God and hell: The Bible's views on punishment
So...okay, the Bible never says the words "sinners burn in hell forever". And apparently, there's an in-depth biblical interpretation of the Lake of Fire that precludes the idea of sinners burning in the lake of fire forever. So what about when the Bible talks about eternal punishment for sinners?
Eternal punishment
As it turns out, the words "punished" and "punishment" only appear a handful times in the entire KJV New Testament. Let's discuss.
Acts 4:21
So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.
The surrounding passage describes Peter and John preaching in Jerusalem. The authorities detained them, threatened them, and released them. The word "punish" here is κολάζω (kolazo), which carries the connotation of pruning a branch. κολάζω describes a remedial punishment intended to improve the one punished.
Acts 22:5
As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.
Paul is recounting his conversion story. He is speaking of the Christians he's retrieving for punishment. The word used is τιμωρέω (timoreo), which has the context of vengeance or retribution. He's speaking of the hate and vengefulness he felt toward Christians prior to his conversion.
Acts 26:11
And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.
Same explanation, context, and word as Acts 22:5.
2 Corinthians 2:6
Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.
Here, Paul is counseling the church to forgive those who sin against them. He is not recommending a new punishment to the person in question, but rather suggesting that the person has already suffered enough. This is hardly indicative of a threat of eternal punishment.
Hebrews 10:29
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Here, the author is warning the believer against willful sin. The nature and measure of punishment is unspecified, but the tone of the passage suggests that the punishment is not light.
However, the punishment is not eternal. There's no implied or overt threat of eternal punishment for willful sin on the part of a believer. The word used here, τιμωρία (timoria), carries the connotation of retribution or vindication for a wrong suffered. This is a cognate of the same word used by Paul in Acts 22:5 and 26:11 to describe his persecution of the early church. By context, we can see that whatever punishment the author of Hebrews has in mind, it would seem to be generally proportionate to the magnitude of wrong inflicted by the sinner.
1 Peter 2:14
...[submit yourselves] unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
Here, Peter is instructing Christians to obey the laws of man. This punishment is the hypothetical punishment doled out by legal authorities in retribution for a crime, and does not constitute eternal punishment of any sort. The word used is ἐκδίκησις (ekdikesis), meaning "revenge" or "punishment".
Matthew 25:46
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
The word "eternal" appears here twice. Both times, it's the Greek word αἰώνιος (aionios). The KJV and other translations of the Bible often translate this word as "eternal" or "everlasting", but there's only one problem with that: αἰώνιος almost never means "eternal".
The word αἰώνιος is the adjective form of the Greek word αἰών (aion), which is where we get our word "eon". αἰών, like "eon", has a connotation of a finite period of time. For example, in Matthew 24:3 (ESV), which is the beginning of the discourse which Jesus concludes in the verse above, Jesus' disciples ask him, "... what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age (αἰών)?". αἰώνιος, therefore, has a connotation of relating to a finite period of time. It could be intended to mean "for an age", "of an age", "age-enduring", or something similar, but almost never does it mean "eternal" except where it gains such meaning by connotation. To speak of God in an αἰώνιος sense, for example, would impart an eternal connotation to the word, but only because God is, by definition, already an eternal being. In other words, αἰώνιος can attain a meaning of "eternal", but it cannot confer it.
As I've gone to great lengths to demonstrate, there is no existing supposition that punishment of sinners is eternal, either in this life or the next, or in Sheol, Hades, Tartarus, or Gehenna. Therefore, an αἰώνιος punishment is, by definition, not an eternal one.
However, the real secret of why this phrase "everlasting punishment" doesn't mean "everlasting punishment" is a logical one. The second word in this phrase, "punishment", has a rather interesting definition: κόλασις (kolasis) is a form of punishment that intends to correct the punished, not to avenge the honor of the one wronged. κόλασις is the idea of sentencing a drug offender to rehab - they're being punished, but in a way that hopefully improves them. κόλασις can't be applied to the death penalty, or even life in prison, because such extreme sentences are not corrective, but are rather utilitarian; instead of trying to correct the punished, sufficiently harsh sentences merely serve to remove the agency of the punished to act again.
In other words, what Jesus is actually saying in Matthew 25:46 is, "And these shall go away into age-enduring correction: but the righteous into age-enduring life." This might seem like a clunkier translation, but it's a more correct one. For 1500 years, the church has reinterpreted this verse to mean "eternal punishment" because of a combination of bad translation and dogma.
