Redeeming God

Liberating you from bad ideas about God

Join the discipleship group

The Five Contexts of Every Bible Passage

Leave a Comment

If you want to understand what the Bible says, you must learn to read the Bible in context. Every passage of Scripture sits inside at least five contexts: the historical-cultural context, the literary context, the grammatical context, the theological context, and the Christological context. When we ignore these, we can make the Bible say almost anything. When we pay attention to them, the Bible comes alive.

When I was a student at Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Howard Hendricks told our class an old story called “Agassiz and the Fish.” A young student came to the great naturalist Louis Agassiz, who handed him a dead fish and told him to look at it. Every time the student thought he had seen everything, Agassiz sent him back to look again, and for days he kept finding things he had never noticed. Dr. Hendricks then said, “I am going to give you your fish,” and wrote “Acts 1:8” on the whiteboard. Our assignment was to write down 25 observations on that one verse. When we brought them to class, he told us to go back and find 25 more. Even with 50, he said, we had barely scratched the surface.

The point was that the first and most important step in Bible study is observation. And nearly every observation we make about a text can be summed up in one word: context.

Why You Must Read the Bible in Context

There is an old joke that the five rules of Bible study are context, context, context, context, and context. It is a joke, but it is also true.

Nobody likes being quoted out of context. Even a newspaper headline can be misunderstood without context. If you read “Farmer Bill Dies in House,” is that a story about a farmer named Bill who passed away at home, or about a farm bill that failed to pass in Congress? You cannot know until you read the story.

The Bible is no different. Throughout history, the Bible has been used to defend some of the most outlandish ideas, doctrines, and behaviors, usually by pulling verses out of their context. As the saying goes, “A text without a context is a proof text for a pretext.” If we only quote verses, we are likely cherry-picking Scripture to prove our pet doctrines, rather than learning what God wants to say. I have written before about this sort of shotgun hermeneutics. So let us look at each of the five contexts.

1. The Historical-Cultural Context

The historical-cultural context asks who wrote the text, to whom, when, where, and why. It seeks to understand the worldview, values, beliefs, and customs of the author and the original audience. What were their occupations, religion, family structures, politics, and art? Of the five contexts, this one is the most difficult and the most important. There is so much to learn, and one overlooked cultural fact can change the meaning of a text.

An ancient blank scroll, clay oil lamp, old coins and an olive branch on a dark wooden desk, evoking the historical-cultural context of the Bible

When I spent six weeks in India, our team was trained to never touch any person or any food with our left hand, because the left hand is used for hygiene after using the restroom and is considered unclean. Imagine if a custom like that lay behind a biblical passage and we modern Western readers knew nothing about it. We would completely miss the point.

Take Jeremiah 10:1-5. I have heard sermons that use this passage to condemn Christmas trees, since it mentions cutting down a tree, decorating it with silver and gold, and fastening it with nails. But Christmas trees were not even invented until thousands of years later. Jeremiah is mocking the practice of carving a tree into an idol, covering it with precious metal, nailing it down so it does not fall over, and then praying to it. It is a warning about idolatry, not about Christmas trees. I explain this further in Are Christmas Trees Idols?

Studying the historical-cultural context is like building a time machine. It lets us go back and sit with the original audience, so that we can hear the words the way the author intended them to be heard.

2. The Literary Context

The literary context asks what kind of writing we are reading and where the passage fits within the book. The Bible contains many genres: historical narrative, law, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, gospel, epistle, and apocalyptic literature. And here the basic rule of all Bible study applies: read the Bible as you would read any other book. Nobody reads a history book the same way they read a book of poetry. We should not read the Psalms the same way we read Romans, or Revelation the same way we read Acts.

Leather books, rolled scrolls and a wax-sealed letter side by side on a desk, picturing the many literary genres in the Bible

What Kind of Writing Is Genesis 1?

Genre matters a great deal in Genesis 1. People argue about whether Genesis 1 is scientifically accurate, but it is not a science textbook. It is a theological polemic against the religious beliefs of Egypt, Babylon, and Canaan. After Israel left Egypt, they wanted to know what their God was like and how He compared to the gods of the nations around them. Genesis 1 answers that question. When we read it as the kind of literature it is, the debate with science largely goes away, and the message of the chapter comes into focus.

The literary context also includes the flow of the book. Remember Acts 1:8? It gives us the outline for the entire book of Acts. The gospel goes out to Jerusalem (Acts 1–7), to Judea and Samaria (Acts 8–12), and to the end of the earth (Acts 13–28).

3. The Grammatical Context

The grammatical context looks at the words, sentences, and paragraphs of the text. You do not need to know Greek or Hebrew to do this well. A good literal translation, such as the NKJV, NASB, or NRSV, lets you see most of the grammar in English. Ask what words are used, what they mean, and how they fit together into sentences, paragraphs, and books.

For example, Matthew 28:19-20 seems to contain four commands: go, make disciples, baptize, and teach. But in the grammar of the sentence, “make disciples” is the main verb. Going, baptizing, and teaching describe how disciples are made.

