HELL: THE REALITY WE CANNOT AFFORD TO IGNORE

Recently, a member of our church asked me a question about hell. It was one of those questions that deserves more than a quick answer or a simple Scripture reference. It deserves a thoughtful, biblical explanation because the subject of hell raises some difficult questions about the nature of God, His love, His justice, and what happens to those who die without Jesus Christ.

I appreciate questions like this because I believe we should be willing to wrestle with difficult theological subjects. As a pastor, I never want someone to feel they cannot ask questions about what the Bible teaches, even when the answers are uncomfortable. I also believe we have a responsibility to approach these questions with humility, allowing Scripture to shape our understanding rather than allowing our emotions, experiences, or cultural opinions to determine what we believe.

When it comes to hell, I think one of the biggest struggles people have is reconciling the love of God with the reality of eternal punishment. How can a God who is loving, merciful, gracious, and forgiving allow someone to experience eternal judgment? It is a legitimate question, and I understand why people struggle with it. I have thought about that question myself, especially when considering people I know and love who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. None of us should approach the subject of hell casually or with some sense of satisfaction that people will be judged. If anything, the reality of hell should break our hearts.

However, I believe the starting point for understanding hell must be the character of God as revealed in Scripture. One of the mistakes we often make is defining God primarily through one of His attributes. We say that God is love, which is absolutely true according to 1 John 4:8. But God is also holy, righteous, and just. Isaiah 6:3 describes the holiness of God, while Romans 2:5–6 teaches that God's righteous judgment will be revealed and that He will repay each person according to his deeds. We cannot separate God's love from His justice any more than we can separate His mercy from His holiness. All of God's attributes exist together in perfect harmony.

In preparing my thoughts on this subject, I also considered Wayne Grudem's explanation in *Systematic Theology*. Grudem addresses hell in his discussion of the final judgment and eternal punishment. He argues that Scripture teaches eternal conscious punishment for those who remain under God's judgment. What I appreciate about his treatment is that he does not approach hell as an isolated doctrine. He connects it to the holiness of God, the seriousness of sin, and the righteousness of God's judgment. That is important because if we misunderstand God's character or minimize the seriousness of sin, we will inevitably struggle to understand why eternal judgment exists.

I think we also need to recognize that our understanding of sin is often very different from God's. We tend to evaluate sin according to human standards. We compare ourselves to other people and conclude that we are generally good. We look at certain sins as more serious than others, and we sometimes struggle to understand how someone who has lived what we consider a decent life could face eternal punishment. But Scripture tells us in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 6:23 teaches that the wages of sin is death. Sin is not simply a mistake or a failure to meet some religious expectation. It is rebellion against a perfectly holy God. When we understand who God is, we begin to understand that sin is far more serious than we often want to admit.

One of the things I find especially important in this discussion is that Jesus Himself spoke about hell. Sometimes people suggest that hell is a doctrine developed by religious institutions or preachers trying to frighten people into obedience. But that simply is not consistent with Scripture. Jesus spoke directly about eternal judgment. In Matthew 25:46, He said, "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (LSB). What stands out to me is that Jesus uses the same Greek word, *aiōnios*, to describe both eternal punishment and eternal life. If we believe that eternal life with Christ continues forever, then we must seriously consider what Jesus meant when He described punishment using the same word.

Jesus also warned about hell in Mark 9:43–48, describing unquenchable fire and the worm that does not die. In 2 Thessalonians 1:8–9, Paul describes eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might. Revelation 20:11–15 describes the final judgment and the lake of fire, which is called the second death. Daniel 12:2 speaks of resurrection to everlasting life and everlasting contempt. When I read these passages together, I find it difficult to conclude that hell is simply a temporary experience or that Scripture teaches everyone will eventually be saved.

I realize there are Christians who understand these passages differently. Some believe in annihilationism, the view that those who reject God will ultimately cease to exist rather than experience eternal conscious punishment. Others hold to universalism, believing that eventually everyone will be reconciled to God. I think it is important to acknowledge these positions because people often encounter them when studying theology or listening to different teachers. However, after considering the biblical evidence, I believe the traditional understanding of eternal conscious punishment, which Grudem also defends, is the most faithful interpretation of Scripture. I do not arrive at that conclusion because I find the doctrine appealing. I arrive at it because I believe that is what the Bible teaches.

