ANNIHILATIONISM: AN INTRODUCTION

Annihilationism is the belief that those not saved will, on death, merely cease to exist. Thus, this belief denies the historical doctrine of Christianity stating that those people will suffer eternal punishment, however one might define that sad fate. A related, but not identical, concept is conditionalism. Conditionalism teaches that humans are not automatically given an eternal soul at birth; it is only given to those who are ultimately saved. Both of these concepts are to be sharply distinguished from the fringe belief based on the supposed two separate creations in Genesis 1 and 2. This minority opinion states that only one of those two creations of mankind (which one is somewhat in doubt) possessed a soul. Thus, today there are two separate human races present on earth, and only one of them has any hope of an eternal existence, determined by their respective genealogies.

1. No Christian denomination except the Church of England has embraced annihilationism although it has been around since the 4^th century AD. However, a few prominent evangelical theologians such as Gordon Wenham, Clark Pinnock and John Stott have recently adopted this belief. It is a doctrine of Herbert W. Armstrong's Church of God, the Christadelphians, and Jehovah Witnesses. Seventh Day Adventists believe in annihilation “after a period of punitive suffering...the duration depending upon the amount of guilt involved.” (Hoekema)

2. We must beware of letting our emotions guide our reasoning, as even Wenham and Stott have pointed out. There is a real possibility of wish fulfillment (not wanting loved ones to suffer in the afterlife, feeling that God couldn't be so cruel as to punish people forever, etc.). However, sound interpretation of pertinent scriptures is the only sure guide to such a subject, not mere emotions.

3. This is not such an important issue that it alone should be used to disfellowship a person who believes differently than we do. In this respect, it is like many other eschatological issues.

4. The Bible does not give us a detailed account regarding the fate of unbelievers: The OT, with a few notable exceptions, steers away from the subject of the afterlife altogether. This coupled with the idea of progressive revelations by God means that the OT understanding is not to be determinative for our beliefs as Christians. And the more complete revelations found in the NT deal mainly with the saved, not the lost (2 Timothy 3:16-17). So whatever conclusions we come to must remain tentative, along with many other issues regarding eschatology.

5. Most of the passages concerning the afterlife are written in symbolic or metaphorical language, and so care must be taken to interpret them properly.

6. It is not an easy subject to study since much of the debate hinges on the specific definitions of certain Greek and Hebrew words and technical issues such as historical, grammatical, and literary considerations. Thus, it is necessary to rely heavily on “experts” in these various fields and take into account their academic credentials and possible denominational prejudices.

7. It must be admitted by all that some scriptures concerning the Final Judgment use language better suited for an annihilationist approach while others appear to support a continuing existence for the wicked in the afterlife. An attempt should be made to reconcile all of these teachings as much as possible.

Gordon Wenham himself adds in his book The Enigma of Evil that we should beware of the pervasive influence of the present liberal Zeitgeist on all our thinking and that we should guard against any weakening zeal for the gospel.

However, on the other hand, he notes, “A long tradition of belief within the Christian church is not decisive. Errors creep in and they die hard, especially when they have been elevated to the status of orthodoxy. Also, “A study of the literature reveals a remarkable failure by the 'traditional orthodox' to get to grips with the solid arguments put up by the conditionalists. This is partly due to a vicious circle, in which suspicion of heresy has made it difficult for conditionalists to find reputable publishers, which has resulted in their books being unread, which in its turn has resulted in their views remaining unduly suspect.” Note that since these words were first written (1974), it appears that most evangelical biblical scholars today are well aware of the arguments and do interact with them.

Subsequent postings will interact with the writings of Annihilationist proponents such as Edward Fudge (The Fire That Consumes) and the Anglican priest Ralph Bowles. But first one must get down to basics and consider the meaning of the pertinent Hebrew and Greek words in question.

Apollumi Liddell and Scott: to destroy utterly, kill, slay, lose utterly, fall into ruin, be undone, be lost, fall away, fail, be wretched or miserable.

Young's: to cast off or away, lose, perish.

Vine: The idea is not extinction but ruin, loss, not of being, but of well-being. Examples are Luke 5:37, 15:4,6, etc., 15:24; John 6:27, I Peter 27:20; Matt. 2:13, 8:25, 22:7, 27:20. Applied to the unsaved in the hereafter: Matt. 10:28; Luke 13:3,5; John 3:16; 10:28, 17:12; Rom. 2:12; I Cor. 15:18; 2 Cor. 2:15, 4:3; 2 Thess 2:10; James 4:12; 2 Peter 3:9.