Even punctuation matters, though the original manuscripts had none. Some translations of Ephesians 4:12 put a comma after “saints,” so that church leaders are given three jobs: equip the saints, do the work of ministry, and build up the body. Without that comma, the leaders equip the saints, and the saints do the work of ministry. The surrounding context, especially Ephesians 4:16, where every part of the body does its share, shows that the second reading is correct.

Word Studies in Context

When I teach on this, I often write the word “trunk” on a whiteboard and ask people to draw it. I get tree trunks, elephant trunks, car trunks, storage trunks, and swimming trunks. Words have a range of meanings, and context tells us which one the author intends. If I say, “Big Mac drove his big Mac to McDonald’s to eat a Big Mac,” you know exactly what each “Big Mac” means.

A steamer trunk with a toy elephant on top resting against a tree trunk, showing how one word can have several meanings

The same is true in Scripture. Many Christians assume that the word “saved” always means “going to heaven when you die.” But when the disciples cried out in the storm, “Lord, save us!” (Matt 8:25), they did not want to go to heaven. They wanted to keep from drowning. When we let context define our words, passages like Romans 10:9-10 begin to make sense. I explain that text in Do I need to confess Jesus to be saved?

4. The Theological Context

The theological context recognizes that Scripture does not contradict Scripture. When we find two passages that seem to disagree, the problem is not with the Bible, but with our understanding of one or both texts. So we compare Scripture with Scripture, and let the clearer passages help explain the more difficult ones.

For example, Exodus 20:5 says that God visits “the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations.” But Ezekiel 18:20 says, “The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son.” Is Ezekiel correcting Moses? No. Ezekiel is talking about guilt, while Exodus is talking about the consequences of sin. God does not hold children guilty for their parents’ sins, but the destructive consequences of sin often spill over onto the next generation. Both texts are true.

5. The Christological Context

The final context is the most important of all. The Christological context is the truth that Jesus is the lens through which we read all of Scripture. Jesus said that the Scriptures testify of Him (John 5:39). He is the One who reveals the Father (John 1:18; 14:9), the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15), and the exact representation of His nature (Heb 1:3). The Bible is the Word of God in black and white; Jesus is the Word of God in flesh and blood.

An open Bible beneath a brass reading lens that shows the shadow of a cross, picturing Jesus as the lens for reading Scripture

This means that Jesus is the trump card of Bible study. No matter which text we study, we ask: Does this look like Jesus? If not, how can we understand it in light of Jesus? If your interpretation of Scripture does not look like Jesus, you have not properly interpreted Scripture. This matters most when we read the violent passages of the Old Testament, which I discuss in Jesus as the Hermeneutical Trump Card in Scripture and in my book The Atonement of God.

Keep Looking at the Fish

Reading the Bible in context takes time, but anyone can learn to ask these questions. Like the student with Professor Agassiz, never stop observing the context of any passage you study, and never think you have discovered all there is to learn. The more we look, the more we see. If you want a simple step-by-step method to go with these five contexts, see How I Study the Bible (in 10 Steps).

Learn How to Study the Bible

How Do I Study the Bible? book cover by J. D. Myers

If you want to go deeper, I cover all five contexts, along with my full method for studying Scripture, in my book, How Do I Study the Bible? It includes my complete list of observations on Acts 1:8, more examples from each context, and practical steps you can use in your own study. Get How Do I Study the Bible? on Amazon and start reading Scripture with fresh eyes.

And if you want to study the Bible with others who are asking the same questions, join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship group. Members get access to the online discipleship community, free eBooks, audio lessons, and my online Bible and theology courses, including How to Study the Bible.

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

Why Are My Prayers Not Answered?

Leave a Comment

Why are my prayers not answered? If you have ever asked this question, you are not alone. It may be the most painful question in the Christian life. We pray for a sick child, a lost job, an empty womb, or a broken marriage, and nothing seems to change. We know these requests are good. We know God cares about them. And yet the heavens seem silent. So we start to wonder what is wrong. Is it us? Is it God? Did we pray the wrong way, or not pray hard enough?

I want to be honest from the beginning. I do not know all the reasons why some prayers go unanswered, and neither does anyone else. So be careful of any pastor or teacher who says they have it all figured out. But there are several things Scripture does teach us about how God works through prayer. When we understand these truths, many of our unanswered prayers begin to make more sense. And even when they do not, we can learn to trust God’s presence with us in the waiting.

Some Answers to Unanswered Prayer Do More Harm Than Good

Before we look at what Scripture teaches, we need to set aside some of the answers Christians often give. When someone is hurting, it is never helpful to tell them they need more faith. It is not helpful to tell them their trial is preparing them for even bigger trials. And it is not helpful to repeat the old saying that every prayer gets answered, because God always answers with “yes,” “no,” or “wait.” There is some truth in that last idea, since we sometimes ask for things that would hurt us or others. But it is not much comfort to a grieving parent.

Think of the woman who prays for years to have a baby, or the parents who beg God to heal their child of cancer. Think of the lonely person who longs for a spouse, or the father who needs work to feed his family. Are any of these requests outside the will of God? Of course not. These are good prayers, and God wants good things for His children. So when they go unanswered, we need better answers than clichés. We need answers that show us what God is really like.

