Our sin has terrible consequences. It hurts us. It hurts
others. It grieves our Creator. And ultimately, it leads to death (Proverbs
14:12, Romans 6:23, James 1:15).
I believe that in Romans 6:23 “death” means normal,
literal death. If we take death to literally mean the cessation of life and all
the activities of life (seeing, wanting, feeling, thinking etc.) then we see examples
and warnings all around us. Every dead animal on the side of the road is an
image of what sin will eventually do to us. Every news story of people dying in
catastrophes or being killed in war reminds us of what we all deserve because
of sin. These ubiquitous images and warnings resonate deeply with us because
God has given all people an awareness that death is precisely what we deserve
(Romans 1:32). Outside of Christ, people fear death (Hebrews 2:15). The good
news is that by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus, our sins can be forgiven,
we will be resurrected from death, and will be given eternal life.
However, many Christians do not take “death” in Romans
6:23 literally. They believe that “death” means something like being separated from
God forever and existing consciously in a state of torment. This redefinition
of death, and the related belief that God will torment people forever, severs
the wages of sin from our universal experience of death, from warnings and
images of death and perishing throughout God’s Word, and from our God-given
sense of what our sins deserve. It is not difficult to understand that people
who sin and reject God’s grace do not deserve to live forever with Him and thus
will perish.
In the rest of this article, I will try to explain why I
believe that in verses like Romans 6:23 which point to the final fate of the
ungodly, “death” refers to literal death. It means the unsaved will no longer have
conscious existence. They will perish. This view of death is consistent with the
doctrine of conditional immortality, which is also called annihilationism. The more traditional view
(in fact, it is sometimes called “traditionalism”) involves belief in eternal
conscious torment. So, this discussion about the meaning of death is part of a
broader discussion about the nature of hell and the final fate of the unrighteous.
Before arguing for one meaning of death and against
another, it is important to understand the opposing view. I feel that I do
understand the eternal conscious torment view of death because I grew up in
churches which taught it, attended a Bible seminary where the professors believed
in eternal torment (one of my professors even wrote a book defending hell as
eternal torment), and I myself believed it and even taught it to others before seeing
biblical evidence that changed my mind.
Here is a summary of arguments saying that “death” is referring to a type of spiritual
death which leaves people conscious and capable of being tormented:
Arguments in Favor
of Death Referring to Spiritual Death
Traditionalists correctly point out that the word “dead”
is sometimes used in Scripture to refer to unsaved people who are still physically
alive and conscious. Examples include Matthew 8:22, Ephesians 2:1, and
Colossians 2:13. They also point to the common Christian belief (which I hold
to) that at physical death we have a soul which separates from our body. This
is used to support the idea that death basically refers to separation and final
death will involve complete separation from God. Some traditionalists will
point to the example of Adam since God told him he would certainly die on the
day he ate the fruit, yet he remained physically alive long after eating the
fruit. Also, traditionalists will claim that John 17:3 defines eternal life as
knowing God, and that this implies a spiritual quality of life rather than mere
physical consciousness. Thus, they argue, death involves conscious existence
without a personal knowledge of and relationship to God. Finally, they will sometimes
say that the second death mentioned in the book of Revelation defines death as
being tormented forever in a lake of fire.
These arguments (and there are others, I’ve tried to
include the most common) can appear to be quite strong. In fact, I used to
agree with the eternal torment view myself. However, that was before I seriously
studied the biblical evidence for conditional immortality, including the reasons
for interpreting “death” as meaning literal death. Before I share that
evidence, it will help to share a few thoughts about the meanings and definitions
of words in general.
The Meaning of
Words
Most words do not have just one simple meaning. Open any
dictionary and you will quickly be reminded that most words have a range of
meanings. However, there is often one meaning which is considered the most
basic meaning of the word, and we often call this the literal meaning. In
addition to the literal meaning, many words have a number of metaphorical
meanings.
When a word has more than one possible meaning (which is
very common), how do we know which meaning is being used? We can usually tell
by the context. Sometimes the sentence the word is used in makes the meaning
clear, or else the broader context (the conversation, or the piece of writing)
will make the choice of meaning clear. However, occasionally, a speaker uses a
word in way which is ambiguous.
To illustrate this, consider the verb “fly”. A basic
literal definition might be “to move quickly through the air.” But the word can
have a range of other meanings, some of which are fairly literal (examples 1-4),
some of which are somewhat figurative (examples 5 and 7) and some of which are
clearly figurative or metaphorical (example 6).
Fly:
1.
To move through the air by means of wings
Birds fly south in winter.
2.
To move or travel by air
We flew to Seattle for vacation.
3.
To pilot an aircraft or spacecraft
The crew flew from New York to Mexico City.
4.
To rise in or be carried through the air by the wind
Dust and pollen flew through the air.
5. To float or flutter in the air
Pennants flying from buildings.
6.To pass by swiftly
The vacation flew by.
7. To cause to float of flutter in
the wind
Fly a kite.
(These definitions and sentences are
taken from The American Heritage Student
Dictionary, 1998, Houghton Milton, pg. 393)
Now let’s consider the word “death.”
