by Charles H. Welch
A verse by verse commentary by Charles Welch, on the OT book of Ecclesiastes (PDF file).
Berean Bible Fellowship of Australia
by Charles H. Welch
This PDF booklet compares and contrasts the different approaches of the four Gospel accounts.
or “Pure From the Blood of All Men”, by Charles H. Welch
Hell – Pure from the Blood of all Men (PDF)
A discussion of the traditional ideas of the immortality of the Soul, Hell, and kindred subjects. Relevant texts are considered in their true context and setting.
Contents (and page no):
A word of explanation………………………………………………………………….5
The pattern of sound words ……………………………………………………….. 5
What constitutes sound doctrine?……………………………………………….. 5
Would Paul pass the orthodox test? ……………………………………………. 6
Pure from the blood of all men …………………………………………………… 6
What did Paul teach about hell?………………………………………………….. 6
Paul uses the word but once………………………………………………………… 7
A specious argument exposed……………………………………………………… 8
Matthew’s terms examined………………………………………………………….. 8
Hell (hades) ………………………………………………………………………………. 8
Gehenna, or hell-fire ………………………………………………………………….. 9
Gehenna in Matthew …………………………………………………………………. 10
Gehenna and its contexts……………………………………………………………. 11
Gehenna and its dispensational setting………………………………………… 11
Everlasting punishment……………………………………………………………… 12
Terms of eternal life in Matthew 25……………………………………………… 13
Try the things that differ…………………………………………………………….. 14
The Hebrew word sheol……………………………………………………………… 15
Hell in old English …………………………………………………………………….. 15
Sheol as used in The Old Testament…………………………………………….. 16
An orthodox witness – A.J. Pollock ……………………………………………… 17
Ecclesiastes compared with the Psalms……………………………………….. 18
For ever, everlasting, and eternal ……………………………………………….. 18
F.W. Grant on aion …………………………………………………………………… 19
The root meaning of olam …………………………………………………………. 19
Tradition versus truth ………………………………………………………………. 20
The usage of olam in the Old Testament……………………………………… 20
The fitness of the word “age” ……………………………………………………… 21
The doctrine of the soul……………………………………………………………… 21
Nephesh in the book of Genesis………………………………………………….. 22
Article VI of the “Thirty-nine Articles of Religion” ……………………….. 22
Immortality of the soul a doctrine of demons ………………………………. 23
Immortality in Scripture…………………………………………………………….. 24
“Endless Being” quoted………………………………………………………………. 24
The use of torment in the Scriptures…………………………………………….. 25
The rich man and Lazarus ………………………………………………………….. 25
Luke records several “contrast” parables………………………………………. 26
Statement or Question? ……………………………………………………………… 26
Is Luke 16:19-30 Pharisaic tradition?…………………………………………… 27
Two parables exposing the Pharisees in their doctrine and practice….. 29
As touching the resurrection ………………………………………………………. 29
The Old Testament a faithful witness…………………………………………… 29
Death as sleep. The testimony of Old and New Testaments………………. 29
Do Paul, Job and Daniel agree? ………………………………………………….. 30
Conclusion and concordance ……………………………………………………… 31
A concordance key. …………………………………………………………………… 31
A concordance to the word sheol. ………………………………………………. 32
A concordance to the word hades. ……………………………………………… 35
by Charles H. Welch
Is God a Person (PDF)
Full title: “Is God a Person? The Bible’s answer, including a reflection on the creeds of orthodoxy.”
This PDF booklet discusses the above question, and several other issues concerning the being and nature of God. A deep and thought-provoking work.
Contents:
1 The Being of God
2 `God is Spirit’
3 Elohim and Jehovah. Titles of relation
4 God in His relation to creation and redemption
5 Why is Elohim, the plural form, employed?
6 Jesus Christ is Jehovah
7 The Doctrine of the Trinity, and the use of the word `Person’
8 The term `Economy’ as applied to the doctrine of the Trinity
9 To Whom is Creation ascribed in the N.T.?
10 The Father
by Charles H. Welch
Deity of Christ (PDF)
Written in the style of a two-person conversation, this PDF booklet addresses many of the objections raised concerning the doctrine of Christ’s deity. 21 short chapters (each only a page or two long), plus an appendix.
