Have you ever spent time thinking about how a God who is love, perfectly gracious, perfectly merciful and perfectly just could punish you for eternity? This is a question that has caused many Christians and non-Christians to doubt the existence of the Christian God because of the offensive idea that a loving God will punish majority of his creation for eternity for their finite transgressions. A close study of the history of hell reveals that “eternal torment” does not fit into the overarching bible message of God’s love for his creation and his ultimate plan of salvation in drawing his creation to Him.
Early In my study of hell I came across an excellent website, tentmaker.org, that raised many questions on the “eternal torment” view of hell that resonated with me:
If the “eternal torment” view of Hell is real....
...why wasn’t Cain warned about it, or any of those who committed the earliest recorded “sins?”
...why didn't Moses warn about this fate in the Ten Commandments or the Mosaic Covenant consisting of over 600 laws, ordinances, and warnings?
...why did God tell the Jews that burning their children alive in the fire to the
false god Molech, (in the valley of Gehenna) was so detestable to Him? God said that such a thing “never even entered His mind” (Jer. 32:35). How could God say such a thing to Israel, if He has plans to burn alive a good majority of His own creation in a spiritual and eternal Gehenna of His own making?
...why is it that the only time Paul even mentioned “Hell” in any of his epistles, was declare the triumph of Christ over it? (1 Corinthians 15:55). The word “Grave” in the passage is the Greek word “Hades.”
...why is it not mentioned once in the book of Acts in any the evangelistic sermons that were recorded by the early Apostles?
...did Jesus fail in His mission? He said, “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47).
...how can the Scriptures speak of the gathering of all things into Christ (Eph. 1:10) and subdued unto Christ (1 Corinthians 15:28, Philippians 3:21, Hebrews 2:8).
...how can it be that the scriptures promise that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord? (Isaiah 45:23, Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10).
...how will Jesus ever see the travail of His soul and be satisfied (Isaiah 53:11)? If the traditional understanding is correct, most of those He came to save will never experience His salvation.
....then isn’t Satan ultimately the winner in the war for souls? After all, traditional interpretation of the Bible says that more people will end up in Hell than in Heaven.
...how can the increase of Christ’s government and of peace have no end? (Isaiah 9:7).
...is it conceivable that God would derive pleasure from seeing those He created endlessly tortured? God says He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ez. 33:11).
...if God loves His enemies now, will he not always love them? Is God a changeable being? (James 1:17)
...if God only loves those who love Him, what better is He than the sinner? (Luke 6:32-33)
...does that mean that motherly love is more powerful and enduring than God's love? Do you know of normal parents who would endlessly torment most of their kids? Why do we believe our heavenly Father, who is millions of times more loving than all of us combined, could do such an evil, wicked thing?
...why does the human spirit writhe under the horror of wars and prison camps, torture chambers and dictators? How can we judge these things as wrong, if Hell is real? After all, Hell far eclipses these earthly torments which came from the most sinful and beastly part of humanity. We say God is grieved by man’s violence and disregard for life, and yet believe that He Himself enforces the same principles for all eternity!
...how does the threat of endlessly torturing us convince us that God loves us and that we should love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength?
...how can the world be reconciled to God? (2 Corinthians 5:19, Romans 11;15, Romans 5:10) and when can there ever be a "restitution of all things? (Acts 3:21)
...how can the most often-repeated Biblical description of God be true? "His mercy endures forever" (literally, "His mercy/lovingkindness endures for the ages"). Certainly, as long as there are ages, and people in need of mercy, God's mercy will endure.
You can find the complete list at these questions at www.tentmaker.org/ifhellisreal.htm
Until I began my study I had no idea that there is no documentation that the church councils of the first four centuries of Christianity embraced the doctrine of "eternal punishment." The church councils at Nice in A.D. 325, at Constantinople in A.D.381, at Ephesus in A.D.431 and at Chalcedon in A.D.451 never embraced this doctrine! It was not until 553 A.D. that the Roman Catholic Church denounced the teaching of ultimate reconciliation (Universalism) as heresy.
J. W. Hanson, in his book "Universalism: The Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years" gives more detail on the history of Universal salvation in the early church:
The first comparatively complete systematic statement of Christian doctrine ever given to the world was by Clement of Alexandria, A.D. 180, and universal salvation was one of the tenets. The first complete presentation of Christianity as a system was by Origen (A.D. 220) and universal salvation was explicitly contained in it. Universal salvation was the prevailing doctrine in Christendom as long as Greek, the language of the New Testament, was the language of Christendom. Universalism was generally believed in the best centuries, the first three, when Christians were most remarkable for simplicity, goodness and missionary zeal.
