God's Judgement – Punitive or Restorative?

Divine Judgement

Divine judgment was medicinal, not retributive.> “The punishments are for healing, not for vengeance.” — Theodoret, In Ezekiel 18.32

The Fire of Divine Love

Edessa/Nisibis (Eastern Syriac) — Mystical Restoration Isaac of Nineveh, Ephrem the Syrian Hopeful theology that saw judgment as a fire of divine love. > “Hell is the scourge of the love of God.” — Isaac of Nineveh, Homily 27

The Fire of God

Basil of Caesarea, Cyril of Jerusalem ✨ Fire destroys sin, not souls. Any “destruction” language referred to corruption, not people. > “The fire is not for torture, but for purification.” — Basil, Homily on Psalm 28

He saves universally

“The Lord is an atonement, ʻnot for our sins only,ʼ that is, of the faithful, ʻbut also for the whole world.ʼ Therefore He indeed saves all universally; but some as converted by punishments, others by voluntary submission, thus obtaining...

Aionian Punishment

“For the wicked there are punishments not perpetual, . . . but they are to be tormented for a certain brief period, according to the amount of malice in their works. They shall therefore suffer punishment for a short space, but immortal...

The cleansing fire

To the same effect much might he quoted from St. Gregory of Nyssa. The evil man after death will not become “a sharer in the divine nature, till the cleansing fire shall have removed the stains mingled with the soul” (De mort. 2). And...

Restoration of All

“The peace [coming] from the Lord is coextensive with all time [eternity]. For all things shall be subject to him, and all things shall acknowledge his empire; and when God shall be all in all, those who now excite discords by revolts...

Chastisement

The very pit itself is a place of torments and of chastisement, but is not eternal. It was made that it might be a medicine and help to those who sin. Sacred are the stripes which are medicine to those who have sinned. “Therefore we do not...

Saviour of all

“He is the Savior, not of some and of the rest not. … For how is He Lord and Savior if He is not Lord and Savior of all? He is certainly the Savior of those who believe … while of those who do not believe, He is Lord, until having become...

Some He Converts by Penalties

Phil 2:10

“So He saves all; but some He converts by penalties, others who follow Him of their own will, and in accordance with the worthiness of His honor, that every knee may be bent to Him of celestial, terrestrial and infernal things (Phil 2:10)...

The Chastisement of God

“For there are partial corrections (padeiai) which are called chastisements (kolasis), which many of us who have been in transgression incur by falling away from the Lord’s people. But as children are chastised by their teacher, or their...

What is the purpose of fire?

Rom.13:10; 1Cor.3:11-15; Jer 32:35; Isa.66:16; Mark 9:49; Zeph.3:8; Mal.3:2; 1Cor.3:12-15

The ‘fire’ that Scripture speaks of does not harm God’s redeemed (lsa.43:2; Rom.13:10;1Cor.3:11-15). Clement of Alexandria (c.150- c.215) puts it this way: ‘God does not punish, for punishment is retaliation for evil. Rather, He chastens –...

Restoration of All

“At some time the nature of evil shall pass to extinction, being fully and completely removed from existence; and divine unmixed goodness shall embrace in itself every rational nature, nothing that has been made by God falling away from...

The purpose of Fire

Isa 4:5; Matt 3:3; Lev 16:27; 2 Pet 3:10; Ezek 1:4; Ezek 8:2; Rev 1:14; Rev 4:5

Again, how shallow is the common view of “fire” as only or chiefly a penal agent. “Fire, in Scripture, is the element of ‘life’ (Isa 4:5), of ‘purification’ (Matt 3:3), of ‘atonement’ (Lev 16:27), of ‘transformation’ (2 Pet 3:10), and...

God's Judgment

“God’s judgment is love. Hell is not separation—it’s the confrontation of the false self by the blazing truth of Christ.”— Mystical Union (paraphrased)

What does God's judgement look like?

1 Cor 3:10-15; Rom 11:22; Matt 19:25

The death or the punishment that sin brings is as much a means of grace, on his view, as the death that being crucified with Christ brings, and in both cases death is a process whereby the old person or the false self is destroyed. The...

