eternal judgment

Jefferson Vann

Before I share this month's article, a progress report. You might have noticed that I did not publish an article on this blog last month. There's a good reason for my absence. My wife and I caught the virus, and that slowed us both down a bit. By God's grace, that's all it did. My translation work continues. I am still in the book of Hebrews --- up to chapter 12. I am currently scheduling devotions from Ezekiel, and those will be posted starting in June. I am currently posting devotions from Judges. On March 18th I will begin posting devotions from Psalms Book 3 (Psalm 73-89).

eternal judgment

The phrase "eternal judgment" appears in our English Bibles as a translation of the Greek κρίματος αἰωνίου in Hebrews 6:2. To what judgment does that phrase refer? We conditionalists are quite aware of what the Bible says about the judgment of the world when Christ returns. But we are used to thinking about that judgment as a limited experience. It will take place on judgment day. God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world, and a man -- the Lord Jesus -- by whom he will judge the world. In what sense, then, is the judgment eternal?

I was curious to see what traditionalist expositors have said about the referent of that phrase historically. I will include a bibliography of each resource quoted at the end of this article. The page numbers below refer to the pages in the resource quoted by the author's last name.

A number of the commentaries I consulted do not even mention the phrase, aside from quoting it from the text.

Murray suggests that the phrase refers to one of the "elementary truths" without which "one could hardly be a Christian" (204) but he offers no explanation as to the phrase's meaning.

McGee simply states that eternal judgment was taught in the Old Testament (104) and leaves the subject. N.T. Wright suggests that the phrase should be translated as "judgment of the coming age" (70).

Adelaide Newton refers to the fact that the Bible mentions this judgment often: "It was of this Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all,” (Jude 14, 15 . And the Psalms make constant mention of it. “The Lord shall endure for ever; he hath prepared his throne for judgment ; and he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness," &c. & c. (Ps. ix. 3-8, 15, 16 ; Ps. l. 4, 5 ; Ps. lxxvi. 7–10, &c.) . And Daniel vividly describes it, in Dan. vii. 9, &c" (149-150). But she never explains why the judgment is described as eternal.

Turner defines eternal judgment as "judgment of final and everlasting doom" (71). Conditionalists would accept that definition, mosty because it is ambiguous enough. Similarly ambiguous is Smith, who says that it refers to Christ's "imminent conquest of all evil in the great, final, and eternal judgment to come" (81).

Barmby only mentions that the phrase refers to "final judgment" and that is was accepted by "enlightened Jews" and "necessary to be mentioned for a complete account of the foundations of the Christian faith" (158). He sidesteps the question -- perhaps not wanting to get sidetracked.

Govett does the same thing for apparently a different reason. He states: "The " eternal judgment” of men is a something nearly connected with the resurrection of the dead. It is also linked closely with our Lord's resurrection from among the dead (Acts xvii.31; xxiv. 25). And its last great scene is connected with earth's passing away; a thing not revealed to Moses or the prophets, whose scene is the earth. The teaching of this greater judgment began with John the Baptist, as a sentence to be pronounced by the Greater One Who was coming after him. And he treats of it in two great departments; as, the judgment of the trees ( Israel and the Gentiles), and of the wheat and the chaff (Christendom ) (Matt. iii.). It was declared by our Lord still more fully" (152). So, Govett takes the adjective "eternal" as a description of judgment coming from an eternal source, as opposed to the temporary judgments under Mosaic law.

Barnes does not sidestep the question. He says that eternal judgment means "that there will be a judgment whose consequences will be eternal. It does not mean, of course, that the process of the judgment will be eternal, or that the judgment-day will continue for ever; but that the results or consequents of the decision of that day will continue for ever. There will be no appeal from the sentence, nor will there be any reversal of the judgment then pronounced. What is decided then will be determined for ever" (130).

As a conditionalist, I wholeheartedly concur. But I wonder why Barnes is so sure that the adjective eternal has to refer to the results of the action, and not the process, while he would argue that the same adjective (αἰώνιος) refers to the process of destroying in 2 Thessalonians 1:9. It would seem to me that for there to be true destruction, it cannot be an ongoing process -- otherwise nothing is truly ever destroyed.

Cowles adds another element. He says that the eternal judgment is "that final and universal judgment whose consequences were really eternal, inasmuch as from it the wicked must "go away into eternal punishment; the righteous, into eternal life” (Matt. 25: 46 ) (64)" So, the judgment is eternal because it will result in an eternal life of being punished.

Simeon has a similar take on the subject: He says that "Temporal rewards and punishments were chiefly insisted on under the law; but under the Gospel, we are taught to look forward to a day of future retribution, when "God will

judge the world by that blessed Jesus, whom he has ordained" to that office ; and will separate the wicked from the just; consigning the one to everlasting misery, and exalting the other to everlasting blessedness and glory" (228).

But, wait! That cannot be. Only one group leaves the judgment seat of Christ with eternal life: the righteous. The wicked will be punished, and that punishment is said to be eternal. But if that eternal punishment involves being punished forever then it too is a form of eternal life. To accept Cowle's explanation of what eternal judgment means is to deny that eternal life is given to believers exclusively. Matthew 25:46 does not contradict John 3:16.