Are My Prayers Not Answered Because I Lack Faith?

A woman praying quietly, wondering why her prayers are not answered

Many people assume that their prayers are not answered because they lack faith. Some Christians even teach this openly. They point to verses where Jesus connects faith with healing or answered prayer (Mark 11:24; Jas 5:15). But telling grieving parents that their child would have lived if they had more faith is one of the most harmful things anyone can say about prayer. It misunderstands both faith and God.

Faith is not a quantity that we have more or less of, like gas in a tank. Faith is being persuaded that something is true. You either believe something or you do not. And Jesus taught that the smallest amount of faith is enough. He said, “if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move” (Matt 17:20). Every person I have known who has agonized in prayer over a desperate situation had more than enough faith. God is not watching a faith meter, waiting for us to reach some magic number before He will act. That is not the God revealed in Jesus.

Why Are My Prayers Not Answered When I Pray for Good Things?

If a lack of faith is not the reason, then what is? Part of the answer is found in something God values very highly, which is freedom. God created us for a relationship of love. But love cannot be forced. For love to be real, the one who is loved must be free to say no. And so God has given humans genuine freedom, and He does not take it back when we use it badly.

This means that God does not control everything that happens in the world. That idea surprises some Christians, but it is what love requires. Since we are free, we can sin, and we can hurt each other. Many things that happen in this world are contrary to the will of God. Sometimes God would have to override someone else’s freedom to give us what we ask. Sometimes many other factors stand in the way of His answer. So it may not be that God is saying no to your prayer. He may be saying yes, while other things are standing in the way of that yes.

Praying According to God’s Will

There is another side to this. Scripture tells us that “if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14). As we grow closer to God in prayer, He shapes our desires so that we want what He wants (Ps 37:4). Praying in Jesus’ name means the same thing (John 14:13-14). It is not a magic phrase we add at the end of our prayers. It means praying the way an ambassador speaks for a king, asking for what Jesus Himself would ask. I explain this more in How to Pray According to God’s Will and What does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name?

When we are not sure what God wants, we can still pray. We can tell God what is on our hearts, and then follow the example of Jesus, who prayed, “not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). That is not a lack of faith. It is trust.

God Often Answers Prayer Through People

Friends helping carry boxes on moving day, picturing God answering prayer through people

One of the main ways God answers prayer is through His people. The church is called the body of Christ for a reason. We are His hands and feet in the world. There are many things God wants to do that He has chosen to do in partnership with us. How will a struggling friend pay rent unless someone helps? How will a hungry family be fed unless someone brings food? James makes this point when he rebukes believers who tell a needy brother or sister, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but give them nothing they need (Jas 2:16).

When I was a pastor, the elders once asked our Wednesday night prayer meeting to pray for a retired pastor who was moving to town. They asked that he would arrive safely and get settled in without trouble. The next Wednesday, I told everyone that God had answered our prayer, and that a group from the church had come to help the man unpack. Everyone was thrilled, and asked who it was. I told them it was us, and we left to go carry boxes. Not everyone was happy that I cancelled the prayer meeting, but I think most of them understood the point. Sometimes God answers our prayers by sending us. I have written more about this in How can I see more answers to prayer?

Why Answers Often Take Time

Since God so often works through people, many answers to prayer take time. This is especially true when the answer requires new discoveries in medicine, or changes in families, communities, and nations. People do not always cooperate with God, and so the answers He wants to give are delayed. C. S. Lewis made a similar point when he described prayer and work as two ways God lets us share in His work in the world. I explore that idea in How to get God to work in response to your prayers. God is at work, but His work in the world often moves at the speed of human willingness.

What About Prayers for Healing?

Prayers for healing are some of the hardest. God still heals today. But most healing happens through doctors, nurses, and medicine, which God also uses. Even the anointing with oil in James 5 likely refers to a common medical practice of that day, as I explain in Should Christians anoint with oil for healing? And when healing does not come, it does not mean God is punishing you or waiting for more faith. Remember that even the Apostle Paul asked God three times to remove his thorn in the flesh, and it was not removed (2 Cor 12:8-9).

You can also bring your anger and disappointment to God. Many of the Psalms are honest prayers from people who felt forgotten. The psalmist asks, “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?” (Ps 13:1). God is not offended by honest questions. He would rather hear your pain than your silence.

God Stays with You When Prayers Go Unanswered

Quote graphic: Sometimes God answers our prayers by sending us. J. D. Myers

So why are my prayers not answered? Sometimes we do not know. But we can know this. Unanswered prayer is never a sign that God does not care. When a woman prays for a child, God is with her in her grief. When parents pray for a dying child, God grieves with them over a world so broken that children suffer. When a father cries out for work, God is with him, guiding him toward what he needs. God is not a magician who waves a wand to fix every problem. He is a Father and a Friend who walks with us through the pain.

So when your prayers seem to go unanswered, do not turn away from God. Turn toward Him. He has not left you, and He will not abandon you to face this world alone. He is still listening, still working, and still with you. And He may be inviting you to join Him in answering the very prayers you have been praying for others.