DNNT, Vol. 1: Translates some 38 different Hebrew words. It almost always refers to physical death or exclusion from God's people. It is occasionally associated with the afterlife such as in Prov. 15:11, 27:20; Job 26:6, 28:22. In the NT it may mean physical death, ruin, waste, lost (Luke 19:10), “He who loses his life for my sake will keep it (Mark 8:35 parallels; see John 12:25).” Definitive or sure destruction “not merely in the sense of the extinction of physical existence but rather of an eternal plunge into hades and a hopeless destiny of death.”

Melick, Phil. 3:18. It does not mean loss of existence since its opposite is salvation. The same word used in Luke 19:10 of the lost who are physically alive.

Hoekema: the word in the NT never means annihilation when applied to things other than the eternal destiny of man.

Brown, AB on John 3:16: “Word is a characteristic Johannine term (10x); Intransitively, it has two meanings: (a) to be lost; (b) to perish, be destroyed. Jesus also speaks about not losing any of those whom the Father has given him (6:39 and 18:9).”

Morris, NICOT on John 3:16: “Neither here nor anywhere else in the NT is the dreadful reality behind the word 'perish' brought out. But in all its parts there is the recognition that there is such a reality awaiting the finally impenitent.”

Apoleia Vine: loss of well-being or purpose (Matt. 26:8, Matt. 7:13; John 17:12; 2 Thess. 2:3; Rom. 9:22)

Young's: let go, put away, release, send away.

Olethros Vine: ruin, destruction, physical judgments. I Cor. 5:5 [refers to excommunication, exclusion from the body of believers]; I Thess. 5:3 [the opposite of peace and security], 2 Thess. 1:9 [eternal punishment excluded from God's presence].

Liddell and Scott (n): that which causes destruction, a pest

DNTT, Vol. 1: destruction of life, loss of things

Hoekema: In I Tim. 6:9 olethros is parallel to apoleia.

Phthora (n) or phtheiro (v)

Vine: destruction that comes with corruption. 2 Pet. 2:12

DNTT, Vol. 1: destroy, ruin, corrupt, spoil. “Various shades of meaning are found in the NT.” Used in I Cor. 3:17 (see). 2 Peter 2:12, Jude 10—Heretics will perish like the beasts. Opposite is aphtharsia, or immortality. Man is mortal vs. immortal God (Rom 1:23). Christ is immortal (Eph. 6:24), Those born again are immortal (I Pet. 1:4,23). Rom. 2:7—imperishable crown. Resurrection of the dead (I Cor. 15:42). I Cor. 15:50-52-- all will rise with imperishable bodies?

Young's: to mar or corrupt. I Cor. 3:17

Kataluo Intensive form never applied to the final judgment.

Vine: destroy, i.e, mar a person's spiritual well-being (Rom. 14:20 parallel to v. 15 use of apollumi), failure of purposes (Acts 5:38-39), physical death (2 Cor. 5:1).

Liddell and Scott: cancel, put down, make an end of, depose, dissolve, dismiss, terminate

Young's: to cast down, overthrow, dissolve. Matt. 27:40; Gal. 2:18

Katargo Intensive, never used for last judgment.

Young's: to make of none effect, abolish, put away. I Cor. 6:13,15:26; Heb. 2:14

DNNT “abolish”: nullify

Kenoo Making empty or void—never applied to last judgment.

Exolothreuo Intensive form. Rare in NT, not in Gospels or Revelation.

Vine and Liddell and Scott: utterly destroy (Acts 3:23); very common in the Septuagint (68x in Psalms alone).

DNTT, Vol. 1: utter destruction, annihilation. Rare in NT— Acts 3:23, exclusion from the presence of the Lord and his people. Not final and complete, but hopefully leading to repentance.

Aionios Young's: eternal, everlasting

Arndt and Gingrich: without beginning, without beginning or end, without end.

William Albright, AB, 1971: translates “fire at the age to come” or “at the end of the age” utilizing Hebrew parallels in Dead Sea scrolls, the latter translation referring to the age in which men are living. “We now know this from the Essene scrolls, where the word is very common in this sense.”

Note: This suggestion has not been adopted in modern translations. And keep in mind that the Essenes utilized their own unique word usage. Also they had their own concept of the afterlife (according to Josephus, they did not believe in the resurrection of the body but felt that man's soul was immortal—Pfeiffer, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible). One needs to take into account Greek, intertestamental and Septuagint usages from the same time period.

