“These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power…”
These
The word “these” is qualitative, emphasizing the class of those described in verse 8.
shall be punished
The word punished means to pay a price (by way of return), to pay a penalty. God will repay the persecutors of the church at Thessalonica by giving them “eternal destruction” in return for rejecting the gospel and persecuting the messengers of the gospel. They will not escape God’s retribution.
with everlasting destruction
“Destruction” means ruin, death. Because some evangelicals today reject the idea of eternal punishment, we need to study this word more extensively. Some say that “destruction” means annihilation. This word does not imply annihilation or temporary retribution.
The New Testament uses this word of physical death for a believer out of fellowship (1 Corinthians 5:5). Because this person did not repent of living in adultery with his stepmother, Paul gave him over to Satan “for the destruction of his flesh [his physical body] that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In 1 Timothy 6:9, Paul shows the consequences of indulging the flesh. There will be irrevocable physical ruin. Indulging the flesh ruins people.
Paul uses “destruction” in our verse and 1 Thessalonians 5:3 to describe the effect of God’s judgments on the Day of the Lord (the Tribulation) and the Second Coming of Christ. The nature of “destruction” in this verse is that it is “everlasting.”
In a few passages (Romans 16:25; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2) “everlasting” means duration undefined but not necessarily endless. However, we can see the dominant meaning of “everlasting” in 63 other passages, such as 2 Corinthians 4:18, where it is set in contrast to phrases such as “for a season.”
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).
The New Testament uses “everlasting” for persons and things which are in themselves endless: of God (Romans 16:26), God’s power (1 Timothy 6:16), God’s glory (1 Peter 5:10), the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 9:14), the redemption effected by Christ (Hebrews 9:12), salvation (Hebrew 5:9), Christ’s future rule (2 Peter 1:9) which the Bible declares to be without end, the life received when we believe in Christ (John 3:16) (“they shall never perish”), and the resurrection body (2 Corinthians 5:1) (elsewhere said to be “immortal” in 1 Corinthians 15:53).
“Everlasting” is something without beginning (Romans 16:25; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2), without beginning or end (Genesis 21:33; Isaiah 26:4; 40:28; Hebrews 9:14), and without end (2 Corinthians 5:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:16; 1 Timothy 6:16; Hebrews 9:12; 13:20; Revelations 14:6).
The use of “everlasting” here shows that God’s judgment is final with no appeal (Hebrews 6:2) and is “unquenchable” (Mark 9:43). This is not remedial but retributive justice. It is not a temporary but final judgment. It is of an unlimited duration of time–eternal, as God’s eternal power and divine nature are “everlasting” (Romans 1:20; 16:26).
Note the parallel between “everlasting punishment” and “eternal life.” If heaven is to possess eternal life, then hell is everlasting punishment. Everlasting punishment lasts as long as eternal life. If we shorten hell, we shorten heaven.
“And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).
“Everlasting destruction” ultimately means that those without Christ will lose everything that gives worth to our existence. We see that worth in the next two clauses.
Principle:
Non-Christians incur eternal destruction because of God’s justice.
Application:
God is always consistent with Himself. He always uses proper legal procedure in passing out judgment.
The idea that there is no everlasting hell attracts men. They love the idea that God annihilates those without Christ from conscious existence because they would not have to face their liability before Him. Men are not like horses that blackout when they die. People go on forever.
The essence behind the idea of hell in the Bible is justice. God is not capricious or cruel. He must be consistent with Himself. He must be true to Himself. If He bends the policy (steps outside His character), He would no longer be consistent with Himself. If He were no longer consistent with Himself, He would no longer be absolute. If He were no longer absolute, He could not be the supreme God of the universe. He would be a fractured being that we could not trust.
Hell is a place we choose. If we choose to reject God’s plan of salvation in Christ, then we make ourselves sovereign. We think we know what is the best way for the universe to operate. The outcome of this is eternal destruction.
Non-Christians love to say, “I want to go to hell because that is where all my friends are.” They miss the essence of hell in this. Hell is a place of deep alienation, alienation from God and other people. It is a place of loneliness.
And you danced around the main point. –>> MAN IS MORTAL.
Refute that.
James, I am afraid you cling to an ignorant argument. Assertion that man is mortal is no argument and no defense of your position. How can the non-Christian man be "raised" and be mortal subject to eternal death? That is the point of John 5:29.
You obviously do not want to engage wtih the arguments above by making your grossly simple and inadequate argument.
James, like all cultists you jump around from text to text without dealing with the answers presented to you. You have wandered far from the exposition of the text of this blog which you have not answered. You must realize that the kind of mentality you have and the way you approach things is leading you to the very thing you are fighting against—eternal hell.
Your last question is easily answered. However, first address my last blog as to why dead unbelievers are raised from the dead to go into judgment in John 5:29.
James, I am going to delete your posts until you start answering the replies to your previous questions/answers. You are embarrassing yourself with your vacuous replies.
So basically the argument you give is this, (a) the word everlasting means everlasting or forever. (b) the word translated destruction elsewhere usually means physical death.
Therefore the wicked are not killed for ever in hell as proponents of conditional immortality contend they are kept alive and tormented forever.
Does the problem with this argument really need to be pointed out?