I propose the following definition for death when speaking of the final fate of
the unrighteous:
death: An event which results in, or a state of, a person no
longer having life. This includes no longer being conscious, and no longer
being able to think or feel anything. This state is permanent unless unusual events
(like resurrection, or medical resuscitation) reverses it.
The rest of this article consists of
24 types of evidence which indicate that in Romans 6:23 death is referring to
normal, literal death as defined above. This type of death rules out eternal
torment.
1. Common sense
and our consistent, universal experience with death
I discussed the possibility of “death” being used to mean
some type of metaphorical or spiritual death in Romans 6:23 with my daughter,
Joy. She replied, “The main thing against that is common sense. God used human
words to communicate with humans.” Now that could sound a bit simplistic. But
coming from Joy, this common-sense view was rooted in a lot of thinking about
languages. Joy loves languages. She is fluent in two languages and has studied
three others (including biblical Hebrew and Greek) and is currently in her junior
year at college, majoring in Biblical Studies and Applied Linguistics.
We all have experience with death. Even children have
seen dead bugs, birds, and animals. Most of us have seen the body of a dead
person. We know about death. Any creature that is dead can no longer feel,
think, or know anything.
This vast experience with death throughout human history
and all around the world does not mean that the word death is never used in
non-literal ways. This does, however, remind us what the literal meaning of
death is. The Bible very often uses death with this literal, simple meaning. We
should not quickly abandon this common meaning of death where the context does
not require a non-literal meaning.
2. “Spiritual
death” is not a term found in the Bible.
The phrase “spiritual death” is never used in the Bible. This
doesn’t necessarily mean there is no such thing as “spiritual death.” After
all, the Bible never uses the word “Trinity.” However, it does caution us
against too quickly assuming that the Bible is referring to spiritual death
when it says, “the wages of sin is death.” The term “spiritual death” sometimes
is used in a way that assumes a lot that is not explicitly stated in the Bible.
When someone uses the term “spiritual death,” it may help the discussion if you
ask them specifically what they mean by that term. It might also help to ask
them where that meaning is found in the Bible.
It’s true that the Bible sometimes uses the word “death”
in nonliteral ways. I will refer to these nonliteral ways as metaphorical death.
We will see that these metaphorical uses do not teach eternal torment.
3. God’s warning of death to Adam is also
described as returning to dust
God warns Adam that if he eats the forbidden fruit he
will “certainly die” (Genesis 2:17). After Adam does eat the fruit God tells
him, “you are dust and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19). Since death
normally leads to bodies returning to dust, doesn’t it make sense that Genesis
3:19 is talking about basically the same thing as Genesis 2:17? Dust can’t feel
anything. Dust can’t be tormented.
4. The same word
used for death in Genesis 2:17 and 3:3-4 refers to normal death the other 79
times it is used in Genesis.
After God’s warning in Genesis 2 and the story of the
fall in Genesis 3, the same word used for death in Genesis 2:17 is used 79 more
times in Genesis. It always refers to literal, physical death (see Appendix #1 for
a list of these verses). It is even used to refer to the death of animals (Genesis
7:22, Genesis 33:18). A number of times burial is mentioned together with
death. The dead body that is buried cannot feel or think anything. Would the
Hebrew readers of Genesis have any reason to think that God’s warning to Adam
in Genesis 2:17 that sin would result in death referred to something radically
different from the multitude of examples
of death that come in the rest of the book? Doesn’t it make sense that all this
death is what Paul was referring to
Romans 5?:
CSB
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death
through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
13 In fact, sin was in the world before the
law, but sin is not charged to a person's account when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless,
death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the
likeness of Adam's transgression. He is a type of the Coming One.
Did Paul suddenly have a new and strange definition of
death in mind when we wrote “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) in the
next chapter? That seems unlikely.
5. It’s not just
in Genesis that the words “death/die/dead” are very frequently used to refer to
normal death.
Throughout the rest of the Bible, death is very often
used to refer to normal, physical, literal death.
Here is a partial list of examples where “death” is used
with its normal, literal meaning in the New Testament:
Matthew 10:21; Matthew 15:4; Matthew 20:18; Matthew
26:66; Luke 2:26; Luke 22:33; Luke 23:15; Luke 23:22; John 11:13; John 21:19;
Acts 13:28; Acts 23:29; Acts 25:11; Acts 26:31; Acts 28:18; Romans 8:38;
Philippians 1:20; Philippians 2:27; Hebrews 7:23; Hebrews 9:16; Revelation
2:10; Revelation 9:6; Revelation 12:11
At the very least, we must reject any simplistic
statement like, “In the Bible death means separation.” The authors of the Bible
very frequently use the word “death” in the same way we do in everyday language!
6. The fact that Adam did not immediately die
does not support the eternal torment view.
CSB17
Genesis 2:17 but you must not
eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat
from it, you will certainly die."
Some people read Genesis 2:17 and reason that Adam and
Eve must have died on the same day they ate the forbidden fruit and that
therefore the death God was referring to must be a spiritual death. However, there
are other ways to interpret this text which do not require giving death a
meaning here which is far different from returning to dust and from the way
death is used in the rest of Genesis.
