What Does It Take to be a Conditionalist? 2 Things
“What does it take to be a conditionalist?”This was more or less the question I had in mind when Chris Date traveled to New Hampshire to speak at the 2024 Eastern Region’s leaders conference.
For those unfamiliar, Chris Date is the leading proponent of evangelical condititionalism in the 21st century. His contributions along with others on Rethinking Hell have elevated the visibility of the doctrine of conditional immortality to unprecedented heights. Advent Christians may have preceded Date in this advocacy, but it must be admitted that he and others have far surpassed Advent Christians in this century.
In a panel discussion before these Advent Christian leaders gathered in Alton Bay entertaining questions, Derek Irvine (as moderator) asked Chris my question in this form: “If conditionalism is the belief that man is only conditionally immortal, is it possible to maintain this belief while not insisting on annihilationism as a necessary feature of that belief?”
You can watch Date’s reply to that question here. In so many words, he says that conditionalism implies more than the mere contingency of human existence, that there are conditions to be met in order to secure immortality, and that to include the position posed in the question would only muddy the term beyond usefulness.
Accepting Date’s response, I would state the two conditions to be a conditionalist as follows:
You must believe that human beings are by nature mortal and are thus not inherently immortal.
You must believe that immortality is only gained through union with Christ.
Point 1 is necessary but not sufficient to be a conditionalist; point 2 presupposes acceptance of 1.
Of course, my interest in such nuance follows from my concern to carefully define the borders of Advent Christian identity. We have long painted a polarized picture in which those who deny conditional immortality must believe immortality is inherent (immortalism) — that it is one or the other. While this is true for some, it is not true for all — a distinction worthy of definition.
I call this alternative, third option, “judicial immortality.”* Like conditionalists, “judicialists” believe that human beings are mortal in nature but will continue to exist, either in Christ or apart from Christ to satisfy divine justice; either to enjoy eternal communion with God or to suffer their purportedly just punishment — eternal torment.
Now some might claim this is a distinction without a difference, but I would strongly object. There is a substantial difference between this position and that which maintains that the wicked must suffer eternal torment because human beings are immortal in nature. The latter position baldly implies that God cannot destroy any human being given our immortal nature. This elevates human existence to a nearly divine status, untouchable even by God himself. The judicialist would instead say that while it is possible for God to destroy the wicked, divine justice requires eternal torment.
I am a conditionalist, not a judicialist, and so I strongly disagree with this position. I think the teaching position of the Advent Christian denomination can and should be unapologetically conditionalist. Nonetheless, I do think the denomination can and should welcome judicialists into its membership. The difference between conditionalists and judicialists extends only to the final punishment, not to human nature as with the immortalists.
For now, I will refrain from offering a practical solution as to how we can at one and the same time be pro-conditionalist and welcome judicialists. I will only say that I strongly believe we can achieve this sort of denominational nuance if we are willing to consider some creative solutions.
*I have introduced this term because it is useful for our theological discernment as Advent Christians. Among those who believe in eternal torment, I do not know how many would be categorized as judicialists as opposed to immortalists. Frankly, I don’t know that those who believe in eternal torment care very much about making the distinction. At the very least, Advent Christians should care about making such distinctions and so I have done just this.
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.