THE NEW TESTAMENT ON ENDLESS TORMENT by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · April 1, 1880

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 14

THE NEW TESTAMENT ON ENDLESS TORMENT.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

We found in the Old Testament only three of the nine texts relied upon as direct proof of the doctrine that the wicked will be tortured throughout the ages of eternity. We come now to the fourth text, which we find in the New Testament.

4. “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matt. 25:41.

Every candid person must admit that this text is one of the strongest that can be produced on this side of the question. The wicked are to depart into everlasting fire. The original Greek is aionion fire, that is, everlasting fire. Then must they not suffer there eternally? Not necessarily. Let us compare this with another passage where the same term is used: “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” Jude 7. The apostle, in referring to the overthrow of the cities of the plain, says that they suffered “the vengeance of eternal fire.”

Now we ask, What happened to those cities? Are they still burning? Is the fire still alive in Sodom and Gomorrah? No; every intelligent reader knows that the waves of the Dead Sea have rolled over those plains for more than three thousand years. That fire has been long since extinguished, and yet it was an eternal fire. Hear Peter’s testimony upon that: “And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly.” 2 Peter 2:6. It will be noticed that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were turned to ashes by eternal fire.

But how could it be said to be eternal fire, if the fire has long been out? The answer is simple. The cause is put for the effect; the destruction which it wrought was eternal. These cities were burned down, destroyed, never to be rebuilt. They never have been and never will be. Hence their destruction was eternal. The effects of the fire were eternal. And hence by the very common way of speaking, the cause is put for the effect, and the fire is called eternal. The simple meaning is, as any one can see, not that the fire is eternally burning, but that the result will be eternal. Let us take a few other cases to illustrate this use of the word eternal. Thus Paul says, “Of the doctrine of baptism, and of laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.” Heb. 6:2. Is the Judgment to be eternal? Is God to be eternally carrying on the Judgment, and never have done with it? Is it to be unending? If so, the world can never be judged. In this case we do positively know that it cannot have that meaning. All will agree that it means that the effect of the Judgment will be eternal, the decisions of the court will never be reversed. The one who is judged to destruction will remain eternally destroyed. Those who are judged to life will eternally live. Hence the Judgment, by a common form of speech, is itself called eternal.

Take another case: “Having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Heb. 9:12. Eternal redemption! Is the Lord to be eternally redeeming his people, and never redeem them? Oh, no; but the effects, the results of their redemption, are eternal, hence it is called eternal redemption. Just so in the text under consideration. Everlasting or eternal fire means precisely the same that it means in Jude in regard to the cities of the plain. They were burned up, or as Peter says, “reduced to ashes,” by eternal fire. Now we argue that if Sodom and Gomorrah could be burned with eternal fire, and at the same time be reduced to ashes, and the fire go out, so also the wicked can be burned with eternal fire, be reduced to ashes, and that fire may cease to burn. We leave our readers to judge if this is not the candid truth in the matter.

5. “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.” Matt. 25:46.

All will agree that this is by far the strongest text in the Bible in favor of endless torment. Our opponents themselves will admit that if this text does not teach it, then there is none that does; and we agree with them. But we are confident that it teaches no such thing, and that a few words of explanation will convince our friends of the same fact. Look carefully at what it does say. It says that the righteous shall go into everlasting life; the wicked, into everlasting punishment. Now, is not the life of the righteous unending? Certainly. Well, is not the punishment of the wicked to be parallel with the life of the righteous? Does it not last as long as the life of the righteous? Yes. Indeed, the original Greek term aionion, rendered “everlasting” in the clause referring to the wicked, is the very term that is rendered “eternal” in the next clause referring to the righteous. Hence, literally, these shall go away into eternal punishment, and the righteous into eternal life. We have opposites in this text; that is, the punishment of the wicked is placed in direct opposition to the life of the righteous. Whatever the righteous have, the wicked have just the opposite, and it lasts just as long.

Now let us look carefully at the statement. The righteous go into eternal—what? into eternal life. What do the wicked have? They go into just the opposite of this. Now we ask what is the opposite to life? Let us have no evasion. The answer must be death; for death is certainly the opposite of life. Very well; then the statement plainly is this, that the wicked shall go into eternal death. They shall die, as the Scriptures say; and this death will be eternal. There will be no resurrection or coming to life from it. This is so plain that a child ought to see it.

But would this be eternal punishment? Well, we ask again, Is not death a punishment? Certainly it is as great a punishment as the law can inflict. Then if death is a punishment, eternal death would be an eternal punishment. Notice: the text does not say the wicked shall go into eternal punishing, but eternal punishment. The punishment is something that is done, completed, finished. Punishment is thus defined by Webster: “Any pain, suffering, or loss on account of crime.” The wicked lose eternal life, hence their loss is an eternal loss, and therefore an eternal punishment. We maintain that this is the simple meaning of the text. The wicked are destroyed. This destruction is eternal, and hence their punishment is eternal.

Listen to the apostle Paul upon the same subject. Speaking of the wicked when the Lord shall appear, he says: “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” 2 Thess. 1:9. Matthew says that they shall go into everlasting punishment, but does not state, except by implication, what that punishment will be. Paul takes up the same subject, and carries it a little farther. He says they shall “be punished with everlasting”—so it is everlasting punishment. Then he explains what it shall be: “punished with everlasting destruction.” This settles the question. Their punishment is to be destruction, and that destruction is to be everlasting; hence, it is to be everlasting destruction. We are willing to leave it to our readers whether this celebrated passage is not plainly harmonized with the position that the wicked shall be utterly destroyed.

6. “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.” Mark 3:29.

This is claimed to be a strong text proving eternal suffering; but it says no such thing. It simply affirms that a certain class of the wicked shall suffer eternal damnation. The only question is, What does damnation mean? Turning to Webster, we find as follows: “Damn.—To condemn; to decide to be wrong or worthy of punishment; to adjudge to punishment or death.” To damn, then, is to condemn or adjudge to death. This is the simple meaning of that word. It means condemnation, and nothing more. Turning to the original Greek, krisis, Greenfield defines it thus: “Decision; sentence; condemnatory sentence; condemnation.” Christ, then, simply affirms that those who sin against the Holy Ghost will be eternally condemned. But he does not say to what they are condemned, whether it is imprisonment, or stripes, or death, or something else. Other scriptures must determine that. But we have already seen that scores of texts plainly declare that the wicked shall die, perish, be destroyed, burned up, etc.

(To be continued.)