The Hebrew which is translated “will certainly die”
involves a double use of the verb for die, which could literally be translated
“dying you shall die”. This is a way to intensify the meaning of the verb. The
precise meaning of the double verb is determined by it’s context. This same
doubling of the verb for death is used many times in the books of Moses to
refer to a legal death penalty. Here is one of many examples:
CSB17 Leviticus
20:10 "If a man commits adultery with a married woman-- if he
commits adultery with his neighbor's wife-- both the adulterer and the
adulteress must be put to death.
The phrase “must be put to death” translates the same
double use of the word for death which is found in Genesis 2:17.
Another example is when King Solomon issues a warning of the death penalty if Shimei left the area of Jerusalem:
Another example is when King Solomon issues a warning of the death penalty if Shimei left the area of Jerusalem:
CSB17 1 Kings
2:37 On the day you do leave and cross the Kidron Valley, know
for sure that you will certainly die. Your blood will be on your own
head." (1 Ki. 2:37 CSB17)
This warning combines both the same use of “on the day”
and “you will certainly die” which are found in Genesis 2:17. Shemei does later
foolishly cross the Kidron Valley. On that day his death becomes certain, but
he does not actually die on that very day.
Based on this, some Bible scholars feel it is likely that
the warning in Genesis 2:17 basically meant, “On the day you eat the fruit you
will receive a death sentence which will make it certain that you will die.”
This interpretation is explained well in an article here, and another one here.
Finally, even if Adam died a type of “spiritual death” on
the day he ate the fruit, this does not change the fact that later Adam also
turned to dust as the penalty for his sin. A “spiritual death” only helps the
case for eternal torment if it is the only type of death the unrighteous will
suffer in hell and if it does not entail the destruction of body and soul in
hell (see Matthew 10:28).
7. God does not want people to live forever in a
fallen condition.
After Adam and Eve fall into sin, God reveals that He
does not want fallen people to live forever.
22
The LORD God said, "Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good
and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live
forever."
23 So the LORD God sent him away from the
garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
24 He drove the man out and stationed the
cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard
the way to the tree of life.
(Gen. 3:22-24
CSB17)
In the book of Revelation, the tree of life appears again
in the New Jerusalem. Only the righteous have access to it. There’s no reason
to think that God has changed his mind and wants the unrighteous to live
forever.
8. Defining death literally
brings it into harmony with the fate of the unrighteous described in Psalm 37
and other psalms.
The psalms include prophetic elements which look forward
to eternal truths. In Psalm 37 alone we are told that the “future of the wicked
will be destroyed,” and that they themselves will “be destroyed,” “be no more,”
“not be there,” “perish,” “fade away like smoke,” “not be found”, and “be
eliminated”. All of this sounds like the normal definition of death which
involves the complete loss of all conscious existence. Psalm 49 reinforces this
by telling us that people do not endure, but rather are like beasts that perish
(Psalm 49:12, Psalm 49:20).
Some people have argued that Psalm 37 and similar Old
Testament passages are only describing the temporary fate of the unrighteous on
earth. But this does not fit the logic of Psalm 37, as explained in detail here.
9. The word “death”
does not normally mean separation.
It’s true that our sins separate us from God (Isaiah 59:2).
That is one consequence of sin. But death does not simply mean separation. When
I served in the Navy I was often separated from my wife by thousands of miles.
But we were not dead. The Bible does not speak that way and neither do we.
But isn’t there a type of separation at death? There are
lots of results of death. After dying, a body normally becomes cold. But death
does not mean being cold. There is separation at death, but death does not mean
separation. Consider this verse:
CSB17 James 2:26
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is
dead.
Most Christians, including myself, believe that there is
a nonphysical part of us which separates from our bodies at death. Notice that
James does not say that the spirit is dead. He only says that the body is dead.
The dead body is not capable of feeling, thinking, or knowing anything. It
cannot be tormented.
Furthermore, we should not expect anyone who was
completely separated from God to have continued conscious existence. God is the
source of all life (John 1:4, Acts 17:28). We should expect that final
separation from God would result in complete loss of life.
10. Metaphorical
uses of death in the New Testament do not refer to or support eternal torment
Paul refers to people who are still physically alive and
conscious as being “dead in your trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1, see also
Ephesians 2:5; Colossians 2:13; and 1 Timothy 5:6). These verses demonstrate
that the word “dead” is sometimes used metaphorically in the New Testament.
However, these uses do not support the doctrine of eternal torment.
First, let’s state something that I think is fairly
obvious, but can get lost in this discussion. As far as I know, no one thinks
“dead” in these verses refers to the person being tormented. So whatever Paul
means, these verses do not give direct support for eternal torment.
Some Christians think that when Paul speaks of people
being dead in sin before being saved, he means that they are separated from
God. There is no doubt that sin separates us from God, but it’s not at all
clear that this effect of sin is specifically what Paul has in mind.
