What do Lutherans teach regarding Second Death?
score:2
Traditional Lutherans view that the wages of sin is death. That is to say the punishment of sin is separation from God. In other words, God punishes sin with sin. He allows the consequences of sin to run its course in death and destruction. That is called the alien work of God.
For those with saving faith in the blood of the Lamb, the redeemed soul will be given a new glorified body at the end of the age.
In Lutheran theology the unregenerated soul comes back in a corrupted body for the general resurrection. At that time there will be a gnashing of teeth, directed at God and perhaps also at the general condition of living in a cursed world apart from God.
The second death is described in a poetical way in the book of Revelation as the destruction of the unregenerate in the lake of fire. In that sense, technically it is not annihilation. Rather, it is kind of like being sucked into a cosmic spiritual black hole. That black hole/time freeze/oblivion concept appears to be what Revelation 20:10 is depicting, with the word "βασανισθήσονται" (torture, agitation) being the "flotsam & jetsam" agitation that takes place in the lake of fire.
While the black hole concept has its advocates, the most popular theological construct of hell for Lutherans is that which is depicted in C.S. Lewis' novel "The Great Divorce."
Having said the above, an annihilation view was very popular among conservative European Lutherans in the 19th century. Evidently, they considered a view of an eternal torment in hell as an Aberglaube, superstition. For example, R.C.H. Lenski in his commentary on Revelation 20:10 (writing against interest) quotes the conservative scholar Theodore Zahn who writes:
What purpose could God have in such eternal torment? As for men, a corpse has no more sensation. Man is not immortal, nor is the devil. The blessed are made immortal by God. Fire burns till the objects thrown into it are consumed. It may take a long time to do the consuming, but this process does not continue for ever. To be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone means to be consigned to annihilation. This term 'lake' is taken from the Dead Sea, and 'lake of fire and brimstone' from the annihilation of Sodom of Gomorrah.
The controversial nature of the question is how to best interpret the Augsburg Confession, in which it states:
They condemn the Anabaptists, who think that there will be an end (finem) to the punishments of the condemned men and devils. (Trigl. 51, XVII, 4)
A helpful way to understand the Augsburg Confession on this matter is to note its embedded historical context as being a rejection of Origen's universalism teaching. For example, in Confessing One Faith: A Joint Commentary on the Augsburg Confession by Lutheran and Catholic Theologians, a reference is made to this section of the Augsburg Confession (emphasis added):
The Anabaptists had incorporated a teaching, that was long rejected, of the restoration of all things at the end of time (apokatastasi in connection with Acts 3:21 and groups of Jewish origin, which awaited an earthly 'thousand year' rule in this world preceding the resurrection of the dead.
There was a reason for including this article in the CA as a precaution: the reformers wanted to protect themselves from being taken for one of the enthusiastic and apocalyptic sectarian groups. (p. 82)
In one of the preliminary drafts of the CA (NA 16, cf. BSLK 72) the name of Origen was mentioned: 'the followers of Origin.' So-called 'Origenism' was often rejected in the early church... (p. 92)
More post
- 📝 Are Catholic priests expert in exorcism?
- 📝 Has the distinction of the human and divine natures in Jesus Christ been established?
- 📝 Does the Catholic Church still stand behind Isaiah 14:21?
- 📝 Did Jesus own a home as an adult or was He a nomad?
- 📝 Of what nature is Satan?
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witnesses understand the essential nature of hell, and how does it differ from that of Seventh-day Adventists?
- 📝 Miracles of the Bible versus the Qur'an
- 📝 Does the Catholic Church teach that we can choose when to use an indulgence?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis against the Calvinist doctrine of Irresistible Grace?
- 📝 Are there any Christian denominations that assure equality with God?
- 📝 Are there any Christians who only accept the gospels?
- 📝 Is there a reason why female Mormon missionaries wear such varied dresses but male Mormon missionaries wear uniforms?
- 📝 Do these videos represent JW meetings or do they have other secret/sacred meetings that are not available to public?
