"HE SHALL BURN UP THE CHAFF WITH UNQUENCHABLE FIRE." S. Matt. iii. 12, Luke iii. 17.
(a) Any good lexicon will show us how little the term translated "
unquenchable "really conveys that idea. HOMER often applies it to "
glory," "
laughter,""
shouting," to the brief fire that consumed the Grecian fleet. EUSEBIUS twice says that martyrs were consumed in "
unquenchable" fire. Church Hist. vi. 41. CYRIL calls the fire, that consumed the burnt offering,
unquenchable. - De ador. lib. x.
It is terrible to think of
the agony caused to loving hearts by
misleading translations; perhaps most of all by that disgraceful rendering that "
never shall be quenched." - S. Mark ix. 43-5 (
now removed after it has worked such evil.) (b) Further, if the context be examined, it points to
a present,
and impending judgment, and
not a future punishment. (c) The whole figure implies
not the endless torture of the wicked in a future life, but the destruction by
Christ's fiery baptism, already working, of that chaff which surrounds every grain. Nor can any figure express more completely than does
burning chaff the idea of evanescence.
Here I earnestly beg my readers to pause and seriously consider, not traditional prejudices, but
plain facts. The usage of Scripture shows decisively, that to press words like "unquenchable, "&c., to a narrow literal meaning makes perfect nonsense. Take some typical instances.
A fire is kindled against Israel which is to burn for ever - Jer. xvii. 4,
and yet all Israel is to be saved - Rom. xi. 26, so is "the whole house of Israel." - Ez. xxxix. 25. And again, Israel's hurt is "
incurable ;" her pain is "
incurable " - Jer. xxx. 12, 15,. but in a moment it is added, "
I will heal you" of the (incurable)
wound, v. 17. So, too, HOSEA more than once declares the rejection of Israel by God, and that
no more mercy remains for her: and yet in the same breath
asserts her final pardon and reconciliation - Hos. i. 6-9-10; ii 4, 10, 14, 15, 19, 23 ; ix. 15; xiii. 14; xiv. 4; passages well worth our pondering over.
In AMOS the same striking teaching occurs.
Israel,
it is said,
shall no more rise, ch. v. 2.
Yet God will raise her up. - ch. ix. xx. All fair readers can see the extreme significance of all this ; and how very far the principle of interpretation, so plainly involved, really goes. Again, though, as we have seen, an express promise of the restoration of all Israel is given, and repeated in the New Testament - Rom. xi. 26, yet an "
unquenchable" fire is to burn them up - Jer. vii. 20; "
everlasting" reproach and "
perpetual" shame is to come on them - Jer. xxiii. 40; "
perpetual" hissing - Jer. xviii. 16; and "
perpetual" desolations - Jer. xxv. 9; "
perpetual" backsliding - Jer. viii. 5.
Christ Triumphant by Thomas Allin chapter nine ---
bold emphasis mine