Besides the idea of separation, there are other
metaphorical meanings of death which Paul may have intended when he spoke of
the unsaved being dead. Dead bodies no longer function. While the body of an
unsaved person functions, their lives do not function in several important ways
that God intended them to: they do not enjoy God’s love, they do not worship
Him, and they do not love and obey Him. They are also not responsive to God’s voice
and God’s Word the way a dead person is not responsive to the speech of the
living. If this is what Paul had in mind, then it is certainly a true and
appropriate description of the unsaved. However, it would not follow that this
same meaning of death was being used to describe the final fate of the
unrighteous. In fact, it seems very unlikely that this type of death could be
the meaning of “the second death”, because the unsaved have always been dead in
this way. Therefore, the word “second” would not seem to make any sense. Also,
this meaning would not fit with all the other evidence that we will see which
shows that “death” as the fate of the unrighteous means the same thing as
perishing and being burned to ashes.
While I feel there is not enough in the context Ephesians
2:1 (and similar texts) to completely rule out the metaphorical meanings of
“separation,” “not functioning,”, or being “nonresponsive”, there is still another
possibility which should be considered. When Paul speaks of the unsaved who are
still physically alive being “dead,” he may be speaking proleptically. Prolepsis is a figure of speech which refers
to a future event or condition as if it already exists. It indicates that the
future event is certain to occur unless there is an intervention. We use
prolepsis when we refer to an inmate on death row as a “a dead man walking.” If
a child sees his brother break their mother’s favorite figurine, he might say
“You’re so grounded,” speaking proleptically. Here is an example from the Old
Testament. The ESV provides a literal translation of the relevant phrase in
Genesis 20:3:
ESV Genesis 20:3
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, "Behold,
you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's
wife."
Abimelech is called “a dead man” even though he is still
alive. What God means is that Abimelech is certainly going to die if something
doesn’t change. The NIV brings this meaning out:
NIV Genesis 20:3
But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as
good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman."
It’s possible that when Paul speaks of the unsaved being
dead in their sins he means that they are certain to die unless God intervenes
and saves them. This fits the context at least as well as the other possible
meanings.
To sum up, in passages where Paul speaks of unsaved
people who are still physically alive as being dead he may mean that they are
separated from God, or that they are unresponsive to God and not functioning as
He intended people to function, or that they are certain to die (unless they
experience salvation in Christ). The
third option is obviously consistent with all the other biblical data we have
seen. But so are the other two options. Separation from God does not entail
eternal consciousness. In fact, why would it? Neither does being non-responsive
to God and not fulfilling His purposes for humanity imply that a person will
remain in conscious torment forever. If the relatively few verses which use
death in metaphoric ways were all the data we had, the most we could say was
that a type of eternal conscious death might not be completely ruled out. But
in light of the massive amount of other data we have, it is ruled out (i.e.
ashes are not conscious).
11. It’s unclear
if the word “death” means “separated from” in the parable of the prodigal son.
Perhaps the strongest example for death being used
metaphorically to mean something like “separated from” is found in the parable
of the prodigal son. The Father in the story says:
Luke
15:23 Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let's celebrate with a
feast,
24 because this
son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found! ' So they
began to celebrate.
(see also Luke 15:32)
There’s no doubt that the son was separated from the father
at the time the father says he “was dead.” So, in this context, “dead” might metaphorically
mean “separated from.” But it’s also possible that the father actually thought
the son was physically dead, or (proleptically) that the son was certain to end
up dead because of his sin and rebellion.
Some traditionalists see the possibility of the meaning
of “separation” here and then immediately apply it to passages like Romans
6:23. However, the context is far different. In the case of the prodigal son,
he was not yet facing final judgment and could still repent and return home.
12. The same fate awaits both the bodies and
souls of the unrighteous.
Jesus indicates that when a person is killed here on
earth it is only their body which is dead. People cannot kill souls, which
strongly implies that souls live after the first death:
CSB17 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.
Thus, at death a separation of body and soul does occur.
But only the body is dead. And the part which is dead is not conscious and
cannot feel or think anything. At the second death things are different. Both
the body and soul will be dead. There will be no living part left which can
feel anything or be tormented.
13. Death is contrasted with life, not with happiness,
comfort, or anything like that.
In Romans 6:23 and John 3:16 the alternative to death is
eternal life. This is precisely what we would expect if death involves the
cessation of life. However, if death is actually referring to a condition where
the unrighteous will have eternal conscious existence in torment, we would
expect death to be contrasted with something like “eternal joy”.
14. Eternal life
is not defined as knowing God, it is the result of knowing God.
Faced with point #13, some defenders of eternal torment,
having already produced unusual definitions for “death,” proceed to argue for unusual
definitions for “life” and “eternal life”. They most commonly appeal to this
verse:
CSB17 John 17:3
This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one
you have sent-- Jesus Christ.
Jesus is not providing a dictionary-like definition of
eternal life here. He is explaining that the source of eternal life is knowing
God. Knowing God through Jesus leads to eternal life. This is like saying
“Eating ice cream is happiness.” If someone says that, they are not defining
happiness, eating, or ice cream. They are saying that, at least for them,
eating ice cream is a source of happiness. Ice cream still refers to literal
ice cream. We see other examples of this in Scripture:
CSB17 John 6:63b
The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
CSB17 John 12:50a
I know that his command is eternal life. So the things that I speak, I speak
just as the Father has told me."
