Matt.25:31-33, 41-46; The Parable of The Sheep and The Goats:
When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left... Then He will say to those on His left, DEPART from me you who are cursed, INTO THE ETERNAL FIRE PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and ye did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."
They will answer, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?"
He will reply, "I tell you the truth, Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."
THEN THEY WILL GO AWAY TO ETERNAL PUNISHMENT, BUT THE RIGHTEOUS TO ETERNAL LIFE.
Most will no doubt agree that the judgment scene in this parable and resulting punishment is final. But
- Is Eternal Torment explicitly taught in this parable? OR
- Is Eternal Torment demanded by the imagery in this passage?
IMAGERY: There are two basic images used in this passage that have been traditionally interpreted to denote torment - "eternal punishment", and "eternal Fire. Now I think it would be fair to conclude from the text that Eternal Fire and Eternal Punishment are equivalent terms because eternal punishment in this parable is represented as a banishment into eternal fire. But do either of these combinations necessitate conscious suffering?
WHAT ABOUT "ETERNAL PUNISHMENT": Does the word "punishment" or the words "eternal" and "punishment" together imply or necessitate torment?
To Punish (according to Webster's) is
1. to impose a penalty on for a fault or crime.
2. to inflict a penalty for (i.e.. treason with death)
3. to inflict injury on: syn. chasten, discipline, correct.
The Greek "kolasis", used only twice in the New Testament, is the word translated "punishment" in this text. Its primary signification is to "cut off" or prune or lop off; its secondary meaning is to restrain. The primary meaning here would suggest that while the righteous go to life, the wicked are forever deprived of or "cut off" from life. About kolasis, Fudge says;
The Septuagint puts 'kolasis' for mikshol, which means a stumbling block that leads to ruin. The word Jesus uses is applied to the Egyptian plague (Wisdom of Sol.11:13; 16:2; 24) but also to their death in the Red Sea (Wisdom of Sol.19:4).
It refers to punishment by death in I Samuel 25:31 and Ezekiel 21:15. "Punishment" may certainly include conscious pain, as in all the examples above, but it does not have to. The same word is applied to an idol of wood or stone in Wisdom of Solomon 14:10, which says that, "that which was made [idol] shall be punished together with him that made it"
- Could the "eternal punishment" of the wicked simply be "eternal death" or "everlasting destruction"?
WHAT ABOUT ETERNAL FIRE: Does "eternal fire" clearly denote either conscious experience, or a continual burning flame which causes endless suffering? Or could "eternal fire" simply be a metaphor for eternal destruction? Interestingly, because something is eternal/everlasting in scripture does not necessitate endless perpetuity of action. For example, the scripture speaks of "Eternal Judgment", Hebrews 6:2, not in the sense that the final judgment scene will be reenacted day after day for eternity, but that a final judgment will be made that will have eternal consequences for the wicked.
- Similarly, rather than denoting an endless process of ongoing torture, could "eternal fire" be descriptive of a destruction which is unending in the sense that it is eternally irreversible?
- In other words, could the consequences of the fire be eternal and not the burning process itself?
