2 Thessalonians for Small Groups (Query the Text Series)

Second, it is true that the genre of Revelation is apocalyptic—though this is not the only form of literature in the book—and contains much symbolism. But this fact does not preclude an earthly kingdom in Revelation 20 and a straightforward reading of this text.

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Though genre is always an indispensable tool for interpreting, informed opinion on all sides of this debate demonstrates that appeals to genre are inconclusive. What is more important in this case is the immediate context and the actual words that are used in Revelation And, it is here, that the premillennial position is simpler, less strained and therefore more probable.

The context describes, albeit in apocalyptic language, several important historical facts. Is the binding of Satan literal? But it can be reasonably asked whether these texts should be regarded as referring to the same event. It has been debated, but a straightforward reading of the context of Revelation 20 would argue that what happens in Revelation 20 follows chronologically what happened in Revelation 19, i. Therefore, if this is true, the binding of Satan in Revelation 20 cannot be the same event as that referred to in the gospels during the earthly reign of the messiah.

But there are other more cogent arguments to demonstrate that the binding in the gospels is not the same as that in Revelation. First, it is said in Revelation Thus the portrait in the gospels is quite different, too disparate it would seem to be the same. According to 2 Corinthians 4: But the binding in Revelation is much more absolute than the gospels or epistles will grant. So it is more reasonable to conclude that Matthew 12 and Luke 10 do not refer to the same event as Revelation This does not mean they are not related, however.

One of the reasons they do this is to avoid bracketing the period off with two bodily resurrections which would seem to point to an earthly reign after the return of Christ. Again, these are not the souls of the dead reigning with Christ in heaven, but dead saints physically resurrected to reign with him on the earth see the promise in Rev 5: It is ultimately in the Biblical recognition that there is only one people of God for all time with a soteriological equality binding them together. But it has an inherent weakness in that it does not recognize structural political differences present in eschatological texts.

Indeed, at face value, nations are still regarded as nations in certain texts referring to the eternal state cf. The Bible teaches that there will be a resurrection of all people and that all will be judged John 5: Though some liberal theologians have often denied the fact, it is quite certain that the Bible teaches a final judgment, after which individuals will go to their allotted destinies, i.

The Lord judged king Saul and rejected him as king over Israel God repeatedly judged the nation of Israel for their sin e. He also judges the nations of the earth for their continuous sin and rebellion Isa ; Jer ; Ezek ; Dan Though his ways in judgment are not always easy to discern or accept Hab , he is nonetheless the just judge of all the earth Gen In the New Testament, Paul makes it clear that God still judges today. For 82 the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness…. People and nations today continually suppress the knowledge of God, deliberately turning from knowledge of the true God to idolatry the worship of money, sex, power in its various forms, etc.

As a result, just as the Israelites demanded that God give them a king, so people today demand that they be left to their own devices; they demand autonomy. Therefore God gives them over to their sin cf. The fallout involves escalating wickedness, sorrow, grief, pain, and misery. Man is by nature as incurably religious as he is morally and spiritually foolish. So God has been and continues to judge individuals and nations for their sin. He does it retributively as well as therapeutically i. But all these judgments will find their culmination and vindication at the final judgment.

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At that time every mouth will be silenced Rom 3: The sheep will go into eternal life and the goats will go into eternal punishment The point is, there will come a day when there will be an irreversible and final reckoning. For he has set a day hJmevra , hemera when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. Perhaps the passage that speaks most clearly to the certainty of final and irrevocable judgment is Revelation Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.

Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The lake of fire is the second death. There are many indications that John is speaking about the final judgment in Revelation Though virtually every evangelical commentator on scripture agrees with the doctrine of a final judgment, some would argue that it actually involves three different judgments: Others would argue that all these judgments are really just one judgment, i.

But there is more to the final judgment than just its facticity. First, although it is obvious that God will be the judge, within the councils of the trinity, the Father has determined to give all judgment to the Son John 5: Further, the Son will judge wisely and justly 2 Tim 4: Second, both men and angels will be judged Acts Judges and the Israelite nation as a whole to judge other nations e. Thus, the saints will judge angels and people in the final judgment because this is a function of the restored image. In another way of speaking, believers will judge the living and the dead because of their inseparable connection to Christ the Judge, their personal share in his kingdom with its power and authority cf.

In an important sense, and to an important degree, we will be just like him in our glorified states and will know his mind on these issues in a way only faintly grasped now cf. Third, we said that all men will be judged. Therefore, Christians will be judged as well. Paul, speaking of believers in Romans For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or bad. If we are justified, why then are we judged? It seems that the idea of justification precludes entering into judgment.

But the problem is not as insurmountable as first appears. It is true that the doctrine of justification includes both the idea of eternal forgiveness as well as the eternal possession of the righteousness of Christ. Though some evangelicals have spurned the doctrine of rewards for believers it seems fairly certain that the Bible does indeed teach it:. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it.

