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“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
“Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matthew 25:45, 46, NASB
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
“Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”
Judgement and eternal punishment are subjects that often raise serious questions about the character of the Christian's God and the teaching of the Bible. Can a loving God righteously judge multitudes, find them guilty and in His wrath condemn them to a never-ending torment? Another very uncomfortable question might be: how can a loving God tolerate the unspeakable suffering and pain endured by millions every second of every day, year after year? Isn’t God sovereign in these matters?
Is God's punishment after death anything other than eternal? Is it for a limited time? Is it mere exclusion from Heaven? Is it utter annihilation (extinction)? Do people simply cease to exist, regardless of their wrongdoing and sinful, lost condition? Does the Bible warn of a future judgement and punishment that, at the very least, entail a conscious and everlasting cutting-off that's likened to fire? It's understandable many want to object to such a concept.
What did Jesus mean when He said it is "better" to be thrown into the sea to drown with a millstone around one's neck? (Read Luke 17:2.) Better than what? What is the true nature of the "terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries"? (Read Hebrews 10:26, 27.) What is the sentence of judgement to be suffered in "Gehenna"? (Read Matthew 23:33.) In what sense are the ungodly under chastisement until the day of judgment and doom? (See 2nd Peter 2:9, Amplified Bible.) These are demanding questions many can’t avoid.
Consider the Greek noun, aiōn (an age), from which we get the adjectives and adverbs, "everlasting", "eternal", "forever" and "for evermore". In Matthew 12:32 this word is used to compare a limited time with eternity. In Matthew 25:41; 46, the adjective form aiōnios is used to describe the "punishment"* of those who are "cursed" and the "life" that awaits the "righteous". In Scripture the same root word is used in relation to "fire", "destruction", "blackest darkness", "smoke" and "torment".
In reliable Bible versions Greek scholars translate aiōnios in Matthew 25 as "eternal" when referring to both "life" and “punishment” (see NASB, Amplified Bible, ESV, NKJV, CSB, NET, NIV and LEB). Even though the word aiōn does not appear in verses 41 and 46, some mistakenly appeal to the definition “an age” in an attempt to suggest God's fiery punishment will be for a limited time.
"Jesus is the source of ‘eternal salvation’... delivering the righteous from ‘eternal’ fire and judgment" (on "aiōnios": Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words).
"Aiōnios... Eternal, perpetual, belonging to the aiōn... When referring to eternal life, it means the life which is God’s and hence it is not affected by the limitations of time... Of the punishment of the wicked" (The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament by Spiros Zodhiates).
“Anyone with only a schoolboy’s Greek can verify that the same adjective is used in both parts of the verse. If the “life” to come for believers is everlasting, so must the “punishment” of sinners be. But if scholars must tell us that Christ uses the word aionion (eternal, everlasting) in two wholly different and mutually contradictory senses, then we may as well lay the Bible aside as an insoluble enigma” (Maurice Roberts, former editor of Banner of Truth magazine, quoted in Whatever Happened To Hell?, by John Blanchard).
Unending, conscious punishment is questioned only because of beliefs that distort the balanced fullness of Scripture teaching. The life to come is eternal for those who are secure in Christ, and there are no good contextual or linguistic reasons to believe that there will be a limited torment for those “who are cursed” (v. 41, CSB). Life in Christ and separation from Him are both an everlasting experience.
God's holy character and sovereign purposes enable Him to acknowledge and tolerate the appalling misery, pain, disasters and cruel misfortunes that deeply distress and hurt the whole world—including the innocent. And He will also accept the dire misery of those sentenced to an endless punishment. Fully supported by Scripture we must accept this, even though we may sometimes struggle with it.
On that day there will be a fearful expectation of "divine judgment and the fury of burning wrath and indignation which will consume those who put themselves in opposition [to God]... It is a fearful and terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (from Hebrews 10, Amplified Bible).
“Therefore, since we are now justified (acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God) by Christ’s blood, how much more [certain is it that] we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God” (Romans 5:9, Amplified Bible).
“...you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come” (1st Thessalonians 1:9, 10, NASB).
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* κόλασις kólasis; gen. koláseōs, fem. noun from kolázō, to punish. Punishment (Matt. 25:46), torment (1 John 4:18), distinguished from timōría, punishment, which in classical Greek has the predominating thought of the vindictive character of the punishment which satisfies the inflicter’s sense of outraged justice in defending his own honor or that of the violated law.
Kólasis, on the other hand, conveys the notion of punishment for the correction and bettering of the offender. It does not always, however, have this strict meaning in the NT. In Matt. 25:46, kólasis aiṓnios, eternal, does not refer to temporary corrective punishment and discipline, but has rather the meaning of timōría, punishment because of the violation of the eternal law of God. It is equivalent to géenna, hell, a final punishment about which offenders are warned by our Lord (Mark 9:43–48). In this sense it does not have the implication of bettering one who endures such punishment.
In kólasis, we have the relationship of the punishment to the one being punished while in timōría the relationship is to the punisher himself.
From: The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament
by Spiros Zodhiates
