Eight Points on the Careful Justice of Hell
The idea of an eternal hell is difficult for many in our day and age to wholeheartedly agree with. Whether in America or here in Kurdistan, many people feel that hell is unjust. This hasn’t always been the case. There are societies from other periods of history, such as the Middle Ages, as well as people groups throughout the history of the world, who have found the idea of hell to be logical and even comforting. But for most of us now, something has changed. Many faithful believers struggle to believe and feel that hell is just, even if they affirm that it is so in their minds and words.
This has certainly been true of me. And it has been true for countless Kurdish friends of mine over the years. In this, pressing into the details of what has been revealed about hell in the Bible has been helpful. In particular, this effort has helped me to both believe and feel more deeply that hell is just.
Deuteronomy 29:29 says that, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.” There is much about hell that has not been revealed. We trust in the loving and just character of God for those questions that we can’t get answers to in this life. But when it comes to what has been revealed, here we must pay attention to what the Scriptures are saying or hinting at regarding the reality of hell.
Here are eight of these points that I find myself often coming back to in conversations about eternal judgment.
First, God’s punishment for sin has been the same from the beginning and will be the same forever.
The law that was given in the Garden of Eden is still true. Sin deserves death (Gen 2:17, Rom 6:23). God will justly uphold this law for every being he has ever created. Their sin will be justly paid for by death. This will be either their own deaths or, for believers, the death of the only acceptable substitute – Jesus Christ, the lamb of God. God justly applies this law to every single person, forever. He is perfectly consistent in this.
Second, hell is the final form of death.
The Bible reveals that death is not merely a one-time physical event. Rather, death is a spiritual state of separation from God, punishment, and ongoing destruction. On the very day that they ate from the tree, Adam and Eve died spiritually through being separated from God, their source of true life, even though their physical death did not take place for hundreds of years (Gen 2:17, 5:5). Because of this, the Bible says that all humans are, by nature, spiritually dead, even while they are physically alive (Eph 2:1). This only changes when they repent and believe.
This spiritual aspect of death is not limited to humans alone. God tells sinful heavenly beings in Psalm 82 that he will cause them to die “like men” even though they are not humans who can experience physical death. The book of Revelation speaks of this final hell for both humans and rebellious angels, calling it the “second death,” one that continues forever (Rev 20:10-15).
All of this makes clear that, according to the Bible, death is something far greater and far worse than a single physical event that ends life and leads to non-existence. Rather, hell is the ultimate form of death. Hell is death fully grown into maturity. Our physical deaths now function as signs and shadows of that eternal, ongoing death that is the destiny of everyone who rebels against God (Dan 12:2, Matt 25:46, 2 Thess 1:9, Rev 20:14-15).
Again, God is just and applies this law consistently for everyone. For believers, Jesus’ sacrificial death and separation from the Father on the cross means that he has taken our spiritual death upon himself. In this way, God’s law and justice are satisfied and we can now have eternal life (John 3:16, Rom 3:25, 26). Even our physical deaths, though still unnatural, are transformed into an opportunity to glorify God and to be welcomed into his presence. Death, for the believer, is now gain (Phil 1:21).
However, apart from Christ, all have sinned. All deserve death. And hell is the final form of death.
Third, every human being is heading to hell because they have personally suppressed the light they were given.
Romans 1-3 is clear. The entire human race has suppressed the light of God that they have. Paul says, “’The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them” (Rom 1:18-19).
This is true whether this light was the revealed, written word of God or merely the truths written on the human conscience and visible in nature. We have all suppressed this light and in its place turned to worship other things. This is true of all of humanity. “There is no difference between Jew and Gentile. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).
Some shepherd boys once asked me if I was a Muslim or a kafir, an infidel. I was a little taken aback by the sharpness of their question and simply told them I was a Christian, but later I thought more about how I should have answered. Because we have all equally suppressed whatever light of God we were given, and in this, willingly become his enemies, we are all, in fact, kafirs – every single one of us. This is a good starting point for understanding how isolated or even seemingly good people could still deserve to go to hell.
Fourth, hell will justly reflect the degree of light which we have rejected.
Even though everyone who does not believe will end up in hell, hell will not be the same for everyone. Scripture tells us it will be terrible for all, and it also tells us that hell will be worse for some than others. Jesus reveals this when he speaks of the Galilean towns that did not repent when they had the opportunity to see the ministry of the Son of God face to face (Matt 11:20-24). They had access to a stunning degree of God’s light, yet they rejected it. Because of this, their judgment will be worse than that of Sodom and Gomorrah, who only had access to a much smaller degree of God’s light. The author Dante is not completely incorrect in suggesting that there are levels of hell. While we don’t know the details, Jesus tells us that God’s justice will carefully reflect the degree of access someone had to God’s light. More light rejected equals more judgment in eternity.
We instinctively feel that those who have never heard the gospel are in a different situation than those who grow up in a Christian family and reject the gospel. Even though both are condemned for rejecting the light, God’s careful justice will, in some way, reflect the differences that are there.
Fifth, there is no repentance in hell.
Some might assume that once someone goes to hell, their eyes are opened and they genuinely plead with God for forgiveness while God callously ignores their change of heart. But what is the evidence for this in the Bible? On the contrary, the Bible seems to show us that hell will be full of worldly sorrow, not godly sorrow. In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31), there is no sense that the rich man has been truly humbled. Yes, he doesn’t like being in pain and he doesn’t want his brothers to experience the pain of hell. But that is an example of worldly sorrow – “I’m upset about my sin because its consequences make me feel bad, yet the grief doesn’t lead me to repentance” (2 Cor 7:9-12). The rich man still pridefully presumes to order Lazarus (and even Abraham!) around, showing he has not experienced the godly sorrow of true repentance. The New Testament’s language of weeping and gnashing of teeth are images of worldly sorrow and regret (Matt 13:42). They are not images of repentance. No, those in hell will never repent, but continue sinning forever, which means they are day by day adding to their sin – and the justice of their condemnation.
