No Second Chance

            There is a mainstream belief in the conservative evangelical churches today that every person on this earth only gets one chance to come to Christ, or to “get saved.” According to this view anyone who has not accepted Christ as their savior while in this life, is eternally condemned to hell. There will not be a second chance for them, their eternal fate is sealed when they die physically the first time.

According to this doctrine, call it the “no second chance” doctrine, even all those who never heard the gospel – which may be a majority of those who ever lived on this earth – are condemned to eternity in hell. When asked how it is just for God to send people to hell who never even heard the gospel message, many of whom have no knowledge of God or who God is, and certainly have never read the Bible, some not even knowing about the Bible, the answer is quite simple – or maybe not.

For the Calvinists this is not a problem, since according to their view no one really has a choice anyway, so ultimately it doesn’t really matter whether or not a person hears the gospel. The ones God chooses, unconditionally, He will save. Then having been chosen God will make sure they will hear the gospel and being already saved (sanctified by the Spirit of God) they will believe – they don’t really have a choice in the matter. For those who hold to this Theology the issue of justice or fairness is completely irrelevant. God does not have to answer to us, being absolutely sovereign. To them our normal human definition of “just” doesn’t apply to God – He is “just” no matter what He does or how He does it, and we are not in position to question, or judge, Him (Romans 9:18-20). We just don’t understand God (Romans 11:33-36) – they say. This view is treated in the previous chapter entitled “Predestination vs. Foreknowledge – Calvinism” (Calvinism).

Many if not most believers realize that the free will of man and the responsibility put on men to make the right choice in order to become saved (conditional election) is both explicitly taught and implicitly assumed throughout the scripture. They however accept another explanation as to how God is just in condemning the masses to eternal punishment, even those who never really had a chance in this life to make the right choice. For them the following passage solves this dilemma:

“ ¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²²Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” (Romans 1:18-23)

            This passage is interpreted to be saying that no one has any excuse for not coming to Christ because of the evidence in creation that God exists. So according to this rationale, the heathens in Africa who are taught from early childhood all kinds of false beliefs such as Spiritism, are condemned because they do not recognize that it was the God of the Bible who created everything. To substantiate this argument there are a few rare instances cited as anecdotal evidence, where such a person cried out to a God they knew nothing about but suspected He must exist because of what they saw in creation, and God sent a missionary to their tribe to share the gospel with them. The question is, is this really what scripture is teaching? Is a gracious, loving, merciful, just God really requiring people to go against what they are taught from birth, and look for a God and a truth which they have never heard anything about?

One must wonder how this applies to such unbelievers as the Muslims, who also believe that God created everything – they just believe in a different God and a different gospel. How then are they justly condemned just by the evidence in creation?

It is very easy for the westerner raised in “Christian” America, where the gospel is preached or can be heard almost anywhere at any time, to smugly believe that just creation alone is enough to condemn all those heathens and unbelievers to eternity in hell, and it is just for God to do so. But given the statistic that most Christians who continue to believe as mature adults, came to Christ early and were taught what they believe during their formative years, what does this say for the pagan raised in Spiritism, or the Muslim raised and thoroughly indoctrinated in Islam? How is it justice in any sense of the word, to condemn such people to hell without really giving them a chance to at least hear the truth, the gospel? An honest thinking person may and should question this doctrine, asking first, is it what the scripture teaches?

So the real question is, what does scripture actually teach on this subject? First, as discussed in the preceding chapters, God tells us explicitly what His plan was, and how He meant for people to come to faith in Christ. We are not told that the order is His unconditional choice, followed by giving us the gift of grace, faith and salvation, and then exposing us to the Gospel which we then have no choice but to believe and receive – this is an amazing distortion of the clear and explicit teaching of scripture. We are also not told that He just created everything, and from that we are supposed to figure it all out and go looking for the truth until we find it – though we are promised that for those who do so they will find the truth. What we are explicitly told is in the following:

“¹³for ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ ¹⁴How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!’” (Romans 10:13-15)

“¹⁷So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)

And again in the letter to the Corinthians:

“²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” (1 Corinthians 1:21)

            Is this not clear? If one thinks that they have another passage which counters these rather clear statements then one has to believe the Bible contradicts itself. But we can be sure that men will be able to find ways to so interpret these unambiguous statements of fact to make them fit into their own preferred views and doctrines, such as the no-second chance doctrine.

 

Hebrews 9:27

Of course we do have a passage which is interpreted to be saying that everybody only has one chance and that is before they die physically. That passage is as follows:

“²⁷And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,” (Hebrews 9:27)

            Admittedly, if we take this verse out of its intended context we seem to have a statement of fact that contradicts the verses cited above, when it comes to the case of those who have never heard the gospel. However, taking into consideration the context, especially the immediate context, is the first rule of accurate interpretation. Here is the context:

“²³Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; ²⁵nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. ²⁷And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, ²⁸so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.” (Hebrews 9:23-28)

            The point that is being made here is that unlike the sacrifices under the old covenant, under the Levitical Law, in which sacrifices had to be repeatedly and continually, Christ death was the once-for-all sacrifice. The point is that His death, which only had to occur once, was all-sufficient to pay for the sin of all men for all time. In the course of making that point the writer does allude to the fact that in general men normally die, and after death comes the judgment we will all face. And indeed, it is the norm for those who are among the “saved,” to only die once physically, and after that we will appear either at the judgment seat of Christ, or at the Great White Throne judgment. However, this brief allusion to this subject is not a doctrinal statement intended to address fully the subject of death and judgment. It is not the subject being discussed in this context of Hebrews 9, nor is it even a point of this passage. To take a phrase out of its context to formulate and support a doctrine is a violation of rules of interpretation (hermeneutics) and good exegesis. Men who want to use it and make it say what they believe it should say, take it out of context and then generalize what it is saying to go well beyond the scope of the phrase itself, or the context in which it appears. Furthermore, such an interpretation of this passage requires one to similarly force interpretations on all the other related passages, such as the ones cited in this whole discussion.