DNNT, “time”(1975): Aion is primarily a designation for a long period of time...when it is directed to the on-going future, aion can take on the meaning of eternity. Eternity is thus not necessarily a timeless concept, but the most comprehensive temporal one which the experience of time has produced. Aionios—without beginning or end, eternal, for ever. It is the Septuagint equivalent to Heb. olam—a long time or duration, which is also used as an adverb meaning forever, for all time. In the OT, 'eternal' and 'for a thousand generations' stand in parallel...God's life never ends so everything belonging to him can also never come to an end...But one must not forget that this God is also the final Judge, so that even perdition must be called eternal...[Unlike its use in prepositional phrases, the plural and as an adjective], “it is quite a different manner with the use of the word aion (age, epoch) as a noun.”

“Eternal life is an expression of the longed-for eschatological blessings of salvation, life in the age to come. In the NT there is a temporal understanding of eternal. This is a life that is awaited in the future along with the resurrection of the dead, just as the term can be used in Judaism alternately with the kingdom of God (Matt. 25:34; I Cor. 6:9f) to denote salvation. John 3:15 speaks of having eternal life in the present. But there is also a temporal sense, so that eternal indicates the quantity of this life: because it belongs to Christ, who himself is the Life, it has no end. It will not even cease at death. One must also observe that the NT does not speak of an eternal death, because the idea of eternity is so closely connected with life that the negation of eternal life can also only be understood as the experience of ruin. Even here, eternity remains time in and through which one lives.”

NBD “time”: Aionios adds to its temporal sense of “everlasting” a qualitative overtone of “divine/immortal.”

Vine's: In Rom. 16:25; 2 Tim. 1:9, Titus 1:2 it means a duration undefined but not endless. In the other 67 places in the NT it means undefined because it is endless.

J.I. Packer, Reformation and Revival Journal: “Granted that eternal in the NT means 'belonging to the age to come' rather than expressing any directly chronological notion, the NT writers are unanimous in expecting the age to come to be unending, so the annihilationists' problem remains where it was.”

Leon Morris on John 3:15: “The basic word rendered “eternal” basically means “pertaining to an age.” The adjective referred to the coming age, not the present one...But as the age to come is never thought of as coming to an end the adjective came to mean 'everlasting, eternal.' The notion of time is there. Eternal life will never cease. It is not an endless duration of being in time, but being of which time is not a measure.”

day and night

Young's: In OT, parallel to continually (Ps. 42:3), forever (Is. 34:10), always (Is. 60:11), without rest (Lam. 2:18); opposite of never (Is. 62:6).

In NT, parallel to or together with always (Mark 5:5), continue (I Tim. 5:5), constantly (2 Tim. 1:3), for ever and ever (Rev. 20:10); opposite of cease (Acts 20:31; Rev. 4:8) and never (Luke 2:37)

Hell, etc.

DNNT “Hell”: On Hades, “Only gradually did the Greek attach to the concept (of the land of the dead) the ideas of reward and punishment. The Septuagint uses it for Sheol—usually the underworld which receives all the dead. It is a land of darkness where...there is no proclamation or praise..There are only hints at hope beyond death. In intertestamental time, “reward and punishment begin, after death, in Hades...Hades lost its role as the eternal resting place of souls and became a preparatory, temporary resting place for souls until the resurrection...In NT, varying views: all the dead are in Hades (Acts 2:27,31; Luke 16:23,26) or only the ungodly dead (I Peter 3:13; Rev. 20:13-14 and others).

On Gehenna, Jewish belief during Christ's time: “Gehenna became a temporary place of punishment until the final judgment. In the NT, “It was the place of eschatological punishment after the last judgment, punishment of eternal duration...In contrast to later Christian writings and ideas, the torments of hell are not described in the NT.”

Ladd, Theology of the NT: “In the Synoptics Gehenna is a place of eternal torment in unquenchable fire. While only the bodies of men are in the grave, the whole man can be cast into hell (Matt. 10:28). It is pictured as a fiery abyss, as a furnace of fire, as an eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Vivid pictures of the punishments to be endured in hell, which are frequently met in apocalyptic writings, are quite lacking in the Gospels. On the other hand, final punishment is pictured as outer darkness. This suggests that both fire and darkness are metaphors used to represent the indescribable. Exclusion from the presence of God and the enjoyment of his blessings—this is the essence of hell.”