Sixth, the eternal nature of hell is just because sin is committed against an infinite God.
There is a helpful illustration that argues that an eternal hell is a right punishment for sin against God, who is eternal and infinite. The punishment should fit the crime, but also take into account who is sinned against. For example, if I hit my brother, he might hit me back. If I hit my neighbor, he takes me to court. If I hit the president, I may be shot by his bodyguards, or at least locked up for a long time. The position of the one sinned against leads to different consequences for the same kind of sin. We know that this is true in this world. So, what if we assault the king and creator of the universe, the infinite one? Then we receive eternal consequences befitting that crime. This is another point that, together with the lack of repentance in hell, helps us begin to feel how the eternality of hell could be just.
Seventh, those in hell will not appear the same as they did here on earth, but will be radically changed into a form that reveals their true nature and fits their eternal environment.
We struggle when we picture an unbelieving family member or friend in hell, and rightly so. There are remnants of the image of God in every human being (Gen 9:6). Because of this broken yet still present image of God in every human, every person still alive is rightly deserving of dignity and compassion, even though they are a fallen sinner. But this time where sin and dignity intermingle is a temporary one. The time is coming when every one of us will be changed (1 Cor 15:52).
This change will display our true natures, whose sons we really are – children of God or children of the devil. It seems as if this change happens fundamentally yet partially after death, and then fully in the future resurrection when both believers and unbelievers are raised with new bodies (Dan 12:2, John 5:28029, Acts 24:15, Rev 20:5).
Have you ever thought about what kind of resurrected body God will give those who are raised into eternal condemnation? Resurrection always means embodiment in the original languages of the Scriptures. It seems that, like he always does, God will be giving the inhabitants of hell bodies that are appropriate for their environment. Cherubim and seraphim are made for heaven’s throne room, so their bodies reflect this, covered in wings and eyes and fire appropriate for God’s presence. Fish with their scales and gills are made for the sea and birds with their wings for the air. Humans are made to be gardener-worshipper-kings, with fingers and faces that reflect this. This principle applied to hell means that whatever the resurrected bodies of those in hell look like, if we could see them we would affirm just how fit they are for their dwelling place. Our problem is that we imagine those in hell will have bodies like we have on earth, and this leaves us feeling that things aren’t quite right with this picture. This is true, since the bodies we each have are fit for this earth, not for heaven or hell.
The author C.S. Lewis in his sermon, The Weight of Glory, explores this future transformation that will lead to believers and nonbelievers becoming what they truly are:
“…remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, to some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations… it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”
The scholar Anthony Hoekema also explores what happens with the image of God in believers in his book, Created in God’s Image. Hoekema shows from scripture how one day the image of God in believers will be restored, and then perfected in a way that outshines even what Adam had. Augustine’s Latin phrase, non posse pecare, means “no longer able to sin.” Glorified humanity will enter fully into “the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom 8:21).
We should remember, however, that believers and unbelievers are on opposite tracks all throughout the Scriptures. What takes place among the redeemed in redemptive history is always reflected in the negative among the lost. This means that there is something that will happen to the lost that is the opposite of glorification. This is a terrifying thought. Likely, the broken image of God among unbelievers will on that day be completely lost, fully replaced by the image of Satan – and their spirits and bodies will show this, just as ours with the glorified image of God will shine like stars forever and ever. “For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away” (Matt 13:12). In hell, there will be nothing good. Therefore, human natures in hell will have nothing good remaining in them.
If we were able to see unbelievers who are now in hell, or see them as they will be in whatever form future hell takes in the new heavens and new earth, then we would feel that they are exactly where they should be. Everything about them would reflect this, just as demons clearly belong in hell, angels clearly belong in heaven, and glorified believers will fit so perfectly in a new earth.
Eighth, our failure to feel the justice of hell reflects how little we understand the sinfulness of sin.
We don’t feel that hell is just because we are a people blind to how evil sin actually is. Or, in the case of believers, we are a people recovering from that blindness. Were God to allow us to fully see the darkness of the sin in our nature and in our actions, we would not struggle in the same way with the justice of hell. In fact, we’d probably struggle more with the scandalous nature of God’s forgiveness. It’s curious to me that former generations who were more exposed to suffering and oppression struggled less with the concept of an eternal hell. It’s as if they had the opportunity to see more clearly just how sinful sin actually is. And so their feelings about justice and hell were better aligned to what is revealed in God’s word.
Sin is so evil that it makes us unworthy to be in God’s presence, but more than that, it makes us incompatible. Our very substance as sinful creatures cannot draw near to the substance of God’s being without being exposed to eternal death. He is a holy, consuming fire (Is 33:14, Heb 12:29). This is his nature. And his justice by its very nature will burn and afflict sin eternally. That is, unless we are changed to somehow be compatible with that fire.
This is what is promised in the gospel, not only forgiveness but also transformation. We will be changed so that the holy fire of God’s nature will not afflict and torment us eternally, but will instead delight and empower us in its beauty (Is 33:15-17, 1 John 3:2). We will praise him forever because at last we will see hell clearly for the fitting and careful justice that it truly is.
Yes, one day we will also say about God’s judgment on the wicked in hell, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever!” (Rev 19:3). When this occurs it will be because our eyes are finally fully open. We will see the careful and fitting justice of God. And we will know and feel that it is good.