Matthew, the problem with your argument is that you are factually mistaken. First, I did not say that "destruction" was for physical death only; the Greek word is used for spiritual death, eternal death as well physical death. Note these Greek lexicons that demonstrate the point:
hros (?λεθρος , (3639)), ruin, destruction, akin to A, No. 6, always translated “destruction,” is used in 1 Cor. 5:5, of the effect upon the physical condition of an erring believer for the purpose of his spiritual profit; in 1 Thess. 5:3 and 2 Thess. 1:9, of the effect of the Divine judgments upon men at the ushering in of the Day of the Lord and the revelation of the Lord Jesus; in 1 Tim. 6:9, of the consequences of the indulgence of the flesh, referring to physical ruin and possibly that of the whole being, the following word ap?leia (see No. 1) stressing the final, eternal and irrevocable character of the ruin[1]
apollumi (?π?λλυμι , (622)), a strengthened form of ollumi, signifies to destroy utterly; in Middle Voice, to perish. The idea is not extinction but ruin, loss, not of being, but of well–being. This is clear from its use, as, e.g., of the marring of wine skins, Luke 5:37; of lost sheep, i.e., lost to the shepherd, metaphorical of spiritual destitution, Luke 15:4, 6, etc.; the lost son, 15:24; of the perishing of food, John 6:27; of gold, 1 Pet. 1:7. So of persons, Matt. 2:13, “destroy;” 8:25, “perish;” 22:7; 27:20; of the loss of well–being in the case of the unsaved hereafter, Matt. 10:28; Luke 13:3, 5; John 3:16 (ver. 15 in some mss.); 10:28; 17:12; Rom. 2:12; 1 Cor. 15:18; 2 Cor. 2:15, “are perishing;” 4:3; 2 Thess. 2:10; Jas. 4:12; 2 Pet. 3:9. Cp. B, II, No. 1. [2]
ólethros. This word means a. “corruption,” especially “death,” and b. “that which brings corruption.” It is common in the LXX; the prophets use it often for eschatological “destruction” (Jer. 48:3). The sense is eschatological in two NT instances. In 2 Th. 1:9 eternal destruction will come on those who reject the gospel when Christ is revealed from heaven. In 1 Tim. 6:9 the conscience of those who seek wealth is seared, and they are thus in danger of falling into temptations that will plunge them into complete ruin. The point is rather different in 1 Cor. 5:5, where Paul seems to be saying that physical destruction (i.e., death) will follow when the congregation, with whom Paul will be present in spirit and with the power of the Lord, delivers the incestuous person to Satan (cf. Acts 5:5, 10; also Ignatius Ephesians 13.1 for the divine power at work when the church gathers).[3]
?λεθρος, ου, ? (Hom.+; Dit., Syll.3 527, 82 [c. 220 bc]; BGU 1027 XXVI, 11; LXX; Philo; Jos., Ant. 17, 38, Vi. 264; Sib. Or. 3, 327; 348) destruction, ruin, death in our lit. always w. some kind of relig. coloring: ?ρχετα? τινι ?λ. ruin comes upon someone 1 Cl 57:4 (Pr 1:26). α?φν?διος α?το?ς ?φ?σταται ?λ. sudden destruction will come upon them 1 Th 5:3. βυθ?ζειν τιν? ε?ς ?λ. plunge someone headlong into ruin 1 Ti 6:9. ?λ. α??νιος eternal death (Test. Reub. 6:3) 2 Th 1:9 (s. ?λ?θριος). παραδο?να? τινα τ? σαταν? ε?ς ?λ. τ?ς σαρκ?ς hand someone over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh 1 Cor 5:5 (handing over to Satan will result in the sinner’s death.—EvDobschütz, Die urchristl. Gemeinden ’02, 269-72 and s. παραδ?δωμι 1b.—Hierocles 14 p. 451b has the thought that the soul of the sinner in Hades is purified by the tortures of hell, and is saved thereby). Destruction brought about by Satan is mentioned also IEph 13:1 ?ταν πυκν?ς ?π? τ? α?τ? γ?νεσθε, καθαιρο?νται α? δυν?μεις το? σαταν? κα? λ?εται ? ?λ. α?το? when you come together frequently, the (spirit-) powers of Satan are destroyed, and his destructiveness is nullified. M-M.* [4]
No. number
No. number
[1] Vine, W. E., & Bruce, F. F. (1981). Vine’s Expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words. Old Tappan NJ: Revell.
e.g. exempli gratia, for example
i.e. id est, that is
etc. et cetera, and others
ver. verse
mss. manuscripts
Cp. compare, see also
No. number
[2] Vine, W. E., & Bruce, F. F. (1981). Vine’s Expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words. Old Tappan NJ: Revell.
LXX Septuagint
[3] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
Hom. Homer, perh. VIII-VI bc
Dit., Syll. Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum, ed. Dittenberger3, 4 vols. 1915-24. The second edition, 3 vols. 1898-1901, was used when an item from the second ed. was not taken over into the third.
c. circa (about)
bc Before Christ
BGU Aegyptische Urkunden aus den Museen zu Berlin: Griech. Urkunden I-VIII 1895-1933.
LXX Septuagint
Philo Philo of Alexandria, ed. LCohn and PWendland 1896ff, cited by book and §. Vol. VII 1930 contains the indices by JLeisegang, I ad
Jos. Josephus, ed. BNiese 1887-95, cited as Jos., with book and §, I ad
Sib. Or. Sib. Or., s. Oracula Sibyllina, ed. JGeffcken 1902
lit. literal(ly); literature, references to (scholarly) literature
w. with
relig. religious
1 Cl 1 Clement
Test. Reub. Testament of Reuben [Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs ed. RHCharles 1908]
s. see
s. see
Hierocles Hierocles, Commentarius in Aureum Carmen: FWAMullach, Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum I 1860 p. 416-84, IV-V ad
p. page(s)
IEph Ignatius to the Ephesians
M-M. JHMoulton and GMilligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek NT Illustrated from the Papyri and other Non-Literary Sources 1914-30.
[4] Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (1979). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature : a translation and adaption of the fourth revised and augmented edition of Walter Bauer’s Griechisch-deutsches Worterbuch zu den Schrift en des Neuen Testaments und der ubrigen urchristlichen Literatur. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.