Words of Contrast and Plain Meaning

The strongest defense Traditionalists have to defend their view is based on non-didactic texts of the Bible like stories and prophetic literature. But if it is just on this that determines what they believe about hell, they are on very shaky ground. Surely, they know it is unwise to build an entire theological framework on a couple verses in the Bible that are not didactic. However, if we look at many other Bible verses that are more direct and plain in meaning and in their instruction, then Conditionalism begins to make more sense.

If we take many of the Bible’s words at face-value and interpret them more literally, then we will see and understand that when Jesus was talking about life and death, that’s what He really meant. When God spoke to Himself after Adam’s sin, wanting to remove Adam and Eve from the garden because otherwise they would “live forever” (Gen. 3:22), God really meant that this would have been the future for humanity if He didn’t do something to remove their immortal condition. The famous John 3:14-16 passage says, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” There are plain similarities here between those who died in the wilderness because they failed to look up on the serpent that was lifted up to those who do not look up upon the cross believing in Jesus to save them, they will likewise perish. They will die rather than have life forever. But if they look up to be saved, they will live. Here are some other Bible verses with contrasted meanings which appear clear to me in speaking about actual death and immortality:

Eternal Life:

John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” The contrast is between eternal life and not seeing life. But if someone were to live in Hell forever, that is still seeing life, is it not?

John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” The contrast is between eternal life and death, not eternal life in heaven vs. eternal life in hell. Death is the judgement here while life is the gift that comes from believing.

John 6:40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” The emphasis here is on a resurrection that lasts unto eternity.

John 10:28 “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” The contrast is between life and losing life—perishing.

John 12:25 “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” The contrast is between keeping your life eternally or losing it (forever). Losing one’s life is not equivalent to an eternity of suffering. It is simply the forfeiting of the continuance of life.

Matthew 25:46 “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” The contrast is between life and eternal banishment from life, which is the punishment. Eternal describes the nature of the punishment, not the punish-ing. The punishment is of eternal value and consequence.

Romans 2:6-7 “God, who will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life;” The word “immortality” is used to describe this condition of eternal life. Immorality is never used to describe the final state of the wicked but is instead a choice word from Paul to describe the lasting condition of believers. This is because believers will be finally immortal whereas unbelievers will not.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The contrast is between death and life. Death is the punishment/penalty for sin whereas eternal life/immortality is the unmerited favor of God given to us freely.

Luke 18:18 “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” This is the story of the rich young ruler. When the man asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, what was his concept of eternal life? What was he actually asking? What was “eternal life” to him? At this point, Jesus had not died or risen from the grave and the New Testament had not been written yet so he could not have referenced that for his definition of eternal life. The man probably didn’t know Jesus either. Therefore, do you think he would have had a definition of eternal life as something other than the simple concept of living on forever? If we understand “eternal life” literally, it means to not cease existing. The rich young ruler had the wealth and he had the fame. He had it all but death still loomed in his future so what was he missing? Eternal life.

Perish:

Luke 13:5 “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” The context of these words is the story/event of the tower of Siloam falling on people and killing them. The “likewise” is a warning to the ungodly that a removal of life would be their same fate if they failed to repent. When the disciples were in the boat in which they thought they were going to die because the storm was enormous, they said “we are perishing,” (Lk. 8:24) that is, “we’re going to be dead pretty soon here,” “we’re dying/going to die.” Their understanding of perish was to die. Elsewhere, “perish” also clearly has that literal meaning (Acts 5:37; Jude 1:11).

1 Corinthians 15:17-19 “and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.” This is a hypothetical argument of what the result would be if Jesus didn’t actually raise from the dead. The result would be that those who had “fallen asleep” (aka died) believing in Christ, would have actually perished (aka ceased to exist). That is, if Jesus hasn’t been raised, then there is no life for anyone after this earthly one and therefore no hope for the future.

Life and Immortality:

2 Timothy 1:8-11 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.” The plain meaning of abolishing death is that death will be no more for those who hope in God; for when they die, they will continue living forever. They will no longer have to worry about and fear death, the death in which they used to be subject to a slaving fear of for all their lives (Heb. 2:15). Indeed, the last enemy Jesus will defeat is death (1 Cor. 15:26). Since Jesus came, the good news of life and immortality has been revealed to us which is in direct contrast to the bad news of ceasing to exist. That bad news with its result is what Jesus abolished.

Psalm 69:28 “May they be blotted out of the book of life and may they not be recorded with the righteous.” In this psalm of David, he asks God to remove the life of certain people living on the earth who were God’s and David’s enemies. The book of life is a book which is a record of all those who are living and if you are living, your name is in this book by default. To be blotted out of this book is the same as to have one’s existence removed. See also Exodus 32:32-33.

Fire:

Matthew 3:10 “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Matthew 3:12 “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Matthew 13:40 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.”
Matthew 13:49-50 “the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire”

If a tree is thrown into a fire, what happens to it? It burns up. What happens if you throw chaff or tares into a fire? They burn up. What naturally happens if a person is thrown into a furnace of fire? They burn up. How can the phrase “burn up” be forced into meaning “exist forever”? If that’s what it really means, then all of Jesus’ and John the Baptists’ listeners were deceived in how they naturally interpreted “burn up.”

Death:

John 8:51 “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.”
John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” Because Jesus is the source of life and resurrection, there is life beyond the grave for those who believe in Him so that they will never die. The contrasted implication here is that one will eventually die apart from Jesus.

Hebrews 2:9 “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.” Jesus experienced the suffering of a literal death. That was the penalty for sin. He paid that penalty through experiencing a substitutionary death for everyone. That is, Jesus’ literal death paid for my release from the penalty of having to face a literal eternal death.

James 5:20 “let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” What is the soul saved from? Eternal torment? Sin? Or does this text say that the soul is saved from death?

1 Corinthians 15:21 “For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” The context here is clearly speaking of the death that Adam brought to all mankind and that death being a literal death, since the whole context here is speaking of bodily resurrection, a resurrection that conquers literal death. And if 1 Corinthians 15 is talking about literal death, then we must also interpret the fall of man in the Genesis account as speaking of literal death.

Rev 2:11; 20:14; 21:8
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.”
“Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”
“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

What was the first death? Literally dying on this earth. So if the text calls something “second,” it must be at least somewhat like the first, right? Otherwise, why call it second? Why not just call it something completely different like—eternal conscious torment? But it isn’t called something different and it’s related to the first which strongly implies that the author is referring to an actual death—a ceasing to be. If eternal conscious torment were the actual punishment, why muddy the water with the phrase “second death”? Why not just say eternal torment? That’s far worse a punishment, isn’t it? So if it was Jesus’ or John’s intention to warn people, wouldn’t it have been more effective for them to just mention torment instead of death? After all, if people are going to make an informed decision weighing all the variables, the clear phrase of eternal torment would be quite a big thing to leave out, don’t you think?

It is interesting to note that in all the writings of the Apostle Paul, he never spoke of “hell.” He referred to wrath, judgement, death, destruction, perishing, but not hell. In the Apostle John’s writings, his choice words were death and perishing. What I find clear here in the book of revelation is what “death” means as I have just reasoned above. Additionally, it doesn’t make sense for death in this context to be symbolic because the fire is the symbol while death is the clear description of that symbol. This is consistent with Biblical interpretation elsewhere in the book of Revelation where the “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Rev. 5:8), and “the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints” (19:8). The symbols are before and then they are plainly described for what they literally are. Therefore, it makes the most sense to interpret “the second death” not as symbolic in any way, but literally.