The Inescapable Love of God

Many think it impossible to square a doctrine of universal reconciliation with the theme of divine judgment that we find not only in Paul, but throughout the Bible generally. For the God of the Bible, they insist, is not only loving and...

The Larger Hope

Isa.4:4; 1Cor.5:5; Rom.7:13-25; Heb.12:10

Love is not simply one aspect of God’s character among others, such as wisdom, justice and power: love is the essence of God’s Being, the fount of all His attributes; the motivating principle behind all His works. Love is, as it were, the...

The Purpose of God's Judgement

Isaiah 26:9; Hebrews 12:29; Malachi 3:3; 1 Peter 1:7; Matthew 3:12; 1 Corinthians 3:13; Revelation 20:12; Romans 2:6

1. God's Judgment Brings Righteousness — Not Eternal Torment“When Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”— Isaiah 26:9God does not destroy to annihilate — He judges to teach. His fire is not...

The Judgement of God

Those whom God has “imprisoned” in disobedience – the vessels of wrath whom he endures with much patience – are precisely those to whom he is merciful. By literally shutting sinners up to their disobedience and requiring them to endure the...

The Larger Hope

1Sam.2:6; 2Sam.14:14

He disciplines to improve. No matter how severely He chastens, it is for our good, not harm. Divine chastening, even when it leads to acute suffering and loss, including death, is the pathway to life. For we read that God ‘kills and makes...

Aionios

“Eternal life, then, is not merely life that comes from God; it is also the mode of living associated with the age to come. And similarly for eternal punishment: It is not merely punishment that comes from God; it is also the form of...

The meaning of Aionios

William Barclay, author of The Daily Study Bible Series, wrote: “[ Aionios] means more than everlasting, for Plato—who may have invented the word—plainly says that a thing may be everlasting and still not be aionios . . . aionios cannot be...

Aionios

“The simplest way to put it is that aionios cannot be used properly of anyone but God; it is the word uniquely, as Plato saw it, of God. Eternal punishment is then literally that kind of remedial punishment which it befits God to give, and...

Meaning of Kolasis

Matt 25:46

“The Greek word for punishment here [Matt 25:46] is kolasis, which was not originally an ethical word at all. It originally meant the pruning of trees to make them grow better. I think it is true to say that in all Greek secular literature...

Meaning of Kolasis

“There is a difference between revenge and punishment; the latter (kolasis) is inflicted in the interest of the sufferer, the former (timoria) in the interest of him who inflicts it, that he may obtain satisfaction.” “And these will go...

#38 – Punishment – Gr. Kolasis

Matthew 25:46; John 15:2; Hab. 3:6

So far we have looked at 4 terms used in Scripture to convey judgment in the afterlife. In this blog we will look at the term that is found in the most notorious reference to supposed “eternal damnation.” This reference is by far the most...

Use of Apollumi

Heb 1:11

In Heb 1:11,12, quoted from Psa 102, we read concerning the heavens and the earth as compared with the eternity of God, "they shall perish" (apolountai). Then in verse 12 "They will also be changed..." But the perishing is only preparatory...

Post Mortem Judgement and the Reconciling Fire of God

2 Corinthians 5:10; Hebrews 12:29; 1 Corinthians 3:13; 1 Timothy 2:6; 1 Cor. 15:28; 1 John 3:2

POST-MORTEM JUDGMENT AND THE RECONCILING FIRE OF GOD “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body.” (2 Corinthians 5:10) Judgment defined by Christ Post-mortem judgment...

The Fire of God

“The fire of God is His love. It consumes what is not of Him, not the soul He created.” — Her Gates Will Never Be Shut

Eternal Destruction

2 Thes 1:9

These will pay the penalty of eternal [aionios] destruction [olethros], away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power… (2 Thes 1:9). The word 'away' has been added by translators and is not in the original text...

Is Hell Separation from God?

Video Clip 15min Hell is either a Created Place, therefore is in Christ, because everything created is in Him, therefore there is no separation from HimORIt is an Uncreated Place, and as the only thing that is uncreated is God Himself, it...