Keeping this brief phrase, “once to die”, in the context of what else scripture teaches on this subject, in those passage that actually do address the subject, we find a lot more relevant and essential information from which we can develop a doctrinal position. This is what is meant by letting scripture interpret scripture. Then there is also the issue of logic, being logically consistent in how we interpret all of scripture on the subject.

Beginning with the weakest, but nevertheless critical point, the interpretation that Hebrews 9:27 is meant to be saying that all men only die once, is obviously contradicted by scripture. We have several instances of individuals who died physically, but were resurrected, such as Lazarus. Surely no one would suggest that they did not ever die again. Nor is anyone likely to suggest that they stood before God in judgment after dying the first time – though that would be necessary according to their interpretation of the verse. Furthermore we have the problem that scripture clearly teaches that when Christ returns He is going to gather His elect and take them out (known as “the rapture”) and they will not experience physical death at all (1 Thessalonians 4:17), just as we are taught that Enoch did not die physically, but “God took him” (Genesis 5:24).

Finally, if one ever gets to studying the last book, the book of Revelation, the 20^th chapter, we see that John prophesied that there will be a resurrection of “the rest of the dead” (Revelation 20:5). Most if not all Bible scholars agree that this is about the unsaved dead, since all those who are in Christ had already been resurrected/raptured when Christ returned, before the Millennial age being described in the 20^th chapter. According to that passage Satan will be released from his 1000 years in prison, and will gather a huge army of unsaved unbelievers from amongst those who were resurrected, and lead them in one last attempt to attack God’s people, the millennial age saints. At that time they will experience a “second death” (Revelation 20:6) – as God pours out His judgment one last time on this earth (see Revelation 20:8-9). While the explanations of that resurrection are varied, and many are quite illogical and don’t let scripture interpret scripture, if anyone is bodily resurrected at that time it is clear that they will have to die again – a “second death,” before they stand before God at the Great White Throne judgment. This means that if Hebrews 9:27 is making a doctrinal statement about death and judgment stating that everyone will only die once and will stand before God in judgment, then we have some serious contradictions in scripture.

I maintain that scripture does not contradict itself, but accurately interpreted presents the whole picture in a manner that proves to be entirely logical and consistent. When men approach scripture with their own agendas, however, they invariably seem to come up with interpretations which lead to contradictions – this being a case in point. The violations of principles of interpretation in this case begin with taking a phrase out of its context, making it say much more than it actually does say, then generalizing that forced interpretation to become a conclusive statement about an issue which is not even being addressed in the passage. This is not about ambiguity in scripture – it is about with presuppositions interpreting scripture to fit those very presuppositions.

This involves what we call “cherry-picking” passages of scripture, taking them out of context, and appealing to scripture which does not address the subject matter at hand while ignoring or explaining away those that do. If one does in reality want to know what God is saying on this subject of the “second chance” teaching, they will go to those passages which actually deal with the various aspects of the subject. That is the approach taken in the following.

1 Peter 3:18-20

“¹⁸For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; ¹⁹in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, ²⁰who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.” (1 Peter 3:18-20)

            The passage is a good example of how men will find many different ways to interpret the same words. Recognized Greek scholar Henry Alford in his New Testament for English Readers, gives us a long list of even the early church fathers and Theologians with their variety of interpretations. I humbly submit they can’t all be right, but we need to discern which are being true to scripture. The only real test is to let scripture interpret scripture – not Theologians.

In this passage we are told that Jesus died physically, and His soul went to the place where those who died in the global deluge, or Noah’s flood, were imprisoned – the place of waiting for the unrighteous. Elsewhere this is referred to as “Hades” (see Luke 16:19-31 – Greek word is ᾅδης), once referred to as “Hell” (2 Peter 2:4 NASB – Greek word is ταρταρόω). Hades is the temporary place of waiting, which Peter refers to as a prison. Most references to “Hell” (γέεννα), or “the Lake of Fire” (see Revelation 20:11-15), are about that permanent place, or state, of everlasting punishment for Satan and his angels (or demons), and his unsaved followers.

This presents problems for some, to conceive of Jesus experiencing the place of punishment for the unsaved, unrighteous souls. However, it actually presents more of a problem logically to say that He could not, or did not experience the punishment which scripture tells us is the penalty or judgment for sin. To say that Jesus paid the penalty for our sin only by His physical death on the cross, is very problematic. If physical death is the penalty or wages of sin, then no one is saved because we all still die physically. But scripture tells us that it is spiritual death, [1] and Hades or Hell that is the deserved fate of unsaved unbelievers – the unrighteous.

According to this passage in 1 Peter, Jesus did go to that place (or state of being) where the unrighteous, unsaved were being kept for judgment, and He preached to them. However, this is not really a place, as in a geographical location somewhere in the universe, since souls are spiritual in nature, and do not therefore have a physical location nor occupy any physical space. It is a state of being. In that sense it is a place, or a state of being that is experiencing separation from God – devoid of the Spirit of God. It is a state of being that is in a community of fallen angels, or demons, and unrighteous souls. The pain is described metaphorically in physical terms such as burning and thirst.[2]

However, this seems to present a difficulty in light of the fact that scripture tells us clearly that Jesus is God, and His spirit is the Spirit of God. As God, how could He have experienced separation from God? If He was in fact one in Spirit with God the Father, how could He have experienced spiritual death or spiritual separation from God? Does this mean the two were indeed separate persons, each with their own soul and/or spirit, and does that solve the dilemma? This gets us into the whole area of debate about the nature of the Trinity – another matter that gets very involved, and may be outside the scope of this discussion.

