Damnation
I will begin with a large quote from a book entitled Mercy and Judgment by F. W. Farrar, a canon of the Anglican Church. He writes on page 369:
The words “damn” and its derivatives do not once occur in the Old Testament. In the New Testament they are the exceptional and arbitrary translation of two Greek verbs or their derivatives; which occur 308 times. These words are “apollumi” and “krino (κρίνω).” “Apolleia” (destruction or waste) is once rendered “damnation” and once “damnable.” (2 Pet. 2:3, and 2 Pet. 2:1); “krino,” (judge) occurs 114 times, and is only once rendered “damned.” (1 Thess. 2:12). “Krima, (judgment or sentence) occurs 24 time, and is 7 times rendered “damnation.” “katakrino (κατακρίνω),” (I condemn) occurs 24 times, and is twice only rendered “be damned.”
Now turn to a modern dictionary, and you will see “damnation” defined as “exclusion from divine mercy; condemnation to eternal punishment.” In common usage the word has no other sense.
But to say that such is the necessary meaning of the words which are rendered by “damn” and “damnation,” is to say what is absurdly and even wickedly false. It is to say that a widow who marries again must be damned to endless torments (1 Tim. 5:12, “having damnation,” krima/κρίμα), although St. Paul expressly recommends young widows to do so two verses later on. It is to say that everyone who ever eats the Lord’s Supper unworthily, eats and drinks “eternal punishment” to himself, though St. Paul adds, almost in the next verse, that the judgment (krima) is disciplinary or educational, to save us from condemnation (1 Cor. 11:29-34). It is to say that “the Day of Judgment” ought to be called “Day of Damnation” (John 5:29). It is curious that our translators have chosen this most unfortunate variation of “damn” and its cognates only fifteen times out of upwards of two hundred times that krino and its cognates occur; and that they have used it for “krisis” and “krima,” not for the stronger compounds “katakrima (κατάκριμα),” etc. The translators, however, may not be to blame. It is probable that “damn” was once a milder word than condemn, and had a far milder meaning than that which modern eschatology has furnished to modern blasphemy.
We find from an Act passed when a John Russell was Chancellor (in the reign of Richard III or Henry VII.), that the sanction of an Act against extorted benevolences is called “a damnation”—that is, “the infliction of a loss.” This is the true etymological meaning of the word, as derived from damnum, “a loss”; and this original meaning is still found in such words as “damnify,” “indemnify,” and “indemnity.” In the margin of 2 Cor. 11:29, we find “judgment” for “damnation”; whereas in verse 32 the “judgment” of the Lord is milder than His” condemnation.” Dr. Hey, in his lecture on the Ninth Article, thinks that the phrase, “it deserveth God’s wrath and damnation,” is used in the milder sense of the word which was originally prevalent. However this may be, the word has, as the Bishop of Chester says, undergone a modification of meaning from the lapse of time, and it is an unmixed gain that both it and its congeners will wholly disappear from the revised version of the English Bible. “Judgment” and “condemnation” are the true representatives of krisis (κρίσις) and katakrisis (κατάκρίσις), and they are not steeped, like the word “damnation,” in a mass of associated conceptions which do not naturally or properly belong to them. Equally unfortunate is the word “hell.”
The above was written in 1881, the year the first revision of the King James Bible appeared. It appears the author above, in his prediction about the “damn” words being removed from the revision was true. Checking a Revised Standard Concordance, I discovered the “damn” words were gone. To show you the above scholars were correct in tracing the “damn” word, I will quote from a modern dictionary of word origins by John Ayto. It is entitled Dictionary of Word Origins published in 1990.
Damn Damn comes via Old French “damner” from Latin “damnare,” a derivative of the noun “damnum.” This originally meant ‘loss, harm’ (it is the source of English ‘damage’), but the verb “damnare” soon spread its application to ‘pronounce judgment upon,’ in both the legal and the theological sense. These meanings (reflected also in the derived ‘condemn’) followed the verb through Old French into English, which dropped the strict legal sense around the 16th century but has persisted with the theological one and its more profane offshoots. Condemn, damage, indemnity.
In conclusion, I must repeat that these words “apollumi” and “apolleia” like so many other words such as “krima,” “krino,” and “krisis” are relative terms. The first two words usually carry the sense of loss by someone. God is the great loser in many of their occurrences. The coin was lost by the woman, the sheep was lost by the shepherd, the prodigal son was lost by the father, Israel was lost by Yahweh, men are lost by God. Who was it that created them? Are they not His work? Will He not be the loser if they are not saved?
