WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DEATH? PART TWO
Many Christians read Jesus’ announcements of perishing, destruction and punishment as pertaining to the eternal fate of the unsaved dead. In Matthew, chapter 25, Jesus speaks of eternal punishment and eternal life. This eternal punishment is generally believed to be eternal conscious torment in hell, even though Jesus doesn’t mention hell in this passage.
Matthew 25:41: Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal (Greek: aionios) fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Verse 46: Then they will go away to eternal (aionios) punishment, but the righteous to eternal (aionios) life.
In the first installment of this series we pointed out that the mission of Jesus was three-fold. Jesus came to facilitate salvation by His death and resurrection and, secondly, He came to teach Kingdom living. Thirdly, Jesus came with a message of warning to first century
Matthew 25 is a continuation of Jesus’ answer to the questions presented to Him by His disciples as recorded in Matthew 24:3. The disciples asked Jesus when the temple would be destroyed and what would be the sign of His coming and the end of the age. Jesus answers their question by showing what would take place in anticipation of these events. This matter is discussed in detail in my series, “When Does Christ Return?”
In Matthew 25, Jesus continues to respond to His disciple’s questions by giving two parables that caution them to be attentive to the warning signs He gave them so they would not be caught unaware as to the timing of His coming and the temples destruction. The return of Christ is tied to the destruction of the temple which we know took place in the first century. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus is seen as coming in glory and separating the righteous from the unrighteous with the righteous being given access to the Kingdom and eternal life and the unrighteous being sent to eternal punishment
Many see Matthew 25:31-46 as pertaining to a final judgement where the saved go to heaven and the unsaved go to hell. Eternal fire is seen as a fire that burns forever and inflicts eternal torment on the unrighteous.
In part one of this series, we saw that hell does not represent a place of eternal punishing. Is Jesus introducing some other form of eternal punishment for the unrighteous in Matthew 25:41-46? The context of Matthew 24 and 25 is not an end of the world judgement but the destruction of the temple and first century Israelite society which is seen as tied to the return of Christ and the end of the age. We know the temple was destroyed in AD 70.
THE GREEK AION AND “ETERNAL FIRE”:
The Greek noun aion, translated age in Matthew 24:3, and throughout the NT means a segment of time. Depending on context, it can mean a long or short segment of time. It can mean a forever lasting segment of time. The context of a passage will determine its meaning. In the Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT), aion is used to translate the Hebrew olam. Olam is used dozens of times in the OT to designate a wide variety of time segments, including everlasting time. When Jonah was in the belly of the great fish, he spoke of being hemmed in by the earth forever (olam), Jonah 2:6. For Jonah, forever was only three days and nights in the water. A slave was seen as belonging to his master forever (olam), Exodus 21:6. Yet death would end such servitude. Animal sacrifices are seen as being established forever (olam). Yet we know they are no longer required. Other occurrences of olam show an everlasting timeframe. David speaks of the glory of God enduring forever (
The use of aion to translate olam shows the broad range of timeframes this word can represent. Jesus spoke of the age (aion) that was and the age (aion) to come. The age that was, was not everlasting whereas the age to come is seen as everlasting. Context must always be the determining factor as to how aion is to be understood.
As discussed in depth in my series dealing with the timing of the return of Christ, the end of the age (aion) spoken of in the NT narrative is not about the end of the world but about the end of a segment of time called the Old Covenant age. The context of Matthew 24 and 25 is not some final judgement at the end of the physical world but a judgement that occurred at the time the temple was destroyed when Christ came in judgement against first century
In Matthew 25:41 and 46, the English word “eternal” is translated from the Greek aionios which is the adjective form of aion. This word means a segment of time just as its noun form aion. It does not have an intrinsic meaning of something that goes on without end. Its meaning in these passages must be determined by the context. The context is Jesus coming in judgement against first century
1 Thessalonians 1:10: and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
This coming wrath had nothing to do with the eternal fate of those being punished at the time. It was a wrath with physical consequences directed at first century
Hebrews 9:20: Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Jesus came the first time to be the ultimate sacrifice for sin, thus providing salvation for mankind. His second coming took place to consummate this salvation by permanently removing the means to facilitate the Old Covenant system of animal sacrifices. This system came crashing down with the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Jesus is using the imagery of eternal fire in Matthew 25 just like He uses the imagery of Gehenna fire as covered in part one of this series. Eternal fire is not a fire that burns forever but a fire that burns people up so they no longer exist in the form they were in. Other than Matthew 25, the only other passage where eternal fire is mentioned is Jude 1:7
Jude 1:7:
Obviously
Matthew 10:14-15: If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for
The people of
2 Peter 2:6: If he condemned the cities of
Like Jesus, Paul and other NT writers, Peter was anticipating the end of the Old Covenant age. The Church was experiencing a great deal of persecution from the Jewish religious community. There are dozens of references in the NT to this persecution and the judgement that would bring it to an end. This judgement had nothing to do with the eternal fate of those being judged. This was a temporal judgement restricted to a specific segment of time (aion). We know literal fire was involved in the destruction of