The words Jesus speaks lead to eternal life if we believe
them. The command of God for Jesus to speak leads to eternal life for those who
hear and believe. John 6:63 and 12:50 both use a very similar construction in
Greek as John 17:3. None of these verses are giving definitions, they are all
explaining the source of eternal life.
15. The normal meaning of death is consistent
with being burned to ashes, continuing conscious existence is not.
In addition to stating that the wages of sin is death,
the Bible teaches that the unrighteous will be consumed by fire (Hebrews 10:27),
burned up (Matthew 3:12, Matthew 13:30), and burned to ashes (2 Peter 2:6).
Since ashes are not capable of thinking or feeling, this is consistent with the
normal definition of death. To see more on the language of being burned up, you
may read this article: Downburned and Ashified.
16. Those who don’t believe will perish and this
does not fit continued conscious existence.
The most famous verse in the Bible states:
CSB17 John 3:16
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.
If someone has a cousin who was captured by ISIS and was
believed to be alive and in torment, they would never say, “My cousin has
perished.” On the other hand, if their cousin was reduced to ashes by a
powerful IED, they would say, “My cousin has perished.” So, once again, the
plain reading of the text supports a plain meaning of death and does not
support a continued conscious experience of torment.
Those who believe in eternal torment often argue that the
Greek word for “perish” used in John 3:16 does not mean what “perish” normally
means in English. However, a word study of this word, apollumi, strengthens the case for annihilationism.
17. When speaking of what one person does to
another, apollumi means simply “to kill.”
The word translated “perish” in John 3:16 and “destroy”
in Matthew 10:28 is apollumi. Along
with its closely related noun, apoleia,
this word group is probably used in the New Testament to refer to the fate of
the unrighteous more than any other word (see Appendix #2 below).
As one who used to believe in eternal conscious torment, and even
teach it, I know the usual explanation for verses like Matthew 10:28 and John
3:16. It is pointed out that apollumi can also mean “ruin” (see
Matthew 9:17) or “lost” (Luke 15:9).
That’s true. But this fact fails
to recognize that when speaking about people, apollumi/apoleia very consistently refers to death, usually a
violent death. When speaking about inanimate
objects like a wineskin or coins, it can indeed simply mean “ruined” or “lost”,
but not when speaking about what happens to people.
There are in fact quite a few verses where apollumi is not referring to the eternal fate of people but simply
to people killing, or wanting to kill, or (passively) being killed by other
people in this world. Here are some
examples:
CSB17 Matthew 2:13
After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream,
saying, "Get up! Take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay
there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to kill (apollumi)
him."
CSB17 Matthew 27:20
The chief priests and the elders, however, persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas
and to execute (apollumi)
Jesus.
CSB17 Acts 5:37
After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and
attracted a following. He also perished (apollumi), and all his followers were scattered.
If you want to see more examples, look at: Matthew 12:14, Matthew 21:41, Matthew 22:7,
and Luke 13:33. Thus, the Greek word apollumi
agrees much better with a normal meaning of “death” than with a meaning
which involves continued conscious existence. The examples above are talking
about death in this present world. While there is no reason to think that the
meaning of death changes drastically when discussing final judgment, it would
help if there were clear examples in Greek of apollumi being used to discuss what happens to people after death
in this world. It turns out that there are such examples.
18. When used in Greek to refer to the final fate
of humans and human souls, apollumi refers to complete annihilation.
The Greek philosopher Plato was widely read throughout the Greek
speaking world for centuries after he died. This includes the time before,
during, and after the writing of the New Testament. In one of his works, Phaedo, Plato discussed rather extensively
his thoughts and opinions about what happens to human souls after death. One of the options he discussed (but did not
agree with) was the possibility that a person’s soul would entirely cease to
exist. When he described this possibility,
he used the word apollumi:
[from Phaedo, 70a]. They fear
that when the soul leaves the body it no longer exists anywhere, and that on
the day when the man dies it is destroyed (apollumi) and perishes, and
when it leaves the body and departs from it, straightway it flies away and is
no longer anywhere, scattering like a breath or smoke.
This is just one example.
If you want to research this, you may also find apollumi used to mean a type of final, total death that would not
include consciousness in Phaedo, 80d,
86d, 91d, 95d, and 106b.
In Plato’s Republic he
also uses apollumi to refer to annihilation
of the human soul:
“Have you never perceived,” said I,
“that our soul is immortal
and never perishes (apollumi)?”
(Republic, 10.608d)
Plato was not the only Greek author, nor the most important one,
to use apollumi to describe a
situation where people completely cease to exist as conscious beings forever.
19. Paul
uses apollumi to describe what would
happen to Christians if Jesus never rose from the dead.
Far more (way more, incredibly more) important than seeing that
Plato used apollumi to mean what I am
saying “death” means, there is a clear example of the Apostle Paul using apollumi in the same way.
