"Destruction" is a key
term in the Bible used to support the teaching of either annihilation
of the wicked or hell fire for eternity or "burning as long
as one deserves." The term "destruction" leads
to many differences of opinion. But most of the conclusions are
not Scripturally based.
How do we come up with the real definition of a word in the Bible?
Well, many say that the first occurrence of a word in the Scriptures
reveals its meaning. But it is certainly a "reach"
to suggest that the first occurrence of a word gives its primary
meaning, since it is not known exactly when the Gospels were
written. Matthew is thought to have been written around A.D.
50; Mark, the date is not known; Luke was thought to have been
written in A.D. 59 to 63, and the Gospel of John, for a long
time was assumed to have been written in the A.D. 70's, but it
probably was written closer to the A.D. 50's. Paul wrote Romans
around A.D. 57, and yet all of these dates are rather tenuous.
So just looking at the "first instance" of a word in
the Bible does not mean that that was the first instance it was
used chronologically. Therefore, the "first"
occurrence of the word is not necessarily its "primary"
meaning.
The only sound system of determining the "primary"
or essential meaning of any word is to gather all of its occurrences
in the Bible, and to make certain that its meaning never contradicts
any of the contexts in which it is used.
Let's take a look at the word apollumi in the Greek Scriptures.
This is the Greek word that is often translated "destroy"
or "lost" describing the wicked. But does this word
apollumi really mean "to deprive of life" permanently?
Let's allow the Bible to interpret itself and give us the true
meaning of apollumi. (See attached documentation.)
On the following pages you will see the
many ways the word "apollumi" is used in the
New Testament. You will see that sometimes it is translated "lost"
such as in the "lost" sheep, when the sheep
was alive. In other places, the same word, "apollumi,"
is translated "perish" or "destroyed"
and the implication in these last two instances is that the individual
is dead.
But the same word, "apollumi," CANNOT
mean "to be alive" in some instances AND "to
be dead" in other instances. In other words, the same
word cannot mean both "death" and "life."
The definition of the word apollumi, #622 in Stong's Concordance, is shown above. However, this definition is nothing more than a reflection of the mistranlations of the word in the King James Version and various other versions of the Bible.
You will see that this word, apollumi, (#622) is often translated "lost," when the "lost" item was subsequently "found" such as in the parable of the "lost" sheep, the "lost" coin and the "lost" son (Prodigal son) in Luke 15. In NO instance had the sheep, the coin or the prodigal sone died. And of course, the coin NEVER HAD life. Therefore, the word apollumi CANNOT mean "to deprive of life."
The same word, apollumi (#622) is also often translated "perish" as in Romans 2:12, "For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish (apollumi) without law:"
And in Peter 2:12, ". . .and shall utterly perish (apollumi) in their own corruption."
And in 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10 where it says: "Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousnesa in them that perish (apollumi): because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved."
The same word, apollumi (#622) is also often translated "destroy" and is assumed to mean "to deprive of life" as in John 10:9, 10 where Jesus is speaking,
"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. . ."
Please note that there are three words used to describe what the thief comes to do: 1) steal, 2) kill, 3) destroy. The word translated "kill" is the Greek word "thuo" (#2380) which means to slay or slaughter, as in slaughtering sacrifices.
Obviously the word "kill" (thuo) CANNOT meand the same as the word "destroy" (apollumi) for two reasons: 1) each word is a different word in the Greek 2) it would be redundant if the word "destroy" meant to kill, because if it did, the epassage would read, "The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to kill."
The bottom line is this: In order to understand
exactly what the Lord is trying to teach us, we must understand
the exact words that were inspired. The Bible was NOT written
in English. It was written in Hebrew and Greek. We must look
to the original language, the original words that God inspired,
and let the Bible interpret itself. If we don't, then we are
taking the words of man, a translation by committee consensus,
as our guide rather than the Divine Word of God.
The proper definition of each word in the Greek is revealed when
that specific word, such as apollumi, means the same thing
each time it is used. Because the word apollumi is used
to define a state of "having life" (the sheep
was "lost" but alive not dead), it CANNOT also be used
to define a state that is OPPOSITE of life DEATH, such as what
the theologians would have us believe is meant in Romans 2:12
and 2 Peter 2:12, as shown above.
In other words, one specific word CANNOT mean both a state
of life AND a state of death!
It is obvious from these many uses of the word apollumi,
that it CANNOT mean "to deprive of life."
Clearly the Bible translators translated these passages according
to their own preconceived theological beliefs.
Matthew 2:13 states "And when they were departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying,
Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into
Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will
seek the young child to destroy him." Christians
have assumed that the word "destroy" (apollumi
in Greek) in Matthew 2:13 must mean "to deprive of life,"
but that definition has no support Biblically.
