Topic
Fire
The most common image for divine judgment in Scripture. Its ordinary function in the biblical texts is to consume what is put into it.
Also called: flames, burning, fiery furnace, unquenchable fire, eternal fire
Fire in Scripture burns things up. Chaff, stubble, weeds, thorns and fruitless trees: the harvest images in the Gospels all end with the useless part destroyed rather than preserved. Fire paired with sulphur consistently marks complete and irreversible destruction.
Where something in a fire is not consumed, the text marks that as remarkable and credits it to God. The bush burns and is not consumed; the three men walk in the furnace unharmed. Preservation in fire is presented as an exception requiring divine action, never as what fire ordinarily does.
Defenders of the traditional view answer that the fire of final judgment is unlike ordinary fire in any case, and that God is entirely able to sustain a person within it. Conditionalists grant the ability and question the picture, since Scripture nowhere describes fire as a preservative.
What this is not
Terms in this dispute are routinely collapsed into one another. These distinctions are what keep the argument honest.
- Unquenchable fire is fire nobody can put out, which is not the same as fire that never goes out.
- Eternal fire in Jude describes a fire whose effect is permanent, not one still burning today.
- Refining fire that purifies and consuming fire that destroys are different images with different objects.
Principal passages
- Matthew 13:24-43
- Malachi 4:1-3Listed in the Scripture index
- Hebrews 12:29Listed in the Scripture index
- Mark 9:42-48
- Jude 7Listed in the Scripture index
Where this is argued in the case
- S13 What Fire Does in ScriptureThe ordinary function of fire in the biblical texts, the marked exceptions, and what fire paired with sulphur signifies.
- S01 Mark 9: Undying Worms and Unquenchable FireWhat Isaiah 66:24 contributes to Jesus’ warning, and what "unquenchable" means everywhere else in Scripture.
- S03 Revelation 20: The Lake of Fire and the Second DeathWhere the clause about unending torment sits in the passage, what the lake of fire does to Death and Hades, and how much weight the placement can carry.
- S14 Sodom and Gomorrah as the ExampleWhat Peter chose to highlight, what he could have highlighted instead, and what the cities were actually like the following morning.
- S02 Revelation 14: The Smoke of Their TormentThe grammar of Revelation 14:11, the Edom and Babylon parallels, and three readings of the phrase about having no rest.
Objections that turn on this
- S30 Is Annihilation Really Punishment?Two answers: finite experiences genuinely matter, and exclusion from eternal life is itself the ultimate loss.
Related topics
Sources for this topic
- Joseph Dear. The Bible Teaches Annihilationism. 1st edition, PDF version. 2016. approximately 590 pages View original of The Bible Teaches Annihilationism (opens in a new tab) Details
- Chris Date. The Fire Is Not Quenched: Annihilation and Mark 9:48, Part 2. Rethinking Hell. 2012-11-20 View original of The Fire Is Not Quenched: Annihilation and Mark 9:48, Part 2 (opens in a new tab) Details
- Chris Date. Their Worm Does Not Die: Annihilation and Mark 9:48. Rethinking Hell. 2012-07-17 View original of Their Worm Does Not Die: Annihilation and Mark 9:48 (opens in a new tab) Details
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