Biblical view of hell
When you and I speak or preach about hell, we don’t do it with dry eyes. Jesus warned about the impending judgment that is to come. Preaching about hell can be a very loving thing to do, because love warns. I think in a regular church we subscribe to an expository method of preaching, and so when the doctrine of hell comes up, you’re supposed to preach it. Has evangelicalism emphasized hell too much? That’s a very selective reading of scripture and selective way of exegeting scripture. There’s plenty of evidence in scripture that argues to the contrary. I’ve noticed that, very famously, Rob Bell has argued that the word “eternal” does not necessarily mean eternal life. In Mark 10:29-30, Jesus responds to Peter by saying: "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” So when Jesus talks about eternal life he’s talking about everlasting life-something that will go on forever. Look how Matthew 25:46 puts it: “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." The Bible is replete with mention of everlasting punishment for those who would reject Christ. So if life in Christ is going to be eternal, then life without Christ is also going to be eternal. In Matthew 25:31-46, you’ll notice that Jesus uses the same adjective to talk about eternal life and eternal punishment. What is the biblical evidence for the eternality of hell? Annihiliationism is held by some theologians in the church - Clark Pinnock, Edward Fudge - but to be honest, textually speaking I’m not quite sure how they can affirm this. From what I’ve seen and what I’ve read, the problem seems to be more existential, more emotional than scriptural and textual. I’m not quite sure if there’s any biblical basis for this. It’s the idea of conscious, but not eternal torment. It’s the idea that fire destroys and brings things to an end - to ashes. There have been individuals within the broad evangelical community who have subscribed to this view of annihilationism, which basically is the idea that the unbeliever will be tormented for a particular amount of time in hell but will eventually be terminated or annihilated. “Annihilationism” seems to be increasingly accepted as a view of hell within evangelicalism. The historic Christian faith has always affirmed the eternality of life for those who believe in Christ and the eternality of death for those who disbelieve or reject him.
That has been the wide swath of orthodoxy right from the get go. The orthodox position affirms an eternal, conscious torment for all those who reject Christ and reject the gospel message. What is the standard view of hell within orthodox Christianity? So definitely, the doctrine of hell is central to the Christian faith, and always has been. If I remember correctly, the word “hell” occurs 12 times in the Gospels, 11 of which are from the lips of our Lord. If you go back to the earliest creeds - the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed - they all talk about Christ returning to judge the living and the dead.
Historic Christian orthodoxy has always maintained the doctrine of hell. Jesus was perhaps the most prolific teacher on the doctrine of hell. Look at what the Bible has to say about hell, and look at Jesus. I would think it’s an essential doctrine. How central is the doctrine of hell for Christianity? Is it “essential” or “nonessential”? The book, which questions much of the traditional Christian teaching on hell, sparked extensive debates about the doctrine of hell and landed the topic on the cover of Time magazine with the cover headline: “ What If There’s No Hell?”īiola Magazine recently sat down with Ashish Naidu, assistant professor of theology at Talbot School of Theology, to discuss the biblical case for hell and how Christians can respond to some of the current challenges to the doctrine. This spring, evangelical megachurch pastor Rob Bell caused a firestorm of controversy when he released his new book - Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.