The Bible leaves no room for doubt: God will destroy the wicked Thus in the Old Testament: "Though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed" (Psalm 92). Jesus' testimony is: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell" (Matthew 10:28).

There is no doubt at all what "destruction" has traditionally meant for us. "Destruction" means "hell": it involves the eternal and conscious, mental and physical suffering of the unbeliever.

But nowadays not only do the Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, teach a contrary opinion, but even those once con­sidered sound in the faith have abandoned the traditional view. Destruction, they allege, involves the wiping out, the annihilation, of the wicked. They cease to exist. And, if you pause to con­sider the matter, "to destroy" something does tend to make us think of it being "wiped out" rather than kept permanently in existence. Indeed an English dictionary gives the meanings: "to put an end to, do away with, extinguish; to kill or annihilate".

On the other hand, the same dictionary also gives the mean­ings: "to ruin, spoil or render useless; to crush, subdue or de­feat". These latter meanings are quite consistent with the tradi­tional picture of hell.

So which meaning of the word "destruction" is the right one? It is not a case of choosing what fits our own outlook best. That would be to make our­selves gods. We must ask what the word means in the Scrip­tures. Nor is it a case of looking at what it means in English, but of asking what is conveyed by the Hebrew and Greek in which the Bible was originally written.

This is not an easy task, nor is it one that those unversed in the Biblical languages can fully perform for themselves. But a large part of that task is to take the Biblical words for "destruc­tion" and, aided by an appro­priate concordance, see how they are actually used in differ­ent Biblical settings. This can then help us to see what they mean when used in connection with the final state of the wicked. Here we will attempt to perform part of this task for the New Testament.

The Task⤒🔗

The main Greek word translated "destroy" occurs 91 times in the New Testament; the related noun 18 times. But by no means all of these references actually have to do with the destruction of the wicked. The word is used in a variety of circumstances. This helps us to build up a pic­ture of the different ways this word is used — an exercise which will prepare the way for an­swering the question: does the "destruction" of the wicked mean "annihilation" or does it mean something else?

Variety of Meanings←⤒🔗

"Wiped out" certainly seems a suitable meaning to be attached to the word when used in Revelation 18:14: "All your riches and splendour have vanished ("been destroyed"), never to be recovered". But that is not the only meaning that the word has.

It is used to refer to things that may naturally become spoiled. Bread becomes mouldy and stale, unfit for human consumption. Gold loses its shine or becomes tarnished through the oxidation of impurities in it. Beauty fades with the passing years. So the New Testament says bread "spoils" or "perishes" (John 6:27); beauty and gold "perish" (James 1:11; 1 Peter 1:7). Fragments of bread might be "lost" or "wasted" (John 6:12) just as the broken alabaster ­jar and the ointment lavished on Jesus was branded a "waste" by some. In each of these examples, the Greek word is "destroy". It used then to refer, not to "wiping something out", but to natural processes of decay and to the waste of material resources.

Similarly, when new wine is put in old wineskins the skins burst; the wine runs out and the wineskins are "ruined"; they "perish". Again, the Greek word is "destroyed". Clearly the wineskins are not annihilated. "To destroy" simply means "to ruin, render useless". Something analogous is found in God "destroying" the wisdom of the wise (1 Corinthians 1:19). That doesn't mean he will "annihi­late" it. Rather he "frustrates" the intelligence of the intelligent. He "makes foolish" the wisdom of the world.

The Biblical word for "de­stroy", like its English equiva­lent, has various shades of meaning. It may mean "to wipe out, annihilate"; but it refers more frequently to processes of spoiling, ruining and frustrating. With that in our minds we can consider other passages which bear more directly on the ques­tion at issue: how does the New Testament use this word with reference to people's destiny?

Applied to Death←⤒🔗

The word is applied to people being killed or dying. "Don't you care that we are "perish­ing"?" said the disciples to Jesus in the storm (Mark 4:38). They were in danger of being "de­stroyed", that is, of dying. Herod sought to "destroy", that is, to "kill" Jesus (Matthew 2:13).

But that doesn't contribute anything to the support of the view that, when applied to the "destruction" of the wicked, it means "annihilation". Rather the reverse. After all, in the Scrip­tures "death" doesn't mean "annihilation". It is a dissolving of the person into his constituent parts: the body lies in the grave; the spirit returns to God. If the "destruction" involved in the first (natural) death doesn't mean "annihilation", the burden of proof is on those that say that it means "annihilation" when it refers to the second death.