Learning to Pray Like You Talk to a Friend

What is Prayer? book cover by J. D. Myers

Prayer is not a vending machine, and God is not a cosmic genie. Prayer is a conversation with a God who loves you, who wants to hear from you, and who wants to work with you to bring His kingdom into the world. When we learn to pray this way, unanswered prayer does not drive us away from God. It draws us deeper into His heart.

To go deeper, my book What is Prayer? How to Pray to God the Way You Talk to a Friend will help you talk with God more honestly and more often. It looks at how Jesus prayed, how to receive answers to prayer, and what to do when prayers go unanswered. Get What is Prayer? on Amazon and start talking with God like the Friend He is.

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

How Do I Know I Have Eternal Life?

Leave a Comment

How do I know I have eternal life? Many Christians have quietly asked this question for years. They believe in Jesus, they go to church, and they try to follow God. But deep down, they are not sure. They wonder if they believed the right way, or if they believed enough. They wonder if they have done enough good works to prove that their faith is real. And so they live with a nagging fear that when they stand before God, He might tell them they never really belonged to Him at all.

If that describes you, I have good news. God does not want you to live with that fear. Scripture teaches that you can know, not just hope, that you have eternal life. This assurance does not come from looking at how strong your faith feels, or at how well you are living. It comes from looking at the promise of Jesus, and at what it means to believe it. In this post, I want to show you what Scripture says about assurance, and why you can rest in the certainty that eternal life is yours.

You Can Know You Have Eternal Life

Some people think it is arrogant to say you know you have eternal life. They believe the humble thing is to say, “I hope so.” But the Apostle John wrote one of his letters so that believers would know. He says that “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life” (1 John 5:11-12). Then he adds, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

Notice that John does not say “that you may hope” or “that you may think.” He says “that you may know.” God wants His children to be certain of their place in His family. And it is not arrogant to believe what God has said. If God promises something, the humble response is to take Him at His word. The arrogant response is to doubt Him, or to think that our own efforts must be added to His promise before it can be trusted. I write more about this in Is Certain Assurance of Salvation Possible?

What Does It Mean to Believe?

A person reading an open Bible, asking how do I know I have eternal life

Much of the confusion about assurance comes from confusion about faith. Many people think of faith as a feeling, or a leap in the dark, or a commitment to obey. But in Scripture, faith is being persuaded that something is true. Even the Greek word for faith, pistis, shows this idea: in a legal setting, it was the evidence presented to a court of law. So faith is a certainty based on the evidence provided. When you are convinced that something is true, you believe it. Faith is not measured in amounts. You either believe something or you do not.

This gives us a simple way to know whether we believe something. Try replacing the word “believe” with the word “know.” Do you believe that water is wet? Of course you do, because you know it is true. In the same way, you know you have believed in Jesus for eternal life if you know that His promise is true. You do not need to search your heart for some special feeling. You only need to ask whether you are convinced that Jesus keeps His promise of eternal life.

Doubt Is Not the Enemy of Faith

Some people worry that their questions and doubts mean they do not have real faith. But while faith is the opposite of doubt, doubt is often a pre-condition to faith. We rarely investigate something unless we first question it. And as we look into our questions, we either come to believe something more firmly, or we discover that we were wrong. So if you have doubts, do not run from them. Bring them to God and to His Word. Many believers find that their faith grows deeper and stronger after a season of honest questions.

How Do I Know I Have Eternal Life? Look at the Promise

At the heart of the gospel is a promise. Jesus offers eternal life as a free gift to all who believe in Him. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47). He also said, “he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life” (John 5:24). And John 3:16, which so many of us learned as children, says that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Notice that Jesus does not say that whoever believes might have eternal life, or will have it if they prove their faith over time. He says the one who believes has it now. So the question is not whether your faith is strong enough. The question is whether Jesus is trustworthy. Scripture says that “God is not a man, that He should lie” (Num 23:19). If you know that Jesus’ promise is true, then you have believed it. And if you have believed it, you have eternal life, because He said so.

Why the Object of Faith Matters

This does not mean that we are saved by faith in faith. Everyone believes something. Even an atheist believes there is no God. It is not the act of believing that gives eternal life, but the One we believe in. Imagine your neighbor told you that he would give you eternal life if you believed in him. You would not believe him, and you would be right. But Jesus is not your neighbor. He died and rose from the dead, and He has the authority to make this promise. This is why the gospel is simple to understand, but not always easy to believe.

Why Good Works Cannot Give You Assurance

A person walking toward the sunrise, picturing assurance of eternal life

Many Christians have been taught that good works are the proof of genuine faith. If you have believed, they say, your life will show it, and if it does not, you probably were never saved. This sounds reasonable, but it robs people of assurance. How many good works are enough? How long must you keep them up? And what about the person whose life is quietly changing in ways no one else can see? God does promise to work in the lives of His children. But Scripture never tells us to measure our standing with God by measuring our works.

In fact, Jesus warned about people who would point to their works on the day of judgment. They will say, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And He will answer, “I never knew you” (Matt 7:22-23). These people were not trusting in Jesus’ promise. They were trusting in their own works. If we look to our works for assurance, we are doing the very thing Jesus warned against.