There are Greek words that mean "to deprive
of life." They are 1) apokteinco, which means "to
kill;" 2) sphazoo, slay; 3) anaireoco, assassinate
or massacre; or 4) phoneuco, which means murder.
Apollumi is used for things which have no life,
such as wine skin bottles (Matthew 9:17, Mark 2:22 and Luke 5:37).
These bottles do not "die" when they are "destroyed."
A reward is not "mortal." See Matthew 10:42
and Mark 9:41 "Verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise
lose (apollumi) his reward." And gold and money
do not "die." In fact, they never had life.
See Luke 15:8 and 1 Peter 1:7 "That the trial of your faith,
being more precious than of gold that perisheth (apollumi)"
The words which actually do mean "to deprive of life"
could not be used in these passages. Neither the primary nor
the secondary nor the tertiary, nor any other meaning of destroy
demands that life be taken.
Apollumi is often used to describe something that
either remains alive or has never had life. If the lost
(destroyed) sheep (Luke 15:4) had been "deprived of life,"
the shepherd would not have rejoiced when he found his carcass.
A word whose primary meaning is "to deprive of life"
cannot have a secondary meaning of "continued life."
Death cannot be another form of life. White is not another word
for black. And life in any form is not expressed by a word which
means death.
Jesus said "He who is finding his soul will be destroying
(losing) it, and he who destroys (loses) his soul on my account
will be finding it" (Matthew 10:39, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24,
Luke 17:33). Is Jesus urging them to commit suicide? The destruction
of the soul does not mean death. It means to dis-assemble or
destroy the old man of sin, to destroy our carnal nature, to
make us into a New Creation in Christ.
Romans 6:6 describes this process. "Knowing this, that our
old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be
done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin."
The statement that the "Son of Man came to seek and
to save that which is lost (destroyed)"
(Luke 19:10) is the key to the meaning of apollumi.
This Bible passage refers specifically to Zacchaeus, who was
lost (destroyed). Because he was lost (destroyed), he
was ready to be found and saved.
The Greek word apollumi is often given an interpretation
that means death from which there is no resurrection, or annihilation,
a state from which salvation is impossible. But this passage
in Luke 19:10 destroys this premise. Instead of the lost being
beyond salvation, they alone are eligible for salvation!
It is impossible to rescue a man who is already safe. It
is only when he is in a "lost" condition denoted by
the word apollumi that salvation can operate in
his behalf.
The terms seek and save mean the opposite of destroy.
So the one who is "destroyed," is really just
lost, not annihilated, or no one would seek after him in order
to save him. He must be in a state which needs
salvation or Christ would not have come to seek and to
save him. This passage proves beyond a doubt that "destruction"
is a salvageable condition, not a state beyond the
reach of salvation. In addition, please notice that only the
"lost" are saved. This fact reverses the usual
idea of destruction. God seeks what He has lost!
(All in All, A. E. Knoch)
Destruction is a relative term. The coin was lost (apollumi)
in relation to the woman. The sheep was lost (apollumi) in relation
to the shepherd. The prodigal son was lost (apollumi) in relation
to his father. They were not dead, but they were away from the
woman, the shepherd, and the father, respectively. Does this
prove that they were outside the sphere of salvation? No, it
actually proves the opposite. Destruction is the prelude
to salvation! Destruction never means annihilation,
irrespective of how closely it may seem to approach that idea
in some cases.
Men are lost by God. It was He who created them. He will be the
great Loser if they are not saved. A sinner can never cross a
line that brings him beyond the reach of God. Remember that Paul
says "I am persuaded that neither death (whether
the first or the second death) nor life nor principalities nor
powersnor any creature (including Satan) can separate
me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus." Romans
8:38,39
If we lose something, it becomes more valuable to us than when
we had it. If one loses his eyesight, vision assumes an importance
and value that the individual never before perceived. Its loss,
instead of distancing us from it, actually increases our attachment
to it. This becomes tragically true when we lose a loved one.
We then realize the preciousness of our lost possession. So we
should never assume that God is not concerned about those that
are "lost." Nor should we assume that He will sit complacently
while they rush on to eternal annihilation because He's helpless
to turn them around. There are a million ways God is able to
accomplish His will.
God is love and ALL of His creatures are precious to Him. God
loves all of us. But whom does He say that he loves? God loves
the world and sinners and His enemies and those who are lost.
It takes "destruction" for us to feel our need,
and it takes "destruction" to flood us with God's Divine
love.
Because men are unable to accomplish all that they wish, they
imagine that God also is unable to save the vast majority of
humanity. This basic error has so warped the minds of men that
they have corrupted the Scriptures to uphold it.