With respect to this passage in 1 Peter 3 there are other very relevant issues and questions. Why would He preach to them, if the doctrine of “no second chance” is a biblical doctrine? What happened to those to whom He preached if they were given a second chance and some chose to receive Him? And what are the further implications of the answers to these questions?

1 Peter 4:5-6

Peter actually seems to make reference to this again in the next chapter of this same letter:

“⁵but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.” (1 Peter 4:5-6)

            Here again we have a passage that doesn’t seem to fit into the presupposed beliefs and doctrines of men. It is interesting to see the many ways it can be interpreted to avoid what it seems to be so clearly saying (just check out a few commentaries). Some will try to maintain that “the dead” here is not really referring to the dead, as in those who have already died. But they have to acknowledge that the same word is just used in the previous phrase, that God will judge the “living and the dead,” where it is obviously referring to those who have died physically. To try to change the meaning of the word in the immediately following phrase is simply a violation of good exegetical practices, to force a preferred meaning on the passage.

Nor would another interpretation, such as only meaning the spiritually dead, make any sense at all in the passage. To say that the gospel was preached to spiritually dead men (which all men are until they hear and respond appropriately to the Gospel), “that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit” makes little if any sense. If unsaved, spiritually dead men hear the gospel and receive Christ, they will not be “judged according to the flesh.” If they do not receive Christ they will not become alive in the spirit.

Other forced explanations, such as the explanation given by Albert Barnes in his commentary on this passage, are quite amazing:

“the most natural and obvious interpretation is to refer it to those who were then dead, to whom the gospel had been preached when living, and who had become true Christians.”

            This is a very representative example of the effect of doctrinal presuppositions, or just one’s bias, on their interpretation. To claim that such is “the most natural and obvious interpretation” is simply to demonstrate the strength of one’s bias in approaching the subject. To say that it is a plausible interpretation may be a little more realistic. But it is also not necessarily the best explanation as it seems to ignore the related discussion in the immediately preceding chapter, and other relevant passages discussed herein. If we are only reading this verse in the fourth chapter of the book, taking it out of the context of what has just gone before, Barne’s interpretation might make some sense.

Of course we would have to understand that the expression, “they are judged in the flesh as men” as only referring to their physical death. This interpretation involves several other difficulties, both with respect to scripture, and logic (some of which are beyond the scope of this study). Such an interpretation means that even those of us who are in Christ Jesus, Christ having taking the judgment for sin upon Himself such that we are no longer under the condemnation that is the penalty of Adam’s sin or ours, are still being “judged in the flesh.” While it is obviously true that even those who are in Christ do die physically, to call that God’s judgment in the flesh is another matter. The reality is that our physical death is a deliverance from the weaknesses and limitations of our fleshly bodies, and according to 1 Corinthians 15 it means that we will receive our incorruptible, immortal spiritual bodies. It leads to glorification. According to Paul, death has lost its sting because in Christ we are victorious over sin and the Law and death (1 Corinthians 15:53-57). According to explicit scripture, spiritual death is the consequence for sin, which Adam incurred in the day he first disobeyed God (Genesis 2:17). According to Romans 5:12 and 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 we all died in Adam – but clearly we did not all die physically (unless we add to scripture a few words, such as “began to die”). Even if we extrapolate this to include physical death we must realize that the penalty for sin was much more than just dying physically. The death the Bible speaks a lot about is the separation from God in that we no longer have the life of the Spirit of God in us, making our bodies alive (as per Romans 8:9-11). Thus we do not have eternal life, as it is the Spirit of God which is eternal life. That means that we are condemned to eternal death, which is also called “hell” in scripture – a place (or state of being) prepared for Satan and his angels. God’s judgment for sin is this state of being spiritually dead, which without Christ’s redemption and salvation means eternal condemnation. No one who is in Christ is subject to that condemnation, that judgment on sin, as they become spiritually alive, the Spirit of God in them making them alive. To say that the believer who is in Christ is “judged in the flesh as men” because they die physically, seems to be a contradiction. Rather, as Paul proclaims:

“²¹For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ²²But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. ²³But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;” (Philippians 1:21-23).

            Again, Barne’s interpretation seems to be a little lacking in logical consistency. If a person is in fact to undergo the judgment for sin (the penalty having been paid by Christ in His substitutionary death), how can they also “live in the spirit according to the will of God.” Those who do in fact undergo or experience the penalty for their sin or sinfulness, will not at the same time be alive in the spirit.

On the other hand, having just read that Christ went and preached to those who were “in prison,” referring to those who had died in the global deluge of Noah’s time, we might well understand this better as another reference to the same. That being the case we have a perfect example of what it means to let scripture interpret scripture. This verse in the fourth chapter interprets and explains what was meant in the previous third chapter (3:18-20), and the verse in the third chapter helps interpret and explain what was meant in our verse in the fourth chapter, 4:5-6.