Contents:
The Subject Stated
A Dividing Doctrine
No Philosophy of God in Scripture
JEHOVAH, the Age-Title
God – Relatively
God – Manifest
The Concordant Method
A Parallel Usage
The Image of the Invisible God
Firstborn of Every Creature
God Hath Spoken ‘IN SON’
The Brightness of The Glory
The Image and The Substance
A Threefold Testimony
The Form of God
The True Meaning of ‘FORM’
Hooker and Bacon
Form and Fashion
The Testimony of a Quotation
Jehovah not limited to Israel
The Willing Servant
Appendix
PDF booklet – “Christ the Centre And Circumference of Paul’s Ministry”, by Charles H. Welch.
Christ – Centre and Circumference (PDF)
The full title of this PDF booklet is: “Christ the Centre And Circumference of Paul’s Ministry, exhibited by selections from his epistles.”
A suggested outline study of the fourteen epistles of Paul, with the thought offered that the Lord Jesus Christ is the main focus (i.e. both the “centre and circumference”) of the apostle’s ministry. Special attention is given to the study of this subject in Galatians and 1 & 2 Corinthians. Included is a structure of Paul’s epistles and the prominent place given to Christ in each of them.
by Charles H. Welch
1. THE DECLARATION.
2. SCRIPTURAL GROUNDS.
‘It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him: if we deny Him, He also will deny us: if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself’ (2 Tim. 2:11-13).
‘ … Made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light’ (Col. 1:12).
‘Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ’ (Col. 3:24).
‘In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight’ (Col. 1:22).
‘ … warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus’ (Col. 1:28).
‘In Whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him’ (Eph. 3:12).
‘ … Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling’ (Phil. 2:12).
‘ … I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities … shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Rom. 8:38,39).
‘Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain … I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached (heralded) to others, I myself should be a castaway (disapproved)’ (1 Cor. 9:24-27).
‘Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ (Phil. 3:13,14).
‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness’ (2 Tim. 4:7,8).
3. AN EXPANSION AND APPLICATION OF THESE SCRIPTURES.
Much mischief is wrought among the children of God by teachers failing to distinguish between those things which belong to the believer in Christ as a free gift of grace, and those things which are held out to him as a reward in connection with his service.
Such words as prize, crown, reward, win and gain have no place in a salvation that is by grace, through faith, without works. It is impossible for the same believer at the same time and connected with the same thing to be confident and yet in fear and trembling. It is specially harmful to the truth of the One Body to attempt to teach from Philippians 3 that membership of that Body is held out as a prize to be won. It is equally untrue to speak of the prize of Philippians 3 as the hope of the church; for if we do, then we must also teach that Paul, when he wrote Philippians, had not then attained membership of the One Body, and was not certain of the blessed hope of resurrection. Leave Philippians 3 as the record of an added prize that may be won, associated with perfection and the high calling, and all is clear.
Let us examine some of the scriptural grounds for this distinction, taking as an example 2 Timothy 2:11-13. The subject here is twofold: living and reigning. Living is one thing; reigning is another. Now, living with Christ depends upon our having died with Him, but reigning with Him depends upon suffering and enduring.
In the realm of life – none can pluck us out of His hand; ‘once in Him, in Him for ever’. No member of the One Body can ever forfeit his membership. The whole standing is by grace. We are chosen by God alone and assured of eternal security, so that it can even be said: ‘If we are unbelieving, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself’ (2 Tim. 2:13, Author’s translation). Once having died with Him, there can be no forfeiture or loss. ‘Who died for us, that, whether we be watchful or sleepy, we should live together with Him’ (1 Thess. 5:10, Author’s translation).
Reigning, however, is quite another matter, and depends upon enduring. In this sphere, we can lose or forfeit. ‘If we deny Him, He also will deny us’. These words must not however be made to contradict what follows in verse 13. The contradiction may be avoided if we distinguish the two spheres. Set out in line with the subject, the verses appear as follows:
A v. 11. If we died with Him, we shall live. Life and free grace.
