Posted by Dyfed on Thursday, November 24, 2011,
In :
Hell
Jesus’ use of the image of
fire to describe God’s judgement has now been investigated but there are a few
other examples in the New Testament that need our attention. First is the
passage in Jude’s letter with its reference to Sodom and Gomorrah being an
example of those who will have to undergo ‘the punishment of eternal fire’
(verse 7, also 2 Peter 2:6).
Destruction
If the cities mentioned in
Genesis 18 and 19 are meant to be an example of how this punishment will occur
then it seem... Continue reading ...
Posted by Dyfed on Thursday, November 17, 2011,
In :
Hell
The parable of the sheep and
goats (Matthew 25:31-46) is another one of those stories that Jesus used that
speaks of a dividing between the righteous and unrighteous at the end of the
age. The righteous will enjoy ‘eternal life’; the unrighteous won’t. Indeed
according to most English and Welsh translations the unrighteous will ‘depart
into the eternal fire’ (v.41) and ‘will go away to eternal punishment’ (v.46).
A clear statement?
And that surely settles it.
These verses are clea... Continue reading ...
Posted by Dyfed on Thursday, November 10, 2011,
In :
Hell
If it can be argued that the
burning of the chaff (Matthew 3:12) is a reference to the dividing off of evil
from an individual rather than the dividing between two sets of people, then
the same cannot be done with the parable of the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30) and
Jesus’ subsequent explanation (13:36-43).
Judgement within history
Here the picture is clearly
about the division between two different sets of people ‘at the end of the
age’. Less clear perhaps is the meaning of the phrase ‘end... Continue reading ...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, November 2, 2011,
In :
Hell
If it can be argued that the
burning of the chaff (Matthew 3:12) is a reference to the dividing off of evil
from an individual rather than the dividing between two sets of people, then
the same cannot be done with the parable of the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30) and
Jesus’ subsequent explanation (13:36-43).
Here the picture is clearly
about the division between two different sets of people’ at the end of the
age’. Less clear perhaps is the meaning of the phrase ‘end of the age’ – which... Continue reading ...
Posted by Dyfed on Thursday, October 27, 2011,
In :
Hell
In the last post I looked at
John the Baptiser’s warning about Jesus coming in judgement to sift the wheat
from the chaff and that the chaff would be burnt in an ‘unquenchable fire’
(Matthew 3:12). There are a number of other references in the New Testament to
this fire that never goes out and it would seem that they take their image from
the very last verse in Isaiah 66:24 – ‘And they will go out and look upon the
dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not di...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, October 18, 2011,
In :
Hell
John the Baptiser certainly
had a way with words and the day he talked of Jesus coming to burn up the chaff
must have been a striking moment for those who heard him (Matthew 3:12). They
would have been very familiar with the picture John painted, of course, for
using a winnowing fork to throw up the grain into the air in order to separate
it from the chaff would have been something that was well known to all.
The chaff – being the husk
that surrounded the grain and the bits of stalk brought... Continue reading ...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, October 12, 2011,
In :
Hell
Let’s begin our trawl
through the relevant NT passages that are often interpreted as being references
to hell because Jesus refers to the fire of judgement in them. Rather than take
each individual verse one by one I’m going to gather them together and deal
with them according to their theme.
Burning dead wood
The first theme to be looked
at is the motif of throwing dead wood, trees, or branches into the fire because
the tree has not produced fruit. The most obvious example – though not ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, October 5, 2011,
In :
Hell
In the last post on the
picture of hell as fire I explored some interpretive issues in the Old
Testament suggesting that figurative language and context were key things to
take into account. From that I would argue that it is fair to conclude that
while fire is used as a picture of God’s anger towards and punishment of sin,
there is very little in this OT motif that can be used to prove the existence
of hell as eternal conscious torment. The punishment of fire is severe and
fully reflects G...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, September 28, 2011,
In :
Hell
Fire as punishment is an
often used image in the Old Testament and in my first post on the subject two
weeks ago I began to unpack this subject. Its importance is found in the use
Jesus makes of the image and it is probably safe to say that it is from the OT
that Jesus got this image from. Before jumping to the conclusion that these
passages are a reference to an eternal conscious punishment, however, certain
points have to be made.
A figurative picture
First, it would be fair to
ask whether al... Continue reading ...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, September 14, 2011,
In :
Hell
One of the most common
images used to describe hell is fire. Indeed it is probably widely believed
that hell is some kind of fiery dungeon and that somehow the fire plays an
integral part in the conscious torment that the damned will suffer there for
eternity. We get this image and concept, of course, from the words of Jesus for
no other biblical character or author says more about hell-fire than Jesus of
Nazareth. Or does he? As this second series about hell progresses we’ll get to
look at...
Continue reading ...
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