Does Sin Bring Conscious Punishment?

An increasing number of people on the conservative end of Christendom are saying that the punishment is annihilation. Let’s examine this conceptually and then biblically.

Conceptually

Is annihilation really a punishment? If you are snuffed out of existence, you are not being punished because there is no you to be punished.

Many people relish the thought that they can live how they want here and now, then go extinct. It’s the perfect arrangement – they don’t want heaven and they don’t want hell. They look at death as the ultimate escape from their problems precisely because they think there’s nothing beyond this life. People would not commit suicide if they believed it would result in their conscious punishment.

And annihilation is also an unjust arrangement because there can be no such thing as degrees of punishment – there is no worse punishment for sinning more. So, annihilation seems to go against the concept of justice.

Biblically

When we come to Scripture, it is obvious that sin brings conscious punishment. We can see this when we consider two things: first of all, the Bible teaches that the lost suffer;[1] and secondly, the Lord suffered.

The lost suffer

Let’s look at some passages that establish this.

“So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’

But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’

Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’” (Luke 16:22-28).

The rich man who dies is obviously conscious, and four times we read about torment. He is in a place of fire, but the fire is not annihilating him. Some say that because this is a reference to the intermediate state it is not relevant to the eternal fate of the lost,[2] but there are a couple of problems with this approach: first, if conscious suffering is not the punishment for sin, why is this man suffering? That would be unjust. And secondly, there are several passages that describe the eternal state using the same language and imagery as the intermediate state:

The conditions of the intermediate state are similar to the eternal state, so, when we read of the rich man in Luke 16:19-31 we are reading a preview of the eternal condition of lost souls.

Let’s look at some more passages that establish the conscious nature of the punishment.

“So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:49,50 ESV).

This is just one example of the Lord using this language of weeping and gnashing of teeth.[3] No mention is made of annihilation, just a place of sorrow and anger.

“but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek” (Romans 2:8,9).

Paul is speaking about the day of judgement here (vv.5,6), and says that God will pour out indignation and wrath, resulting, not in annihilation, but in tribulation and anguish. This is conscious punishment.

“since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 ESV).

The Thessalonians were being persecuted but Paul said that the tables would be turned. God is going to repay the persecutors with tribulation, not with annihilation. This tribulation isn’t the by-product of the process of extinction – it is the recompense for their sins. He says that this suffering is everlasting destruction. The word “destruction” does not and cannot mean annihilation. This is clear from the context and also from the other uses of this word (1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:3; 1 Timothy 6:9), and also because Paul says this everlasting destruction is “away from the presence of the Lord” (ESV, LSB, NET).[4] If you don’t exist you are not away from anything or anyone; you have no location. So the fact that the lost are punished with suffering and affliction away from the Lord’s presence proves that the punishment is conscious.

One more reference will suffice:

“The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

The book of Revelation is a book of symbols, so there are those who say we cannot take this language on face value – although it says “torment”, it might mean something else. But symbolic language has to bear some relationship to the reality it is symbolising. If you wanted to use symbolic language to communicate annihilation, you would not use the language of these verses.

I think this sample of Scripture proves that the punishment the lost will undergo is conscious. However, there is another important factor to be considered, and that is that the Lord suffered.

The Lord suffered

The Lord Jesus gave Himself as a substitute – He was treated as we deserved to be treated (2 Corinthians 5:21), and the Bible teaches that He experienced conscious punishment. Think of the two great prophetic portraits of the suffering Saviour we have in the Old Testament: Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. These passages emphasise His suffering:

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?” (Psalm 22:1).

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed . . . Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin” (Isaiah 53:5,10).

If the Lord suffered for sin, then the punishment for sin involves suffering. If annihilation is the penalty for sin then we have no substitute, because the Son of God was never annihilated.

So, if you get rid of the truth of conscious punishment, you also get rid of the truth of penal substitution. And if the annihilationist wants to hold on to penal substitution then he will have to believe that Christ, a divine person, was put out of existence. The ramifications are as serious as you can get.

The third and final question is this: Is it eternal conscious punishment?

That’s what we will consider in the next article.

[1] By “the lost”, I mean those who are never saved from their sins and reconciled to God.

[2] The intermediate state is the name for the condition people are in after their death and before their resurrection.

[3] See also Matthew 8:12; 22:11-13; 24:48-51; 25:28-30; Luke 13:23-30.

[4] That the preposition has the force of “away from” is confirmed in two ways. First, Paul is drawing from Isaiah 2:10,19,21, which cannot mean anything but “away from”. Second, Paul contrasts the fate of the unbeliever here with the fate of the believer in chapter 2: instead of being away from God’s glory, the believer obtains His glory (2:14) – these are the only two mentions of “glory” in 2 Thessalonians; and then instead of everlasting destruction away from the Lord, the believer experiences everlasting consolation (2:16) – “consolation” has the idea of drawing alongside, meaning the believer has the Lord’s presence forever. These are the only two mentions of “everlasting” in the letter.