What Paul Learned About Himself

The Apostle Paul is a helpful example. In one letter he described himself as “the least of the apostles” (1 Cor 15:9). In a later letter he wrote that he was “less than the least of all the saints” (Eph 3:8). And in one of his last letters, he said that among sinners he was the worst (1 Tim 1:15). As Paul grew closer to God, he became more aware of his sin, not less. If he had based his assurance on his works, he would have become less sure of his salvation every year. But because he trusted the promise of God, he could praise God more and more. Good works are important, but they belong to our growth as followers of Jesus, not to our assurance. I explain this in Are good works necessary for eternal life?

What About “Examine Yourselves”?

Quote graphic: If God promises something, the humble response is to take Him at His word. J. D. Myers

Some people point to 2 Corinthians 13:5, where Paul writes, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.” They believe Paul is telling Christians to check whether they are truly saved. But Paul is not talking about faith in general here. He is talking about “the faith,” which refers to the Christian way of believing and living. Throughout this letter, Paul treats the Corinthians as believers. He is not asking them to doubt their salvation. He is asking them to see whether their beliefs and behavior match who they already are in Christ.

This is an important difference. Paul wants the Corinthians to act like who they are. He does not want them to question whether they have that identity at all. We, too, should examine our lives, not to find out if we are saved, but to see where we can grow in following Jesus. That kind of examination is healthy. It comes from security, not fear.

Can I Lose the Eternal Life I Have Received?

Finally, once you know you have eternal life, you can also know that you will never lose it. Jesus said of His sheep, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28). Eternal life would not be eternal if it could be lost. Paul adds that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39). I explain why I believe in eternal security, though not every version of “once saved, always saved,” in this post on eternal security.

This is the freedom God wants for you. When you know you have eternal life, you no longer serve God out of fear that He will reject you. You serve Him out of love and gratitude, because He has already accepted you. That is when real spiritual growth begins.

Learn More About Faith and Assurance

What is Faith? book cover by J. D. Myers

So how do I know I have eternal life? You know it by knowing that Jesus’ promise is true. Look away from your feelings, your doubts, and your works, and look to Jesus. He has promised eternal life to all who trust Him, and He cannot lie. If you are persuaded that His promise is true, then you have believed, and the life He promised is yours today and forever.

If you want to understand faith more clearly, my book What is Faith? How to Know that You Believe explains what faith is, how it works, and what Scripture really means when it talks about believing. It also corrects common misunderstandings about faith and walks through many of the most debated faith texts in the Bible. Get What is Faith? on Amazon and discover the joy of knowing that you have eternal life.

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

Theories of the Atonement Compared: Four Views of the Cross

Leave a Comment

When Christians talk about the cross, we usually agree on the facts. Jesus died, He was buried, and He rose again on the third day. But when we start to ask why Jesus had to die, and what His death actually accomplished, the agreement quickly falls apart. That is where the theories of the atonement come in. Over the centuries, Christians have offered several ways of explaining how the death of Jesus brings us back to God. Some focus on a legal payment and some on the example of love. Others focus on a ransom, or on a victory over the powers of evil.

This matters more than it might seem. The way we understand the cross shapes the way we see God. If the cross shows a God who needed blood before He could forgive, we will think of God one way. If the cross shows a God who gave Himself to rescue us from sin, death, and the devil, we will think of Him in a very different way. So in this post I want to compare four of the main theories of the atonement and look at what each one gets right. Then I will explain why I believe one of them best reveals the God we see in Jesus Christ.

Why Theories of the Atonement Matter

Before we look at the theories, it helps to remember that the fact of the atonement is more important than any explanation of it. C. S. Lewis made a similar point in Mere Christianity. Christians are not saved by holding the right theory. We are saved by the One who died and rose again. Every theory is a human attempt to put words to something that is bigger than our words. So we should hold our theories with some humility, and we should be willing to learn from each of them.

But that does not mean all theories are equally helpful. Each theory of the atonement carries a picture of God inside it. And the picture we hold of God affects how we pray, how we read the Bible, and how we treat other people. If we believe God was angry and had to be appeased, we will tend to approach Him with fear. If we believe God was never against us, but came in Jesus to rescue us, we will approach Him with trust. So the question is not merely academic. It is about the character of God.

It also helps to think about the word itself. Many people say that “atonement” means “at-one-ment,” the idea that the cross makes God and humanity one again. There is truth in this. But I believe the cross does not so much repair a broken relationship from God’s side as reveal that God never left our side at all. As Paul puts it, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them” (2 Cor 5:19). The movement is from God toward us, not from us toward God.

Penal Substitution: The Most Popular Theory of the Atonement

A judge's gavel in an empty courtroom, picturing the penal substitution theory of the atonement

The view that most evangelical Christians hold today is penal substitutionary atonement. It goes by several other names as well, such as the satisfaction view and the vicarious view. Scholars draw fine distinctions between them. The basic idea is that God is holy and just, and so He must punish sin. Since we have all sinned, we all deserve death. But in His love, God sent Jesus to take the punishment we deserved. Jesus died in our place, the wrath of God was poured out on Him, and now God can forgive us because the penalty has been paid.

