3156.—Eternal and Everlasting
By Editor
Kindly explain Matt. 25:46, "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." The words "eternal" and "everlasting" are what puzzle so many and convey to them the idea of eternal misery. Freely grant that the words are the same, and they are in the original. The Revised Version reads: "And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life." The punishment is eternal, and the life is eternal. The one persists just as long as does the other. But note that it is not eternal punishing; it is not a process begun which never ends; it is a completed process—punishment. That completed process is eternally so. God does not keep on punishing the wicked; He completes the punishment. What that is, is shown very clearly in other scriptures. "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life." Rom. 6:23. To use the expression in Matt. 25:46 in Rom. 6:23, we could say, "The wages of sin is eternal death; but the gift of God is eternal life." In Phil. 3:18, 19 we read of the enemies of the cross of Christ, "whose end is perdition." "Perdition" means utter destruction. Again in 2 Thess. 1:9 we have a still stronger expression explaining just what the everlasting or eternal punishment is: "Who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His might." Get a little tract and read it, entitled "'Tormented Forever and Ever,'" Bible Students' Library, No. 111.