At the same time, I want to be careful about claiming to know more about hell than Scripture reveals. The Bible uses descriptions such as fire, darkness, destruction, and torment, but it does not answer every question we might have about the exact nature of that punishment. I do not believe we need to speculate about those details or create frightening descriptions beyond what God has revealed. The reality of final judgment is serious enough without adding our own imagination to it.

Another question that naturally comes up is whether eternal punishment is fair. How can someone who lives seventy or eighty years deserve an eternity of judgment? I understand the difficulty of that question. Grudem addresses this issue by connecting the seriousness of sin to the infinite holiness of the God against whom we sin. While the duration of a sinful act may be brief, the moral significance of rebellion cannot be measured simply by how long the act took. We recognize something similar in human justice. The seriousness of an offense is not determined merely by the amount of time it took to commit it. Nevertheless, I think we should be cautious about pretending we can fully comprehend the justice of eternal punishment through human comparisons. What I can say with confidence is that Scripture presents God as perfectly righteous, and His judgment will never be unjust.

Genesis 18:25 asks, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do justice?" (LSB). That question reminds me that God does not need my approval to be righteous. His judgments are not corrupted by ignorance, prejudice, selfishness, or imperfect understanding. He knows every person completely. He knows every thought, every motive, every action, and every opportunity. Whatever judgment God renders will be perfectly consistent with His holiness and righteousness. There may be aspects of eternal judgment that I cannot fully explain, but I can trust the character of the God who judges.

What I also want people to understand is that the Bible does not present God as someone who takes pleasure in condemning people. Ezekiel 33:11 reveals that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but calls them to turn from their ways and live. Second Peter 3:9 speaks of God's patience and His desire for repentance. First Timothy 2:3–4 speaks of God's desire for people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. These passages are important because they reveal God's mercy and His call for sinners to repent. God is not indifferent toward humanity's spiritual condition.

In fact, the greatest demonstration of God's love is that He provided a way for sinners to be reconciled to Him. John 3:16 tells us that God loved the world and gave His only Son so that those who believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life. Romans 5:8 reminds us that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Think about that for a moment. God did not wait for humanity to become righteous before demonstrating His love. He sent Jesus Christ into a world filled with rebellion and sin, knowing that the very people He came to save would reject Him and crucify Him. The cross is not evidence of a God who is unwilling to forgive. It is the greatest evidence of a God who is willing to extend mercy to undeserving sinners.

This is why I believe we cannot properly understand hell without understanding the Gospel. If there were no judgment for sin, then what exactly was Jesus saving us from? If everyone ultimately receives eternal life regardless of their response to Christ, then how do we understand the repeated biblical calls to repentance and faith? Jesus did not come merely to make our lives better, give us moral guidance, or provide an example of how to love others. He came to save sinners. Ephesians 2:8–9 teaches that salvation is by grace through faith, not by works. Acts 4:12 declares that salvation is found in no one other than Jesus Christ. The Gospel is good news precisely because God has provided salvation from sin and judgment through the death and resurrection of His Son.

I also think we need to be careful with the common statement that God does not send anyone to hell because people simply choose to go there. I understand what people are trying to communicate when they say that. They want to emphasize human responsibility and the consequences of rejecting Christ. However, Scripture clearly teaches that God is the righteous Judge who administers final judgment. Matthew 25:41–46 and Revelation 20:11–15 make that clear. We should not try to soften the biblical teaching by removing God's role in judgment. At the same time, Scripture teaches that human beings are responsible for their sin and unbelief. God's judgment is not arbitrary, and no one will be condemned unjustly.

Another important part of this discussion is understanding that none of us deserves salvation. Sometimes we approach the question of hell as though God owes humanity eternal life and must somehow justify withholding it. But the biblical picture is different. Romans 3 teaches that all humanity stands guilty before God, and Romans 6:23 reminds us that the wages of sin is death, while the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Salvation is not something God owes us. It is a gift of His grace. The wonder of the Gospel is not that God judges sin. The wonder is that God, in His mercy, has made a way for guilty sinners to be forgiven.

