Annihilationism
Serious error
The teaching that the unsaved will not suffer forever but will cease to exist, either at death or after a period of punishment.
Also called: annihilationist, conditional immortality, conditionalism, conditionalist
What it means
Annihilationism holds that those who die without Christ will finally be destroyed, so that they no longer exist. A closely related view, conditional immortality or conditionalism, holds that the soul is not naturally immortal and that God grants everlasting life only to the redeemed; the rest perish. Many holders believe in a real judgment and a period of punishment first, but deny that it is endless.
Holders appeal to biblical language of "destruction," "perishing," and fire that consumes, and argue that endless torment would be out of proportion to sins committed in a lifetime. Some sincere and otherwise evangelical teachers have held this view.
But the historic creeds and every major Protestant confession teach everlasting punishment, and this site treats annihilationism as outside the orthodoxy gate. The words for destruction in Scripture describe ruin, not ceasing to exist, and Jesus places the punishment of the wicked in the same eternity as the life of the righteous.
What Scripture says
Punishment and life are both called eternal in the same sentence.
The torment of those who worship the beast rises forever, with no rest day or night.
The fire of hell is not quenched and their worm does not die.
The devil, beast, and false prophet are tormented forever, not consumed.
The rich man after death is conscious and in anguish.
Holders cite God's power to destroy soul and body in hell, which describes ruin, not nonexistence.
What is wrong with it
Jesus says the wicked "will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." If the life is endless, the punishment is endless, because He uses the same word for both in the same breath. Punishment that is not felt is not punishment. Revelation describes torment that continues "forever and ever," with "no rest day or night," the very phrase used of the worship of heaven. And the biblical words for destruction regularly mean ruin or loss, as when wineskins are "destroyed," not that something ceases to be. Annihilationism has to reinterpret Jesus' plainest words about the future to arrive at a conclusion that feels more bearable.
How it undermines the truth
It shrinks the holiness of God and the seriousness of sin. Sin is an offense against an infinite and eternal God, and Scripture's teaching on its penalty reflects that. It also diminishes the cross: if the penalty Christ bore was simply ceasing to exist, the depth of His suffering and of His love is measured smaller. And it sets a pattern of letting our sense of what is fair overrule the words of Christ, which weakens the authority of Scripture on every hard teaching.
How it can harm a church
A church that teaches annihilationism softens the warnings Christ gave in love, and its people may come to treat judgment lightly. For some, the thought of simply ceasing to exist is not frightening at all, so the call to flee from the wrath to come loses its force. It can also unsettle members' confidence in other doctrines, since the reasoning that sets aside hell can be turned against substitution, wrath, or the exclusivity of Christ.
This page describes a teaching, not the faith of any person who holds it.
Where it comes up
Confessions: WCF 32.1; WCF 33.2; LBCF 1689 31.1; LBCF 1689 32.2; Athanasian Creed
On this site: Final judgment
Related terms
Eternal conscious punishmentHistoric orthodoxy
Those who die without Christ will experience God's just punishment consciously and without end.
Universal reconciliationOutside historic orthodoxy
The teaching that every person, and in some versions even the devil, will eventually be reconciled to God through Christ, so that hell is temporary.
UniversalismOutside historic orthodoxy
The teaching that all people will be saved, whatever they believe, so that faith in Christ is not necessary for salvation.