Almost all the reasoning about the words translated “destruction” fails to recognize the deity of God. We are asked to consider the fate of wineskins which were destroyed. We are told that as wineskins they past out of existence. Therefore, those who teach annihilation say, men pass out of existence as such when they are destroyed. The fact that these words “apollumi” and “apolleia” are never used of the second death in which this final destruction is supposed to take place should show the fallacy of this reasoning. The fact that all who are destroyed or lost are resurrected to be judged, absolutely refutes the idea of any final destruction. In the theory of annihilation, God is left out of it. We should not equate men losing wineskins to God losing men. Who lost the wineskins? Who lost the men?” Suppose we are not able to recover what we lost. Is that proof that God cannot do so? Are we the equals of the Creator? Did anything originate with us? Why then reason about God as though He were unable to find and save what He has lost. God can recall His creatures from the tomb, can we? All mankind was lost and all mankind will be justified and made alive by God. Study Rom. 5:18,19 and 1 Cor. 15:22-28 and Col. 1:16-20.
When we touched the “damn” words (because apolleia was translated as such a couple of times), we found that changes in our English language combined with theological tampering’s, have introduced words into our Bibles that no longer convey the true spirit in which the original writers wrote. The word “hell” has almost completely disappeared in most Bible translations. Many of the religiously tainted renderings found in our Bibles are being removed. This is coming about because we are beginning to bypass the inadequate scholarship of the dark ages and reformation which was plagued with superstition and medieval concepts. Due to discoveries such as those found at Qumran, Israel and the deserts of Egypt, we are able to get closer to the original manuscripts and the original meaning of the Greek and Hebrew words contained in the Bible. For more information about words in some of our Bibles which do not faithfully convey the original meaning, write for the audio tape, A Word About The Word.
Matthew 10:28.
There is no reasoning so utterly vain as that which uses one passage of scripture in order to destroy our faith in another. Correctly translated and interpreted with the help of the Holy Spirit, there is no conflict in the Word of God. Matthew 10:28 says, “And fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear Him Who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Greek, Gehenna).” These words are supposed to prove ultimate destruction of sinners. In this passage, our Lord is speaking to His disciples regarding the suffering required for entrance into the kingdom. Men will hate them and kill them. Literally death always effects body, soul, and spirit, but our Lord is speaking of their experiences, what they will suffer for His sake. Men will slay them. James and Peter were killed. After they were killed, they suffered no more. In a very real sense, those who killed their bodies ushered their souls into the kingdom without further pain. Speaking of God being able to destroy both body and soul, He is able to do many things, but that does not mean He will do them. He is able to blot a name out of the Lamb’s book of life. You are able to stick a dagger into your right eye, but that doesn’t mean that you ever will. Be careful what you tell the world that the Creator is going to do. You may find yourself adding to His Word. To be able to do something is not the same as actually doing it.
Every Christian was once lost, destroyed. Not only was this no hindrance to their deliverance, but it was absolutely essential to it. God had lost them. Through Christ, God has found and saved them. The same is true of those who are not now saved. Please remember there is not one except Jesus Christ, who was not lost and had need of a Savior. Some God will call tomorrow, many He will not call until another age. God has definitely declared that He is the Savior of all mankind (Study 1 Tim. 2:3-6, 4:9-11). Since God has lost them and He has said He will save them, they will be saved in their own order (Study 1 Cor. 15:22-28).
Destruction, like aionian life, is relative to the eons or the ages. After the eons, all will be vivified. The word used in 1 Cor. 15:22 is not resurrection (anastasias). As mentioned before, the word used is the Greek “zoopoieo (ζωοποιέω)” which means to vivify, to make alive, to be made immortal. The apostle Paul tells us very clearly in that verse that all that are dying in Adam, the same all, will be or shall be made alive in Christ. Neither destruction nor aionian life are the end or aim of God. Imagine a God Whose very essence is love, losing a single creature who has an endless capacity of loving and glorifying Him. To create a creature whose purpose is to manifest the image of God, and then destroy it because it did not live up to the Creator’s expectations sounds like something Hollywood would dream up. It sounds like a Frankenstein movie. Is this what God has produced? An error? Then God is sinful. He missed the mark, His purpose, His creation is flawed. What foolish thinking this is! We do not have such a God; He destroys nothing that He cannot restore. He loses nothing that will not return to Him. Destruction is a passing process, not a finished goal. What He destroys is our life to sin that we might live to Him who is Life! First comes death from which He brings life. We produces a field well fertilized with death and then He plants His seed in it to produce life. He produced the exact amount of death to produce the exact amount of Life He intended. Believe me, our Father wastes nothing! Through destruction, God will work out the welfare of His creatures and bring unending glory to our Savior and Creator.