Universalism was least known when Greek, the language of the New Testament was least known, and when Latin was the language of the Church in its darkest, most ignorant, and corrupt ages. Not a writer among those who describe the heresies of the first three hundred years intimates that Universalism was then a heresy, though it was believed by many, if not be a majority, and certainly by the greatest of the fathers.
Not a single creed for five hundred years expresses any idea contrary to universal restoration, or in favor of endless punishment. With the exception of the arguments of Augustine (A.D. 420), there is not an argument known to have been framed against Universalism for at least four hundred years after Christ, by any of the ancient fathers.
Before taking a close look at the teachings of Jesus and his apostles on God’s plan to reconcile everyone to Him, it’s important to see what the Old Testament says about eternal punishment.
J.W. Hanson, D.D. in his book The Bible Hell explains that just like the early Christians, Jews in the Old Testament also did not believe in a hell of eternal torment:
The words rendered hell in the bible, sheol, hadees, tartarus, and gehenna, shown to denote a state of temporal duration. All the texts containing the word examined and explained in harmony with the doctrine of universal salvation.
The Hebrew Old Testament, some three hundred years before the Christian era, was translated into Greek, but of the 64 instances where Sheol occurs in the Hebrew, it is rendered Hadees in the Greek sixty times, so that either word is the equivalent of the other. But neither of these words is ever used in the Bible to signify punishment after death, nor should the word Hell ever be used as the rendering of Sheol or Hadees for neither word denotes post-mortem torment.
According to the Old Testament the words Sheol, Hadees primarily signify only the place, or state of the dead. The character of those who departed thither did not affect their situation in Sheol, for all went into the same state. The word cannot be translated by the term Hell, for that would make Jacob expect to go to a place of torment, and prove that the Savior of the world, David, Jonah, etc., were once sufferers in the prison-house of the damned. In every instance in the Old Testament, the word grave might be substituted for the term hell, either in a literal or figurative sense. The word being a proper name should always have been left untranslated. Had it been carried into the Greek Septuagint, and thence into the English, untranslated, Sheol, a world of misconception would have been avoided, for when it is rendered Hadees, all the materialism of the heathen mythology is suggested to the mind, and when rendered Hell, the medieval monstrosities of a Christianity corrupted by heathen adulterations is suggested. Had the word been permitted to travel untranslated, no one would give to it the meaning now so often applied to it. Sheol, primarily, literally, the grave, or death, secondarily and figuratively the political, social, moral or spiritual consequences of wickedness in the present world, is the precise force of the term, wherever found.
Sheol occurs exactly 64 times and is translated hell 32 times, pit 3 times, and grave 29 times. Dr. George Campbell, a celebrated critic, says that "Sheol signifies the state of the dead in general, without regard to the goodness or badness of the persons, their happiness or misery."
So how, then, did this doctrine of a burning hell enter church doctrine? Two key factors led to the incorrect interpretation of Scripture: 1. The Dark Age churches found the fear of hell to be a strong incentive to keep people in the Church, and to make new converts; 2. Parables and symbolic passages in the Bible were taken literally, distorting the true intent of the scriptural message.
Lorraine Day, M.D. explains how the doctrine of “eternal torment” came about in “Was the Doctrine of "Hell" Manufactured by Theologians?”:
Jerome, a Bible scholar who was born in 347 A.D. in Italy, re-translated the Latin Bible (from the Old Latin version), in 390-406 A.D. This is now known as the Latin Vulgate which became a classic. However, it is through this Latin Vulgate version that we inherited the words "eternal" and "everlasting" as INCORRECT translations of the Greek word "eon", a word that means a period of time with a beginning and an end, not eternity.
Jerome had a vindictive and unforgiving personality, and a very bad temper according to those who knew him and wrote about him. His disposition was revealed by his insertion into the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible, the doctrine of everlasting hellfire rather than the correct doctrine of "age-lasting chastening" or, reaping what one has sown, a remedial judgment designed to turn the sinner back to righteousness.
However, it was left to the Emperor Justinian (527-565 A.D.) to formally condemn the belief in the Restoration of ALL. This was done at the Fifth General Council in 553 A.D. when Justinian condemned Origen's beliefs and stated in Anathema IX:
"If anyone says or thinks that the punishment of demons and of impious men is only temporary, and will one day have an end, and that a restoration will take place of demons and of impious men, let him be anathema."
