A conditionalist says “eternal” doesn’t always mean duration, that it can refer to quality. He uses the eternal fire of Jude 7 to support his position since the fire isn’t still burning now.<\/p>\n\t
“Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds<\/strong> under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire<\/strong> … But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life<\/strong><\/em>” (Jude 5-7,20-21).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Notice that “eternal” is used three times in Jude. If Jude is using “eternal” to refer to quality, then the fallen angels are not going to be bound forever, nor will the righteous live forever. Any change to the concept of hell also requires the same concept of heaven. “These will go away into eternal punishment<\/strong>, but the righteous into eternal life<\/strong><\/em>” (Matthew 25:46). The same Greek word is used in Matthew as it was used in Jude.<\/p>\n
The sinners of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim were placed under a sentence or punishment by God. Jude’s point is that we need to realize that God is willing and able to punish sinners. Their punishment brought them to face the eternal fires of Hell — in other words, the destruction by fire was not their end but just the beginning of what they earned by their sins. Yes, the fire here on earth burnt out, and their earthly bodies were destroyed, but that was not their final end. When Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus, notice the state of the rich man: “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame’<\/em>” (Luke 16:23-24). Those who died in Sodom and the other cities went from death by fire to existence in the fire in Hades and eventually, on Judgment Day they will be sentenced to eternal punishment in Hell.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: A conditionalist says “eternal” doesn’t always mean duration, that it can refer to quality. He uses the eternal fire of Jude 7 to support his position since the fire isn’t still burning now. Answer: “Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[472,373],"class_list":["post-30194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-eternity","tag-hell"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56700,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/watering-down-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":30194,"position":0},"title":"Watering Down Hell","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jim R. Everett An Answer to \"Conditional Immortality\" The modern, liberal theologian has joined the cultic religionist in seeking to \"water down\" hell and make eternal punishment nothing more than a momentary oxidation of the body. He inconsistently affirms the eternal nature of God and the future state of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87347,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-hell-changed-to-hades-to-support-the-idea-of-purgatory\/","url_meta":{"origin":30194,"position":1},"title":"Was “hell” changed to “hades” to support the idea of purgatory?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, I received the following letter: You're wrong, brother. The word was changed from \"hell\" to \"Hades\" as a way for the church to support purgatory, which is not true. There is no purgatory for sanctification, as sanctification is done here on Earth through the Holy Spirit who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41253,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-hell-a-real-place\/","url_meta":{"origin":30194,"position":2},"title":"Is Hell a Real Place?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 31, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant In the Bible, Matthew 25 gives us a picture of the Day of Judgment, where the righteous enter into everlasting joy and peace, while the unrighteous enter into hell, an everlasting torment of fire. Some reject this as repulsive, claiming that the unrighteous will simply cease\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56708,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-review-of-homer-haileys-book-gods-judgments-and-punishments\/","url_meta":{"origin":30194,"position":3},"title":"A Review of Homer Hailey\u2019s book, “God\u2019s Judgments and Punishments”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jim R. Everett Such is the title of the last book of brother Hailey's illustrious career. Brother Hailey was writing excellent, resourceful material well past his 70th birthday. However, if I live to be 70, I will probably quit writing. That is not to denigrate others who write so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52578,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-someone-lose-his-reward-but-retain-his-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":30194,"position":4},"title":"Can someone lose his reward but retain his salvation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear minister of God, Would you be kind enough to assist me in answering the following: For me, my understanding is that the believer's eternal salvation is a matter of grace through faith alone. His reward is based on righteousness and works. Whereas the believer's eternal salvation can never\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57586,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-real-fire-in-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":30194,"position":5},"title":"Is There Real Fire in Hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clem Thurman via Gospel Minutes, Vol. 58, No. 34, Aug. 21, 2009. Question: Is there real fire in hell where the wicked shall go to be punished after this life is over? Answer: In answering this question, let us look at a couple of passages of Scripture. In Matthew\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/fire.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}