Some believe that since both life and punishment are presented as eternal in the same context in Matthew 25, eternal must mean the same thing in both cases. This reasoning is problematical because when Jesus discussed eternal life He spoke in terms of never dying as seen in the passages from John quoted in part one of this series. To never die is to embark on a segment of time (aion) that is truly without end. The Kingdom and spiritual salvation is always seen as everlasting in the NT scriptures. Punishment by fire is not seen as everlasting as seen in our discussion of
If the eternal fire of Matthew 25 is a fire that burns people up but does not necessarily permanently annihilate people, why is this fire seen as prepared for Satan and his angels? If Satan and the demons are spirit entities as presumed, how could a physical fire harm them? The following scripture is instructive relative to this issue:
Hebrews 2:14-15: Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil-- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
The word “destroy” is the Greek katargeo, which means: “to make ineffective, powerless, abolish, wipe out” (Arndt, Gingrich, Bauer, Greek-English Lexicon). Christ came to destroy Satan’s power of death and drive him from the world. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. (John 12:31). Whether this was a banishment of Satan or his actual destruction is unclear. God at some point created and gave life to the spirit Beings that rebelled. There is nothing in scripture that says God gave them immortal life. Since fire is a physical thing and Satan and his angels are non-physical, it would appear that fire, as we know it, would have no effect on them. Christ may have been using fire in Matthew 25 in a symbolic sense to signify the destruction of Satan and his angels.
We saw in part one of this series how Jesus used Gehenna as symbolic of the destruction of the wicked. Jesus often used physical things to make a point about what happens to the unrepentant.
Luke 13:1-5: Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in
In this passage, Jesus is not saying unrepentant sinners will perish by having their blood mixed with their sacrifices or having a tower fall on them. He is not instructing as to the manner unrepentant sinners will perish. He is using examples of perishing to point out that unrepentant sinners will indeed die. I submit Christ uses references to Gehenna and eternal fire in the same manner.
As stated earlier, Jesus often used analogies, metaphors and illustrations to make a point. Earlier in Matthew 25, Jesus spoke of the unrighteous as being thrown into the darkness, “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Was there to be a literal weeping and gnashing of teeth or is this illustrative of the spiritual pain experienced by those on the outside looking in.
Failure to meet the standards God has established for human behavior is called sin. Sin has the general meaning of missing the mark. Paul wrote that the consequence of missing the mark is death.
Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Is Paul speaking of physical death, spiritual death or both? Adam and Eve were told that in the day they ate of the forbidden tree (sinned), they would die. They didn’t physically die the day they ate of the forbidden tree. Scripture shows they lived for many hundreds of years after the tree incident. Instead of immediate physical death, God banished them from the garden so they would not eat of the tree of life and live forever. God also told them they would return to the ground from which they were taken. They were dust and to dust they would return. Adam and Eve did eventually physically die. One could say they spiritually died when they sinned and lost their intimate relationship with God in being tossed out of the garden.
The message that comes across here is that man is totally mortal and temporal and subject to death. There is nothing in the Genesis account to suggest that upon physical death man lives on in some other form. There is nothing in this account to suggest man has an immortal soul that lives on after physical death. We saw in part one of this series the soul is not innately immortal and that immortality is something that we seek and can only be granted by God. The scriptures teach man has a spirit and at physical death the spirit goes back to God who gave it. Is the spirit of man immortal? Does the spirit in man live on in a cognitively conscious state after physical death and therefore has the potential of experiencing eternal punishing?
THE SPIRIT IN MAN:
The word spirit appears hundreds of times in the scriptures. In Hebrew the word for Spirit is ruah and in Greek the word for Spirit is pneuma. These words have the same basic meaning. They mean air. More specifically these words denote the movement of air as in breath or wind. Ruah and pneuma are used in scripture to designate a number of attributes such as power, wisdom and understanding. These words are used to describe cognitive function. God is quoted as saying He forms the ruah within man. Job associates ruah with human understanding. Paul shows it is the spirit in both God and man that is responsible for cognitive function
Zechariah 12:1: This is the word of the LORD….who forms the spirit (ruah) of man within him.
Job 32:8: But it is the spirit (ruah) in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him (man) understanding.
I Corinthians 2:11: For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit (pneuma) within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit (pneuma) of God.
In Genesis 2:7, it is recorded God breathed into the nostrils the breath (Hebrew: n'shamah) of life. Here the Hebrew word n’shamah is used which means spirit, breath or to breath. Ruah is seen to be the very breath of life for both humans and animals. Ruah is used to describe the very movement of air that facilitates life.
Genesis 6:17: I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath (ruah) of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
Genesis 7:15: And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath (ruah) of life.
It is apparent the spirit God gives His created creatures imparts life and facilitates cognitive function. When physical life ends, this spirit returns to God and physical life and its associated cognitive function ceases.