Paul discussed a terrible hypothetical situation where Jesus did
not rise from the dead (he did this to show how important the resurrection is
to our faith). In this terrible
hypothetical situation, Paul said that there would be no resurrection for
anyone if Jesus did not rise. In this terrible hypothetical situation, Paul
explained that even Christians would have apollumi-ed:
CSB17 1
Corinthians 15:18 Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have
also perished (apollumi).
Further, Paul cannot have meant merely that the bodies of
Christians were destroyed while their souls suffered for their sin, because
Paul goes on to say:
CSB17 1
Corinthians 15:32b If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for
tomorrow we die.
If there is any type of judgment and punishment after death, it
would not make sense to live only for pleasure in this world. So, when Paul says that if Christ did not
rise from the dead, then dead Christians have perished (apollumi), he is using the word apollumi to refer to a type of
death of the whole person where there no longer remains any conscious person
capable of experiencing either joy or torment. The word Paul uses to describe this perishing is the very same word
which the New Testament authors, including Paul, most frequently used to
describe the final fate of the unrighteous!
To read more on the meaning of apollumi, you may see this article at Rethinking Hell.
20. Jesus was put to death in His body as a
substitutionary sacrifice
The Bible tells us that Jesus died for our sins (1
Corinthians 15:3). We are also told that Jesus was “put to death in the flesh”
(1 Peter 3:18) and that He “reconciled you by his physical body through his
death” (Colossians 1:22). The physical body of Jesus literally died. The dead
body of Jesus could not feel anything in between the time he died on the cross
on Friday and was resurrected Sunday morning.
Jesus was a substitute for us. We should expect the same thing that happened
to the body of Jesus to happen to the bodies of those who do not benefit from
His death through faith. And since Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:28 that bodies
and souls are both destroyed in hell, we should expect what happens to the body
in death on earth to happen to both body and soul in the second death in hell.
21 . Death is the last enemy and is destroyed
In his great chapter on the resurrection, Paul tells us this:
CSB17 1
Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy to be abolished is death.
This verse is difficult to reconcile with a definition of
death which leaves the dead conscious. Are the people in hell still God’s enemies?
If not, why would He continue to torment them? If they are still His enemies,
then how can it be said that death is the last enemy, since many millions of
enemies will continue to exist forever?
Further, in the conditionalist point of view, death being
abolished means that after the last of the unrighteous die, no one else will
ever die. But in the eternal torment view, a mass of humanity will continue to
exist in a state they call death forever. Thus, death is not abolished.
22. Death is defeated by resurrection
As Christians, we believe in
the physical resurrection of our bodies. In resurrection, a body which could
not feel anything becomes alive again and can feel once more. This is
non-controversial among Christians. For our purposes, what’s important is that
resurrection is presented as the solution to death:
CSB17 Luke 20:35-36
But those who are counted worthy to take part in that age and in the
resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. For they
can no longer die, because they are like angels and are children of God, since
they are children of the resurrection.
While other passages teach that there will also be a
resurrection for the purpose of judgment for the ungodly (John 5:29), the above
passage is focused on the resurrection of “those who are counted worthy.” We
know this refers to those who have been saved through faith in Jesus. But even we need to be resurrected “from the
dead.” “Dead” here cannot refer to separation from God since we who are saved
are never separated from God. Since
resurrection involves our dead bodies being reformed and coming back to life,
it is most natural to understand death as literal death. This resurrection from
death was a central theme of Apostolic teaching (Acts 4:2).
Luke 20:35-36 fits very well with a conditionalist
understanding of death. In Luke 20:36, it is only the children of God who are
no longer able to die. The unrighteous also are raised from death (from a
condition where their bodies are no longer functioning and certainly cannot
feel or think anything and have in many cases returned to dust) only for the
purpose of facing judgment. Unlike the children of God, they can die again, and
they will die again after God shows that this is what they deserve. In the
second death, both their bodies and souls will be destroyed in hell (Matthew
10:28) and they will be reduced to ashes (2 Peter 2:6). All of this fits well
with a normal, literal definition of death.
23. The “second death” in Revelation refers to
normal death
One major reason that traditionalists misunderstand death
is that they read two key passages in Revelation exactly backwards. Here are
the two relevant verses:
CSB17 Revelation 20:14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
CSB17 Revelation 21:8 But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars-- their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."
Traditionalists read these verses as if they are telling us that death actually means “the lake of fire.”
They fail to see that throughout Revelation John sees symbols
in the visions God gives him. Sometimes these symbols are left uninterpreted.
But other times, John is told, and he tells us, what the symbol stands for.
Here is an example:
CSB17 Revelation 5:8 When he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and golden bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
John sees incense in a vision. We are told that the incense is a symbol for prayer. How crazy it would be if someone read Revelation 5:8 and concluded that prayer actually means burning incense. Imagine if they then applied that definition to verses in the Bible about being devoted to prayer and decided it meant they should be devoted to burning incense. Traditionalists unintentionally do something like this when they claim that Revelation defines death as being tormented in a lake of fire and then they read that definition into verses like Romans 6:23. It’s backwards.