Again, for those who prefer to put their trust in what men say, many commentaries do make this obvious connection. Alford (cited above) states:

“[the] dead cannot mean “now dead,” nor can the gospel was preached point to the time when the gospel was preached to them, before they died …the view here adopted is, the persons pointed at are those spirits in prison to whom our Lord went and preached, ch. iii.19.” [3]

            We do however see another parallel between 3:18 and 4:6. In 3:18 we see the statement that Christ was “put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.” In 4:6 we see that those to whom the gospel was preached were “dead,” being “judged in the flesh as men, that they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.” Perhaps if we accurately understand the first it will shed light upon the second parallel phraseology. What does it mean that Christ was put to death in the flesh? Clearly it includes the fact of his physical death – which suggests that the latter in 4:6 also at least includes a reference to physical death. But how was His physical death the payment for our sin? As discussed above, it is not the laying aside of our earthly tent (see 2 Corinthians 5:1-8) that is the penalty for sin, but the separation from God – that as human beings we experience that spiritual separation from God. This is referred to metaphorically as a place of punishment – the place where unsaved souls are banished. It is called “hell,” but there is a place of temporary punishment awaiting the final judgment day, the Great White Throne judgment, which is called Sheol (Old Testament Hebrew), or Hades (New Testament Greek). In the 1 Peter 3:19 passage it is referred to as the “prison” where the spirits were being kept (the same word is used similarly in Revelation 20:7). That Jesus would need to also go there would seem to be part of the necessary payment for the penalty of sin. It is also necessarily implied by the idea that He somehow became separated from God the Father – Jesus in His humanity (flesh) temporarily experienced separation from His divine spirit (like those other lost souls experiencing separation from God) – which is metaphorically represented by the place called “prison,” or “hell.” It is this separation that was expressed by His cry on the cross, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). However, we see that the Spirit of God raised Him from that state of spiritual and physical death, the same Spirit that makes us alive now (Romans 8:11). So we are told that Jesus – the human being in the flesh, died the death that was the penalty for sin, which included in some real sense spiritual death. Yet, it was the Spirit of God in Him that overcame that death. This is indeed a mystery I cannot begin to explain.

Applying this understanding to the parallel phraseology in 4:6, it would say that the death associated with the judgment of God, the death in the flesh, is not just physical death, but also the state of being separated from God, as represented by the place called “prison,” or Hades – as was the case with Jesus Christ. It is then in this state that they both need, and receive the spiritual life. This only comes through the hearing and receiving of the Gospel.

However, this doesn’t make any sense, except in the context of what we are told in 3:18-20. People who have died since Christ died and resurrected, are not having the gospel preached to them in their place of waiting, be that Hades, or the grave. We are only told that those who died in Noah’s time had that opportunity. One might ask why it would only have been for them. We aren’t necessarily told that it did only apply to them, but the reality is that we just aren’t told that it applied to anyone before them or after them. We can speculate on those other questions, but what we are told is that God in His grace and mercy, justly gave men who surely never had a chance to know the truth about God, a chance to hear the gospel, and thereby experience the spiritual birth that is associated with salvation. This begins to dispel the notion, and refute the widely accepted doctrine, that our God condemns people to eternal condemnation in Hell who have never had a chance to know about God, or to hear the Gospel – the “no second chance” doctrine. Those who died in the flood apparently did get that second chance.

However, this does not tell us that there will be a second chance for those alive today, or those who have died since Christ died and preached to the souls in prison at that time. Is there anything in scripture that does indicate such will be the case? The answer is yes there is. One of those is found in Ephesians 4.

Ephesians 4:7-10

Again, if we look for answers to these questions in scripture we do find them. In the letter to the Ephesians we find a revelation which is not explained in that passage, and seems very difficult to explain if it is taken by itself. It is as follows:

“⁷But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸Therefore it says, ‘When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.’ ⁹(Now this expression, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)” (Ephesians 4:7-10)

            In its immediate context in Ephesians the subject is the gift of God’s grace given to “each one of us,” and what appears to be a quotation from Psalms 68:18 (with a significant change from “received gifts” to “gave gifts”). This quotation then is the segue to the subject of gifts given to the church, of men spiritually gifted as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. However, it is also a revelation of a piece of information that helps to explain our text in 1 Peter. To understand it we should first ask, when did Jesus “ascend on high.” We see from Acts 1:9-11 that He appeared to the apostles at least forty days after His resurrection and they watched Him ascend up into the sky – His last appearance on this earth until He returns at what is known as His second coming. However, by that time He had already been resurrected from the dead, and had received His glorified body. According to John 20:17, while He was in His resurrected form when He appeared to Mary, He told her He had “not yet ascended to the Father.” However, clearly by that time He was no longer in the grave, nor in Sheol, nor in Hades. Thus obviously He had already ascended from that place of waiting where He preached to the souls in prison. It is reasonable that whatever is meant by “He led captive a host of captives” coincided temporally with His resurrection from the grave, hence the ascendance of His soul from Sheol and Hades.

We do see again from this passage in Ephesians the revelation that Jesus did indeed descend “into the lower parts of the earth.” Peter gave us a little more relevant information according to Luke’s record of his sermon in the second chapter of Acts:           

²²“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— ²³this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. ²⁴But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. ²⁵For David says of Him, ‘I saw the Lord always in my presence; for He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. ²⁶‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; moreover my flesh also will live in hope; ²⁷ because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. ²⁸‘You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ ²⁹Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, ³¹he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. ³²This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. ³³Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. ³⁴For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord,”Sit at My right hand, ³⁵ until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’ ³⁶Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:22-36)

            The fact that God inspired David, and later Peter and Luke to use the word “abandon,” as in “abandon my soul to Hades,” is a rather clear indication that Jesus did in fact experience Hades exactly as Peter indicates in our text. Significantly it does not say He was never allowed to go to Hades, or was never sent there, but rather that He was not allowed to stay there, as in to be abandoned by God and left there. Otherwise the word used makes no sense as one cannot be abandoned in a place where they have never been.

