The Role Of Hell In The Early Christian Church
In the early Christian church there existed a debate over the duration of hell. One sect argued that hell was endless and that the unrepentant sinners who were punished there experienced everlasting, agonizing torment. This idea is often referred to as the doctrine of endless hell. There existed another sect, however, that argued that although hell was agonizing, it did not last forever. Instead, they argued that hell involved “purging” the damned of their sin and that rather being purely punitive, this purgation would ultimately reconcile the purged back to God. This idea is often referred to as the doctrine of purgatorialism.
Saint Augustine of Hippo, arguably one of the biggest advocates of endless hell in the early church, described …show more content…
It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where ‘the worms that eat them [the damned] do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’” Because this passage describes hell as a place where the wicked are eaten by immortal worms and burned by unquenchable flames, proponents of endless hell often cite it as Biblical support for their doctrine. Purgatorialists, on the other hand, argue that these verses should not be taken literally and that they fit into the overarching “corpse metaphor” that is used throughout Isaiah 66 to describe what will happen to those who rebel against God. They argue that the corpse metaphor is similar to the “destruction of the ungodly” mentioned in 2 Peter 3:7, a phrase that both purgatorialists and supporters of endless hell recognize as …show more content…
Advocates of endless hell view the parable of the rich man and Lazarus as a description of the eschaton, a “sneak peek” of what heaven and hell will be like in the hereafter. Purgatorialists, on the other hand, argue that the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is a story of the Hebrew Sheol, which is not in anyway related to heaven or hell, and that the purpose of the parable is not to provide Christians with a “sneak peek” of the eschaton, but is instead part of the overarching Luke 15 narrative concerning the New
Saint Augustine of Hippo, arguably one of the biggest advocates of endless hell in the early church, described …show more content…
It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where ‘the worms that eat them [the damned] do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’” Because this passage describes hell as a place where the wicked are eaten by immortal worms and burned by unquenchable flames, proponents of endless hell often cite it as Biblical support for their doctrine. Purgatorialists, on the other hand, argue that these verses should not be taken literally and that they fit into the overarching “corpse metaphor” that is used throughout Isaiah 66 to describe what will happen to those who rebel against God. They argue that the corpse metaphor is similar to the “destruction of the ungodly” mentioned in 2 Peter 3:7, a phrase that both purgatorialists and supporters of endless hell recognize as …show more content…
Advocates of endless hell view the parable of the rich man and Lazarus as a description of the eschaton, a “sneak peek” of what heaven and hell will be like in the hereafter. Purgatorialists, on the other hand, argue that the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is a story of the Hebrew Sheol, which is not in anyway related to heaven or hell, and that the purpose of the parable is not to provide Christians with a “sneak peek” of the eschaton, but is instead part of the overarching Luke 15 narrative concerning the New