All man knows how to do is to kill something that he cannot control
such as a hardened criminal. Is this God's way of handling the
situation? God says "I'm not like You, My ways are higher
than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:9). Christ proclaimed Himself as the Resurrection
and the Life. How could the God of the Universe give up on and
lose that which is the desire of His heart, those for whom He
gave the life of His Son? Theologians have made a little man
out of a great God. Where man is impotent, man imagines that
God is also impotent. Where man is unable to succeed, man imagines
that God is also unable to succeed.
Ephesians 1:11 says God is operating the universe "in accord
with the counsel of His own will." We must recognize
that destruction is a Divine process and a necessary
part of the plan of salvation. Let us look at a few texts. Psalms
90:3, says "Thou (God) turnest man to destruction;
and sayest, Return, ye children of men."
How can human beings return to God if they have been "destroyed,"
particularly if the term means annihilation?
In 1 Corinthians 5:5 Paul says he is delivering "such a
one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that
the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."
One is "saved" by the process of "destruction,"
destroying the old man of sin.
And in 1 Timothy 1:20 Paul is charging Timothy to hold the faith
and a good conscience rather than imitating those who have made
a shipwreck of their faith "Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander;
whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme."
Giving someone to Satan is for remedial purposes, so they can
learn something, not so they can be annihilated.
Again consider the wineskins, which were "destroyed."
Everyone who receives salvation was once lost, "destroyed."
Not only was "being lost" no hindrance to their deliverance
but it was absolutely essential to it. God has lost them and
then through Christ, He found and saved them. God has definitely
declared that He is the "Saviour of ALL mankind"
(1 Timothy 2:4 and 1 Timothy 4:10).
Though the sinner be lost a thousand times, he is not beyond
the reach of the Great Seeker. Notice that the shepherd searches
for the sheep, not for any specific finite period of time, but
UNTIL HE FINDS IT! The same is true of the woman who lost
the coin.
Jesus came to "destroy the works of the devil"
(1 John 3:8). We are God's creation, we are NOT the work of the
devil. The "devil's work" is the sin in our lives.
Jesus came to 1) destroy the sin in our lives, but 2)
to SAVE the sinner!.
The story of the Potter (Jeremiah 18:1-7) reveals that it is
the Potter Himself who crushes the vessel when He discovers it
is marred. But the vessel never leaves the Potter's hands during
its "destruction" and re-creation into a New Creature.
God does not destroy anything that he cannot completely restore.
"Destruction" is a passing process, not a finished
goal. The old sinful nature is destroyed as a prelude to the
formation of a New Creature in Christ. Remember God says "Behold
I make ALL things new (Revelation 21:5)
For additional information on this topic, see the study entitled
"The
Second Death."
Since "All have sinned
and fall short of the Glory of God," (Romans 3:23) then
the meaning of the "destruction" of the wicked is important
to all of us.
1) How do we establish the primary or essential meaning of any
word in the Bible?
2) Does the Greek word apollumi actually mean "to
deprive of life?" If not, what does it mean?
3) Is the word apollumi or "destruction" ever
used of anything that remains alive? See Luke 15:4, Matthew 10:6,
Luke 19:10.
4) Did the shepherd find a sheep who was "destroyed?"
If that means "to deprive of life," how could he have
rejoiced over the carcass of the dead sheep?
5) The Bible says that Jesus came to seek and to save that which
was lost (apollumi). So only the lost (destroyed apollumi) are
eventually saved, and this reverses the usual idea of destruction.
God seeks what He has lost. Destruction is the prelude to salvation.
6) Do we, as human beings, ever hold things more dear once we
have lost them? Do we appreciate our eyesight as much while we
have it as we do when it is gone? Do we appreciate our loved
ones more, or less, when they are with us or when they are gone?
7) Is God impotent and powerless to cope with those who are "destroyed?"
All that we human beings can do is kill. We cannot recall from
death. Is God also limited in this same way? Do we make God like
us?
8) The passage usually produced to prove the utter destruction
of all sinners is found in 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12. Perhaps no
stronger verse can be found. It refers to a special crisis when
the lawless one is on the scene. They receive "the lie"
because the love of truth is not in them. Their destruction is
preliminary to their judgment. Is destruction
a Divine process or the work of Satan alone?
9) In the third angel's message in Revelation 14:10 it says that
those who worship the beast will be tormented with fire and brimstone.
What is the derivation of the word brimstone? (see Strong's
Concordance).
10) Does God destroy anything that He cannot restore? Is He impotent
in the face of the adversary, a creature that He has created?
Is the adversary smarter or more clever than God? Can Satan win
the majority of God's creatures away from God and God is impotent
to win them back?
11) Is "destruction" a passing process or a finished
goal? Matthew 18:11.
© Lorraine Day, M.D. 2006. All Rights Reserved.
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