Category: Bible Study

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Bible Study Theology

1 Peter 3:18-19; 4:5-6 Is Hell really eternal unending punishment?

I don’t plan on answering that question definitively in this post, but I chose it as the post title because it is something that many sincere Christians ask, and I hope that those who are asking it will read this post and be helped along in their search of answers.

I clearly remember a time in my life when eternal conscious torment in hell was a doctrine that I was finding harder and harder to accept.  I believe that many people today are in that place and I hope that by sharing just a little bit here of what God taught me, they may be spared from the grievous error into which I very nearly fell.

First of all, I want to challenge anyone who is questioning the historic orthodox doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hell to ask himself…


“Why am I questioning the reality of eternal punishment?”


If you are honest, I think you would have to admit, as I had to, that the starting point of my thinking was not what God has revealed to us in his inspired Word about his justice, hell and eternal punishment, but rather it was my own philosophical stumbling blocks.  In other words, it is very hard for us to come to grips with eternal punishment, so we go to the Scriptures trying to find a reason why this can’t be true.  Perhaps we were taught about hell in our childhood without ever understanding the biblical basis for the doctrine.  So as adults we begin to question what we were taught because it just doesn’t seem fair that some sinners would be saved and others would be lost.  It doesn’t seem to accord with our concept of love that God would allow a person to suffer an infinite, eternal punishment.

Are you willing to make what God has revealed your starting point, rather than starting with your questions?  Are you willing to study what God has revealed with an open mind?  When we start with our questions, we are putting God on trial and trying to fit his character and being into our human understanding rather than starting with what is greater and infinite and letting it shape our limited, finite understanding.

Try to come with grips with the large portions of Scripture where God’s pure and holy hatred of sin is undiluted.  This is the value of reading the Old Testament prophets.  They break us and show us our wickedness so that we are then in a position to read a chapter like Isaiah 53 and begin to grasp the magnitude of what Jesus did for us when we understand that the wrath in the cup that Jeremiah was told to take to the nations (Jer. 25:15) was drunk for us by God the Son himself (Luke 22:42).  To say that Jesus did not suffer God’s wrath for us is a convenient route to take philosophically, but it is not what God reveals to us in his Word (see my review of The Shack for some of the biblical teaching on God’s just and holy judgment of sin).

God also showed me my pride in questioning his revelation concerning eternal punishment in hell.  Not only was I stubbornly refusing to come to grips with what he was saying to me in his word, I was also claiming that it was unjust for him to condemn me to hell for my sins.

Of course, my concern wasn’t for myself, so I thought.  I was concerned for others who hadn’t yet come to Christ.  What about them?  How could God send them to hell and not me?  Doesn’t that sound noble?  Doesn’t it sound merciful and loving to question how God could condemn poor, lost sinners to eternal punishment.

But what I was missing was the important scriptural doctrine of the unity of the human race.  The problem is not my sin over against your sin.  The problem is our sin.  In Adam, we are all sinners together.  We bear our guilt together as well as individually (Romans 5:12-21).

So when I say, “God, how can you justly punish that poor sinner with eternal punishment”, I am really saying, “God, how can you justly punish me with eternal punishment.” If I am not willing to accept that I deserve eternal punishment then how can I accept what Jesus did for me at the cross?  Do I think that he is saving me because there is something in me that is worth saving?  If so, then I am clinging to my own filthy rags of self-righteousness rather than casting my self wholly on him.  And if I deserve eternal punishment, then so does every other sinner.  That is why I should pray for those who have not believed with humility, recognizing that it is our sin of unbelief and rebellion that needs to be covered with Jesus’ blood.

This is already a huge post, but I want to treat at least one Bible passage that is sometimes appealed to as an argument that hell is not eternal punishment.  Actually, there are many other more important passages to deal with, but this one happened to be the one that motivated me to write this post in the first place, so I’ll just deal with it.

1 Peter 3:18-19

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

Many people believe that these verses teach that those who have died without accepting Jesus will eventually be released from hell as they are “brought to their senses” and come to trust in Christ.  Hell, in this way of thinking, is like the “hell” that the prodigal son went through and that brought him to his senses and caused him to come back to Christ (this is only one of several possible interpretations that have been offered). But is Peter really saying here that Jesus, after his resurrection, went and proclaimed the gospel to people from Noah’s day who had died and were in a spiritual prison awaiting judgment day?

1 Peter 4:5-6 seems to refer to the same thing…

5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

Is this verse also teaching that the good news of salvation in Jesus is preached to people after they have died?

I don’t believe it is, and here is why…

In the context of these verses, Peter is talking about suffering as believers when we take a stand for Jesus and proclaim his gospel (3:13-17).  Immediately before the verses in question, he says, (v. 17) “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” Verse 17 is crucial to understand.  If it is better to suffer for doing good, than for doing evil, then there is a suffering for evil that is possible to fall into.  Is Peter here only referring to suffering in this world?  We shall see…

To continue his argument, in v. 18, Peter reminds his readers that Jesus suffered for their sin on the cross so that they would not have to suffer God’s judgment “for doing evil” (end of v. 17).  Jumping ahead to v. 21, Peter reminds them that through their water baptism, which was an outward demonstration of their faith in what Jesus did for them in his death and resurrection, they were saved from having to suffer “for doing evil” (remember v. 17 again).

