Matthew 25:46 is the verse most often quoted to argue for eternal damnation.   In Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins (which, due to the lack of press you probably haven’t heard of), Rob spends a little bit of time dissecting the meaning of this verse, particularly the meaning of “aion,” or “age.”    Here is a bit more on that…

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life (Matt. 25:46).

I have become convinced that this is a terrible way to translate this verse and misses the entire point.

The original greek reads as follows:

καὶ ἀπελεύσονται οὗτοι εἰς κόλασιν αἰώνιον, οἱ δὲ δίκαιοι εἰςζωὴν αἰώνιον.

The key phrase in question is  κόλασιν αἰώνιον, which in many translations is rendered “eternal punishment” or “everlasting condemnation” or even “damnation.”   Yet upon deeper examination this cannot be the case.

The first problem comes with the adjective aionion, which literally means “an age.”   In Marvin Vincent’s (Union Theological Seminary) Word Studies in the New Testament, aion is defined as a “period of longer or shorter duration, having a beginning and an end, and complete in itself.”   He goes on to say that “the length of an aion depends on the subject to which it is attached.”

What does this mean?  It means that there is no set time reference to an aion.   For example, when attached to Jonah and the time he spent in the whale, it is limited to 3 days.   In Hab. 3:6 we read, “And the everlasting mountains were scattered…His ways are everlasting.”   The same word “aionios” is used here to describe both the mountains and God.  Both are translated as “everlasting.”   However, while mountains may indeed last a long time they are not eternal.   Only God is eternal.    This is but one example of how the duration of the age is dependent upon the subject to which the age is attached.

The same word, aion, is used in the following verses.   I will insert “eternity” in place of aion and let’s see if they makes any sense…

Deliver us from this present evil [eternity] (Gal. 1:4)

Not only in this [eternity] but also in that which is to come (Eph. 1:21)

Walked according to the [eternity] of this world (Eph. 2:2)

Where is the disputer of this [eternity]? (1 Cor. 1:20)

Upon whom the ends of the [eternities] have come (1 Cor. 10:11)

These are but a few examples.   Thanks to Gerry Beauchemin for making them readily accessible.

So obviously “aion” does not mean eternal in the way we often think of eternal.   It can when in reference to God, but it’s duration is dependent upon it’s subject.   Augustine argued that since aionios in Matt. 25:46 referred to both life and punishment it had to carry the same duration for both.  Therefore, if life is “eternal” than so should be the punishment. But this fails to take into account the fact that aion is dependent upon its subject.   Rendered literally, this passage would read “an age of punishment” and “an age of life.”   What is really interesting, however, is the sort of punishment in mind here.

The word Matthew uses for punishment is kolasis.   Some translations render this as destruction or damnation or condemnation.   But this is to miss the point.   Kolasis also means correction. In fact, that is the dominant meaning of the word in the time Matthew would have been writing.   Thomas Talbott, Professor of Philosophy and author of The Inescapable Love of God, explains:

According to Aristotle, there is a difference between revenge and punishment; the latter (kolasis) is inflicted in the interest of the sufferer, the former (timoria) in the interest of him who inflicts it, that he may obtain satisfaction. Plato also appealed to the established meaning of kolasis as support for his theory that virtue could be taught: “For if you will consider punishment (kolasis) and what control it has over wrong-doers, the facts will inform you that men agree in regarding virtue as procured.”  Even where a punishment may seem harsh and unforgiving, more like retribution than parental chastisement, this in no way excludes a corrective purpose. Check out the punishment that Paul prescribes in 1 Cor. 5:5. One might never have guessed that, in prescribing such a punishment – that is, delivering a man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh – Paul had in mind a corrective purpose, had Paul not explicitly stated the corrective purpose himself (”that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus”). So as this text illustrates, even harsh punishment of a seemingly retributive kind can in fact serve a redemptive purpose.

William Barclay notes that in all Greek secular literature the word “kolasis” is never used of anything but “remedial punishment.” i.e. it is meant to bring about a response of repentance and growth.

The only other place this word kolasis is used in the same form as Matthew uses it comes here:

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love (1 John 4:18)

Notice that here the same word is not translated as condemnation of damnation but “punishment.”

But the fascinating part to me is that it recognizes that with fear comes its own sort of punishment. There is little life here – no joy. No love. People who fear are in a sense being punished. They have not yet been made perfect in love – something God desires to do in all of us.

Yet God’s punishments are for a redemptive purpose throughout Scripture. They are calls to repentance.  Sometimes when we come face to face with our fear and hit our lowest is when we discover God the most – with arms open ready to show us love and forgiveness.

In Matt. 25:46, those who are raised up to take part in an “age of punishment” are most likely being confronted with truth. They are being made perfect in love.

What does all this mean?  It means that to translate kolasis aionios as “eternal punishment” is to miss the point.   The punishment is indeed punishment but it is for a purpose – to bring about virtue, to prune, to make new.   It’s a purging of sorts.   And the “age” describing it is for a duration applicable to this task.  God’s punishment is not without purpose or telos.

There is redemptive ends in sight when God chastises us.   In this often misused and abused passage teaching the eternity of hell we are actually being told by our Lord that the wicked will be raised to a take part in an age of punishment – one which will hopefully perfect them in love thus preparing them to enter the holy city for a “life of the ages.”