This theory has real strengths. It takes sin seriously. It also takes seriously the many texts which say that Jesus died for us and in our place. Isaiah writes that “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isa 53:5). Paul writes that God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us” (2 Cor 5:21). Any theory of the atonement that ignores the idea of substitution will not do justice to Scripture. Its roots are usually traced to Anselm of Canterbury in the eleventh century. The Protestant Reformers later gave it the penal shape most people know today.

But penal substitution also raises troubling questions. If God must be paid before He can forgive, then He is not actually forgiving anything. Forgiveness and payment are opposites. When a debt is paid, nothing is left to forgive. The theory also has God paying Himself, since Jesus is God. And it suggests that the Father needed violence and blood before He could love sinners. That sounds more like the angry gods of the ancient world than the Father whom Jesus revealed. Many people have walked away from Christianity because they could not worship a God who needed to kill His Son before He could forgive. I explain more of my concerns in Good God, Bad God.

The Moral Influence Theory

A second view is the moral influence theory, sometimes called the exemplary love view. It is often associated with the medieval theologian Peter Abelard. In this view, the cross does not change God’s mind about us. Instead, it changes our mind about God. When we see Jesus willingly lay down His life, we are moved to repent, to love God, and to love others in the same way. Jesus Himself said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). John adds, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us” (1 John 4:10).

There is something beautiful about this view. Jesus did give us an example to follow, and He told His disciples that people would know them by their love for one another (John 13:34-35). Any good theory of the atonement should include the example of Jesus. But on its own, the moral influence theory does not go far enough. It assumes that what humans need most is a good example, when Scripture says we are enslaved to sin and cannot free ourselves. An example cannot set a prisoner free. And if Jesus is mainly an example, then He becomes one more great teacher among many.

There is also a practical problem. If our hope depends on following the example of Jesus well enough, then none of us has much hope at all. So while I believe we should include the insight of this theory, I do not believe we should adopt it as our explanation of the cross.

The Ransom Theory

A third view is the ransom theory. It builds on the words of Jesus, who said that He came “to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Paul also says that Jesus “gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:6). Humanity was held captive, and Jesus paid the price to set us free. Some early church writers went further and asked who received the payment. Since humanity was held captive by sin and the devil, some of them answered that the ransom was paid to Satan.

This view correctly sees that we needed to be rescued from captivity. But it runs into problems as soon as we ask who was paid. If the ransom was paid to God, then the ransom theory simply turns into penal substitution. If the ransom was paid to the devil, then God owed something to Satan, which gives the devil far too much power. I believe the better answer is that a ransom in Scripture does not always require someone to receive a payment. When the prophet speaks of “the ransomed of the Lord” returning to Zion (Isa 35:10), the point is the deliverance, not a transaction with a captor.

Christus Victor and the Non-Violent View of the Atonement

An empty tomb at sunrise, picturing the Christus Victor view of the atonement

This brings us to the view I hold, which is a non-violent form of the Christus Victor view. Christus Victor is Latin for “Christ the Victor.” In this view, the cross is not where God poured out His wrath on Jesus. It is where Jesus defeated the powers that held humanity captive. The Swedish theologian Gustaf Aulén argued in his book Christus Victor that some form of this victory view was the main way the church spoke about the cross for many centuries. Whether or not that is entirely right, the theme of victory is everywhere in the New Testament. Jesus took on flesh “that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb 2:14).

The non-violent part matters too. In this view, God did not kill Jesus. People did. Jesus was handed over by religious leaders and executed by the Roman state. The violence of the cross was our violence, not God’s. And yet, while people did their worst to Him, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). So the cross does not show us an angry God who needs to be satisfied. It shows us a loving God who takes our violence upon Himself and answers it with forgiveness. I have written more about why God appears violent in Scripture even though He is not.

How Jesus Defeats Sin, Death, and the Devil

First, the cross defeats sin by exposing the lies that sin tells us about God. Sin tells us that God is angry with us, that He is disgusted by us, and that we must pay Him back before He will accept us. At the cross, God reveals that none of these is true. Second, the cross defeats death. Throughout history, people have tried to deal with their guilt by blaming and killing others. Jesus became the final victim of that pattern. His blood “speaks better things than that of Abel” (Heb 12:24). Abel’s blood cried out for vengeance, but the blood of Jesus cries out for forgiveness.

Third, the cross defeats the devil. The word “devil” means accuser, and the devil has always accused us before God and before one another. But at the cross, Jesus wiped out the record that stood against us. Paul writes that “having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Col 2:15). The accuser has nothing left to say. And notice that this view keeps the strength of substitution. Jesus really did die for us and in our place. But He did not die to absorb the wrath of God. He died to rescue us from sin, death, and the devil.

Comparing the Theories of the Atonement

Quote graphic: The cross is not a payoff. It is a rescue. J. D. Myers

So how do the theories of the atonement compare? Penal substitution rightly sees that Jesus died in our place, but it pictures a God who must be paid before He can forgive. The moral influence theory rightly sees the cross as an example of love, but it does not free us from slavery to sin. The ransom theory rightly sees that we were held captive, but it gets tangled up in the question of who was paid. The non-violent Christus Victor view keeps what is best in each of these. It includes substitution, example, and ransom, but it places them inside the bigger story of God rescuing His people.