Now let’s look at the verses in between v. 18 and v. 21.  Here Peter uses the example of the sinners who were judged in Noah’s day to draw a contrast between those who do not have to suffer for doing evil (because they were united with Christ through faith demonstrated in water baptism), and those who do have to suffer for doing evil (because they did not believe).  Those who survived the flood of water represent those who are saved through the water of baptism.  But the water that saved some was also judgment for others who did not believe.

The sinners of Noah’s day had opportunity to repent of their sins and find salvation in Noah’s ark.  But how did they have this opportunity?  Most people assume that the Genesis account says that Noah, during the entire time he was building the ark, was also warning people of the coming flood, but if you look again in Genesis, it never says that Noah preached.  The only references to Noah preaching are in the New Testament.  One is in 2 Peter 2:5, where Noah is called a “herald of righteousness.” The other is right here in 1 Peter 3.  Notice that it says that God was “patiently waiting” in the days of Noah.  Waiting for what?  Peter himself answers that question in his second book (2 Peter 3:5-9).  He says that just as God patiently waited for people to repent in Noah’s day, he is also patiently waiting for them to repent now, before he again comes to bring judgement on the earth.

So what does all of this have to do with Jesus preaching to the spirits in prison?  The answer is that Peter is referring to the fact that Jesus, in the Spirit, was patiently preaching through Noah, in Noah’s day, to the people that were in danger of coming under the judgment of the flood.

Let’s say that my brother gives me a Macbook Pro for my 30th birthday because I am moving to Indonesia to live.  Ten years later, it can be said of my brother, “yeah, he gave a Macbook Pro to his brother in Indonesia.”  It doesn’t mean that I was in Indonesia when he gave it to me, but that in contrast to the brother that lives in Ecuador, it was the brother who now lives in Indonesia that got the new laptop.

So we should understand Peter’s words in v. 19 this way: “…in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits who are (now) in prison.” The spirits of those people who were warned by Jesus, who in the Spirit used Noah as an instrument to warn them, are now in prison.  They are facing eternal judgment because they did not respond in faith to what the Spirit of Jesus was revealing to them by offering them an ark of salvation to get into before the judgment of the flood fell.

Summarizing, these verses in 1 Peter 3 do not teach that people can have the good news preached to them after they die and before the judgment, rather they teach that Jesus suffered for evil, and that if we will put our faith in him, we will not have to suffer for our evil deeds, even though we may have to suffer for doing good.

As Peter continues on talking about Christian suffering, we come to the second reference that seems to imply that the gospel will be preached to people after they die…

1 Peter 4:5-6

5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

Chapter 4 begins with this reasoning:  If Jesus suffered the death penalty for the evil deeds that we were guilty of, then we no longer have to live enslaved to evil human passions.  He doesn’t state it explicitly, but I think his implicit reason for this is that we are united with Christ in his death so that we, with Christ, died to our sins.

He goes on to say that those who are not in Christ do live enslaved to evil human passions, and that they will have to, “give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (v. 5).  In other words, even though those who are not believers think it is pointless, even ridiculous that we do not join them in doing “what feels right,” they will eventually discover that they are going to have to account for their actions.

Then Peter says, “This is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead…” Here again, just as he did in chapter 3, Peter is not talking about preaching that occurs after the person has died, but rather preaching that brought people to repentance before they died (see my previous illustration of the Macbook Pro).  These people who “are (now) dead,” had the gospel preached to them SO THAT (this is why…) they would be able to stand in the coming judgment.

Even though these believers seemed to come under the judgment of physical death (this is the meaning of, “… though judged in the flesh the way people are” )  they will live spiritually eternally because Jesus suffered their penalty in their place (“…they might live in the spirit the way God does.”)

So again, the teaching here is not that there will be opportunity for people to be saved after death, but rather that there is a judgment that is coming and for those who have sought refuge in Christ, there is hope that the suffering we experience now is not the portent of eternal judgment.

But for those who have not sought refuge in Christ, the suffering of believers is a sign to them that if they do not repent, they will be judged.  This is why Peter closes chapter 4 with these words:

“15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And…

“If the righteous is scarcely saved,

what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

To conclude my post, I want to lovingly and humbly plead with anyone who may be contemplating the possibility that God will not judge sinners eternally with an infinite punishment.  Seek God in his word.  Spend more time there than alone with your human doubts.  Don’t be content to latch on to a few scriptures that may seem to teach what you want to hear, but ask God to show himself to you, in all of his infinite justice and love that was displayed at the cross of Jesus.  It is my prayerful confidence that he will.


Categories
Bible Study Theology

Christ’s return will be sudden

Here’s another post in a short series I am doing on the return of Christ.  Read back over the last several posts to see my purpose in focusing on the this tremendous truth:  Jesus will return to earth.    Today I want to show how the Scriptures teach that his return will be sudden.