B v. 12. If we endure, we shall reign.
B v. 12. If we deny Him, we shall be denied. Endurance and reward.
A v. 13. If we are faithless, He abideth faithful. Life and free grace.
Another passage that demands the same discernment is 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. The foundation, Christ Himself, once laid is unalterable. No ‘if’ can be admitted there. What a man builds, however, on that foundation is subject to quite a different principle. He may receive a reward or he may suffer loss; but even if he should suffer loss: ‘He himself shall be saved: yet as by fire’.
The same principle of distinction obtains in 1 Corinthians 9:27. Paul had no thought that he could ever be a ‘castaway’ from grace or from Christ, but in respect of the prize he realized that the flesh was a danger to his hopes of winning it. He kept under his body, lest he should be disqualified regarding the prize, but no amount of keeping under of the body would ever save Paul or anyone else from the wages of sin.
The next chapter in the epistle (verses 1-5), with its contrast between ‘all’ and ‘many’, emphasizes the lesson. Moses was a man of God; he appeared on the mount of transfiguration, but he forfeited entry into the promised land. Every one of the Israelites whose carcases fell in the wilderness had been redeemed by the Passover lamb.
So when we come to Philippians let us remember to keep it in its place. Referring to the structure given above of 2 Timothy 2:11-13, A.A. correspond to Ephesians, where we have boldness, confidence, acceptance. Philippians corresponds to B.B. of the same structure, where we have fear and trembling. Here we have an ‘if’ – ‘if by any means’. Paul reaches out to attain the prize which God has attached to the high calling. Sir Robert Anderson has pointed out that those who quote Philippians 3:14 as ‘the on-high calling’, meaning thereby a summons that will call them up to glory, do not regard the implications of the whole verse. The words, ‘the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’, do not fit a future summons. The ano calling is the calling of the church of the One Body, and attached to it, but quite distinct therefrom, is a prize. This prize may or may not be attained, but in no case can the hope be forfeited or membership of the One Body lapse.
So with the two references to the inheritance in Colossians 1 and 3, already quoted in this section. In the first case God has made us meet; nothing remains for us to do to qualify for it. In the second it is the reward of the inheritance for faithful service. So with the two ‘presentings’. In the first case we are presented through the death of Christ holy and unblameable, yet Paul warns and teaches that he may present every man perfect in Christ. Paul could not and did not touch here the presenting of Colossians 1:22. It is most important that these things that differ should be clearly defined. Those who do not thus rightly divide the truth are preparing for disapproval and shame in that day (2 Tim. 2:15).
* * *
This article by Charles Welch was originally published in “Things Most Surely Believed” (Chapter 11 – Standing and State).
by Charles H. Welch
1. THE DECLARATION.
2. SCRIPTURAL GROUNDS.
‘I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do’ (John 17:4).
‘After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst … When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His Head, and gave up the ghost’ (John 19:28-30).
‘Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God … by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once … This Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God’ (Heb. 10:7-12).
‘Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God’ (Rom. 6:9,10).
‘Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin’ (Rom. 6:6).
‘Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification’ (Rom. 4:25).
‘He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things’ (Eph. 4:10).
‘ … henceforth expecting’ (Heb. 10:13).
‘ … He shall send Jesus Christ … Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began’ (Acts 3:20,21).
‘When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory’ (Col. 3:4).
3. AN EXAMINATION AND EXPLANATION OF SOME ASPECTS OF THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST.
It is the unspeakable joy of the believer that the work of Christ on his behalf is finished. Man had utterly failed, both under the law of conscience and creation (Rom. 1:18-32, ‘without excuse’), and as favoured under the law of Moses (Rom. 2:1-29, ‘inexcusable’).
The Cross
It is usual in considering the work of Christ to focus attention upon that supreme moment when the Lord Jesus offered Himself without spot to God, the one sacrifice once offered for ever. This we believe to be right, and all that He will ever accomplish both for us, and in the outworking of the purpose of the ages, must take its root at the cross.
