How real is hell?
 

Baptist minister Steve Barber has written a new book offering guidance for those in pastoral ministry as to what the Bible teaches concerning the eternal fate of the unrighteous. He explains why

Forty years ago, Dick Dowsett wrote a pastoral book to respond to a hypothetical situation where a young Christian was distressed by the traditional view of hell (i.e., a place where the condemned will suffer eternal conscious pain).

His approach was to encourage the young person to take the Bible seriously, to argue that what God says is more important than anything else, to defend the doctrine as fair and just, and to allow the lostness of others to motivate us to share the gospel. The book was written when evangelicals overwhelmingly accepted the traditionalist position.

By 2010 an extensive survey by Evangelical Alliance claimed the traditional understanding of hell is “the issue where there is greatest uncertainty among evangelicals”.

Through further research ten years later, I found UK evangelicals are yet even more willing to reject the idea of hell as a place of eternal conscious suffering than in 2010. I also discovered that ministers of evangelical churches are more likely to reject the doctrine than members of their congregations. Ministers are polarised on the issue, with 35 percent of those I surveyed in agreement with the doctrine, 53 percent strongly rejecting it, and a further 12 percent rejecting it ‘a little’.

Such changes may be the consequences of the trickle-down effect of the fervent discussion among evangelicals in the 1990s. This followed John Stott’s disclosure in his liberal/evangelical discussion with David Edwards that he found the concept of hell-torment “intolerable,” before gently challenging its biblical basis. Further challenges to the traditional view took place in the 2000s from evangelicals advocating a universalist position, most notably Robin Parry (writing under the pseudonym Gregory MacDonald) in The Evangelical Universalist. 

For ministers, what we believe about hell affects our pastoral approach, or at least it should do. Do we warn people who are dying and have not trusted in Christ about the dangers of hell? At funerals, do we offer false hope rather than staying true to our own beliefs?

Pryce and Stoddart’s research among Scottish ministers found that aversion to raising the topic of hell in pastoral contexts will be greater the more ‘inclusive’ is our doctrine.  They also found that pastors who are more sensitive about the idea of hell more readily embrace “loopholes.” This is unsurprising.

My own understanding has changed through the years. Every church I attended in my early years as a Christian taught the doctrine of eternal conscious suffering.

However, I began to find difficulties with the doctrine on theological grounds. Is an eternal punishment for a finite life proportionate? How can I reconcile the incongruence of a God of love meting out such punishment? Why would God keep people alive for the sole purpose of punishing them (which became increasingly relevant as I came to understand the Jewish notion of immortality is based on God continuously breathing his breath into us rather than the idea the soul was created immortal)?

How does such a punishment which lacks a restorative purpose fit with the Old Testament witness of God who is repeatedly willing to restore those who reject him? And how does the doctrine fit with the verses which portray a cosmic salvation where all things will ultimately be reconciled to Christ?

Despite these challenging theological questions, I assumed there was strong biblical evidence in support of the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious punishment, despite struggling to reconcile what I thought the biblical texts said about the nature of judgement, with my increasing reservations about the doctrine on theological grounds.

Subsequently, I decided to dig deeper into the biblical texts, fully expecting the texts would strongly affirm the traditional position. However, a close examination of the texts has persuaded me that a conditional position (i.e., where the condemned face judgement but then are not subject to unending conscious suffering) is more biblically consistent. I also feel that the universal position (i.e., where, in the end, all people will be saved), though not biblically justified, raises some challenging questions.

The arguments are laid out in detail in my book How Real is Hell? I use three governing principles to guide my exegesis.

First, I place a high interpretive value on the Old Testament. Traditionalists often put a lot of weight on verses in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (Jewish works written before and around the time of the New Testament) to help understand New Testament imagery but sometimes fail to pay sufficient attention to the Old Testament. The Old Testament is a key hermeneutical tool which enables us to unlock the meaning and scope of several texts in the New Testament.

Secondly, I assume it is better to interpret metaphorical imagery in the light of plain-speaking texts, rather than vice-versa. Paul, largely addressing Gentiles, avoids the less understood géenna (hell) imagery of the synoptics, and uses plainer terms such as destruction, perishing, and death. It seems sensible to understand géenna (hell) imagery using Paul’s more straightforward language as opposed to interpreting Paul’s language through the lens of géenna (hell) imagery.

Thirdly, I heed G. B. Caird’s warnings not to press semitic metaphors and language too strongly. Caird’s analysis of biblical language leads him to conclude, "we need to allow for some literalist misinterpretation.” He notes that, “hyperbole and overstatement are very common in semitic language,” and there is, “a tendency to think in extremes without qualification, in black and white without intervening shades of grey.” Pressing biblical imagery too strongly ends up with contradictory ideas.
 
Although we might be relieved that hell is mentioned less frequently in churches than in previous generations, we cannot ignore its regular occurrence in the New Testament, particularly in Jesus’ teaching. Therefore, it must form part of the gospel we proclaim.

Maybe, like me, a reticence to talk about hell has been due in part to a perceived incongruity between what the Bible teaches and what we believe God is like. If so, my encouragement is to study the texts more.

How Real is Hell? is my attempt to do this, seeking to put forward a concise but detailed consideration of the three main positions (traditional, conditional and universal), pointing out their strengths and weaknesses across the relevant texts.

I hope it is helpful. As you dig deeper, I hope you will experience a similar convergence of your theological and textual understanding.


 

How Real is Hell? A close exploration of the biblical texts is published by Wipf and Stock and available from many different book retailers (RRP £13), or you can order a copy from Steve directly (steve.barber@orchardbaptistchurch.org) for £10 including p & p.

The Revd Steve Barber is an accredited Baptist minister, and a former regional minister with Southern Counties Baptist Association    

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