- 📝 Given a Catholic understanding of Hell and individual judgment, do Catholics believe that all Protestants will go to Hell?
- 📝 Did original Christian theology that predated the birth of Jesus teach anything similar to the doctrine of the Trinity?
- 📝 Does Satan still masquerade as a angel of light among Christians?
- 📝 From the perspective of Catholicism are there any non-Catholic saints?
- 📝 What problems, if any, do Jehovah's Witnesses have with the Apostles' Creed?
- 📝 Questions about Eastern Orthodox infant baptism practices
- 📝 How did Christians respond to abortion in the early Church?
- 📝 Has the Anglo-Catholic understanding of suicide changed in the 20th-21st century enough to render Chesterton's comparison with martyrdom irrelevant?
- 📝 If the Bible is open to interpretation, how does one know which one is right?
- 📝 What symbols are preferred among certain denominations more than others?
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witnesses define "active" membership?
- 📝 Do Catholics believe that unbaptized Protestants go to heaven?
- 📝 How do Theistic Evolutionists who are Christians reconcile these Scriptures with the adoption of evolutionary theory?
- 📝 On Inferring That the Redeemer Will Spring from the Race of Shem
- 📝 At what date in history was the last papal anathema officially applied through the death penalty in a papal court against a heretic or protestant?
- 📝 According to Reformed Theology how can we saved by Grace 'Alone' and Faith 'Alone'?
- 📝 Is veneration worship?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What do Lutherans teach regarding Second Death?
- 📝 What did Brigham Young teach regarding Blood Atonement, and is that doctrine still held today in the LDS/Mormon Church?
- 📝 What does Reformed Protestantism teach regarding 'spirit and soul and body' (I Thessalonians 5:23)
- 📝 What is significant about the torn curtain? What about Jesus' death impressed the centurion at the cross?
- 📝 What was it about the death of Jesus that allows God to forgive us?
- 📝 What is the basis that some Protestants teach the non-necessity of baptism for salvation?
- 📝 What is the Mormon doctrine regarding becoming a god?
- 📝 What is the Catholic Church's answer to Nancy Pelosi's argument of a double standard between abortion and the death penalty?
- 📝 What does the Catholic church teach about fate of non-Catholic christians?
- 📝 What does the Roman Catholic church teach about those who die having never heard of Christ?
- 📝 What does the LDS Church (Mormon) teach about marriage and polygamy in the afterlife?
- 📝 What effect did the 1897 decree regarding the Johannine Comma have on Catholic scholarship?
- 📝 What is the Biblical or traditional precedent or command regarding praying before meals?
- 📝 What were the beliefs, teachings, and practices of the church regarding slavery in the New World?
- 📝 What is God's good news before Jesus's death and resurrection?
- 📝 What happens with a soul after one's death according to Eastern Orthodox doctrine?
- 📝 To what extent does mainstream Christian doctrine teach that knowing a spirit's name gives you power over it?
- 📝 What are the differences in belief regarding Hesychasm between the Chalcedonian (Eastern) and Non-Chalcedonian (Oriental) Orthodox Churches?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the belief that Jesus' death made satisfaction for individual sins?
- 📝 Does the Catholic Church teach that it has the authority to change what is morally right and wrong?
- 📝 At what date in history was the last papal anathema officially applied through the death penalty in a papal court against a heretic or protestant?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for saying that we won't have a second chance to be saved after we die?
- 📝 On what basis does the Catholic Church teach that women cannot be ordained?
- 📝 What happened to Jesus' physical body after his death and resurrection?
- 📝 What did the early church fathers (pre-5th c.) teach with regards to the doctrine of baptism as a necessity for salvation?
- 📝 Which specific canons of the Second Council of Constantinople do Lutherans and Calvinists reject?
- 📝 What evidence does the LDS Church offer regarding claims of degradation of Biblical texts?
- 📝 According to churches which teach Believer's Baptism, what are the consequences of not being baptized with water?
- 📝 What is the difference between the first and second resurrection in the book of Revelation?
- 📝 What is an overview of teachings of Messianic Jewish Christians regarding circumcision?