The Resurrection
While yielding to none our emphasis upon the place of the cross and the sacrifice there offered, we believe Scripture would have us remember that all the work of Christ is vital, and every phase complete. No one could lay a charge against the apostle Paul regarding his faithful witness concerning ‘Jesus Christ and Him crucified’, yet the very epistle that emphasizes the cross contains the following sweeping statement: ‘ … if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished’ (1 Cor. 15:17,18).
It is well to remember that a more accurate translation of Romans 4:25 reads: ‘Who was delivered BECAUSE OF our offences, and was raised again BECAUSE OF our justification’. The resurrection of Christ is vital to the purpose of God.
As Zion’s King, He must be raised from the dead:
‘I will declare the decree; the LORD hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee’ (Psa.2:7; cf. Acts 13:33).
‘ … David … therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ’ (Acts 2:29-31).
As the last Adam, the second Man, Christ must be raised from the dead, to give new life, to open the way to immortality and glory for all ‘in Him’ (1 Cor. 15:45-58).
As Head of the Church, and Head of all things, He must be raised from the dead:
‘For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived (lived again), that He might be Lord both of the dead and living’ (Rom. 14:9).
‘And He is the Head of the body, the church: Who is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence’ (Col. 1:18).
The Ascension
Even when we have united the death and the resurrection of Christ, we have not exhausted the work which He finished. As we read John 17, we become conscious that one further step beyond resurrection is needful to complete the work.
‘ … I have finished the work … and I come to Thee’ (John 17:4,11).
‘Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God’ (John 13:3).
The first message sent to His disciples by the risen Christ was this: ‘ … Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ASCEND … ‘ (John 20:17).
This ascension is vital not only for the church of the mystery, but for the whole purpose of the ages:
‘He … ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things’ (Eph. 4:10).
‘ … He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world (age), but also in that which is to come (the coming one): and hath put all things under His feet’ (Eph. 1:20-22).
The ascension and the seated Priest speak of a finished work:
‘ … every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool’ (Heb. 10:11-13).
It is the seated Christ of Whom it is written, ‘from henceforth expecting’. He came from God, and He went to God, the Apostle (sent from) and High Priest (went to) of our profession. We would therefore remember His death on the cross, His resurrection, and His ascension as three phases of one mighty work. The present period at the right hand of God is of unspeakable blessing to His saints, for He is able to save to the uttermost, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
The Future
This period is but for a time. The moment will come when He Who is now hidden and veiled, the unseen and absent Christ, shall be manifested in glory. Then the church of the One Body will realize its blessed hope, the manifesting of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ (Tit. 2:13, Col. 3:4). He will then be revealed, coming with His mighty angels to execute wrath and judgment upon the anti-Christian world, and to deliver His people, both those who sleep and those who are alive at His coming. He will then set up His throne and reign with the saints whose calling associates them with earthly blessings for the thousand years, generally spoken of as the Millennium.
After the thousand years have expired He will sit upon the great White throne to judge the rest of the dead. This judgment is two-fold. First, a judgment out of ‘the books’ according to works, and then a judgment out of ‘the book of life’ deciding destiny. It is quite unscriptural to affirm that all who stand before the great white throne will be cast into the lake of fire. The word ‘whosoever’ in Revelation 20:15 is misleading, for the Greek here is in the singular number. After speaking of a vast multitude beyond computation, the record continues: ‘And IF ANYONE was not found written in the book of life, HE was cast into the lake of fire’. ‘The end’ is now at hand and commences with the introduction of ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ (Rev. 21:1). No more sea is to be found here; no more death; no more sorrow; no more curse; the former things have passed away.
We now approach the glorious goal. He Who once hung upon the cross and said, ‘It is finished’, shall one day sit upon the throne and say, ‘It is done’ (Rev. 21:6).
‘For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive (the names in the book of life, and the principle given in Romans 9:6-8).
But every man in his own order (so the two resurrections in Rev. 20): Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming. Then cometh the end (i.e., the goal, the object in view, not “the end rank”) … that God may be all in all’ (foreshadowed in the tabernacle of God with men, in Revelation 21:3, and going on to the consummation of the age) (1 Cor. 15:21-28).
