Are their different levels of punishment in hell?

[Guest]

Without commentary, here are some of the verses which might indicate varying degrees of reward and punishment in the afterlife, I will leave it to you to draw conclusions:

 

Ps 62:12
12 And lovingkindness is Thine, O Lord,
For Thou dost recompense a man according to his work.
NASB

 

Prov 24:12
12 If you say, "See, we did not know this,"
Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts?
And does He not know it who keeps your soul?
And will He not render to man according to his work?
NASB

 

Jer 17:10
10 "I, the LORD, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give to each man according to his ways,
According to the results of his deeds.
NASB

 

Ezek 18:19-20
 20 "The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.
NASB

 

Ezek 18:30-32
30 "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct," declares the Lord GOD. "Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. 31 "Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel?
NASB

 

Rom 2:5-16
5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who will render to every man according to his deeds: 7 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; 8 but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God. 12 For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law; and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; 13 for not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
NASB

 

1 Cor 3:8-9
8 Now he oho plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
NASB

 

1 Cor 3:11-15
11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If any man's work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.
NASB

 

2 Cor 5:10
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
NASB

 

Col 3:22-25
 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men; 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.
NASB

 

1 Peter 1:16-18
17 And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth;
NASB

 

Rev 20:12-14
12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.
NASB

 

James 3:1-2
3:1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.
NASB

 

Matt 11:20-23
21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 "Nevertheless I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you.
NASB

[missmuffet]

Of course a person's goal is to come to Christ and become a believer and go to heaven.But I found this study of the different degrees of punishment in hell interesting.Makes me think.

[Guest]

Well, not that how we feel about things creates the reality of them, but it is at least a little comforting to think that a grumpy child who dies apart from Christ would reap a different destiny than than a murderous, Godless thug will.

 

Still, weeping and gnashing of teeth does not sound like fun for anyone, much better to get those sins forgiven through the work of a Saviour and the grace of God.

[BlessedByTheBest]

http://gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bible-teacher/levels-in-hell/

 

 

Q. In your article entitled “Saved From The Worst But Kept From The Best” you said, “I have no problem with there being a certain amount of inequality in the Kingdom.”  I heard one Bible teacher say, “if you believe there are levels in Heaven, you have to consider that there are levels in Hell.”  My question is, do you believe in this rationale?

 

A. I don’t accept the rationale that Hell has to be a reverse image of heaven beyond the basic distinctions that believers go to Heaven and unbelievers go to Hell, and both are eternal destinies.

The Bible supports the idea that beyond salvation, which every believer receives, there are additional rewards available to Church believers who qualify.  The Lord also encouraged us to store up treasure in Heaven (Matt. 6:19-21), and our knowledge of human nature tells us some will store up more than others.

But the only similar statement for unbelievers is that they’ll be judged according to their works (Rev. 20:12-13). The only works God requires is belief in the Son (John 6:28-29).  Even if He does consider other works of unbelievers, would He not make His judgment on the basis of their motives like He does with believers?  What is the motive behind the good works of an unbeliever?  It’s certainly not pleasing God or expressing gratitude to Him.  Even for believers, good works done with impure motives will be burned up in the fire (1 Cor. 3:11-15).  Would it not be the same for unbelievers?  To me the whole idea of levels in Hell is an attempt to make the ways of God compatible with human ideals.

 

[Willa]

I can't help but think that those who have flat rejected Christ after hearing the Gospel will have it worse than those who have never heard it. But I really don't want to find out for myself. I will stay in God's camp even if it is to be the doorkeeper or in an obscure corner. I just want to be there.

[missmuffet]

Well, not that how we feel about things creates the reality of them, but it is at least a little comforting to think that a grumpy child who dies apart from Christ would reap a different destiny than than a murderous, Godless thug will.

 

Still, weeping and gnashing of teeth does not sound like fun for anyone, much better to get those sins forgiven through the work of a Saviour and the grace of God.

All children will go to heaven grumpy or not.

[chance]

Are there different levels of punishment in hell? No. God will play no favorites.

[missmuffet]

Are there different levels of punishment in hell? No. God will play no favorites.

You do not know that for sure and neither do I.It is only speculation but it is a very good possibility that their is.

[Guest Butero]

Revelation 20-11-13

 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God,^[a] and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

 

 

 

What do you think?I have often wondered if the judgment is to determine how severe the punishment will be.

I tend to think so Bopeep.  The Bible speaks of people having their part in the lake of fire.  Hell and the lake of fire will mean eternal torment for all that go there, but I think that the worse sins you have on your record, the worse the additional torments will be?  There are scriptures that tend to make me think that is so, like the one that mentions someone being turned over to tormentors till their debt was paid.  Only Jesus can pay for our sins, so that means forever.  I can't say that for absolute certainty, but that is just my opinion. 

 

I am not making it equal to scripture by any means, but there is an Apocryphal book called, "The Apocalypse Of Paul" that describes different levels of torments in hell.  Because it is not part of the canon, it's validity is very much in question, and I only mention it because I remember how it describes terrible punishments based on the sins we committed in this life.  The bottom line is, since the 66 books of the canon are all we can fully trust, and it doesn't say for certain, we can only speculate?  The thing to remember is that we don't have to go there.  We can put our trust in Jesus, and avoid hell altogether, and even if there are different levels, and someone dies a relatively good moral person, hell will still mean eternal punishment and separation from God.

[Montana Marv]

Either one will be in eternity with Christ, or one will be in eternity without Christ.  Total separation from the Godhead is the punishment.  No glimpses of the Fathers love, no glimpses of the Light of the world.

 

We as believers here on earth; this will be our glimpse of hell, but for the unbeliever this time on earth will be their only glimpse of heaven. Christ saves.  He is still available.  Soon the door will shut.

 

Punishment is equal, total separation from God.  How bad can this be,  Very, Very Bad.

 

In Christ

Montana Marv