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Is Hell temporary or eternal?


Matthew 25:46

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.


Hell is certainly eternal, not temporary. People that only believe in a temporary hell are called Annihilationists. They believe that when people go to hell, they only go for a temporary amount of time. After they serve their sentence of punishment, they are then eliminated, cease to exist, or are annihilated (hense the term Annihilationist).

It is rare to find Christians who take this view, but they are out there. Honestly, it is more normal for cults to believe this. The largest group of people to hold this view are the Jehovah's Witnesses, one of the world's largest cults. Having a view on a temporary hell can be apprealing to people in today's world, helping a cult like the Watchtower Society gain membership. Unfortunately, it is easy believism and not biblical. 

While it might sound easy for some to believe and more comforting, there aren’t any passages in Scripture that state anyone will escape or be removed from the lake of fire for eternity. Hell wasn’t prepared for humans, but humans prepare themselves for hell. People that find their place in hell will have a continuous will for evil. That warrants continuous punishment.

If hell is only temporary, that diminishes Jesus’ work on the cross. Moreover, sin is against an eternal and infinitely holy God, not a temporary and finite God. If hell (what many call the lake of fire) is eternal punishment for Satan, the beast, and the false prophet (Revelation 20:10), it would only stand to reason that other non-forgiven sinners would be punished eternally, as well. In fact, it is later in the same chapter that non-believers are thrown into the same lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).

There are quite a few Scriptures that teach us that hell is eternal. We have time to look at two of those today.


Matthew 25:46 - And these [non-believers] will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.


Annihilationists will say that the Greek word for eternal (αἰώνιος - aionios), doesn’t always mean eternal. That can be true, but it’s extremely rare. The word nearly ALWAYS means eternal. Annihilationists believe that in the first part of the verse, it means temporary, but in the second part of the verse, it means eternal. Scholars would call that bad exegesis. That’s when a person does not do a thorough inspection, or analysis of the text. 

Good exegesis, or interpretive analysis of Matthew 25:46 says that the Greek word "aionios" means eternal all the way through the verse. We have to be consistent with the text when we interpret. If it means “eternal” in the first clause of the verse, it will mean “eternal” in the second clause, as well. So, according to the verse, if the righteous experience eternal life, the guilty experience eternal punishment. That’s the sad reality of separation from God.


If that’s not enough, let’s continue: 


Revelation 14:11  -  …the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”


Some argue that the only ones tormented day and night, forever and ever are the people who take the mark of the beast or worship him during the great tribulation period. However, the sad news is, although people aren’t worshipping the antichrist yet (the beast), they are certainly serving Satan already. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30 - He who is not with Me is against Me… Humans automatically worship something: sports, celebrities, money, etc. Unfortunately, the deeper, end result, is an indirect worship of Satan. If people don’t worship Jesus, they worship Satan by default, although they do it through something else.

Scholar John Walvoord said “the phrase ‘forever and ever’ literally means ‘into the ages of ages,’ which is the strongest expression of eternity in the Greek language.”

Did you know the Bible mentions hell more than it does heaven? It's true. That speaks to how much God does not want people to go there. Eternal separation from God is so bad it wasn’t originally created for humans in the first place. It was originally created for Satan and his army of rebellious fallen angels (Matthew 25:41).


Revelation 14:11

And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day and night…