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Again, Jesus talks about reward for faithful service Luke Again, the point about degree of reward seems to be clearly taught in Colossians 3: Thus, according to these texts Christians will be judged to determine their degree of reward or the measure of their inheritance e. This does not mean that throughout eternity men will suffer pangs of conscience for what they should have done with the grace of God given them while on earth.

In the eternal state there will be neither death or mourning or crying or pain Rev Therefore, the problem with the doctrine of rewards is not that the scripture does not teach it. This is a similar kind of struggle we face with other clearly biblical doctrines, e. Some have suggested that the degree of reward is known only to God and the person who receives it. But the bottom line is that we will each be rewarded for our service, though we know very little about the precise nature of these rewards.

Nonetheless, rewards are a source of motivation to holiness and godly living. This, of course, is the way in which they are used throughout Scripture Luke They are not the only source of motivation for the Christian cf. They are one of several means of grace the Lord uses to sanctify us and move us along in the Christian life cf. There are a number of different views regarding the fate of the finally impenitent. There are a number of passages in scripture that appear to suggest universalism.

Three important and valid hermeneutical considerations must be mentioned at this point. It is true that we all come to scripture, bringing along with us our presuppositions and preunderstandings. But it is not true that we all allow our presuppositions to influence us to the same degree. In many universalist interpretations of Scripture, it seems that a priori concerns have reached the level of agenda to the point of smothering texts which contradict such agendas.

Second, any text cited to substantiate any one particular doctrine must be read in a way consistent with its immediate linguistic and historical setting, as well as its broader biblical context. For example, Col 1: The two ideas are related, but they are not the same thing. In terms of 1 Tim 4: According to Hebrews Again, the love of God is not a bulldozer that disregards human decisions and indiscriminately piles people up on the side of His grace. Texts like Romans 5: Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.

Therefore, it would seem that Paul is espousing universalism in 5: To argue for universalism in this text, however, is to neglect other key Pauline texts 2 Thess 1: It is sufficient for all men, but only those who receive it by faith, reign in life! Also, universalism requires the questionable premise that Paul is arguing in 5: But this is certainly not his point. He is arguing, rather, that in the same way as Adam directly affects all those connected to him i.

Before we look at it, however, it must be noted that as far as supporting universalism goes, it suffers from the same fate as Rom 5: That is, it was written by Paul and, therefore, has to be legitimately reconciled with texts like 2 Thess 1: He makes this clear when in vv. Paul is not holding out a universalistic hope here, but rather the hope proper to those who trust in God concerning the preaching about the resurrected Christ 1 Cor Third, there are many texts which speak of judgment and hell as being eternal.

At the present time, two primary views regarding the nature of the punishment of hell are being advanced within Evangelicalism, that is, among those who have a very high regard for scripture and the necessity of personal faith and the new birth. Several things are important to note in this discussion. First, this is not, as some have erroneously argued, a debate directly related to inerrancy.

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It is rather a question about the best exegesis of that Word and the resultant theology. Second, this debate is not about whether the wicked will be judged or not. Both sides agree that this will be the case. The debate is about the nature of that judgment. Fourth, let us take to heart that this is a discussion about hell and the awful judgment to come upon those apart from Christ, i. As Stott has reminded us, let us mourn with Jeremiah and weep with Paul over the ultimate destiny of those who refuse to know and love Christ.

Warfield has outlined annihilationism in three major groups: In other words, the life of the person is impossible without the body since the life-principle is inextricably connected to the physical organism. At death all people simply pass out of existence. Conditional mortality , generally speaking, argues that people do not naturally possess immortality, but must receive it from God.

All other people, i. Annihilationism proper , in contrast to conditional immortality, builds on the idea of the person as naturally immortal. Thus at some point—whether immediately at death, the judgment after a general resurrection, or after some determined period of suffering—those apart from Christ, will be annihilated; God himself will bring their very existence to an end. We are now ready to discuss arguments for and against conditional immortality hereafter, CI and traditionalism. CI has received increasing support among certain evangelicals in recent years, including: Edward William Fudge, 95 John W.

Wenham, 96 Stephen H. Is CI able to stand on exegetical and theological grounds superior to the traditional view and is it thus to be preferred? The following is an interaction with some of the most popular and strongest arguments in favor of CI. Stott also argues that the nouns apwleiva , apoleia e. This is true for at least three reasons: Several of these instances are important and require brief comment. This is evident in the lost apollumi son of Luke The son was destroyed or ruined , if you will, in that he was no longer in right relationship with his father, as evidenced by his lifestyle.

However, he certainly did not pass out of existence, as his return to the father clearly indicates. Fourth , a Christian can be said to have been destroyed and yet be in perfect physical health and still have a relationship with God! This is true in both Romans This is probably the point behind Matthew In this text Jesus is not making a comment about existence vs.