John is telling us that the basic meaning of the lake of
fire vision is that the unrighteous will die a second time. This interpretation
of “second death” also fits the first time this phrase is found in the book of
Revelation.
24. The first use
of the phrase “second death” shows it is referring to literal death
Let’s look at the first use of the
phrase “second death”. Please pay
attention to the word “second” as well as the word “death”.
CSB17 Revelation
2:10 Don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is
about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will experience
affliction for ten days. Be faithful to the point of death, and I will
give you the crown of life. 11 "Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to
what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will never be harmed
by the second death.
It is significant that the first use
of “second death” does not occur in the context of a vision of the lake of
fire. It comes in the context of a
letter to a local church. The church in
Smyrna was facing persecution. Jesus
encourages them to remain faithful even if they are put to death for their
faith. This refers to literal death
(what else would it refer to?). Jesus then promises them that even if they die,
He will give them life as a victor’s crown.
He also promises that they will not be hurt by “the second death”. In verse 10, “death” clearly refers to a
literal, physical death. Doesn’t it make
sense that the Christians in Smyrna would have interpreted “death” in verse 11
to have basically the same literal meaning? There is certainly nothing in the
context to imply that death in verse 11 means “never dying while experiencing
eternal torment”.
I’ve explained this interpretation of the “second death”
in much greater detail and with a lot evidence in a blog series that begins
here: What is the Second Death?
Traditionalists
often describe those in Hell as alive
Most of the evidence I’ve presented so far for the
meaning of death with respect to final punishment has been directly from the
Bible. That’s the most important type of evidence. But another indication that
the traditionalist understanding of death as something like “eternal conscious
separation from God in a state of torment” is wrong is that this understanding leads
many who hold to this view to speak with language which is far different from
biblical language.
The Bible never says that the unrighteous will live
forever. Never, not once, from Genesis to Revelation.
The Bible consistently presents eternal life as something
received only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Bible explicitly states that the wages of sin is
death and that after being raised for judgment the unrighteous will suffer a second
death.
However, even wonderful, godly, Christian teachers and
leaders often say that the unrighteous will live forever. They sometimes even
say that the unrighteous will never die. Here are some examples:
“every human soul is immortal.
No soul, no inner person in any human being, ever goes out of existence. Every
human being ever born lives forever.” – John MacArthur
“That is to say, thou art a
fallen creature, having only capacities to live here in sin, and to live for
ever in torment . . .” – Charles Spurgeon
“the soul in torment shall never
die” – John Gill
“no death occurs in hell” – Jerry Vines
“You are an embodied soul who will live
forever in heaven or in hell” – John Piper (While this particular sentence is unbiblical, overall it is in an excellent article.)
“Christianity asserts that every
individual human being is going to live for ever” – C.S. Lewis
“Today is the time to
decide where you will live forever — either Heaven or Hell.” – Billy Graham
“Don't
misunderstand. Everybody has eternal life because everyone has an eternal soul.
The issue is not “Do I have eternal life?” It is, rather, “Where will I spend
my eternal life?” – Charles Swindol in Growing
Deep in the Christian Life
(Note: I did not find these quotes on my own.
I found them through various resources on the Rethinking Hell website,
especially this one.)
So
while traditionalists may claim that in passages like Romans 6:23 “death” means
something like “existing in conscious torment separated from God,” when they
discuss the eternal fate of the unrighteous they very often resort to the
normal, literal meanings of life and death and say the unrighteous will live
forever in hell. But the Bible never once says that the unrighteous will have
eternal life. The Bible very consistently and repeatedly teaches that immortality is conditional!
Conclusion
The traditionalist arguments that in the Bible “death”
actually means something like “existing consciously separated from God while in
torment” may sound convincing at first. However, when all the biblical evidence
is considered, it becomes clear that when the Bible refers to the final fate of
the unrighteous “death” refers to complete loss of life, which certainly
includes the complete loss of all ability to feel or think anything. This
supports the doctrine of conditional immortality and refutes the doctrine of
eternal torment.
The good news is that by God’s grace in Christ Jesus we can have our sins forgiven and live forever.
The good news is that by God’s grace in Christ Jesus we can have our sins forgiven and live forever.
Further Resources
The meaning of death is one topic in the ongoing debate
between those who hold to conditional immortality, and those who hold to
eternal torment. I’ve written over twenty articles on this topic and also have produced
several YouTube videos. You may find a summary of this material, with links,
here:
Appendix #1 All
Uses of the Word Death/Die in Genesis
Here is a list of all the uses of the Hebrew word for
death in Genesis. I’ve provided a very brief description of the context in
which the word death is used for each verse. You should be able to hold your
cursor over a verse and see it pop up.
