Lesson 7. The “Elementary Teachings of Christ” School is based on Hebrews chapter 6. These are seven foundational teachings in which the early Christian Church saw the basis of the Christian faith.
Dictionary definition of the phrase “eternal judgment”:
Hebrews 6:2: … teaching about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
“Judgment” is the Greek word [krima]—a court decision, verdict, or condemnation. This neuter noun appears in the genitive case in this expression as [krimatos] and is translated literally as “eternal condemnation.”
Who will be subject to “eternal condemnation”?
1. “The beast, the false prophet, the devil, and the angels who sinned” will be subject to eternal condemnation.
Matthew 25:41: Then He will say to those on His left hand, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:”
Revelation 19:20: Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Revelation 20:10: The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
2. Ungodly people will be subject to eternal condemnation.
These are people who have not come to know God and have rejected the Good News. Their names will not be found in the Book of Life at the judgment before the great white throne (Rev. 20:11). Today, many people in the world rely on their good deeds, but Scripture says that deeds will not help them at the judgment and that only whether their names are in the Book of Life will be taken into account.
Rev. 21:8: But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
Rev. 20:15: And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
2 Thess. 1:6–10: Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.
3. Those called “goats” will be subject to eternal condemnation.
All nations will stand before Jesus, and then it will be revealed who is worthy to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. The main criterion by which the decision will be made is how people treat those whom Jesus calls His brothers—that is, Christians.
Matt. 25:31–33: When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
Matt. 25:34–36: Then the King will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you blessed of My Father; inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed Me; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.”
Matt. 25:37–40: Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and welcome You, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick or in prison and come to You?”
And the King will answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, insofar as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.”
Matt. 25:41–45: Then He will also say to those on the left hand, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me; I was naked and you did not clothe Me; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me.” Then they also will answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?” Then He will answer them, saying, “Truly I say to you, insofar as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.”
Matt. 25:46: And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
4. Those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit will be subject to eternal condemnation.
“To blaspheme”—Greek [blasphēmeō]—means to insult, slander, revile, or blaspheme. Most often, this word is translated in the New Testament as “to slander” or “to blaspheme.”
Matt. 12:22–32: Then they brought Him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “He casts out demons only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste; and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his possessions unless he first binds the strong man? Then he will plunder his house. He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. Therefore I say to you: every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven people; whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”
Mark 3:28–30: “Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.” [He said this] because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Jesus called it blasphemy against the Holy Spirit when they called the Holy Spirit an unclean spirit. Jesus emphasized that this was not blasphemy against the Son of Man, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit who was in Him.
5. “Unrighteous, unfaithful Christians” will be subject to eternal condemnation.
In the Second Epistle of Peter, the subject is unfaithful Christians who, having left the straight path, live in error and continual sin, and are defiled by the world again.
2 Peter 2:9–12: Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly from temptation and to reserve the unjust for the day of judgment, to be punished, and especially those who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, despise authority, are presumptuous and self-willed, and are not afraid to speak evil of dignities, whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct for capture and destruction, speak evil of things they do not understand and will perish in their own corruption.
2 Peter 2:13: They will receive the reward of unrighteousness, since they consider it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing with you and reveling in their deceptions. Their eyes are full of adultery and incessant sin; they entice unstable souls; their hearts are trained in covetousness: they are accursed children.
2 Peter 2:15–19: Having left the straight path, they have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity: a speechless donkey, speaking with a man's voice, restrained the prophet's madness. These are wells without water, clouds carried by a storm; for them the gloom of darkness is reserved forever. For, speaking boastful words of vanity, they entice into the lusts of the flesh and debauchery those who have barely escaped from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whatever anyone is overcome, by that he is enslaved.
2 Peter 2:20–22: For if, after escaping the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. But what has happened to them is according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A washed pig returns to wallowing in the mud.”
6. Those who cause believers in Jesus to stumble will be subjected to eternal condemnation.
Jesus spoke about the fate awaiting those through whom stumbling blocks enter the lives of other Christians.
What does “to cause someone to stumble” mean? The Greek word for “to cause someone to stumble,” used in Matthew 18:6–9 and Mark 9:40–48, is [skandalisi]:
1. to lead into temptation, entice, lead into sin, be a stumbling block;
2. to offend, irritate, hurt, provoke, outrage.
In the New Testament, “skandalisi” is translated in its first meaning as “to cause someone to stumble, to turn them away from the faith.”
Matthew 18:6–9: But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! For stumbling blocks must come, but woe to that person through whom the stumbling block comes. If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and cast it from you; it is better for you to enter life without a hand or a foot than, having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire; and if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than, having two eyes, to be cast into fiery Gehenna.
Jesus warns that causing a Christian to stumble and turning them away from the faith is a terrible sin, for which the one who causes the stumbling will be cast into fiery Gehenna and eternal condemnation.
Mark 9:40–48: For whoever is not against you is for you. And whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, truly I tell you, he will by no means lose his reward. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than, having two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than, having two feet, to be thrown into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye than, having two eyes, to be thrown into fiery hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
Jesus, warning about the consequences of causing others to stumble, says that each of us must watch our hands, feet, and eyes. In other words, we must not allow our hands to lead us into sin, our feet to lead us to commit sin, or our eyes to look at what will lead us into sin and ultimately cause another Christian to stumble.
The place of eternal condemnation
The lake of fire and sulfur, or Gehenna (the valley) of fire, is the place of punishment into which the beast, the false prophet, the devil, the sinful angels, and also the ungodly, cowardly, unbelieving, and other people whose names are not written in the Book of Life will be thrown.
Matthew 25:41: Then He will say to those on His left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’
Revelation 19:20: Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who performed signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur.
Revelation 20:10: The devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Mark 9:45: And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than, having two feet, to be thrown into hell, into the unquenchable fire,
Mark 9:47: And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye than, having two eyes, to be thrown into fiery hell,
Matthew 10:28: And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Revelation 21:8: But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
Revelation 20:15: And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Conclusion
Who will be subject to “eternal condemnation”?
- The beast, the false prophet, the devil, and the sinful angels.
- Ungodly people who did not know God and rejected the Good News. Their names will not be found in the Book of Life at the judgment before the great white throne.
- People called “goats.”
- People who blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
- Unrighteous, unfaithful Christians.
- Those who cause believers in Jesus to stumble.
The lake of fire and sulfur, or Gehenna (the valley) of fire, is the place of eternal condemnation.
Source: The Bible, Chapter 6 of the Epistle to the Hebrews
Teacher: Dmitriy Leo