I know that the scriptures say that God loves the world, thus all mankind, and that God’s love will never fail. (Study 1 Cor. 13.) Therefore, God will resurrect all sinners and judge them and ultimately save them all. We forget that when God’s judgments are in the earth, the world will learn righteousness. (Isa. 26:9) This is God’s will and He will not be defeated. God’s love will be victorious. The scriptures clearly teach that the lost will be judged in accord with their works. “For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of His Father with His angels and then He shall reward every man according to his works.” (Matt. 17:27) And again, “Who will render every man according to his deeds.” (Rom. 2:6) And again, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell (Hades) delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell (hades) were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” (Rev. 20:13,14) Hence all at the Great White Throne Judgment will be judged according to their works and as every man’s works are different, thus every one’s judgment will be as variable as their works. Thereafter, they are returned to the second death which is the lake of fire. There is no variance in the second death. It is the same for all thus it cannot be the judgment according to works.
Many teach that the lake of fire is a place where the sinners are alive and consciously suffering endless misery. On the other hand, many are teaching that the lake of fire is endless destruction. Both of these doctrines are making God the loser of some or most of His creation. He came to “seek and save that which was lost,” but apparently He will fail to fulfill His mission. (Luke 19:10) “Who will have all men to come into the knowledge of the truth, Who is the savior of all men” (1 Tim. 2:3,4:10). God says,
“I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying ‘My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have proposed it; I will also do it” (Isa. 46:9-11).
Hence God declares He will do all His pleasure. He has proposed it and will bring it to pass. Notice this quotation in which God says through the apostle Paul,
“Having made known unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He has proposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth even in Him in Whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:9,10).
Therefore it is the good pleasure which God has proposed in Himself to have an administration in the fullness of the era to head up all in the Christ. See the Greek text. Thus in the scriptures we have grace which exhibits God’s glory and results in forgiveness and salvation to all (See Phil. 2:9-13, Col. 1:16-20).
In these verses in Colossians chapter one we have the word all used 7 times in the King James Version. All Christians will accept all of these all’s through verse 16, 17, 18, 19, but when we come to verse 20, they argue that it cannot be. God is not going to reconcile all, they say (Greek, ta panta / τὰ πάντα). Now, I ask you is this being fair to God’s word? Verse 16 says He creates all and we have many other passages of scriptures which tell us He creates all, but yet, they will reject verse 20 where He says He will reconcile all. Again, I ask, is that being fair to scripture? Why not believe the scriptures? We go to church, hear that beautiful hymn, There is Power in the Blood, yet we do not believe there is enough power to do what Colossians 1:20 tells us, that is, to reconcile all.
If one refused to believe these plain statements in the scriptures, then they will have to wait until God displays He marvelous grace in the coming administration. Then they will see His grace displayed and this can be expressed in three words: seeing is believing. Therefore, I assume, in spite of the dozens of scriptures that teach God loves all and will reconcile all, many people will have to see God’s grace manifested before they will believe.
- But men make God’s love to narrow
- by false limits of their own
- and they magnify His vengeance
- with a zeal He will not own.
Remember, our Lord Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This He said signifying what death He should die” (John 12:32,33). We know Jesus was lifted up on Calvary. Why not believe these clear plain words of our Savior and also the words of apostle Paul where he says, “all will be reconciled” (Col. 1:20) “all will be justified” (Rom. 5:18,19), “and all shall be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). Why not believe these clear plain statements. Why argue that these plain statements are not true. There can be no statements in the scriptures correctly interpreted and translated that contradict this glorious truth of the salvation of all people.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-10.
Another scripture in the King James Version used to teach annihilation is:
“and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when He shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all of them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day (1 Thess. 1:7-10, KJV).
Question: Do the Greek words translated by the King’s translator’s “everlasting” and “destruction” mean a condition from which there is no hope of a future life?