I think of it like a prison break more than a payment. In penal substitution, Jesus pays the fine so the judge can let us go. In Christus Victor, Jesus breaks into the prison where we have been held captive, throws open the doors, and leads us out. This fits what Jesus said about His own mission, that He came “to proclaim liberty to the captives” (Luke 4:18). The cross is not a payoff. It is a rescue. For more on how this changes everything else we believe, see 10 ways the non-violent God changes your theology.

This also changes how we think about substitution. Jesus does take our place. I have argued that we should think of Him as the substitute God. He took the place of the false and violent gods we had made in our own image. When we look at the cross, we do not see God venting His anger. We see what God has always been like. And this is good news, because it means we never needed to be afraid of Him.

Going Deeper into the Atonement of God

The Atonement of God book cover by J. D. Myers

If you have always believed penal substitution, some of this may feel unsettling. That is all right. Many people have felt the same way when they first began to question what they had been taught about the cross. But I encourage you to keep reading Scripture with Jesus at the center. If Jesus shows us exactly what God is like, then the cross is not a picture of divine wrath. It reveals a God who would rather die than stop loving us. Greg Boyd and I have also discussed some of these questions in this exchange about the blood of Jesus.

I cover all of this in more detail in my book, The Atonement of God: Building Your Theology on a Crucivision of God. The first part of the book looks closely at each of the theories of the atonement. The rest of the book shows how a non-violent view of the cross changes the way we understand God, Scripture, sin, forgiveness, justice, and violence. If this post raised more questions than it answered, the book is a good place to go next. Get The Atonement of God on Amazon and discover the God who looks like Jesus.

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

Is Hell Eternal? What Scripture Says About Forever

Leave a Comment

Is hell eternal? For many Christians, the answer seems obvious. They were taught that people who do not believe in Jesus will be tormented in fire forever, with no hope of escape and no end to the pain. Others have heard that hell is real but temporary, or that God will eventually destroy the wicked so that they no longer exist. And still others wonder if hell will one day be emptied altogether. These are not small questions. What we believe about the eternal destiny of people says a great deal about what we believe about God.

In this post, I want to look at what Scripture says about whether hell is eternal. I will briefly describe the main answers Christians give, and then explain the view I hold. My short answer is this: the people who reject God will exist forever, because God raises everyone from the dead. But they will not be tortured forever by God. And even in that eternal existence, they will never be beyond the reach of His love. I believe this view takes the warnings of Scripture seriously while also taking seriously what Jesus reveals about the character of God.

Why People Ask Whether Hell Is Eternal

Most people who ask whether hell is eternal are not trying to escape the teaching of the Bible. They are trying to reconcile two things that seem impossible to hold together. On the one hand, they believe that God is love, as John says (1 John 4:8). On the other hand, they have been taught that this same God will torture billions of people for all eternity because they did not believe the right things during a few short decades on earth. Something about this does not fit, and many sincere Christians feel the tension deeply.

I believe this tension is a good thing. It is a sign that the Spirit is working in our hearts, teaching us to see God as Jesus revealed Him. If it would be monstrous for a person to torture someone for even a short time, it would be far more monstrous for God to torture someone forever. Since God is love, there is no cruelty in Him. So when a teaching about hell makes God look worse than the worst human tyrant, we have good reason to go back to Scripture and ask whether we have read it correctly.

Three Answers to the Question “Is Hell Eternal?”

Three paths splitting in the mist, picturing three answers to whether hell is eternal

Christians have generally given three answers to this question. The first is the traditional view, often called eternal conscious torment. It teaches that hell is a place of everlasting punishment, where the unredeemed suffer forever. The second is annihilationism, also called conditional immortality. In this view, the wicked are punished for a time and then destroyed, so that they cease to exist. Hell is eternal in its result, but not in its experience. The third is universalism, which teaches that hell, if it exists at all, is temporary and corrective, and that God will eventually bring every person into His kingdom.

Each of these views has thoughtful defenders, and each tries to honor certain texts of Scripture. I describe all three in more detail, along with a fourth view, in Three Views on Hell. But here is the short version of why I do not hold any of them. I do not hold the traditional view, because God does not torture people. I am not an annihilationist, because God is not a destroyer of the people He made. And I am not a universalist, because love cannot be forced. If God loves us, He will not override our freedom to reject Him.

What Does “Dead” Mean in the Bible?

Much of the debate about whether hell is eternal comes down to the meaning of death. Annihilationists often assume that if the wicked “die,” they must cease to exist. But in Scripture, the word “dead” does not mean “non-existent.” A dead body still exists. You can see it and touch it. Instead, “dead” means lifeless, or no longer able to do what it was made to do. Paul writes to the Ephesians that God made them alive when they “were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1). They were not non-existent. They were living in a way that God never intended.