Junkin also sees the adjective as implying an eternal life of torment for the lost: "Moreover, let it be remembered, that this judgment is eternal -- duration without end only can measure its extent. Everlasting life - Everlasting punishment: these are its fearful and its glorious issues. Blessedness with

out end or measure Misery without measure or bound. “When I have rolled ten thousand years in fire, then let me then expire.” But no! Eternity is but just begun. Be entreated then, oh sinner! to make sure of an interest in his redeeming blood; while it is called today, harden not your heart as in the provocation" (219). For Junkin, there cannot be an eternal judgment that does not result in a perpetual punishment.

Indeed, Kidd argues that the phrase eternal judgment does not actually refer to the judgment itself, "but the sentence of eternal punishment which will

follow that judgment in the case of apostates and unbelievers, and hardened sinners (see Jude 14, 15 ; Matt. xxv. 46.) (33). Thus, the phrase refers not to the judgment day, but to its consequence: being thrown into Gehenna to burn forever. But Jesus described being thrown into Gehenna as being destroyed, soul and body (Matthew 10:28). He was not describing a process that would go on for eternity.

Lowrie merely states "with reference to the eternal judgment, we may compare

Rom. ii. 1-16, where, according to the Apostle's gospel, Gentile and Jew must alike be judged by Christ in the great day, and thus everything for future life depends on holding to Christ by faith" (184). But Lowie does not explain that Paul in that same description of judgment said that only the saved will have eternal life (Romans 2:7).

Wescott has three notes on the phrase. He says that the "phrase 'eternal judgment' may be compared with 'eternal sin' (Mark iii. 29 αἰώνιον ἁμάρτημα" (148). But the comparison doesn't help much. The eternal sin of the blasphemer does not guarantee that he or she has immortality, so an eternal judgment upon their sin could be satisfied with death.

Wescott also suggests that "κρίμα (the word for judgment) describes the sentence and not the process" (148). If that is so, perhaps the word "penalty" might be a suitable synonym for judgment. If so, the penalty of death, being a permanent solution to the problem, might be the reason the adjective "eternal" is used by the author of Hebrews here.

In a previous note on the adjective αἰώνιος translated usually as eternal, Westcott lists the nouns usually modified by the adjective. They are πῦρ (fire) Matthew 18:8; 25:4; Jude 7; κόλασις (punishment) Matthew 25:46; σκηνή (tent) Luke 16:9; βασιλεία (kingdom) 2 Peter 1:11; ὄλεθρος (destruction) 2 Thessalonians 1:9); παράκλησις (comfort) 2 Thessalonians 2:16; χρόνος (time) Romans 16:25; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2; θεός (God) Romans 16:26; κράτος (dominion) 1 Timothy 6:16; δόξα (glory) 2 Timothy 2:10; 1 Peter 5:10; εὐαγγέλιον (gospel) Revelation 14:6. Westcott claims that this list throws light on the adjective's meaning (132).

What would actually throw light on the meaning of αἰώνιος within the phrase

κρίματος αἰωνίου is to first eliminate all the nouns above which have nothing to do with judgment. That would leave a short list: fire, punishment and destruction. These three words are consistent with Jesus' statement that Gehenna will involve destruction of soul and body.

But how can the fire, the punishment and the destruction be eternal without granting eternal life to those who are thrown into it? The answer -- I believe -- is to distinguish between two possible meanings of αἰώνιος. The meaning usually associated with the english word eternal is perpetual: a repetitive process with no end. This is the meaning Wescott suggested by his list.

But the Greek αἰώνιος has another meaning, a meaning quite consistent with both Christ's description of hell in Matthew 10 and the phrase we are looking at from Hebrews 6. That meaning is permanent. The fire of Gehenna is a permanent punishment resulting in permanent destruction. The judgment on judgment day will be a permanent judgment from which there will be no appeal because it is final, capital, terminal. The wages of sin is death -- the second death -- a death that is permanent, a death from which there will be no resurrection. That is the permanent judgment which the author of Hebrews lists as one of the six foundational principles of the Christian faith.

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Sources referred to above:

Barmby, J. Hebrews. London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co, 1886.

Barnes, Albert, and Ingram Cobbin. Notes Explanatory and Practical on the New Testament: Hebrews. London: Partridge and Oakey, 1850.

Cowles, Henry. The Epistle to the Hebrews: With Notes, Critical, Explanatory and Practical. New York: D. Appleton, 1878.

Govett, Robert. Christ Superior to Angels, Moses, and Aaron: a Comment on the Epistle to the Hebrews. 1884.

Junkin, George. A Commentary Upon the Epistle to the Hebrews. Philadelphia: Smith, English, 1873.

Kidd, William John. Bible Class Notes on the Epistle to the Hebrews. 1857.

Lowrie, Samuel T. An Explanation of the Epistle to the Hebrews. New York: R. Carter, 1884.

McGee, J. Vernon. Hebrews. Nashville, Tenn: T. Nelson, 1991.

Murray, Andrew. The Holiest of All. An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews ... Second Edition. Pp. xv. 552. J. Nisbet & Co: London, 1895.

Newton, Adelaide Leaper. The Epistle to the Hebrews Compared with the Old Testament. New York: R. Carter, 1867

Simeon, Charles. Horæ Homileticæ: or Discourses. London: Holdsworth and Ball, 1833.

Smith, Robert H. Hebrews. Minneapolis, Minn: Augsburg Publ. House, 1984.

Turner, Samuel H. The Epistle to the Hebrews in Greek and English With an Analysis and Exegetical Commentary. New York: Stanford and Swords, 1852.

Westcott, Brooke Foss. The Epistle to the Hebrews. London [etc.]: Macmillan, 1903.

Wright, N. T. Hebrews for Everyone. 2004