We also see that in some cases, like Romans A return to God begins the process of undoing the destruction that was incurred. Each of these cases is religiously colored and refers either to the destruction of the flesh 1 Cor 5: The term kolasis occurs in Matthew For example, in reference to Matthew But how are we to understand this metaphorical language involving fire? Either hell changes over time from one to the other or there are parts of hell that have fire and parts that are pure darkness.

Despite the fact that such interpretations seem ridiculous, they: The simplest and best explanation is to see the language as metaphorical, pointing to horrible realities, much of which probably lies beyond comprehension. Our expectation would be the opposite: First , it suppresses contrary evidence; it is not warranted by the immediate context. The rest of Revelation Thus, the imagery of fire suggests agony and torment, not extinction of being as Stott argues. Second , it agrees, not just formally, but materially with Revelation Advocates of CI often point out that many exegetes have unconsciously imported into their reading of relevant texts an unbiblical anthropology stemming from Plato and the doctrine of the immortality of the soul.

Thus Clark Pinnock argues:.

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If a biblical reader approached the text with the assumption that souls are naturally immortal, would they not be compelled to interpret texts that speak of the wicked being destroyed to mean that they are tortured forever, since according to that presupposition souls cannot go out of existence italics mine? Pinnock goes on to argue, as Fudge and others have done, that immortality is something only God possesses 1 Tim 6: God can, however, bestow immortality upon his people 1 Cor But all the rest of humanity, that is, those outside a saving relationship with Christ, are by nature mortal and cannot exist forever.

Therefore, if they cannot exist forever, they cannot suffer consciously forever. But this argument, as presented by Pinnock, is fallacious for at least two reasons: This is confirmed when we consider two important differences between the two. But no Christian view holds to the immortality of the soul before the existence of creation neither the traducian nor creationist view. Second, the Greek view often looks as if it entails the idea that the soul is naturally or inherently immortal, but no informed Christian view argues that either.

Rather, what is argued is that God, by his free decision, has decided to render all people immortal and to uphold their being by his word cf. That debate must be adjudicated on scriptural grounds, something Pinnock does not do. Another important consideration is this regard is the issue of resurrection. Jesus states in John 5: It seems strange and, though not absolutely logically impossible, that this leads to their annihilation or their simply passing out of existence.

The resurrection would seem to guarantee their eternal existence. This seems especially appropriate because of the parallel with the resurrection of the righteous which has eternal life in view which in the minimum involves never-ending existence. God is boundlessly merciful, loving and forgiving. Every Christian, whether a week old in the faith, or a veteran, knows this to be true.

Indeed, the longer a person is in the faith, the more they ought to realize this truth. But the traditional view of hell pictures a God who tortures people endlessly, with no hope of restitution. This is cruel and sadistic according to at least one evangelical writer. Several things need to be said in response to this.

First , it is admittedly difficult to reconcile the love of God with eternal, conscious punishment. This is especially true when one thinks of the love of God as expressed in the cross. I think that all sides recognize this. Second , even though God is love, he is also holy. Third , it would seem that the way in which conditionalists talk of the incompatibility of eternal, conscious punishment with divine love, God should not be permitted to judge anyone at all. In other words, conditionalism is not insulated from the problem nor is it any less impaled on the horns of the dilemma.

While we may have an inkling, we are in no place to suggest that such a great love spurned will not result in eternal, conscious punishment. After all, it was committed against an eternal and infinite love. Sixth, proponents of CI often refer to the love of God as if it were a blind, overpowering force with no will and choice behind it. So the bottom-line is: In condemning the other view, it would seem that CI has unwittingly disqualified itself. Let us not blur that reality.

If we are going to talk about the love of God in connection with the nature of hell, let us talk about that love, spurned. Do sins, no matter how egregious, require the punishment of eternal suffering? Therefore, even as reconciled rebels, we are in no position to argue that his justice does not necessarily demand eternal, conscious punishment. Second, the CI argument from the justice of God may impale itself on the horns of a dilemma. If the wicked are punished until their sins are paid for, why then are they annihilated?

Surely, justice has been served and they should be free to go into heaven.

But, if their sins have not been paid for, why are they annihilated? Justice would require that their sins be paid for, so they must remain until that is accomplished. This raises another interesting question: Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page.

Asking good questions is the key to understanding.

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The Query the Text Series gives you the ability to teach through whole books of the Bible in the natural rhythm of question and answer. Each lesson is designed to be highly interactive and to fit within a thirty to forty-five minute window of time. In publishing this material, I hope to give teachers an inexpensive option Asking good questions is the key to understanding.

In publishing this material, I hope to give teachers an inexpensive option for adult Sunday School curriculum that both increases the interaction level of their small groups and maintains the focus on biblical exposition. Kindle Edition , 13 pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

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