Genesis 2:17 “you
will certainly die” - God
Genesis 3:3 Eve slightly misquotes God
Genesis 3:4 “you will not die” - Satan
Genesis 5:5 Adam died
Genesis 5:8 Seth died
Genesis 5:11 Enosh died
Genesis 5:14 Kenan died
Genesis 5:17 Mahalalel
died
Genesis 5:20 Jared
died
Genesis 5:27 Methuselah
died
Genesis 5:31 Lamech
died
Genesis 7:22 Everything
on dry land died (includes animal death)
Genesis 9:29 Noah
died
Genesis 11:28 Haran
died
Genesis 11:32 Terah
died
Genesis 18:25 Abraham
pleads for God not to kill the righteous in Sodom
Genesis 19:19 Lot
is concerned that he will die
Genesis 20:3 God
warns Abimelech that he is as good as dead (prolepsis)
Genesis 20:7 God
warns Abimelech that if he does not return Sarah he will certainly die
Genesis 21:16 Hagar
cannot bear to watch her child die
Genesis 23:2 Sarah
died
Genesis 23:3 Refers
to Sarah’s death
Genesis 23:4 Refers
to burial of Sarah’s dead body
Genesis 23:6 Refers
to burial of Sarah’s dead body
Genesis 23:8 Refers
to burial of Sarah’s dead body
Genesis 23:11 Refers
to burial of Sarah’s dead body
Genesis 23:13 Refers
to burial of Sarah’s dead body
Genesis 23:15 Refers
to burial of Sarah’s dead body
Genesis 25:8 Abraham
died
Genesis 25:11 Refers
to Abraham’s death
Genesis 25:17 Ishmael
died
Genesis 25:32 Esau
(exaggerating) says he is about to die from hunger
Genesis 26:9 Isaac
was afraid he might die (be killed) because of his wife
Genesis 26:11 Abimelech
declares death penalty for anyone who touches Isaac or his wife
Genesis 26:18 Refers
to death of Abraharm
Genesis 27:2 Isaac
says, “I do not know the day of my death.”
Genesis 27:4 Isaac
wants to bless his son before he (Isaac) dies.
Genesis 27:7 Repeats
desire of Isaac to bless his son before dying.
Genesis 27:10 Also
discusses Isaac blessing a son before dying.
Genesis 30:1 “Give
me children, or I shall die!” – Rachel to Jacob
Genesis 33:13 “the
flocks will die” (refers to animal death)
Genesis 35:8 Deborah
died and was buried
Genesis 35:18 Refers
to Rachel dying
Genesis 35:19 Rachel
died and was buried
Genesis 35:29 Isaac
died
Genesis 36:33 Bela
died
Genesis 36:34 Jobab
died
Genesis 36:35 Husham
died
Genesis 36:36 Hadad
died
Genesis 36:37 Samlah
died
Genesis 36:38 Shaul
died
Genesis 36:39 Baal-hanan
died
Genesis 37:18 Joseph brothers plan to put him to death
Genesis 38:7 The
Lord puts Er to death
Genesis 38:10 The
Lord puts Onan to death
Genesis 38:11 Judah
worries that Shelah might also die
Genesis 38:12 Judah’s
wife dies
Genesis 42:2 Plan
to by grain “that we may live and not die”
Genesis 42:20 Joseph
orders his brothers to bring the youngest to avoid death
Genesis 42:37 Reuben
offers to allow his two sons to be put to death if he fails to return Benjamin
Genesis 42:38 Jacob
thinks Joseph is dead
Genesis 43:8 Judah
wants to buy more food so that they don’t die
Genesis 44:9 Joseph’s
brothers say they will die if any of them took the cup
Genesis 44:20 Joseph’s
brothers think he is dead
Genesis 44:22 Concern
that losing Benjamin might cause Jacob to die
Genesis 44:31 Jacob
will die if Benjamin does not return
Genesis 45:28 Jacob
plans to see Joseph before dying
Genesis 46:12 Recounts
that Er and Onan died in Canaan
Genesis 46:30 Jacob
is ready to die
Genesis 47:15 Egyptians
and Canaanites plead for food so they won’t die
Genesis 47:19 same
as above
Genesis 47:29 Time
approaches for Jacob to die
Genesis 48:7 Jacob
remembers Rachel’s death
Genesis 48:21 Jacob
knows he is about to die
Genesis 50:5 Jacob
is about to die
Genesis 50:15 His
sons see Jacob is dead
Genesis 50:16 Jacob’s
brothers mention their father’s death
Genesis 50:24 Joseph
says he is about die
Genesis 50:26 Joseph
died (last verse in Genesis)
Appendix #2 Verses
where apollumi or apoleia may be referring to the final fate of the unrighteous
Matthew 7:13
Matthew 10:28
Matthew 10:39
Matthew 16:25
Matthew 18:14
Matthew 21:41
Matthew 22:7
Mark 8:35
Mark 12:9
Luke 9:24
Luke 9:25
Luke 13:3
Luke 13:5
Luke 17:27
Luke 17:29
Luke 17:33
Luke 20:16
John 3:16
John 10:28
John 12:25
Romans 2:12
Romans 9:22
1 Corinthians 1:18
2 Corinthians 2:15
2 Corinthians 4:3
Philippians 1:28
Philippians 3:19
2 Thessalonians 2:10
James 4:12
Hebrews 10:39
2 Peter 2:1
2 Peter 2:3
2 Peter 3:6
2 Peter 3:7
2 Peter 3:9
2 Peter 3:16
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