This helps us understand the warnings of Scripture. When God told Adam that he would die in the day he ate from the tree (Gen 2:17), Adam did not drop dead. Instead, his life became filled with toil, pain, and frustration. In a sense, physical death was later given as a kind of mercy, so that humans would not have to live forever in that condition. And physical death is not the end. Jesus said that “all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth” (John 5:28). Some will rise to life and some to condemnation (John 5:29), but everyone will be raised.

The Second Death and Everlasting Death

A dark lake at dusk with a red glow, picturing the second death and the lake of fire

So what happens to those who are raised but still want nothing to do with God? Revelation calls this “the second death” (Rev 21:8). I do not believe the second death is annihilation. Being born again is not a second physical birth. In the same way, dying a second time is not a second end to our existence. The second death describes a life that continues to move away from what God intended. It is a life of everlasting death, just as the life Jesus gives is everlasting life. I explain this in more detail in What is the second death?

What might such a life be like? Scripture does not give us many details, and so anything we say here is speculation. But it seems likely that it would be much like life on this earth, with its broken relationships, failed plans, and empty pursuits, except that it goes on without end and no one dies. C. S. Lewis imagined something similar in The Great Divorce, where the residents of hell keep moving farther and farther from one another. He also suggested that hell’s doors are locked by those inside them. They remain there because they prefer their own way to God’s way.

What About “Everlasting Punishment”?

Of course, someone will point to the words of Jesus in Matthew 25. There He says that some “will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt 25:46). Doesn’t this settle the question? It is an important text, and we must take it seriously. But we must also read it carefully. The Greek word translated “punishment” is kolasis, which carries the idea of pruning or cutting short. It is a word with correction in the background, and it is not a word for endless torture.

The context also matters. In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, Jesus is judging the nations by how they cared for the poor and needy. The background is the message of the prophets, especially Ezekiel, who warned that nations which neglect the poor will be destroyed and left desolate. I believe Jesus is warning about this kind of destruction rather than describing a torture chamber after death. I walk through the whole passage in Is the everlasting fire of Matthew 25:41 a warning about hell? and you may find it helpful even if you end up disagreeing with me.

Is Hell Eternal Because God Keeps People There?

Quote graphic: If hell is eternal, it is not because God stops loving people. It is because God keeps loving them. J. D. Myers

Here is where the question “is hell eternal?” often goes wrong. We imagine God as a jailer who locks people in and refuses to let them out. But the life of everlasting death is not something God inflicts on people. It is the natural result of their own choice to live without Him. God does not separate Himself from them. He is everywhere, and so He is present with them even there. They may feel separated from Him, but the separation is in their experience, not in reality. As Paul writes, nothing in all creation “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39).

This means that if hell is eternal, it is not because God stops loving people. It is because God keeps loving them. Love gives freedom to the one who is loved. The greatest expression of love is to lay down your life for someone, and God did that in Jesus. But when people still choose to go their own way, love lets them go. God does not abandon them. He continues to walk with them into their darkness. But He will not force them to love Him, because forced love is not love at all.

Is There Hope After Death?

Many Christians believe that once a person dies, their destiny is sealed forever. They often point to Hebrews 9:27, which says that “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” I used to read the verse that way too. But this text only tells us that people die once and are not reincarnated. It does not say that the judgment is a single moment after which nothing can ever change. I hold this view loosely, and I cannot prove it from Scripture. But I see no reason to believe that God stops loving people, or stops inviting them home, at the moment of death.

Hell Begins Now, and So Does Eternal Life

One more thing needs to be said. Most of the passages people use to teach about hell are not primarily about the afterlife at all. They are about the destruction and death that come upon people in this life when they live outside the will of God. James can even say that the tongue “is set on fire by hell” (Jas 3:6). Hell is not only a future place. It is a kingdom of death that is already at work in the world, and it ruins lives here and now. I have written about this in my posts on Gehenna and the lake of fire.

But eternal life also begins now, and that is good news. Jesus said that “he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24). We do not have to wait until we die to escape the kingdom of death. And when Jesus announced His mission in Nazareth, He read from Isaiah 61 but stopped before the words about “the day of vengeance” (Luke 4:18-19; Isa 61:1-2). He came to proclaim liberty, not to threaten torment.

Learning More About Hell

What is Hell? book cover by J. D. Myers

So is hell eternal? I believe that those who reject God will exist forever, because everyone will be raised from the dead. And the kingdom of death they choose may continue forever, if they continue to choose it. But hell is not eternal torture, God is not the torturer, and no one is ever beyond the love of God. This is not a softer gospel. It is a gospel that looks like Jesus, and it calls us to bring the life of the kingdom of heaven into a world that is already experiencing too much hell.

If you want to go deeper, I cover all of this and much more in my book, What is Hell? The Truth About Hell and How to Avoid It. It surveys the main views of hell, looks at every key word and passage in Scripture, and explains how to avoid hell in this life and the next. If you have ever been afraid of hell, or afraid of the God who supposedly sends people there, this book will help you see God as Jesus revealed Him. Get What is Hell? on Amazon and discover the truth about hell.

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

Advertise or Donate

Search (and you Shall Find)

Get Books by Jeremy Myers

Books by Jeremy Myers

Schedule Jeremy for an interview

Click here to Contact Me!

Follow me on X