The next question is who were these captives that were led in His triumphant train? We are told that the Greek and Roman conquerors triumphantly marched through their cities followed by their captives, and/or their own soldiers. Some commentators tell us the Israeli kings also did this, marching through Jerusalem up Mount Zion. John MacArthur tells us that this included soldiers that had been captured by the enemy and delivered from their captivity by the victorious leader. While some commentators see a connection with our text in 1 Peter 3, probably most would agree with MacArthur that it refers to all those who either were already saved, those in Abraham’s bosom, or all those who would be saved in the future. Because of their presupposition that there is no second chance once a person dies, they give us explanations such as does Dr. MacArthur, that while Jesus may have indeed gone down into Hades, He did not preach the gospel there, but only proclaimed His victory over Satan and His demons (see footnote [4]). This does not really come from the text, and one might wonder what purpose it would serve to gloat as-it-were over those demons already bound in the pit. While it is true that God operates in a timeless realm, yet the scriptural texts seem to associate these events with a point in time of human history, with an event we refer to as the resurrection and ascension. To extrapolate this to yet future events such as the resurrection of all saints, is to invent an interpretation with a meaning that is not indicated nor suggested by the actual text. It is true that Christ’s victory over sin and Satan and his demons, and over death and the powers and rulers and authorities of this earth, was all accomplished in His death and resurrection. It is also true that all of those who are saved by His death will share in that victory. But that is not the subject of this particular text in Ephesians, nor in 1 Peter. Such is what men do when they have to derive a forced interpretation to agree with their doctrinal presuppositions.

Furthermore, it is a strange interpretation to suggest that the righteous dead, who were in “Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22-23), also referred to as “paradise” (Luke 23:43), would now be referred to as “captives” who were being held in a “prison,” as Dr. MacArthur would haves us believe. Perhaps it would be more intellectually honest to examine our presuppositions first and see if they are actually based on literal scripture. What scriptural basis do we have for the belief that there is no second chance for those who die, such that if they die as unsaved unbelievers, like those who died in Noah’s flood, they are eternally damned to hell? The only proof text for this belief seems to be Hebrews 9:27, which is discussed above, which seems to require a very forced interpretation and application of that text.

It also is disconcerting to see how men can so easily dismiss some rather glaring discrepancies in their logic with very weak and inadequate answers and explanations, when they feel they have to, to maintain their doctrinal views. How would it be just and merciful and gracious and loving for our Sovereign God to condemn a person to eternal punishment in hell, who never heard the gospel? In Noah’s day the world was in such darkness, children raised in such godless even heathen homes, with wickedness which likely included child abuse, and all kinds of false beliefs and teachings. Noah may have preached to those in his area, but probably only reached a very small percentage of those in the world of his day. How would it have been just for God to destroy them all in the flood, and condemn them to eternity in hell? Peter seems to be answering this dilemma, telling us that God did give them a second chance – Jesus preached the gospel to them where they were in Hades. Paul then tells us here in Ephesians that when He ascended from that pit He brought with Him those who received that message of the Gospel, and were set free from that bondage and delivered from that condemnation to eternity in hell.

Today we have literally billions of people who are being raised in total darkness, taught from birth to believe in false religions and false gods, even taught to hate Christians, Jews, and our God and our Jesus. Is it just and loving and merciful to condemn a child to eternity in hell, who never heard the truth, the gospel, or rejected it when they heard it because they were taught from birth that it was a lie? Is it really adequate to say that because God revealed Himself through creation that such children, some of whom have become adults, have no excuse for not accepting a Jesus they know nothing about, or have been taught is a false God? It is the Bible that tells us that it is only through the preaching and hearing of the gospel that people can come to Christ and be saved (see Romans 10:13-17 and 1 Corinthians 1:21).

Isn’t it more consistent with what scripture explicitly tells us about the nature of God, to take what Peter tells us here at face value in its most natural sense, and believe that Jesus revealed Himself and the gospel to those who died in Noah’s flood, giving them a chance to believe and receive like many of us have had? What is actually unbiblical about God showing mercy to those who never had that chance, and setting them free from their prison – especially since no one is actually sent to their eternal destination, “hell,” the “Lake of Fire,” until after the Great White Throne Judgment of Revelation 20.

In response to those who would insist upon appealing to human authorities, selectively picking men with whom they agree and putting their confidence in the credentials of such men, we could submit the view of the Greek authority cited above:

“…with the great majority of Commentators, ancient and modern, I understand these words to say, that our Lord, in His disembodied state, did go to the place of detention of departed spirits, and did there announce His work of redemption, preach salvation in fact, to the disembodied spirits of those who refused to obey the voice of God when the judgment of the flood was hanging over them.” (H. Alford, New Testament for English Readers, “1 Peter.”)

Revelation 20 and Isaiah 66

Prophetic passages such as we find in Revelation 20 and Isaiah 66, can only be accurately interpreted and understood in the context of a rather complete and cohesive Eschatology (Eschatology being the study of what scripture reveals about the End-times). In reality, if we don’t get Revelation right we can’t get Isaiah right, or any of the other prophetic passages, and if we don’t get them right we probably won’t get Revelation right either. Interpretations of these many prophetic passages abound as do the eschatological theories and scenarios that come from them, or that drive such interpretations (i.e. the scenarios and theories often determine and drive the interpretations more than the actual scripture being interpreted). Most interpretations of passages such as Revelation 20, including the mainstream views of our time, are full of logical contradictions and very selective approaches to which scriptures they consider, and incredibly poor exegesis. In the following section a brief outline is presented of a rather cohesive and comprehensive approach to this subject as related to what the scripture explicitly teaches about these end-times developments, with respect to Revelation 20 and the no second chance doctrine specifically.