And thus Origen, a man of integrity and kindness was cursed and slandered by the basest of men, his writings were anathematized and eventually he was thrown out of the church because of his beliefs. The condemnation of the teaching of Universal Restoration and the embracing of the doctrine of a literal hellfire were both formalized by the Church Council under the Emperor Justinian.
These diabolical decisions by the Christian church were a result of believing in a "God" that had all the characteristics of Satan. Because those who worshiped a "killer God" became killers themselves, they plunged the world into the Dark Ages of unspeakable tortures and murders of those who refused to accept and adhere to the teachings of "the Church." This spiritual barbarism lasted many centuries until Martin Luther and the other reformers uncovered at least part of the truth about God's character of love. But even much of that "recovered" partial truth has been lost over the last two centuries as the world, including what passes for the "Christian" world, again has turned away from the character exhibited by Jesus when He was on earth and has instead embraced the barbaric doctrines of Satan, doctrines that are the antithesis of Jesus' character and teachings.
The doctrine of "hellfire" was manufactured primarily by Augustine and Jerome, with an insolent nudge by Terullian, in accordance with their own vindictive and unforgiving characters, and their incorrect translation of the word eon. The doctrine of "hellfire" was never a part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the apostles nor of the early church fathers. After the death of the last apostles, John and Paul, the degeneration and deterioration in the church accelerated, and within 400 years the truth of Jesus Christ's salvation for ALL virtually disappeared.
So instead of “eternal torment” what is the correct interpretation of hell?
The Greek form for "everlasting punishment" in Matthew 25:46 is "kolasin aionion." Kolasin is a noun in the accusative form, singular voice, feminine gender and means "punishment, chastening, correction, to cut-off as in pruning a tree to bare more fruit." "Aionion" is the adjective form of "aion," in the singular form and means "pertaining to an eon or age, an indeterminate period of time."
God’s righteous "Punishment" in the bible is always with the purpose of leading someone or a nation of people back to relationship with God.
The bible talks a lot about a great, impending judgment. Jesus said that the way to life was narrow, admitting few, while the road to destruction was wide, teeming with travelers. Many, he said, would go away into eternal punishment. We read descriptions of outer darkness, Gehenna, gnashing of teeth.
What do we make of these passages? In “A Case for Universal Restoration” Dr. Steve E. Jones states:
One hermeneutical key is to understand that the judgment language of Jesus was generally not addressing questions of afterlife. He was speaking of a coming kingdom and an accompanying judgment ready to burst upon his generation. A time of unparalleled calamity was imminent. The holy city and temple would fall to signal the event.
The disciples asked Jesus when this event would occur. He told them to watch for the signs. Wars would flare up. False messiahs would come. Then he gives his hearers a time indicator to alert them to the nearness of this apocalypse: “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.” (Matt. 24:35)
The terrors of which Jesus spoke found their fulfillment in the razing of Jerusalem and the end of the Mosaic economy. Gehenna (translated “hell” in the New Testament) was a real place in the valley of Hinnom where the Jews burned garbage. It was a picture of what the holy city would look like after its fall. The fire would be unquenchable — no one would be able to put it out or halt its advance until it had done its work of destruction.
Gary Amirault of Tentmaker.org elaborates on how God’s punishment is for the purposes of refining our character and drawing us to Him:
Scriptural references that speak of everlasting fire or judgment must be understood in light of God’s (Love’s) clearly expressed heart, promise, desire, purpose and will. They are "everlasting"; that is, they are continuous and on-going—until—God’s judgments serve to accomplish His unchanging will and purpose to unite all creation in Christ. (Gen. 12:3, Romans 4:13, Heb. 6:17).
Our Lord does not cast off forever (Lam. 3:31-32, Heb. 13:8). He who taught us to forgive and bless our enemies will surely do the same for His. For every tongue will give thanks that in Him they have righteousness and strength. All flesh will bless His name forever and ever! For our Lord will not fail or become discouraged until He fulfills all of God’s purpose, word and will. For He tells us that everyone will be "seasoned" with fire and this is always to refine our character and lead us to obedience to his will (Matt. 5:17, Mark 9:42-49, Acts 3:21).
