Annihilationism is the false teaching that when a person dies he is annihilated thus negating eternal hell fire. This is contradicted by the Bible in many places such as Matthew 25:46 which says "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Also, degrees of punishment will be given on the Day of Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). If all, or only the wicked are annihilated, then degrees of punishment would be pointless.
The Greek word for "everlasting" is aionios. The word means ageless-without beginning, without ending, or both. It is used in Romans 16:26 of God :"the everlasting [aionios] God." This use of the word should clearly show us the meaning of the word "everlasting." The Greek scholar A.T. Robertson says of the word: "It comes as near to the idea of eternal as the Greek can put it in one word. It is a difficult idea to put into language." The very same word (aionios) is used to describe the future life of the righteous and the future punishment of the wicked in Matthew 25:46: "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." If punishment of the wicked is limited, we may likewise limit the life of the righteous! But such cannot be done. This phrase, "for ever and ever" (eis tous aionas aionon), occurs 20 times in the New Testament: of God-16 times; of saints' future blessedness-1 time; of punishment of the wicked and Satan-- 3 times.
Death is never an annihilation, or a ceasing to exist. It is always a separation. The second death is the final and eternal separation of the unsaved in the "lake of fire" (Rev 20:11-15). That the second death is not annihilation see Revelation 19:20.
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Larry Wessels graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, Texas in 1981 with a degree in Advertising & on May 16 of that same year he had a supernatural "born again" experience (John 3:3-8, Romans 8: 8-17, etc.) by a sovereign act of the God of the Bible. Larry has been...