To state it briefly, as mentioned briefly above, according to Revelation 20:5 there will be a resurrection. It is clearly not the resurrection of the saved dead which happens when Christ returns. That event is alluded to briefly in Revelation 11:17-18, and discussed in more detail in the 19^th chapter, as well as Matthew 24, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, 2 Thessalonians 2, and 2 Peter 3:7-13 among others. Revelation 20 reveals what is going to happen after Christ returns and takes all the saved believers to be with Him in glory, and after He judges and destroys the earth, and all those who are followers of the Beast, and Satan – the “unsaved.” After being told that Satan will be held in a prison for 1000 years following Christ’s return, we are told about this Millennial kingdom of God on this recreated earth. However the discussion of this 1000 year Millennial kingdom is very brief in Revelation. Most of what we do know about it comes from such Old Testament books as Isaiah and Ezekiel. But John fast forwards to the period that follows the Millennial Kingdom age in that 20^th chapter. Starting with the fourth verse we have the following scenario:

“⁴Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. ⁵The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. ⁶Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. ⁷When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, ⁸and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. ⁹And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. ¹⁰And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. ¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. ¹²And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. ¹³And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. ¹⁴Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:4-15)

            What incredibly is overlooked or misinterpreted by men in what have become the most popular scenarios even among futurists who claim to interpret such scripture as literally as the text allows, is the fact that John is revealing events that will happen in a period after the Millennium is over. The text states as clearly as can be stated, “when the thousand years were completed” (20:7) and not “until the thousand years were completed” (20:5). As it turns out this is a very important piece of information to be able to really make sense out of what follows, and the other prophecies related to it. John is describing a period which will follow the 1000 year Millennial reign of Christ on this earth – a “Post-millennial” era, if you will.

What begins this Post-millennial era is the release of Satan, and apparently simultaneously a resurrection of the dead. Specifically it is called “the rest of the dead,” which we know from context is to distinguish it from the first resurrection of the saved dead, which happened when Christ returned (known as “the second coming of Christ”), before the Millennial age began. On this most Bible scholars and commentators agree (who are literalists and futurists), that this resurrection is a resurrection of the unsaved dead. If it is only some part of the unsaved dead we are not told that such is the case, so it may be safer to assume it is all of those dead who were not part of the first resurrection of the saved dead. It is possible that it will not include those who Jesus preached to while He was in that “prison” as disclosed in 1 Peter 3 and 4 as discussed above – at least not those who heard the gospel and accepted it, as they would no longer be among the unsaved dead; as such they would have been part of the first resurrection.

What we are told there is that those who were the ones reigning in that Millennial Kingdom, were those who were part of the first resurrection. This agrees with what we are told repeatedly in scripture that the Saints who are in Christ would reign in His earthly kingdom – which is what this chapter is describing. This then is contrasted with what John calls “the second death.” Those resurrected Saints, who are in their glorified resurrected spiritual bodies, reigning with Christ, will not experience that “second death.” One should be asking, what is the “second death,” and why is it called a “second” death? One possible answer is that it is called the “second” death because that is exactly what it is – people who will die a second time. If such is the case it means that it is about people who had died once, been resurrected bodily, and would then die a second time. It cannot be referring to spiritual death, as it would make no sense to say that people who were all spiritually dead anyway, would experience a “second death” spiritually, as they were never spiritually alive to die again spiritually. On the other hand, since we are being told that the unsaved will be resurrected, and then that many of them will be killed after they follow Satan in his great last rebellion against God, doesn’t it make perfect sense to refer to that death as a “second death”?

Some explain this as a resurrection just to stand before the Great White Throne in judgment. But that makes little sense as no one would need to be resurrected bodily for their souls to be judged, and it would make even less sense to resurrect their bodies just to immediately destroy them. But John tells us that there are other developments which happen between that resurrection of the rest of the dead, and the final judgment. According to John, there will be a massive revolt as multitudes “like the sand on the seashore,” will follow Satan in a rebellion against God and His people.

Again, ignoring the obvious connection between the resurrection of all the unsaved dead to life on this earth again, and many following Satan, they try to tell us that it will be people who were in the Millennial Kingdom of God on this earth, who will then rebel against God once given the opportunity. This contradicts everything scripture tells us about the Millennial age, when Christ reigns supreme, everyone there worships and obeys Him completely, and everything is perfect.[5] There is no actual scripture which even suggests that those living in that Millennial kingdom are not really saved, and are harboring rebellion in their hearts – which is what these men have to maintain is really the case. According to several explicit passages during that time men’s hearts will be changed, as per the following:

“²⁵Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

            One explanation that these men give is that while the original inhabitants of this Millennial Kingdom will be saved, hence born of the Spirit, their descendants will still be under the curse of the fall, and will be unsaved, and many will never accept Christ but rebel against Him given the opportunity. Again, we have no hint of this in scripture, but instead we have assertions like the following:

“’And as for Me, this is My covenant with them,’ says the Lord: ‘My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,’ says the Lord, ‘from now and forever.’” (Isaiah 59:21)

“’They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they are the offspring of those blessed by the Lord and their descendants with them. It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,’ says the Lord.” (Isaiah 65:23-25)

            Rather than being told that the Adamic curse will still be in effect for the offspring of the original Millenarians we are told that it will no longer be in effect on all of creation including the animals – the wolf and lamb and lion will all be at peace with each other. The actual explanation given is that the masses of unsaved humanity will be resurrected to life on this earth, and many of them will follow Satan in his last ditch attempt to overthrow God and destroy His people on the earth at that time. Why is this not enough for so many brilliant Bible scholars and Theologians?