Those who disobey the gospel and persecute Christians will be repaid with "everlasting" (that is, continuous) tribulation, destruction and punishment—until—by such persistent correction God shows them their need for Christ. So what is written in the prophets will come to pass, that all shall be taught of God, and everyone who has heard and learned from the Father (eventually) comes to Christ. Thus, all the families of the nations will remember Him and worship before Him. And all will submit to Him and sing His praise. So God’s promise will be fulfilled that ALL men shall reverence Him, proclaim His works, and wisely consider His doing (Ps. 22:27-28, 64:4-5, 64:9, 2 Thess. 1:7-10)
So does Universalism mean that those who live in rebellion to God will receive no retribution? Absolutely not.
Thomas Allin in “Christ Triumphant” explains:
We press on all the impenitent the awful certainty of a wrath to come, and this with far more chance of acceptance, because taught in a form that does not wound the conscience; because we care not teach that finite sin shall receive an infinite penalty. Few things have so hindered the spread of the larger hope as the wholly and absolutely groundless notion, that it implies an inadequate sense of sin, and pictures God as a weakly indulgent Being, careless of holiness, provided the happiness of His creatures is secured. In fact it is those who teach the popular creed, and not we, who make light of sin. To teach unending sin in hell, even in a solitary instance, and under any conceivable modification, is to teach the victory of evil. To us this seems at once a libel on God and an untruth -a libel because it imputes to God a final acquiescence in sin; an untruth, because it teaches that His Omnipotence breaks down at the very moment it is most needed, and that His Love and Purity can rest with absolute complacency, while pain and evil riot and rot for ever.
My hope is that in our study of scripture that we will always ask God to help us rightly divide the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15) and that we will do so humbly and with a spirit of love and unity with our fellow believers.
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The following verses reveal the very Good News of Jesus Christ. This list of verses can be found on Tentmakers.org. Verse commentary on the verses by Gary Amirault
Luke 3:6: "All flesh shall see the salvation of God." This verse is probably taken from Isaiah 40:5, which says, "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Surely these verses point in the direction of universal salvation. Matthew 5:8: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Luke 6:27-36: “But I [Jesus] say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either....But love your enemies, and do good, and lend expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Remember also that God is unchanging. If God's attitude toward sinners now is love and mercy, it will always be. Could the loving God described above really be happy knowing that even one of His children created in His image is suffering unspeakable anguish in hell forever?
Luke 15:4: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?" Forgive me for coming back to this passage, but it is one of my favorites. To me it is so clear. If the average shepherd would keep on looking for one lost sheep and not give up until he finds it, surely our Lord will be no less persistent in seeking out every last one of His sheep, not just until they die, but until He finds them and brings them back safely to His fold. If a shepherd won't give up until he finds one lost sheep, how much more will God refuse to give up on His children.
John 1:6-7: "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him." That ALL might believe. That is God's stated reason for sending John, and that is His reason for all of His dealings with mankind. Dare we say that God will fail to accomplish His goal in sending John and all of the other prophets, and His only begotten Son?
John 1:29: "The next day he [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, `Behold, the Lamb of God, who is going to try to take away the sin of the world!"' Is that what it says? No! Jesus is "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" The sin of the whole world, not just a part of it. Will He do it? Does He work "all things according to the counsel of his will?" (Ephesians 1:11).
John 3:17: "God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." Again, why would God, who is all knowing, send Jesus to save the world if He knew beforehand that most of the world would not be saved? That doesn't make sense. God sent Jesus to save the world because He knew His Son would accomplish exactly what He sent Him to do.
John 12:32: "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." Jesus didn't say that He would draw a select group called "The Elect"! He doesn't say He will try to draw all people to Himself. He says He will do it!
1 John 3:8: "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." What is sin? The works of the devil. Jesus came not to keep sin in hell forever but to destroy it. That is why 2 Peter 3:13 says, "But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." Some day the entire universe will be completely devoid of sin, and God will be all in all!
There won't be a place called hell that is full of sin forever, because according to Revelation 20:14, "Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire," presumably for destruction.
1 John 4:14: "And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the few who receive him in life, and to throw the rest into everlasting torment." Is that what it says? No, it says, "The Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world." Will He succeed, or will He fail?
Acts 3:21 (NLT): Jesus "must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of ALL things, as God promised long ago through the prophets." What else could this refer to but the complete restoration of every child of God created in His image to a right relationship with Him?