To demonstrate my commitment to kolasis as "corrective punishment", I will share a definition of kolasis from The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament which denies 25:46 means "corrective punishment", while actually proving my point:
“κόλασις kólasis; gen. koláseōs, fem. noun from kolázō (2849), to punish. Punishment (Matt. 25:46), torment (1 John 4:18), distinguished from timōría (5098), punishment, which in [Classical Greek] has the predominating thought of the vindictive character of the punishment which satisfies the inflicter’s sense of outraged justice in defending his own honor or that of the violated law.
Kólasis, on the other hand, conveys the notion of punishment for the correction and bettering of the offender.
It does not always, however, have this strict meaning in the NT. In Matt. 25:46, kólasis aiṓnios (166), eternal, does not refer to temporary corrective punishment and discipline, but has rather the meaning of timōría, punishment because of the violation of the eternal law of God.” (emphasis mine)
This means that a translator of the Bible correctly identified the true definition of the word κόλασις as it exists throughout Koine Greek. They then decided, against all evidence to the contrary, that the word used in Matthew 25:46 does not have its actual definition, but rather the same definition as an entirely unrelated word that better suits their theological biases. It would be one thing if God spoke of eternally punishing sinners in other places in the Bible and this verse needed to be reinterpreted in light of that other evidence. However, as I've demonstrated in this and previous articles, the traditional church understanding of eternal punishment hinges entirely on a dogmatic understanding of αἰώνιος as "eternal", not the other way around. In other words, eternal hell should be a belief that arises as a consequence of αἰώνιος meaning "eternal", but instead, αἰώνιος meaning "eternal" is a belief that arises as a consequence of our dogma of eternal hell. It is circular reasoning.
The idea of sinners entering age-enduring punishment is consistent with my view of the Lake of Fire as a place where the unrepentant are refined for the duration of Christ's rule on Earth. These sinners have their age of punishment while Christ rules over the faithful (their age-enduring life), then when Christ abdicates the throne and submits to the Father, we enter the Age of Ages and the Father is all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28). The sinners being tested with the touchstone will see their refinement ended, and enter with the rest of us into the Glory of God.
2 Peter 2:9
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.
The word "punished" here is a cognate of the same word that appeared in Matthew 25:46, and the same word used in Acts 4:21: κολάζω (kolazo), properly meaning "to prune". The image painted here is, again, one of corrective punishment to improve the whole of a person, even if there is loss. Most notably, the surrounding verses give no context as to the duration of this punishment (this verse was included in our discussion on Tartarus in a previous article), although as with Matthew 25:46, it makes little sense to suggest that a corrective action might be eternal in duration.
In 2 Peter 2:12, Peter writes that these will "perish in their own corruption" (KJV) or "be destroyed in their destruction" (ESV). The word used for "perish" καταφθείρω (kataphtheiro) has both literal and figurative interpretations. Why might one "perish" following corrective punishment?
2 Thessalonians 1:9
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
Well, that's pretty explicit. There are several notes that I have on this specific verse, but we're also going to revisit this verse in a later article.
The word "punished" here is the Greek τίνω (tino), which relates to restitution or payment of a given price. The connotation is different from the retributive word τιμωρέω, which would seem much more appropriate here if this were actually speaking of "everlasting destruction".
I also want to point out that, as with almost every occurence of the word "everlasting", the Greek term is αἰώνιος, which does not mean "eternal". The word "destruction" is ὄλεθρος (olethros), which has several different meanings. One of these is "future misery". So right off the bat, we can see that a possible translation of this phrase τίσουσιν οὄλεθρον αἰώνιον is "punished with a coming age of misery", which is consistent with my alternative description of hell and the lake of fire. This seems especially applicable because this verse is describing the return of Christ to set up his kingdom on the earth; let scripture interpret scripture.
Conclusion
Most of the New Testament descriptions of "punishment" involve earthly discipline, both of the righteous and of the sinner. The few mentions of eschatological punishment are a mixed bag, but most of these passages (properly understood in Greek) refer to relatively gentle punishment intended to promote change, not retributive punishment meant to satisfy God's wrath. Even the one verse that specifically ties punishment with everlasting destruction has multiple interpretations, and shouldn't override other descriptions of God's punishment of the wicked as temporal and corrective.