against the Judge rather than grinding their teeth in conscious pain.
Hell is a Place of Fire
Next, Davis cites a series of texts that portray hell as a place of fire (Matthew 3:10–12; 7:19; 13:42, 50; 18:8; 25:41; Mark 9:43; Luke 3:9, 16–17; 16:23–24; John 15:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:7–8; Hebrews 10:27; Jude 7; Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14–15, 21:8). He acknowledges that this is merely imagery, and not necessarily to be taken literally, but then adds, without arguing his point, that this fire (which “communicates the height of anguish”) “is not a fire that causes the cessation of one’s existence.” Instead, it is a fire of “unending, teeth-gnashing, fire-scorching, never-ceasing unbearable pain.”
As we have seen, the assumption that gnashing of teeth refers to pain does not hold up under scrutiny. It is no doubt fair to assume that the imagery of fire is intended to communicate pain, but is it “unending” and “unceasing” pain?
Davis argues that the imagery of fire in the examples he cites “is not a fire that causes the cessation of one’s existence.” Instead, it is a fire in which the punished one remains eternally conscious in unbearable pain. But is that really what his examples communicate? Let’s consider them briefly.
Several of the examples cited (Matthew 3:10–12; 7:19; Luke 3:9, 16–17; John 15:6) portray the wicked as unfruitful branches that are cut off the tree, gathered together, and thrown into fire. If that imagery conveys anything, surely it is that those “branches” that are thrown into the fire will be consumed. Dead branches thrown into fire do not burn eternally. They are utterly consumed by the fire into which they are cast. The CSB speaks in some instances of “fire that never goes out” (Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17). Better translations speak of fire that is not quenched, rather than fire that never goes out. There is a world of difference between these translations. An unquenchable fire is one that cannot be stopped by an outside force, though it will eventually die out when it has no more fuel to consume.
Matthew 13:42, 50 speak in the simplest terms of sinners being cast into a furnace. It does not say what happens to them there, only that there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Fire will ordinarily kill a person cast into it, and the texts give us no reason to think that there is anything different in this instance.
Matthew 18:8 and 25:41 reference “the eternal fire,” which was “prepared for the devil and his angels.” Into this “eternal fire” are cast offending limbs and unrepentant sinners. Mark 9:43 parallels Matthew 18:8, but speaks of “unquenchable” rather than “eternal” fire. What happens to them in this eternal (or unquenchable) fire? The texts do not explicitly say. However, Jude 7—another text cited—tells us that it is “eternal fire” that killed (not kept alive in torment) the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Second Thessalonians 1:7–8 portray the returning Son of God as taking “vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” This “flaming fire,” Paul adds in v. 9, will inflict a penalty of “eternal destruction.” When the Bible speaks of people being destroyed, it means that they are killed, not somehow kept alive and tortured (see Genesis 13:10; 19:29; 34:30; Numbers 21:3; Luke 17:27, 29; etc.).
Hebrews 10:27 explicitly states that the fire “will consume the adversaries.”
All that we are left with are the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:23–24) and the highly symbolic language of Revelation (19:20; 20:10, 14–15; 21:8). Parables are not intended to be interpreted with wooden literalism, and the point of the Luke 16 parable has nothing to do with final judgement in any event. Revelation symbolically portrays sinners as being tormented day and night forever and ever, but when the book itself interprets that imagery, it interprets it as death (20:14; 21:8).
The preponderance of evidence clearly points to hellfire that consumes, kills, and destroys rather than hellfire that preserves and tortures. If we define “the cessation of one’s existence” as death, that is exactly what the fire of hell does according to the biblical texts.
Hell is a Place that Has No End or Exit
Finally, Davis argues that “hell is forever.” In his understanding, “forever” means it is a place of unending, conscious torment. As proof, he cites a series of texts with which we are already familiar: Matthew 3:12; 18:8; 25:41, 46; Mark 9:43; Luke 3:17; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Jude 7; Revelation 14:11; 19:3; 20:10). We have already considered each of these texts above, but here he cites them only to prove that hell is “forever.”
It should be said that not all of the texts cite explicitly state that hell is “forever” or “eternal.” Some of them (the unfortunate CSB translation notwithstanding) speak only of “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12; Mark 9:43; Luke 3:17). As we have seen, unquenchable fire is not the same as a fire that never goes out. Some of the texts speak of “eternal fire” (Matthew 18:8; 25:41; Jude 7), but since the fire that fire went out after it had utterly consumed the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 7), it seems that “eternal” is likely a reference to its source or type rather than to the duration of its burning. The imagery of Revelation clearly portrays sinners in eternal, conscious torment but, as noted above, that is symbolism and Revelation itself interprets that symbolism as death.
The texts that remain are Matthew 25:46, which contrasts “eternal life” with “eternal punishment,” and 1 Thessalonians 1:9, which speaks of sinners who “suffer the punishment of eternal destruction.” We have already seen that people who face “destruction” in the Bible face death, not torture, but it remains to be discussed how this “destruction” is “eternal.”
As Davis observes, “Jesus used the same word to describe both the eternality of heaven and hell.” He doesn’t specifically say this, but that reasoning us ordinarily employed to show that “eternal” must mean the same in both instances, and since all Christians believe that the “eternal” that modifies “life” has to do with an unending time frame, the “eternal” that modifies “punishment” must mean the same.
He is correct, of course: It only makes sense that “eternal” means the same thing in both instances. Life for the believer and punishment for the unbeliever are both meted out without end. What Davis does not ask, however, is what the punishment is. If we assume that the punishment is conscious torment, then, yes, we must affirm eternal, conscious torment. But to assume that is to beg the question. The consistent testimony of Scripture is that the punishment for sin is death, not conscious torment (Romans 6:23; etc.). “Eternal life,” then, should be contrasted not with another form of eternal life, but with eternal death—or “eternal destruction” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). Hell is, indeed, forever—it is “eternal”—but its nature is death, not torture. Those who are punished by hellfire are eternally killed, not eternally kept alive in torture. The dual fates of humanity are eternal life or eternal death (destruction), not eternal life or another form of eternal life. The second death, which is the destiny of unrepentant sinners, is without end or exit.
Davis has missed the mark in describing the nature of hell. But with that misrepresentation corrected, we can surely heartily agree with him:
When we die, the true and only God—the God of blazing holiness—will be there. We will have a life of much sin behind us. But, we will not go to hell! No. Almighty God will eagerly, happily, and compassionately welcome us into that happy place from which we should have been barred forever….
The King of kings and Lord of lords served our sentence in our place. And for that, we are not going to hell. That is enough reason to praise his name forever and ever.
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