Before this consummation is reached, Christ must reign until every principality, authority, and power (same words used in Ephesians 1:21), are put down, and until all enemies are placed under His feet, the last being death (which we see cast into the lake of fire and so destroyed for ever – Revelation 20:14). Then when all things are subjected unto Him, the crisis of the age is reached, the supreme moment arrives: the Son, the mighty Victor, the glorious Redeemer, the Head over all, lays the restored kingdom at the feet of the Father, that God once more may be all in all.
Here is the finished work of Christ, blessed fruit of the cursed tree, blessed contrast to the death, sin and revolt brought in by the first man. Here no more shall sin rear its ugly head; no more shall the tempter seduce the children of God; no more shall the curse descend upon the earth. Redemption and resurrection have forged a bond stronger than creation. All things are new, all things are of God.
Let us glory, therefore, in the finished work of Christ:
* * *
This article by Charles Welch was originally published in “Things Most Surely Believed” (Chapter 8 – The Finished Work of Christ).
by Charles H. Welch
1. THE DECLARATION.
2. SCRIPTURAL GROUNDS.
‘ … I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth’ (Rom. 1:16).
‘ … the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men’ (Titus 2:11).
‘ … Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins’ (Matt. 1:21).
‘Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us’ (Titus 3:5).
‘For by grace are ye saved through faith … not of works’ (Eph. 2:8,9).
‘ … a just God and a Saviour’ (Isa. 45:21).
3. AN EXPLANATION AND EXPANSION OF THE SCRIPTURES THAT SPEAK OF SALVATION.
While the law can only condemn where perfect righteousness cannot be produced, the gospel brings glad tidings of salvation for the ungodly, the sinner, and the lost. The reason that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth is that therein is revealed a righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ, which is unto all and upon all that believe.
While the whole Person and work of Christ forms the object of faith, the resurrection is specially stressed: ‘ … If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved’ (Rom. 10:9).
Salvation cannot be merited; it is not of works, but the gift of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is above all else ‘The Saviour’, and salvation is ours because of His finished work. He died, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. He suffered for our sins. He endured the cross that salvation might be complete, even to the putting off of the old man, and the putting on of the new. His precious blood cleanses from all sin, and in His resurrection the believer finds the power and pledge of a new and endless life. The fact that God is a just God and a Saviour, that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, that in the very salvation provided by His love He manifests not only His mercy but His righteousness; this is the believer’s sure rock foundation. Salvation is all of grace; free, unmerited favour to the worthless and the lost.
We believe that, ‘Once saved, always saved’ expresses a glorious truth. This does not mean that unfaithfulness will not be reckoned, or that there is any encouragement to slackness on the believer’s part, but that those for whom the Saviour died can never perish, neither can any pluck them out of His hand. Salvation is the great covering term that stretches from the first awakening to the need of a Saviour to the time when the redeemed are presented faultless before His throne. Salvation includes justification by faith without works, forgiveness of sins, the gift of eternal life, and the hope of glory.
‘This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’ (1 Tim. 1:15).
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This article by Charles Welch was originally published in “Things Most Surely Believed” (Chapter 7 – Salvation and Its Terms).
by Charles H. Welch
1. THE DECLARATION.
2. SCRIPTURAL GROUNDS.
‘Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law’ (1 John 3:4).
‘All unrighteousness is sin’ (1 John 5:17).
‘ … whatsoever is not of faith is sin’ (Rom. 14:23).
‘ … all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God’ (Rom. 3:23).
‘ … the wages of sin is death’ (Rom. 6:23).
‘ … by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin’ (Rom. 5:12).
‘He that committeth sin is of the Devil’ (1 John 3:8).
3. AN EXAMINATION OF THE SCRIPTURES ON THE QUESTION OF SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT.
There are three passages of Scripture that categorically assert the nature of sin:
Sin is the negative of law, of righteousness, and of faith. Scripture defines sin, in the first instance, by what it is NOT. God alone is positive; evil is only able to deny, refuse, obstruct, disobey. It is darkness and death, the negatives of light and life.
There is a further negative in Romans 3:23, where sin is defined as ‘coming short’ of the glory of God. ‘Coming short’ is the essential meaning of the most important word translated ‘sin’ in the Scriptures, viz., chata. ‘Seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss’ (chata – sin) (Judg. 20:16).
