By Rev. William C. Proctor, F. Ph., Croydon, England.
There are four reasons for confining our consideration of the subject of Future Retribution to the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ:
(1). It limits the range of our inquiry to what is possible in a brief essay. There will be no occasion to examine the 56 passages in the authorized version of our Bible which contain the word “Hell,” (most of which are the translations of the Hebrew “Sheol” and the Greek “Hades,” meaning “the grave” and “the unseen state,”) and we can concentrate our attention on the ten passages in which our Lord uses the word “Gehenna” (which was the usual appellation in His day for the abode of the lost) together with those other verses which evidently refer to the future state of the wicked.
(2). It affords a sufficient answer to the speculation of those who don’t know, to refer to the revelation of the One who does know. Many other passages might be quoted from the New Testament, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who was promised by our Lord to His disciples to “guide them into all truth,” and “show them things to come” (John 16:12, 13); but, in taking the words of Christ Himself, we shall find the greatest ground of common agreement in these days of loose views of inspiration. Surely, He who is “The Truth” would never misrepresent or exaggerate it on a matter of such vital importance, and would neither encourage popular errors nor excite needless fears.
(3). It also affords a sufficient answer to those who represent the doctrine as unreasonable and dishonoring lo God, and who regard those who hold it as narrow minded and hard hearted, to remind them that all the very expressions which are most fiercely denounced in the present day fell from the lips of the Saviour who died for us, and came from the heart of the “Lover of souls.” Surely we have no right to seek to be broader minded than He was, or to nurture false hopes which have no solid foundation in His teaching; while to assume a greater zeal for God’s honor, and a deeper compassion for the souls of men, is little short of blasphemy. The current objections to the orthodox doctrine of hell are made by those who allow their hearts to run away with their heads, and are founded more on sickly sentimentality than on sound scholarship.
(4). In considering the subject as professing Christians, the words of the Master Himself ought surely to put an end to all controversy; and these are clear and unmistakable when taken in their plain and obvious meaning, without subjecting them to any forced interpretation. It is greatly to be regretted that they are not more frequently dealt with in the modern pulpit; but ministers are only human, and there is a strong temptation to preach what is palatable, rather than what is profitable. In this case, surely, history repeats itself; for we read in Isa. 30:10 of those who said to the prophets of old: “Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits”; and a cowardly yielding to this demand has produced an emasculated Gospel and an enfeebled ministry in the present day.
Coming now to consider briefly Christ’s teaching on the subject, let us ask, first of all:
- What did our Lord teach as to the certainty of future retribution? The word “retribution” is to be preferred to “punishment” because the Bible teaches us that the fate of the wicked is not an arbitrary (much less a vindictive) infliction, but the necessary consequence of their own sins. Taking the passages in their order, in Matt. 5:22; Christ speaks of causeless anger against, and contemptuous condemnation of, others as placing us “in danger of the hell of fire, while in verses 29 and 30 He utters a similar warning concerning the sin of lust; and these are in the Sermon on the Mount, which is the most generally accepted part of His teaching! In chapter 8:12 He speaks of unbelieving “children of the Kingdom” being “cast forth into the outer darkness”, and adds, “There shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth” - expressions which are repeated in chapters 22:13 and 25:30. In chapter 10:28 Jesus said: “Fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” - a wholesome fear which is decidedly lacking in the present day, and which many people regard as a remnant of superstition quite unsuited to this enlightened age! In our Lord’s own explanation of the parable of the tares and wheat, He declared: “The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth. The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the righteous, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth” (chapter 13:41, 42, 49, 50). In chapter 23:15 He speaks of the hypocritical Pharisees as “children of hell,” showing that their conduct had fitted them for it, and that they would “go to their own place”, like Judas (whom He describes as “the son of perdition” in John 17:12), while in verse 33 He asks: “How shall ye escape the judgment of hell?” The law of retribution can no more be repealed than that of gravitation; it is fixed and unalterable. That hell has not been prepared for human beings, but that they prepare themselves for it, is clear from the sentence which our Lord says that He will pronounce upon those on His left hand in the last great day: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels” (Chapter 25:41).