Already Destroyed←⤒🔗

According to the New Tes­tament believers are already "destroyed". The word fre­quently appearing as "lost" in the New Testament is really this word we are studying. Jesus sent his disciples to the "lost" sheep of Israel (Matthew 10:6); to these "lost" sheep he himself ministered (Matthew 15:24); he came, indeed, to seek and save "what was lost" (Luke 19:10). So he told stories about the "lost" sheep; the "lost" coin; and the "lost" son (Luke 15:4, 9, 24). Paul speaks of those who are "perishing" (1 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 4:3; 2 Thessalo­nians 2:10). In all these cases the word is "destroyed". In other words, Jesus speaks of unbe­lievers being in a "destroyed" condition. Paul implies that they are being "destroyed".

We can therefore, with the utmost confidence, say that "destroy" when applied to the human condition does not mean "annihilate" — Jesus didn't come to save sheep that had been "annihilated"! It refers to the ruined, spoiled and frustrated condition of man in his sinful­ness.

The originally impressed divine image has been marred by the counter-impress of sin. Man's relationship with God, fully enjoyed in the Garden, has been completely disrupted. His happy connection with the en­vironment has been brought under curse and, in fulfilling the divine command to be God's ruler in the world, he is con­fronted with difficulty, frustra­tion and hostility. His relation­ships with others have been spoiled by the corrupting in­fluence of the sinful tendency. His heart is a battleground of conflicting malevolent influ­ences; a playground for a multi­plicity of sinful passions. Every­where you look there is distor­tion and warping, marring and spoiling. Man stands ruined by the ongoing influence of sin. To this Jesus refers when he calls people "lost", "destroyed". Man is set on a downward path in­volving increasing ruination, frustration and alienation. To this Paul refers when he speaks of unbelievers "perishing", "be­ing destroyed".

It is not surprising if, when we read that God will "destroy" the wicked, we understand it to refer, not to annihilation, but to the intensification of that alien­ation and frustration to which they are already subject.

Saved and "Destroyed"←⤒🔗

If we have difficulty in de­scribing something, we may usefully contrast it with its op­posite. What is the opposite of "being destroyed"?

The two options before man are that his life be "saved" or "lost" (Matthew 16:25; Luke 19:10). Again "lost" means lit­erally "destroyed". To be "saved" is the opposite of to be "destroyed". So James speaks of one who is able to "save and destroy" (4:12). These are alter­natives, opposites, extremes.

This is confirmed by refer­ence to the terms describing the experience of salvation: it is through believing in Christ that a person will not "perish" (John 3:16); to repent brings about the opposite of "perishing" (2 Peter 3:9), where the word "perish" is, in Greek, "destroy". Therefore we can say that the faith and repentance that bring us "salva­tion" free us from "destruction".

This again shows that "to destroy" does not mean "to an­nihilate". Notwithstanding the creative aspect of God's saving work, "to save" does not mean "to bring into existence, to cre­ate", which is what it would have to mean if it were the opposite of "to annihilate". The work of salvation refers to restoration and renewal. The defaced image of God is recreated in the saved person; the disrupted relationship with God is restored; the barriers to fellowship decisively removed. A new power is at work within, laying the basis both for trans­formed moral living and for the restoration of broken relation­ships. This brings life that is more vivid: a real degree of satisfaction and fulfilment.

If this is what "to save" means and if "to destroy" is the opposite of that, then we can say once again with even greater assurance: "to destroy" doesn't mean "to annihilate" but "to ruin, spoil, mar and frustrate".

Parallels←⤒🔗

There is an exact corre­spondence between the opposite concepts of "salvation" and "destruction":

The Bible speaks of "the saved" (Ephesians 2:5, 8) just as it speaks of "the destroyed" ("the lost"). (In both cases, the perfect participle is used.)

It refers to them as being in the process of "being saved" (Acts 2:47; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 2:15) just as it speaks of the opposite category as "being destroyed" ("perish­ing"). (In both cases, the present (continuous) tense is used).

And it looks forward to this culminating in "salvation" (Romans 13:11), just as the contrary process culminates in "destruction". (In both cases, the noun connected with the verb in question is used.)

So the course of salvation is this. God comes to us, awakes faith and repentance; the old relationship is restored; the basis for a renewed life is laid. And so we are "saved". But this process of restoration is an ongoing one: increasingly the blessings of this salvation become effective to us. So it can be said that we "are being saved". One day the culmination will come: the saving influences that we have known will reach their full extent and uninterrupted enjoy­ment of them will be given. Then we will know "salvation" — "the salvation ready to be re­vealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:5).

And the course of destruc­tion is the opposite of this. Al­ready there are those that are "destroyed". The image of God in them is marred; their life spoiled by sin; unhappiness always with them. But these destructive forces are continuing their work; apart from grace their powers are increasingly felt. So people "are perishing", "are being destroyed". One day these destructive influences will be given free rein. Alienation from God will be made absolute; their lives will be given over to unrestrained misery; complete isolation will be experienced; they will be confirmed for ever in their ruined and spoiled condition, subject to unremitting frustration.

That — and not annihilation — is what the Scriptures mean by "destruction". And that is just the traditional picture of hell.

Which path are we on?