Surprised by Hell: J. I. Packer Rebuts, Part 1

James I. Packer, a prominent evangelical scholar, challenges annihilationism on several grounds in his thoughtful article “Evangelical Annihilationism”.

I insert relevant verses in full text here and there to make it easier for the reader to follow the discussion. He writes,

Jude 6 and Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30 show that darkness signifies a state of deprivation and distress, but not of destruction in the sense of ceasing to exist. Only those who exist can weep and gnash their teeth, as those banished into the darkness are said to do.

(Jude 1:6) And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home — these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

(Mat 8:12) “But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

(Mat 22:13) “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”

(Mat 25:30) And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Now, the conditionalist argument isn’t that the damned die and cease to exist. No, after they die, they face judgment, and then suffer destruction — the second death. And it’s an agonizing second death. It’s hell. It’s just not forever.

And Jude isn’t even talking about people — it’s about the angels who rebelled.

Packer continues,

Nowhere in Scripture does death signify extinction; physical death is departure into another mode of being, called sheol or hades, and metaphorical death is existence that is God-less and graceless; nothing in biblical usage warrants the idea, found in Guillebaud and others, that the “second death” of Revelation 2:11; 20:14; 21:8 means or involves cessation of being.

Well, nothing says the damned cease to exist other than the many verses that say they are “destroyed” using many different Greek words, all meaning “destroy” — and the many verses saying that the damned die.

Packer takes “life” to mean existing in bliss and “death” to mean existing in agony. It’s an unnatural way to talk, isn’t it?

Luke 16:22-24 shows that, as also in a good deal of extra-biblical apocalyptic, fire signifies continued existence in pain, and the chilling words of Revelation 14:10 with 19:20; 20:10 and of Matthew 13:42, 50 confirm this.

Luke 16:22-24 is from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It certainly speaks of continued existence in pain. It says nothing of perpetual existence.

(Rev 14:9-10) A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, 10 he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.”

(Rev 19:20) But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

(Rev 20:10) And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

(Mat 13:42) They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

(Mat 13:50) and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

We’ve covered most of these already. Rev 14:19 says nothing of the punishment lasting forever. Rev 19:20 and 20:10 speak of the fate of the Roman Empire and its religious establishment (better thought of in terms of the “principalities and powers” Paul so often refers to). The Matthew passages say nothing of perpetual suffering.

In 2 Thessalonians 1:9 Paul explains, or extends, the meaning of “punished with everlasting [eternal, aionios] destruction” by adding “and shut out from the presence of the Lord^” — which phrase, by affirming exclusion, rules out the idea that “destruction” meant extinction. Only those who exist can be excluded.

(2 Th 1:9) They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power

We’ve covered this verse already. The destruction is aionios (not “everlasting”) because the result is eternal and because it happens in the next age. Part of the punishment is surely the agony of being separated from God — and fully knowing what this means. This doesn’t have to last forever to be a truly agonizing and severe punishment. You can be excluded and then destroyed. Being excluded does not mean existing forever.

It has often been pointed out that in Greek the natural meaning of the destruction vocabulary (noun, olethros; verb, apollumi) is wrecking, so that what is destroyed is henceforth nonfunctional rather than annihilating it, so that it no longer exists in any form at all.

Actually, the New Testament frequently uses these words in the sense of “die” or “death.” Most people think of death as being more serious than being nonfunctional. Consider —

(Mat 2:13) When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill [apollumi] him.”

(Mat 8:25) The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown [apollumi]!”

Herod’s goal wasn’t to transfer the infant Jesus into an alternative existence. He wanted him dead. The disciples were none too happy at the thought of dying in the storm. They weren’t saying, “We going to be transitioned to a new and nonfunctional existence”! The word means “die” or “kill” in the most ordinary senses of the terms.

In fact, in nearly every case, where the New Testament translators use “destroy” for apolummi, they could equally well translate “kill.” For example,

(Mat 10:28 ) Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy [kill] both soul and body in hell.

(Mat 22:7) The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed [killed] those murderers and burned their city.

(Mark 1:24) “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy [kill] us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!”

I could go on. It means “kill,” not “changed form of existence.”