Unwrathing God

Video 28min

He Searched Until He Found Them

Video interview starts at 7:07 7:58 Brad's journey 13:04 The Deconstruction Journey and the book Out of the Embers 19:03 Experiencing Jesus before conversion 25:30 What about when God seems absent? 46:22 Penal Substitutionary Atonement

Overview of Hell and Early Church

Matthew 25:46; Mark 9:43-48; Isaiah 66:24; Luke 16:19-31; Luke 16:23; Revelation 14:10-11; Revelation 20:10; Hebrews 12:29

YOU KNOW THAT “HELL” THE RELIGIOUS CHURCH TAUGHT YOU ALL YOUR LIFE?Jesus Never Taught That Hell in All of Scripture INTRODUCTION: SMOKE AND FEAR — HOW RELIGION TURNED THE GOSPEL INTO A FIREPITFor centuries, the Church has preached a gospel...

Purification, Not Destruction

Mark 9:49; Matthew 3:11; Matthew 25:46; Luke 9:56; John 5:22; John 12:47; Ephesians 2:7; Revelation 20:14

The concept of “eternal torture in hell” is a man-made fusion — built from mistranslations and tradition, not from truth.1. JESUS SPOKE OF FIRE — BUT NOT TO TORTURE, TO PURIFY“Everyone will be salted with fire.”— Mark 9:49Fire in Jesus’...

Savior and Tormentor?

Luke 15:17; Rom. 2:4

When we preach, on the one hand, that God loves sinners and sent Jesus to die for them, and, on the other, that He is also the merciless Tormentor of all who would have the effrontery to slight Him, this must sound, to all but the...

Tertullian: a Father of Joyless Legalistic Christianity

Long before Constantine’s imperial endorsement of Christianity in the 4th century, the transformation of Christ’s movement into an institution was already underway. The Roman emperor did not act in a vacuum. The church he...

Augustine

The advocacy of hell came primarily on the scene with Augustine: In no other respect did Augustine differ more widely from Origen and the Alexandrians [Eastern Church] than in his intolerant spirit. Even Tertullian conceded to all the...

Historical Survey of early Church...Hell

1 Corinthians 3:11-15; Romans 5:17; 1 Cor. 3:11-15; 1 Tim. 2:1-6; Eph. 1:10; Phil. 2:9-11; Col. 1:20; Heb. 2:9

The following is from Richard Murray, a great theologian of our time. Here is a quick historical survey of the EARLY CHURCH regarding their surprising beliefs about HELL: THE FIRST 500 YEARS: In the first five centuries there were six...

Setting the Record Straight on Hell, Judgment, and the Early Church

1 Tim. 4:10; Rom. 5:18; Col. 1:20; 1 Cor. 15:22-28; John 12:32; Rev. 21:5

Setting the Record Straight on Hell, Judgment, and the Early Church  (For the pastor who told me to “do more research”)The other day, a pastor told me I needed to “do my research”—because, according to him, only one early church school...

Her Gates Will Never Be Shut

This is one of the best books that deals with Eternal Conscious Torment.

#32 – The Lake of Fire, Part 2

1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 5:26; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; Hebrews 11:1; 1 Corinthians 3:13-15; 2 Peter 3:9-13

In the previous blog we saw that the nature of fire is the Law and the purpose of this fire is to discipline and correct us, refining us until we are righteous and holy – as God is. To clarify, we are actually imputed holiness and...

A Hope in Hell

Audio Interview

How Can Suffering Co-exist with a Good God?

Heb 2:10

How can suffering coexist in a universe with a perfectly good and all-powerful God? We can blame human free will, if we wish, but that does not remove the difficulty as to why God, knowing that men would use their free will thus, did not...

Punishment or Reconciliation?

Do we see scary, messy sinners who deserve hatred and punishment, or do we see sons and daughters for whom the Father sacrificed everything to love and restore? Only when we see the latter can we be trusted to sit down with someone in a...

Do verses on reconciliation apply to all people, or just Christians?

2 Corinthians 5:19

That's a great question! The audience does not define the scope of the claim. The referent does. Scripture routinely addresses believers while making ontological statements about humanity. Apostolic letters are pastoral documents, not...

Eternal Torment

“The doctrine of eternal torment is the most absurd theological proposition ever uttered.”— That All Shall Be Saved