Ecclesiastes 3:19: Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath (ruah); man has no advantage over the animal. Verse 21: All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
Ecclesiastes 12:7: and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit (ruah) returns to God who gave it.
Psalm 146:4: His breath (ruah) goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish (KJV).
There is no solid evidence that when the spirit returns to God upon physical death, it returns as a conscious cognitive entity. It appears to return as the breath of life that God provided at our birth. There appears to be only one way life can continue beyond physical death and that is through the resurrected Christ who has been given immortal life by the Father and is able to give life, including immortal life, to us humans.
Revelation 1:18: I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
John 11:25: I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.
Jesus plainly teaches He was dead but is now alive forevermore and if we express faith in Him we will live even though we die. Jesus is speaking of post-mortem life. Life after physical death. The only way we humans can live beyond physical death is for the immortal Spirit of God to unite with our mortal human spirit to make it an immortal spirit.
John 6:63: The Spirit (pneuma) gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit (pneuma) and they are life.
Romans 8:11: And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Verse 16: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God (KJV).
Philippians 3:20-21: …The Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
1 Corinthians 15: 42-44: So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Immortal life is not something we are born with. It is not something carried over to our physical bodies from a former existence. The scriptures show we are mortal through and through. The only way we can live beyond physical death is to experience resurrection. Resurrection to immortal life is only seen in scripture as granted within the context of reconciliation with God. Therefore, immortal life is only seen as a glorious state and not as a suffering state. There is no scriptural evidence that God gives immortal life to someone and then consigns them to eternal punishing.
Some believe the writer of Ecclesiastes wasn’t seeing things as they really are but was writing from his personal preoccupation with a perceived meaninglessness of life. His writings, however, harmonize with what David wrote in the psalms and with a number of other scriptures that bear on this issue. Others will cite scriptures that suggest preexistence for humans. Here is one of those scriptures.
Jeremiah 1:5: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
God says He knew Jeremiah before He formed him in the womb and set him apart before he was born. Forming Jeremiah in the womb and speaking of his birth all suggest this is when Jeremiah had his beginning. It is a real stretch to conclude God is talking about knowing Jeremiah as a conscious, cognitive person that was inserted into the womb of his mother and then born as a human. It is much more reasonable to conclude God is speaking of facilitating the human birth of Jeremiah with a specific purpose in mind which Jeremiah would carry out.
THE DILEMMA:
If we are totally mortal and immortality is only obtainable through faith in Christ resulting in a glorious existence with God, where does this leave the billions of humans who have lived and died never knowing, understanding or responding to the Christ event? Are they forever dead? Will they be resurrected to a temporary mortal existence after physical death and given opportunity to respond to the Christ event and receive eternal life? Where might such existence be?
Those who teach a resurrection of the unsaved dead to physical life believe this will take place during a hundred year period following a thousand year reign (the millennium) of Christ on earth. During this reign of Christ the earth will be transformed and prepared to handle this project. The saved dead will be resurrected at the beginning of the millennium (first resurrection) and play an instrumental role in making the earth ready for this great resurrection (second resurrection) of the unsaved dead. After the hundred year period a third resurrection will take place where the physical bodies of the incorrigibly wicked dead will be brought back to life and, along with any living unrepentant wicked, will be cast into a lake of fire to be simply burned up and be no more. This perspective is based on a futuristic interpretation of the “dry bones” prophecy in Ezekiel 37 and various passages in Malachi 4, Revelation chapter 20 and a literal interpretation of the lake of fire.
While this perspective is problematic, the scriptures do teach there will be a resurrection of all humans who have ever lived. Apostle Paul taught that both the righteous and the wicked will be resurrected. Jesus gave the same indication.
Acts 24:15: I (Paul) have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.
Matthew 12:41: The men of
Matthew 11:24: But I tell you that it will be more bearable for
Such passages of scripture as these indicate a resurrection for all humans including those who lived before the Christ event and never had opportunity to accept the sacrifice of Christ. These scriptures even suggest different levels of judgement based on ones behavior during ones physical existence.
In addition to the temporal resurrection perspective discussed above, others believe the unsaved dead are given a spiritual existence somewhere in the cosmos where opportunity is given to respond to the salvation message. Some see this as a place of remedial correction or punishment for sin. The Catholic idea of purgatory was developed as a place of remedial punishment for those whose sins do not quite qualify for condemnation to “eternal” torment. After a period of corrective punishment, individuals are ushered into heaven.
Scripture teaches resurrection to life is going to happen to all humans. Resurrection is simply being made alive after having been dead. Life and death are seen both as spiritual and physical in scripture. Resurrection to immortal life seems to apply only to the saved dead. If immortal life is only granted to the saved, to what kind of life are the unsaved resurrected to? Is immortality only for the comparative few who are “predestined” by God to receive salvation (Calvinism)? Is immortality limited to only those who, in this life, choose to accept Jesus as savior (Arminianism)? Will immortality be granted to most humans who have ever lived? Will all humans be granted immortality? We will continue to explore this issue in part three of this series.