Does the Bible Teach Annihilation?
There are some religious groups (e.g., Jehovah’s
Witnesses) who teach that when the wicked die God will
annihilate them, that is, they will cease to exist in any
form. Hence, they deny the existence of eternal, conscious
punishment in hell. Charles Taze Russell, founder of the
Watchtower organization, declared the following: “Many have
imbibed the erroneous idea that God placed our race on trial
for life with the alternative of eternal torture, whereas
nothing of the kind is even hinted at in the penalty . . .
Eternal torture is nowhere suggested in the Old Testament
Scriptures, and only a few statements in the New Testament
can be so misconstrued as to appear to teach it.”
What do the scriptures teach? Note the following:
Jesus stated in Matt. 25:46, “And these shall go away into
everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”
Punishment is just as long as life and that is eternal. If one
does away with eternal punishment, then to be consistent,
one must also do away with eternal life. Not even the
Watchtower group will go that far.
Mark 9:43-48 speaks of hell as a place where the fire shall
never be quenched and where the worm does not die. This
certainly does not sound like temporal punishment or
annihilation.
Rev. 20:10 speaks of “the lake of fire and brimstone,”
which is an obvious allusion to hell. It is described as the
place where the wicked “shall be tormented day and night for
ever and ever.”
Matt. 10:28 seems to be one of the favorite scriptures
used for proof of the doctrine of annihilation. Jesus said,
“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and
body in hell.” The word “destroy” is taken to mean
“annihilation” or “extinction.” There are two errors with this:
(1) It contradicts other clear passages of scripture that teach
the eternal nature of suffering in hell. (2) “Extinction” or
“annihilation” is not the meaning of the original word
translated “destroy.” As one Greek lexicographer noted, it
means “to devote or give over to eternal misery.” The Bible
does not teach annihilation but eternal, conscious suffering
for the wicked. This should motivate us to obey God before it
is eternally too late!