As a pastor, this is where the discussion becomes especially important to me. I do not study the doctrine of hell simply because I want to understand theological concepts. I study it because it has real implications for the way we live, the way we lead the church, and the way we share the Gospel. If I genuinely believe that people who die apart from Christ face eternal judgment, then I cannot treat evangelism as an optional part of Christian life. I cannot become so consumed with church programs, budgets, buildings, and internal concerns that I forget about the people around us who desperately need Jesus Christ.

Jesus commanded us in Matthew 28:19–20 to make disciples of all nations. Paul asks in Romans 10:14 how people will believe in the One they have not heard about and how they will hear without someone preaching. These passages remind me that the church has been entrusted with an extraordinary responsibility. We cannot save anyone. Salvation belongs to the Lord. But we are called to faithfully proclaim the message of salvation. If the reality of hell does not increase our compassion for the lost and our urgency to share the Gospel, then I believe we have missed one of the most important practical implications of this doctrine.

I never want to use hell as a means of manipulating people into making emotional decisions. Fear alone does not produce genuine saving faith. Salvation is the work of God, and the Gospel calls people to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. But I also refuse to avoid teaching about hell simply because it makes people uncomfortable. If Jesus believed it was important enough to warn people about eternal judgment, then I believe it is important enough for the church to teach it faithfully. We must communicate these truths with compassion, humility, and love, but we must also communicate them honestly.

I also want to acknowledge that there are questions about eternity that Scripture does not answer in the detail we might desire. People ask about those who have never heard the Gospel, about children who die, and about loved ones who passed away without giving clear evidence of faith in Christ. These are deeply personal questions, and they deserve thoughtful consideration rather than quick, careless answers. I believe we must hold firmly to what Scripture clearly teaches while remaining humble about matters God has not fully revealed. We can trust that the Judge of all the earth will do what is right, even when we do not understand everything about how His judgment will unfold.

Ultimately, my understanding of hell is not based on whether I like the doctrine or whether it fits comfortably within my personal understanding of love. It is based on what I believe Scripture teaches. I believe God is perfectly loving, perfectly holy, perfectly righteous, and perfectly just. I believe sin is far more serious than humanity generally recognizes. I believe Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. And I believe the Bible teaches that those who die apart from Christ face eternal punishment. These convictions are not easy to hold emotionally, especially when we think about people we love, but I cannot allow my emotions to become the authority over God's Word.

What I hope the person who asked me this question, and anyone else who wrestles with it, understands is that the doctrine of hell should never cause us to question whether God is good simply because we cannot fully comprehend His judgment. Instead, it should cause us to look more closely at the cross. At the cross, we see the seriousness of sin, the righteousness of God's judgment, and the incredible depth of His mercy. We see that God did not ignore sin, but neither did He leave humanity without hope. Jesus Christ willingly gave His life so that sinners could be forgiven and reconciled to God.

I do not expect everyone to walk away from this discussion with every question answered. There are aspects of eternity that remain difficult for our finite minds to comprehend. But I do hope we walk away with a greater reverence for God, a deeper appreciation for salvation, and a renewed commitment to sharing the Gospel.

For me, the question is no longer simply, "How can a loving God allow hell?" The greater question is, "Knowing what Scripture teaches about sin and judgment, how incredible is it that God loved us enough to send His Son to save us?"

And if we truly believe that, then it should change the way we live, the way we love people, and the urgency with which we proclaim Jesus Christ.

Because the reality of hell should never make us less compassionate toward people. It should make us more determined than ever to tell them about the Savior who came to rescue sinners.

Part 2- Comparing the Bible to examples of secular ideas of Hell

Soli Deo Gloria,

Pastor Jody

Theological reference: Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Chapter 56, "The Final Judgment and Eternal Punishment" (1994 edition). Scripture references are from the Legacy Standard Bible (LSB).