The significance of this with respect to the no second chance doctrine is that there is also something else going on during this Post-millennial period. Not only is Satan very busy gathering a huge following and mustering an army among the resurrected unsaved, but God is also making Himself known. It is an era of probably unprecedented evangelism. We see this in the following prophecy about this very era:

“‘¹⁸For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory. ¹⁹I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Rosh, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations. ²⁰Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the Lord, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,’ says the Lord, “just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. ²¹I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites,’ says the Lord.”(Isaiah 66:18-21)

            Isaiah tells us prophetically in the last (66^th) chapter of his book, that there will be a time of world-wide evangelism. He describes it as a time when everyone will see His glory, which will be “declared among the nations,” including those “that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory.” It is described as a time when He will “gather all nations and tongues.” In context it is associated with a time when He is going to execute judgment by fire “on all flesh.” It is also associated with a time when Jerusalem will be comforted, restored to her glory and avenged of all of her enemies. This can only be that time described in Revelation 20 and following, after the Millennial reign of Christ on earth, and the resurrection of “the rest of the dead” of Revelation 20:5. At no other time will all the nations and tongues who had never heard nor seen God’s glory be gathered on the earth. At no other time are we told that they all will hear and see God’s glory declared. But according to Isaiah there will be converts at that time, people from “all the nations,” some of whom will become “priests and Levites,” apparently serving in that Post-Millennial temple in the earthly Jerusalem.

This means that just like the lost souls who died in world-wide flood of Noah’s day were given a chance to hear the gospel, and see God’s glory in the form of His Son appearing to them in Hades, even so those who have lived and died since then will be given that same opportunity, before they stand before God at the Great White Throne judgment. Is this not more consistent with the concept of a gracious, loving, merciful, and just God? Is there really literal explicit scripture that refutes this explanation?

The Bodily Resurrection of “The Rest of the Dead” of Revelation 20:5

The Nature of that final resurrection:

• The unsaved dead only
• Physical – Not “spiritual bodies” like resurrected Saints in heaven (“The Heavenly New Jerusalem”)
• Resurrected bodies – healed of the injuries, illnesses of which they died.
• Must either die again (the “second death” of Rev. 20:6), or live forever on this earth.

The Timing of that final resurrection

• After the 1000 years is completed – i.e. after the Millennial reign of Christ on earth
• The same time as Satan is released from his 1000 year imprisonment (Rev. 20:3)
• After the creation of the New Heaven and Earth (2 Peter 3:10-12, Isaiah 65:17-25) in which Christ sets up His perfect edenic earthly Millennial kingdom
• Before the Gog-Magog rebellion
• Before the Great White Throne judgment

Events of the widely ignored “Postmillennial” Era

• Unsaved dead resurrected
• Satan released
• Worldwide evangelism – everyone hears the gospel (Isaiah 42:6-7; 49:6-7; 66:18-19; Matthew 24:14)
• All the nations will see the glory of God revealed in His judgment and restoration of His people Israel (Ezekiel 38:16; 39:21-29)
• There will be a great rebellion of the resurrected unsaved dead led by Gog/Magog (Rev. 20:8; Ezekiel 38-39)
• God will judge the rebellious followers of Gog/Magog – physical death, the “second death”
• Satan is judged and sentenced to his eternal destiny – “the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:10)
• The Great White Throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-13) – the souls of those “rest of the dead” who were resurrected will be judged and sentenced to their eternal destinies
  • some to the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14-15; Matthew 25:41; 13:41-42)
  • some to eternal life in God’s kingdom (Matt. 25:34 & 46; 13:43)

The “no-second chance doctrine” revisited

• Hebrews 9:27 cannot be interpreted as teaching no second chance or that all men only die physically one time before the judgment
  • Scriptures tells us that when Christ returns those who are alive in Christ at that time will be raptured out – that means they will never experience physical death
  • All those resurrected by Elijah, Jesus, and Paul, and those resurrected when Jesus was resurrected, and those “rest of the dead” who are resurrected and follow Gog/Magog, did or will die physically more than once before the judgment
• Numerous passages (some cited above) either state explicitly or necessarily imply that before that Great White Throne judgment all men will hear the gospel and see the glory of God revealed
• This can only occur during the Postmillennial era, when all the unsaved dead are resurrected
• It make no sense at all to say that God resurrects bodily all the unsaved dead only to judge their souls and cast them into hell – that is a spiritual judgment for which physical bodies are completely unnecessary, and the judgment will be instantaneous (in God’s timeless realm of existence).
• The term “second death” in Revelation 20 & 21 refers to the fact that for those who are judged at the Great White Throne and condemned to hell they are experiencing a second death. It cannot be a second spiritual death, as they were not spiritually alive anyway.
• World-wide evangelism does not occur during the tribulation despite the appearance of the two witnesses doing miracles (who are killed) – scripture tells us that is a time of a great apostasy, when God sends “a deluding influence” (2 Thessalonians 2:3 & 11; Matt. 24:21-24) – nowhere does scripture indicate that the 144,000 Jews will be preaching the gospel at that time.
• Probably more people have died throughout history without hearing any form of the Gospel, than have heard it – the only way they could hear it and thus those prophecies actually be fulfilled, is if they are resurrected and given a second-chance.
• According to such passages as 1 Peter 3:18-20, 4:6, and Ephesians 4:8-10, those who died in the global deluge of Noah’s time, and those “spirits in prison” were given a second chance as Jesus preached to them after His death.
• It would not be just for God to hold those who have never heard the gospel accountable for rejecting Christ – about whom they have never heard.
• The explanation that general revelation is enough (as per Romans 1:18-21 and Psalms 19:1) as grounds for eternal condemnation, is contradictory to what is taught in Romans 10:14-15 & 17: “faith comes by hearing … the word of Christ,” “how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”
• The answer to this dilemma is provided in scripture if we consider everything it says about the subject, and resist the temptation to interpret it to fit our preconceived presuppositions; Revelation 20 gives us the answer – the unsaved dead are all resurrected after the Millennium and given the chance hear and accept or reject the Gospel – some will accept (Isa. 66:18-21; Matt. 13:36-43; 25:34), many will still follow Satan and reject Christ (Matt. 25:341-46; 13:30; Rev. 20:14-15).