Romans 5:18: "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for ALL men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for ALL men." This passage couldn't be more explicit. Everyone who was condemned by Adam's sin will be justified by Christ's death. If the word "ALL" means "all mankind" in the first part of the verse, it means "all mankind" in the second part.
Romans 11:36: "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." Look at each part of this declaration one at a time. "For from him ... are all things." This obviously means that all things have their origin in Him. He created every thing. "Through him ... are all things" Everything is sustained by Him. "To him are all things." As all things had their origin in Him, so they will return to Him.
Romans 14:11: "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." The margin of the ESV says, "Or shall give praise." The NASB translates it: "Every tongue shall give praise to God." The words are self-explanatory. Everyone will praise God!
1 Corinthians 15:22-28: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For "God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "all things are put in subjection," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
At the end, there is no place for sin, evil, or hell, for God is all in all! If God has to cast some people into everlasting hell, it means that He was unable to get them to submit themselves to Him. They won't be submitting themselves to Him in hell; they will be hating Him and cursing Him for all eternity. What kind of subjection is that? All will willingly subject themselves to Jesus and to God the Father after He has purged them of all sin and rebellion. The same word is used of Christ's subjection to the Father, and of the subjection of Christ's enemies to Him. Obviously Christ's subjection to the Father is out of love. How can endless evil and torment be described as subjection to Jesus? Such an interpretation is excluded by the last statement in this passage: "that God may be all in all"!
1 Corinthians 15:55: "0 death, where is your victory? 0 death, where is your sting?" If the majority of mankind will go to everlasting hell after death, it would seem that death will have won a gigantic victory! Paul's words give only an imperfect expression of the absolute triumph of Christ, of the flood of glory that will fill the universe in the widest possible sense.
2 Corinthians 5:19: "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself." Note that it doesn't say God was trying to reconcile the world to Himself. He was doing it! God's reconciliation of the world to Himself is an accomplished fact. When we tell others about Christ, we are just telling them to embrace what has already been accomplished.
Ephesians 1:9-10: "His purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time," is "to unite ALL things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." If all things in heaven and earth are to be united in Christ, how is there any possibility of an endless hell or a creation permanently divided?
Ephesians 1:22-23: "And he [the Father] put all things under his [Jesus'] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." The Greek verb used here for all things being under Christ's feet is used in 1 Corinthians 15:28, referring to the subjection of Christ to the Father. As we saw in looking at that verse, Christ's subjection of Himself to the Father is willing submission out of His love for the Father. That is the same submission Jesus will someday have from "all things." Notice the last phrase of verse 23: "the fullness of him who fills all in all." God fills everything in every way. The idea of a place existing for all eternity where people are forever shut out from the presence of God doesn't fit in a universe where God fills all in all.
Ephesians 4:8: "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." Who are these captives? Luke 11:22, which we have already looked at, tells us. When Christ, the stronger man, broke into the strong man's (Satan's) house, he carried away all his belongings. 1 Peter 3:19, 4:6 tells us that Christ went and proclaimed the gospel to the spirits in prison (Hades) that they might live in the Spirit as God does.
Ephesians 4:10: "He who descended is the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things." As we saw in looking at Ephesians 1:23, if Christ fills all things, how can there be an everlasting hell where people are forever shut out from the presence of Christ? The doctrine of eternal hell totally contradicts so many verses of scripture.
Colossians 1:19-20: Through Christ "God was pleased ... to reconcile to himself ALL things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." If God's goal in sending Christ was to reconcile everything to Himself, nothing can thwart that goal because He "works all things according to the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11).
Philippians 2:10-11: "At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Don't let that word "should" throw you. The NASB, NLT, NCV, CEV, The Message, and other translations all say "will." The key phrase is "to the glory of God."
1 Timothy 4:10: "We have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe." The meaning is so clear it's transparent! God IS the Savior of everyone! He is the Savior of believers now and He will save everyone else in due time.
2 Timothy 1:10: "Our Savior Christ Jesus ... abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." Jesus has abolished death, and with death what it implies in scripture--sin and evil. Death abolished and death in its worst form, the second death, maintained forever, are plain contradictions.
Titus 2:11: "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people." How is God's grace bringing salvation for all people consistent with the eternal damnation of anyone?
Revelation 20:13-14 “And the sea gave up the dead in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.” if one thinks of "hell" as death represented by the grave, it makes sense for hell to be cast into the lake of fire. After all, if "hell" itself is really a lake of fire, how can it be thrown into itself?