But before I go to some specific Scriptures, I feel the need to emphasize that what I am challenging us to do is NOT to focus on the COMING of Christ, but on the coming of CHRIST!  Do you understand what I mean by my use of capital letters there?  Very often, when we speak of Christ’s coming, the emphasis is on the event, and we forget the person of the event.  What makes the second coming so encouraging to us as believers is that it is JESUS who is coming.  If Jesus isn’t precious to us… if we fail to see his glory and the desirability of being in his bodily presence, then we will have missed the encouragement that we can receive by remembering that the glorious bridegroom of the church is coming back to earth.

So when we see in Scripture that Jesus’ return will be sudden, we understand that the suddenness of his coming is an encouragement to those who love him, while it will be dismaying to those who don’t.

Perhaps the passage that most clearly teaches this truth is Matthew 24:36-44.  

But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.  37 As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man (see also 2 Pet. 3:5-6 for a comparison to Noah’s flood).  38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.  41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.  42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.  44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Consider the difference in the way the two individuals mentioned will perceive the suddenness of Christ’s return.  Of the two men in the field (v. 40), or of the two women at the mill (v. 41), one rejoices as he/she is immediately in the presence of the one he loves most, while the other is suddenly  aware that the flood of judgement that Jesus Christ promised has come upon the world, and he/she is outside the Ark of Grace.

I Thess. 5:2ff, another passage that underlines the suddenness of Jesus’ return, draws this same contrast:

2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security”, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.  5 For you are all children of light, children of the day.  We are not of the night or of the darkness.  6 So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.  7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night.  8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.  11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Here again, the return of Christ is spoken of as being very sudden:  To those who deny his coming and find their peace and security is something other than the salvation that Jesus provided at the Cross when he died as a substitute for sinners, Christ’s coming will result in “sudden destruction” (v. 3).  But for those who are united with Christ in his death and are looking to him alone for salvation from their sinfulness (vs. 8-10), his sudden return is the culmination of a hope that has been implanted in their hearts since the day they first came to Christ in repentance and faith–the hope that “we might live with him” (v. 10) for all eternity.

There is another passage that comes to mind as painting this picture of eager anticipation for Christ’s return–a passage not often associated with eschatology, but I think very appropriate.  It is in the Song of Solomon, chapter 3

1 On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not.  I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves.  I sought him, but found him not.  The watchmen found me as they went about the city.  “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”  Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves.  I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me

Our puritan forefathers rightly saw in Solomon’s love poem, the relationship of Christ with his Bride, the Church.  What a beautiful picture is painted in these verses of the Church eagerly anticipating the return of Christ.  It is in this context that the Scriptural doctrine of the sudden return of Christ is such an encouragement to us as believers.  Very soon now, our Lord will come for us.

Sorry these posts on Christ’s return have been so infrequent recently, but I’m trying to learn a fairly difficult language right now, and that has occupied a lot of my time!  How I desire for this unreached people among whom I am living to know this glorious truth that Jesus is coming back.  By God’s grace, may many of them receive life on that day and escape the wrath to come!

Categories
Bible Study Theology

Christ’s return is certain

Yesterday I talked about the Scriptural command that we should encourage one another with the fact of Christ’s return.  I believe that when we fail to do this, the result is either apathetic disengagement with the work of the Lord, or despair in the face of persecution and difficulty.  God has saved us, his children, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  And he has given us  the “blessed hope” that our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will return and complete that salvation by his glorious appearing (Titus 2:13-14)

So what does the Bible teach about Jesus’ return?

His return is certain.

There is no doubt: Jesus will come back.  The angels said to the 11 disciples as they watched Jesus rise up into the air:  “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11)  Jesus will come.  As I Thess. 5.2 says, “the day of the Lord will come…”  In Matthew 24:44 Jesus said, “…the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”  

The Bible also reminds us that the certainty of Christ’s coming will very often be challenged by those around us.  The apostle Peter says in 2 Peter 3:3-4

3…knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.  4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming?  For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

But even though at times we may be tempted to question the return of Christ due to influences like  this spoken of by the apostle, let us encourage ourselves (and one another) with this fact:  Jesus IS coming.  It WILL happen!  A more certain assertion cannot be made than this one:  Jesus will return to earth.   There is no fact more certain than that. 

  • It is more certain than the possibility that the cancer in your body will kill you.
  • It is more certain than the continuation of your career.
  • It is more certain than the value of your life insurance policy.
  • It is more certain than the retirement you are planning.
  • It is more certain than the plans you have for what you want to do for the Lord.

Jesus is coming.  Hallelujah and Maranatha!

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!  21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.  Amen.

(Revelation 22:20-21)

I want to continue with more blog posts on the coming of Christ, but it may not be until the end of the month before I can post again.  Sorry.

NOTE:  In order to keep this post brief, I haven’t included all the specific promises of Christ’s return that the Bible contains.  Perhaps you could contribute to this blog by mentioning in the comments section some of the specific verses promising Christ’s coming that I have not mentioned.