The Logical Argument

Lacking scriptural basis for the “no second chance” doctrine, the main objection is mostly a logical one. The fear is that if we don’t tell people that they only have one chance in this life to accept Christ, then they will put it off counting on having another chance after death. Obviously this is a real possibility. And indeed if we begin to tell people that they can put off this decision because they will have another chance after they die, some will feel little motivation to make that decision, which can be quite difficult for some. But to accept what scripture literally tells us about this so-called “second chance” is not equivalent to telling people they don’t really have to make the decision for Christ now in this life. Many scriptures do warn us that to die without Christ leads to condemnation, even eternity in hell. This message should be preached as it is declared in scripture:

“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18)

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)

            The reality is that there is no promise that anyone who has heard the gospel in this life, and rejected it, will ever have a second chance. Although they may be among the “rest of the dead” of Revelation 20:5 who will be resurrected after the Millennium, there are principles taught in scripture which seem to suggest that they will have hardened their hearts and they will not respond to the Gospel even then. We have the principle that “to whom much is given, much shall be required” (Luke 12:48), and the principle taught in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) warning that those who do not make use of what God has given them will have it taken away, and will stand eternally condemned. We have the example of how Israel did not receive the truth that Christ is God’s provision for their salvation, and how God hardened their hearts and blinded their eyes so they couldn’t hear and see and believe – though we are also told that in Israel’s case this is a temporary condition (Romans 11). We are told clearly that no one can come to Christ but the one’s whom the Father draws – which seems to be referring to the work of the Holy Spirit to convict of sin and draw us to Him. If this subject of a second chance comes up it needs to be made clear that it is not a way out, certainly not a guarantee to anyone who hears the gospel and rejects it.

Furthermore, it must be noted that those who will be part of that resurrection after the Millennium, will have already undergone at least 1000 years in that place of waiting called “Hades,” which Lazarus of Luke 16 described as a “place of torment” (Luke 16:28). Anyone who thinks it won’t matter if they wait to accept Christ may want to reconsider whether it will be worth more than a thousand years of punishment in this place of torment, and risking their eternity based on the assumptions they will even be able to believe and receive or even hear the gospel preached at that time about which Isaiah prophesies.

On the other hand, this also means that we don’t have to make God out to be so unjust and cruel as to condemn to eternity in hell all those who have never heard the Gospel, or as Isaiah puts it, heard of His fame nor seen His glory. We don’t have to resort to such illogical and inadequate explanations as is popular today among Evangelicals, that all such unbelievers are without excuse because of the witness of creation. In today’s world we have millions who have been raised as Muslims, who do believe that their God Allah created the heavens and earth – but they have not really heard the Gospel. Such an explanation is in reality quite inadequate in such cases. Not only that but it is scripture that tells us that it is God’s plan that people will come to Him through the preaching of the Gospel: “faith comes by hearing and hearing buy the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17) – not just by seeing God’s creation (see Romans 10:14-17 and 1 Corinthians 1:21). It may not be wise for men to add to, or take away from, or try to in any way modify what the scripture actually teaches, even for such ostensibly good reasons as to try to scare people into accepting Christ. I believe God’s wisdom, and His plan, and His truth, is far superior to man’s wisdom, and ultimately more effective than man’s ways even with the best of intentions. It is likely that more people are alienated by the obviously unjust notion of God punishing eternally those who know nothing about Him or His gospel, than are scared into accepting Christ by an exaggeration of the no second chance doctrine.

[1] We need to remember that “spiritual death” does not mean that the person’s soul or spirit ceases to exist – that never happens. It does however refer to a state of being in which a person is separated from God – does not have that divine spirit, the Holy Spirit in them, in oneness and communion with their soul.

[2] If one understands what “burning” actually is, what is occurring at the sub molecular level, one would better understand the metaphorical implications as applicable in the spiritual realm, which is the only realm in which souls or spirits can be experiencing the eternal punishment of hell. Burning is an oxidation process by which the molecular bonds of any substance become broken leaving the atomic and subatomic elements in a very disorganized state.

[3] Alford reaches this conclusion based on his analysis of the text in the Greek, even though he does embrace the view that physical death is the “universal judgment on sin.” He understands this phrase, “that they might be judged,” to refer to “the state of the completed sentence on sin, which is death after the flesh.”

[4] Dr. MacArthur (and Barnes) tries to make a point out of the fact that the word used by Peter, translated “preach,” is not the word used to refer to the preaching of the Gospel. This is not an accurate statement as the word used in our text, 1 Peter 3:19, the Greek word “κηρύσσω”  (kēryssō), appearing 61 times and is translated “preach” 52 times, and according to Thayer’s Lexicon is “specifically used of the public proclamation of the gospel and matters pertaining to it.”

[5] It is essential that one discriminates between those passages which describe the Millennial age, and those which describe the Post-millennial age or the eternal state. There is much confusion on this point probably because they fail to even recognize that there is a Post-millennial age clearly described in Revelation 20. Without this distinction it becomes impossible to make any real sense out of such passages as Ezekiel 38-48, without simply ignoring many of the details described there.