Contrary
to the Biblical Vision of Justice. The
traditional view of hell is challenged today also on
the basis of the Biblical vision of justice. As John
Stott concisely and clearly puts it: "Fundamental
to it [justice] is the belief that God will judge
people ‘according to what they [have] done’ (e.g.,
Rev 20:12), which implies that the penalty inflicted
will be commensurate with the evil done. This
principle had been applied in the Jewish law courts in
which penalties were limited to an exact retribution,
‘life for life, eye for an eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot’ (e. g., Ex 21:23-25).
Would there not, then, be a serious disproportion
between sins consciously committed in time and torment
consciously experienced throughout eternity? I do not
minimize the gravity of sin as rebellion against God
our Creator, but I question whether ‘eternal
conscious torment’ is compatible with the Biblical
revelation of divine justice."89
It is
difficult for us to imagine what kind of rebellious
lifestyle could deserve the ultimate punishment of
everlasting, conscious torment in hell. As John Hick
puts it, "Justice could never demand for finite
sins the infinite penalty of eternal pain; such
unending torment could never serve any positive or
reformative purpose precisely because it never ends;
and it renders any coherent Christian theodicy [that
is, the defense of God’s goodness in view of the
presence of evil] impossible by giving the evils of
sin and suffering an eternal lodgment within God’s
creation."90
The notion of
unlimited retaliation is unknown to the Bible. The
Mosaic legislation placed a limit on the punishment
that could be inflicted for various kinds of harm
received. Jesus placed an even greater limit:
"You have heard that it was said . . . But I say
to you" (Matt 5:38-39). Under the ethics of the
Gospel, it is impossible to justify the traditional
view of eternal, conscious torment because such a
punishment would create a serious disproportion
between the sins committed during a lifetime and the
resulting punishment lasting for all eternity.
Part of the
problem is that as human beings we cannot
conceptualize how long eternity is. It is impossible
for us to image what eternal torment really means. We
measure the duration of human life in terms of 60, 70,
and in few cases 80 years. But eternal torment means
that after sinners have agonized in hell for a million
years, their punishment has hardly began. Such a
concept is beyond human comprehension.
Some reason
that if the wicked were to be punished by
annihilation, "it would be a happy relief from
punishment and therefore no punishment at all."91
Such reasoning is appalling, to say the least. It
implies that the only just punishment that God can
inflict upon the unrighteous is the one that will
torment them eternally. It is hard to believe that
divine justice can be satisfied only by inflicting a
punishment of eternal torment. The human sense of
justice regards the death penalty as the most severe
form of punishment that can be imposed for capital
offenses. There is no reason to believe that the
divine sense of justice should be more exacting by
demanding more than the actual annihilation of the
unrighteous. This is not a denial of the principle of
degrees of accountability which, as we shall see,
determines the "gradation" of the suffering
of the lost. The punitive suffering, however, will not
last forever; it will terminate with the annihilation
of the lost.
Contrary
to the Human Sense of Justice. Scholastics, like
Anselm, tried to justify the notion of infinite
punishment by arguing that sins committed against the
infinite majesty of God deserve eternal punishing.
Such reasoning may have been acceptable in the
feudalist society of the Middle Ages, where the human
value of the serfs who lived at the bottom of the
social pyramid faded in comparison with the value of
the king, who lived at the top. But today, as Pinnock
points out, "We do not accept inequalities in
judgment on the basis of the honor of the victim, as
if stealing from a doctor is worse than stealing from
a beggar. The fact that we have sinned against an
infinite God does not justify an infinite penalty. No
judge today would calibrate the degree of punishment
on a scale of the honor of the one who has been
wronged. The old arguments for hell as everlasting
punishing do not work."91
Furthermore,
eternal torment serves no positive, reformative
purpose, simply because it only torments sinners
without reforming them. Such a notion only exhibits a
vindictiveness on the part of God, which is clearly
contradicted by what Jesus has revealed to us about
His Father’s love for the lost. Hans Küng correctly
points out that at a time when our penal and
educational systems are gradually abandoning the
notion of retributive punishments without opportunity
of probation and rehabilitation, "the idea not
only of a lifelong, but even eternal punishment of
body and soul, seems to many people absolutely
monstrous."93
The
traditional view of hell is based on the concept of
retributive justice, which requires sinners to pay
back to God all that they owe and beyond. This view
portrays God as the ultimate harsh, exacting, and
unappeasable Judge. Annihilation, on the other hand,
portrays God as reasonable and fair. People who refuse
to obey Him and to accept His provision for their
salvation will be visited with the punishment they
deserve, namely, utter extinction.
The issue we
are addressing is not whether or not the wicked
ultimately will be punished by God. Rather, the issue
is whether the wicked will be punished with endless
suffering or whether they will perish and become
extinct after suffering whatever degree of pain God
may inflict upon them. In our view, the latter better
harmonizes with the overall Biblical teaching and
vision of justice.
Gradation
of the Punishment. Extinction
does not exclude the possibility of degrees of
punishment. The principle of degrees of accountability
based on the light received is taught by Christ in
several places. In Matthew 11:21-22, Christ
says:"Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida!
for if the mighty works done in you had been done in
Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it shall be more
tolerable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon
than for you" (cf. Luke 12:47-48). The
inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon will be treated more
leniently in the final judgment than those of
Bethsaida, because they had fewer opportunities to
understand the will of God for their lives.
Christ
alludes to the same principle in the parable of the
Faithful and Unfaithful Servants: "And that
servant who knew his master’s will, but did not make
ready or act according to his will, shall receive a
severe beating. But he who did not know, and did what
deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating.
Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be
required; and of him to whom men commit much they will
demand the more" (Luke 12:47-48). In the final
judgment, each person will be measured, not against
the same standard, but against his own response to the
light received (see Ezek 3:18-21; 18:2-32; Luke 23:34;
John 15:22; 1 Tim 1:13; James 4:17).
Millions of
persons have lived and are living today without the
knowledge of Christ as God’s supreme revelation and
means of salvation. These people may find salvation on
account of their trusting response to what they know
of God. It is for God to determine how much of His
will is disclosed to any person through any particular
religion.
In Romans 2,
Paul explains that "when Gentiles who have not
the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a
law to themselves, even though they do not have the
law. They show that what the law requires is written
on their hearts, while their conscience also bears
witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or
perhaps excuse them on that day when, according to my
gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ
Jesus" (vv. 14-16).
It is because
God has written certain basic moral principles into
every human conscience that every person can be held
accountable—"without excuse" (Rom
1:20)—in the final judgment. A pleasant surprise
will be to meet among the redeemed "heathen"
who never learned about the Good News of salvation
through human agents. Ellen White states this point
eloquently: "Among the heathen are those who
worship God ignorantly, those to whom the light is
never brought by human instrumentality, yet they will
not perish. Though ignorant of the written law of God,
they have heard His voice speaking to them in nature,
and have done the things that the law required. Their
works are evidence that the Holy Spirit has touched
their hearts, and they are recognized as the children
of God."94
