Hellfire and Destruction
What Does the Bible Really Say about Hell?
by Paul Marston
Foreword by David Wilkinson and Ernest C. Lucas
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
To those of us who believe in the inspiration and authority of the Bible, it must surely be a concern to know what it says will happen to the millions around us, some of whom we love dearly, who die without repentance or faith. Does Scripture teach that at the last judgment those who remain unrepentant will be consigned to an unending existence of torment without hope? Is that truly what Jesus and his apostles believed and taught? This book presents basic evidence that what they really taught was that the final judgmental end for such people will be "destruction," taking its obvious meaning that they will cease to exist as conscious individuals. The arguments are not complex, because most of the New Testament writers make plain statements to this effect. The book also looks at those parables and Revelation passages sometimes taken to indicate unending torment. It links with academic works that in increasing numbers are making the same points, but the book is not a contribution to academic scholarship. Rather, it is a careful, readable, and accessible account to challenge pastors, church leaders, and Christians generally to consider what the Bible actually says rather than rely on tradition.
Paul Marston is a UK academic, evangelical lay minister, and author/co-author of 18 books on apologetics and theology, 5 published in both the UK and the USA.
“Theologians have often noted that contemporary views of hell owe more to works like Dante’s Divine Comedy than to the Christian Scriptures. Similarly, those who turn to the Bible for its instruction on hell are typically surprised by how little it actually says. For both reasons, this book by Paul Marston is a useful and welcome primer.”
—Joel B. Green, senior professor of New Testament interpretation, Fuller Theological Seminary
“In Hellfire and Destruction, Paul Marston offers a helpful primer on the case for conditional immortality or annihilationism, which is accepted by increasing numbers of evangelical Christians—not because of philosophy or sentimentality, but because the Bible teaches it clearly, as Marston demonstrates.”
—Christopher M. Date, editor of Rethinking Hell
“Paul Marston’s book Hellfire and Destruction offers a well-researched analysis on the outcome of the final judgment. It thoroughly debunks the popular teaching of everlasting torment taught in many churches today and instead upholds the biblical view that the ‘wages of sin is death’ (Rom 6:23). The book is easy to read but thorough and an excellent contribution to the growing list of studies that reject everlasting torment. Highly recommended.”
—Kim Papaioannou, author of The Geography of Hell in the Teaching of Jesus
“By carefully reviewing the language, imagery, and argument of Scripture, Paul Marston offers a highly focused clarification that hell does not mean everlasting torment but final destruction. In so doing he helps those of us who identify as evangelicals to articulate the gospel as a testimony to the Judge of all the earth who always does what is right.”
—Nigel G. Wright, principal emeritus, Spurgeon’s College
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