NATURE OF PUNISHMENT by Wm. Penniman

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Aug 2, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 31.

NATURE OF PUNISHMENT.

By Wm. Penniman

AS DEATH, or cessation of existence, was the doom of Adam, and was only prevented by Christ's coming as the resurrection and the life, so the second death will be an entire cessation of existence. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:4. "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. "I have set before you life and death." Deut. 30:19.

It may be said that death, or cessation of life, is not a punishment. Webster defines the word "punish," "to afflict with pain, loss, or calamity." Therefore punishment may imply a loss. What is meant by capital punishment, or punishment by death? Does it consist only in the momentary pain suffered, as in the case of strangulation? or in the more instantaneous work of electrocution? or is it in the loss or deprivation of life? If the person who is thus punished, should be brought to life again in one year, would not the punishment be for that length of time? and if in ten years, it would be a ten years' punishment; and if never brought to life, it would be an everlasting punishment, or loss of life.

The Greek word kolasin, translated punishment in Matt. 25:46, is used in the sense of "cut off," one meaning of the Greek verb, kolago. Therefore it may mean that the wicked will be eternally "cut off" from life, but the righteous will enter into life eternal.

Heb. 6:2 speaks of eternal judgment. Is, therefore, the judgment never to expire? It is eternal, since it is an eternal decision, one without reprieve or alteration. Just so it is as to eternal punishment. Agreeing with this exposition of Matt. 25:46 is 2 Thess. 1:9. The apostle, speaking of those who "obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ," says, "who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." This must mean eternal cessation of being. Truly says the prophet, in speaking of the wicked, "They shall be as tho they had not been." But is not 2 Thess. 1:9 a sufficient testimony against eternal torment? In truth, it seems to be so strong and plain, that if there was not another of its kind in the Bible (yet there are many), it would be enough to overthrow the doctrine of the "eternity of suffering." Mark: this punishment is not represented as consisting in eternal torment, but in an "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power."

It is evident that their punishment consists in total banishment from the presence, power, and glory of the Lord. The question arises, Can a person in any part of God's universe be free from His presence? The psalmist says (Ps. 139:7-10): "Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me."

Where in the universe is one free from the power of God?—In no part of it. Therefore, if the sinner is to forever burn in a "lake of fire,"

God must exert His infinite power to prolong life. When the wicked are punished with an "everlasting destruction," or "be as tho they had not been," then, and then only, will they be free from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.

We will now quote a few other texts in the same line:—

"Thou hast rebuked the heathen, Thou hast destroyed the wicked, Thou hast put out their name forever and ever." Ps. 9:5.

If the names of the wicked are destroyed and forgotten, what more is there left of them? The context still further explains: "O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end; and Thou hast destroyed cities, and their memorial is perished with them." Here destruction itself is represented as having an end. This is equivalent to the "second death," which is the destruction, or the casting of death and hell into the lake of fire. In connection with the preceding verse we read: "But the Lord shall endure forever." This contrast plainly implies that the wicked shall not endure forever.

"But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off." Ps. 37:38.

"Where their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched." Mark 9:48. This passage is explained quite similarly to the one in Matthew which alludes to the chaff being burned up with unquenchable fire, and will be better understood by looking into the meaning of "hell fire" in the context. The word translated "hell fire" is literally "gehenna of fire." It is defined by Greenfield thus:—

Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, once celebrated for the horrid worship of Moloch, and afterward polluted with every species of filth, as well as the carcasses of animals, and dead bodies of malefactors; to consume which, in order to arrest the pestilence which such a mass of corruption would occasion, constant fires are kept burning.

The author of "Here and Hereafter," p. 346, in commenting upon this definition or text, says:—

This was the scene to which Christ pointed His hearers to represent the doom that awaits the wicked, in order that, as they gazed upon the work of complete destruction going on in the Valley of Hinnom—the worms devouring what the flames spared—they might learn that in the true gehenna, which awaited them, no part of their being would be exempt from utter and complete destruction, one agent of death completing what another failed to accomplish.

Again: from the same page from which we have quoted we quote in respect to the term "unquenchable fire" ("pur asbestos") as follows:—

As the definition of the word ge-enna throws great light on the meaning of this text, so the definition of another term used is equally to the point. The words for "unquenchable fire" are "pur asbestos," and the word "asbestos" primarily means simply "unquenched," that is, not caused to cease by any external means. The idea of eternal is a theological definition which has been attached to it. Ancient writers used it in this sense. Homer in the Iliad, 16, 123, 294, speaks of the Trojans hurling unquenchable fire upon the Grecian ships, tho but one of them was burnt by it. Eusebius, who was a learned Greek, employs the same expression in two instances in recounting the martyrdom of Christians. Crowin and Julian, after being tortured in various ways, were consumed in an "unquenchable fire" (puri asbestos). The same is also said of Epimachus and Alexander. "The pur asbestos," says Westein, "denotes such a fire as can not be extinguished before it has consumed and destroyed all." Such is the evident meaning of this passage in the sense in which it must have been understood at that time. Yet commentators eighteen hundred years this side of that time, presume to turn the whole representation upside down, and give to the terms a meaning exactly opposite to that which they were intended to convey.

The words of our Lord in Mark seem to have direct reference to Isa. 66:24: "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh." Barnes, in commenting upon Mark 9:48, says:—

This figure is taken from Isa. 66:24. The figure is taken from heaps of the dead slain in battle, and the prophet says that the number shall be so great that their worm, the worm feeding on the dead, shall not die; and shall live long—as long as there are carcasses to be devoured; and that the fire which was used to burn the bodies of the dead shall continue long to burn, and shall not be extinguished till they are consumed. . . The figure, therefore, denotes great misery, and certain and terrible destruction.

If the word implies extinction or extermination, it can not imply eternal life in misery.

We read (Rev. 20:14): "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." Here we have the Bible definition of the "second death," and it is worth more than all the theological or man-made definitions in the world. The "second death" is therefore the death of death, or the destruction of death itself. This is what is meant by the words, "The end [death] of the wicked shall be cut off." It is forcible language, showing that the wicked are forever "cut off" from life.

The word "hell" in this text is from hades, meaning the grave. It would not make sense to speak of hell being cast into hell.

But, says one, are there not degrees in the punishment of the wicked? Most certainly, for the Bible teaches this (Rev. 22:12): "And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man [saint and sinner] according as his work shall be." This plainly teaches that all will be recompensed according to their deeds.

On this point we quote briefly from "Here and Hereafter," p. 331:—

Let us ask believers in eternal misery how they will maintain degrees in their system. . . . But God can interpose, it is answered, to produce the effect desired. Very well, then, we reply, can not he also interpose, if necessary, according to our view?

God can easily grade the suffering and the length of time in which the wicked will suffer before their final destruction.

Reader, let us not fail to gain a home in the "new earth" (Rev. 21:1), where there will be "no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." Verse 4. WM. PENNIMAN. Woodburn, Ill.