Hamartano, the New Testament equivalent, is derived (according to Cremer) from two words meaning ‘failure to attain or to arrive’. This tragic failure, this missing of the mark by man, has entailed all the terrible aftermath of guilt and shame. The failure that marks initial sin is soon followed by deadly ignorance and alienation from the life of God (Eph. 4:18); life and its activities become purposeless toil; vanity, iniquity, deformity, deceit, ruin and death make up the tale. These words are not strung together at random or for effect; they are but a summary of the words used in Scripture to describe sin, and the interested reader will find a fuller examination in The Berean Expositor Vol. 16, pp. 183-191.
So far as man is concerned, sin is universal: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one … all the world … guilty before God … all have sinned’ (Rom. 3:10,19,23).
Scripture declares that sin is of the Devil, who ‘sinneth from the beginning’, and that sin is abhorrent to the holiness of God. Should the reader have come into contact with a course of teaching that seeks to include sin as a part of the ‘all things’ that are ‘of God’, he is earnestly recommended to read the booklet, ‘Sin and its relation to God’ – same author and publisher.
What are the wages of sin? ‘The wages of sin is death’ (Rom. 6:23).
When the Old Testament writers speak of the wages of sin, they speak of destruction, of perishing, of being cut off, of being consumed. ‘Hell’ in the Old Testament is the translation of sheol, meaning the grave. This can be seen by referring to the following passages;
Genesis 37:35; 42:38; 44:29 and 31; Job 14:10-13; 17:13,16 (pit); Psalm 6:5; 30:3; 49:12-15. The New Testament speaks of death, destruction, perishing, punishment and torment. Where it speaks of hell, the original is either hades (the New Testament equivalent of sheol) or gehenna.
It has been taught that the words used by the Saviour ‘their worm’ and ‘the fire’ (Mark 9:44,46,48) – must imply conscious suffering. Seeing that He quoted from Isaiah 66:24, we are confident that no such implication was intended.
Throughout the whole of Paul’s recorded ministry, hell is mentioned once, and we must remember that he declared that he was ‘pure from the blood of all men’. His one reference is in 1 Corinthians 15:55: ‘O grave (margin, hell), where is thy victory?’
The references to the gehenna of fire are restricted to the Scriptures that deal with Israel and the kingdom. The Sermon on the Mount, which contains the first reference to gehenna, uses it of Christians, which hardly fits the orthodox teaching concerning ‘Hell’.
The only passage that contains the words ‘everlasting punishment’ is Matthew 25, where the judgment of the nations in connection with their treatment of the Lord’s brethren is in view. Some enter the kingdom; some are cast into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. Anyone who preaches eternal life on the terms set out in Matthew 25 can consistently use the warning of everlasting punishment as the alternative. But where the preacher announces that ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son’, the alternatives must be ‘perishing’ or ‘everlasting life’ (John 3:16). If he preaches, with Paul, salvation by grace, and declares that ‘the gift of God is eternal life’, then he must follow Paul in the omission of all reference to Hell, and plainly say, ‘The wages of sin is death’ (Rom. 6:23).
References to torment are as follows:
Matthew 18:34 Used of one that had been pardoned.
Revelation 9:5 Lasting five months.
Revelation 11:10 Inflicted by the two witnesses.
Revelation 14:9-11 Endured by the worshippers of the beast.
Revelation 18:7,10,15 Used of Babylon, which at the end ‘shall be found no more at all’.
Revelation 20:10 Used of the Devil, the False Prophet, and the Beast.
The poverty of orthodox teaching is shown by these references. If torment is preached to-day, what violence must be done to the contexts of these passages. The final word concerning the lake of fire in Scripture is that it is ‘the second death’.
Further and fuller exposition of this and allied subjects, such as the soul and the word ‘eternal’, together with a concordance of the word translated ‘Hell’ (Old Testament and New Testament) will be found in the booklet, ‘Hell, or Pure from the blood of all men’ – same author and publisher.
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This article by Charles Welch was originally published in “Things Most Surely Believed” (Chapter 6 – Sin and Its Wages).