Word Study on the Greek Words for Death

the greek and hebrew words for death mean actual death; they do not mean separation AND THEY DO NOT MEAN eternal torment.

The meanings of the Greek words for death are the heart of the question of eternal torment because every scripture from Genesis to Revelation in every single instance with no exception states that death is the ultimate consequence of sin.1 It is certainly true that there are several scriptures that do not directly state what the final end of the unredeemed is and which are broad enough to include eternal torment.2 But none of those scriptures, nor any other scripture, explicitly states that final state of the unredeemed is eternal torment. All scriptures that do explicitly state what the eternal state of the unredeemed is invariably state that the eternal state of the unredeemed is death. There are 50 such scriptures.3 And, most importantly, the last scripture that addresses the last living moment of the unredeemed states that their end is a “second death.”4

There is simply no clearer way to convey that sin causes death than to say the same in inspired, inerrant and wholly consistent scripture over and over again for fifteen centuries.5†

And all of the Greek and Hebrew words that are used during those fifteen centuries all mean death. They are used repeatedly and nuanced as to the manner of death, eg. die, death, perish, permanent destruction and others, but the most common of which is just plain death. There is simply no clearer or better way to convey the fact that sin causes death.

If is for this reason that those theologians who argue for the doctrine of eternal torment attempt to show that the words for death don't actually mean death as we know it when they are used in the context of the eternal fate of the unredeemed. Death must be re-defined if the ultimate price of sin is eternal torment because if the sinner and his soul actually die an eternal death, he cannot be tormented for eternity because a dead body or a dead soul cannot be tormented. Therefore, death must be re-defined if the final end of the unredeemed is actually a second death as scripture says it is in Revelation 21:8.

The re-definition that is most commonly used is "separation." That is, when the Bible speaks of death it does not really mean death; it means separation from God. This circumvention broadens the word "death" sufficiently so that plain death can include eternal conscious sentient existence. That is, "Death in the Bible does not mean death at all. It means an eternal existence where one is both fully and eternally conscious and able to feel physical pain." This is an entirely new definition of death that occurs nowhere.

Scripture uses five Greek words to describe the eternal state of the unredeemed and each of these words means death generally or a form of death or destruction. Nowhere does a word for death mean "separation."

Both Greek and Hebrew have other words for separation. Scripture uses two Greek words for separation: άφοράω ("aphorao")6 and χωρέω7 ("choreo"). These are common words that are used in well known scriptures such as Romans 8:35 "…who shall separate us from the love of Christ…") or Luke 6:22 ("Blessed are ye, when shall hate you, and when they shall separate you…and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake"). But these words are never used in the context of either death or the eternal state of the unredeemed.

The Holy Spirit is not so lacking in wit that He could not inspire John to choose άφοράω (separation) rather than θάνατος ("death") to tell what happens to the unredeemed in the lake of fire. Nor was Jesus mistaken when He tells us that he saves us from death and never mentions eternal torment.8 Jesus could just as well have said that if a man kept His sayings he would be separated from God for eternity, but He did not. When Jesus stated that if any man keep His saying he would never see death, He was referring to the second death and the word that He used is thanatos, which means ordinary death. His statement is consistent with the previous fifteen centuries of inspired and inerrant scripture warning: that sin causes death. It is death from which Christ saves us, not separation.

What are the words for "death"?

The Greek Words for Death

The definitions as set forth the Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich Greek-English Lexicon9 are included in the paragraph that follows each of the following Greek words. Comments by the author follow thereafter.

θάνατος (“thanatos”) Thanatos is the Greek word that is most used to describe the final state of the unredeemed.10 People in the first century died just as we do and their deaths were no different from ours. Their word for death means exactly the same as our word for death and it is used in the same way that we use it. It means death in all forms such as natural death, death by killing, death as a penalty and death as a metaphor used to describe the effects of sin in this life (spiritual death).11 The word is never used to mean torture or torment in any form. The word for torture or torment is a different word. Therefore, the numerous scriptures that use this word for death do not mean torment in any form.

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich (University of Chicago Press), 2d Ed. 1958, s.v. θάνατος defines it as follows:

In scripture, the word "thanatos" is used to refer to:

• Natural death;

• Death as a penalty;

• Death of Christ;

• Death as a divine punishment;

• To save someone from death;

• Death by illness;

• Spiritual death

Here are some of the places where that word is used:

For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.12

The when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.13

…O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?14

• Eternal death.

Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.15

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, His servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?16

What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.17

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life.18

But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel...19

…and unbelieving…shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.20

There is no scriptural or grammatical basis to define any Greek word for death to mean death to mean separation. Certainly, when the body dies, death causes the soul to be separated from the body because the body is no longer alive. But death is still death and the body is still dead. Thanatos, the Greek word for simple death, means the same thing as its English translation. It means death and nothing more.

κατακαίω (“katakaio”) This word is used in scripture to refer to destruction or death by fire.

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich (University of Chicago Press), 2d Ed. 1958, s.v. κατακαίω p. 411, defines κατακαίω as “burn down, burn up, consume by fire.”

The word is always used to convey the concept of destruction by fire. It is never used in conjunction with torment. It refers to the manner in which something is destroyed or killed. Most importantly, it is never used to refer to something that is continually burned but never burned up. See"Eternal Punishment and Eternal Destruction" on page 144

“Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them [consume them with fire] …”21

“Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all …”22

“For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the hight priest for sin, are burned without the camp.”23

“… the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”24

“… and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.”25

άποθνησκω (“apothnaceko”). This word is comprised of two Greek words. The word άπο (“apo”) and the word θνησκω (“thnaceco”). The word “apo” carries the meaning of “to separate” and “thnaceco” means death or dead. Hence apothnaceco carries the nuance of death causing a separation. This can refer to spiritual death in the sense of separating us from a relationship with God. This separation can occur during life as the result of sin. It can also refer to the separation from the world when we become dead in Christ. Apothnaceco does not mean a different type of death; it simply means death that causes a separation. Hence the word is used for spiritual death during this life that separates the sinner from God.

Scripture uses thanatos (which means simple death) rather than apothnaceko, to refer to the final end of the unredeemed in the lake of fire.

Apothnaceko does not mean separation from God. It means death with an implication of a separation as a result. The death of the body does not ever separate the unredeemed from God because the unredeemed are already separated from God26 and the death of the body does not separates the redeemed from God because nothing can separate the redeemed from God.27 Death has nothing to do with separating anyone from God. It is sin separates the unredeemed from God and death has nothing to do with it.

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich (University of Chicago Press), 2d Ed. 1958, s.v. άποθνησκω gives the following meanings:

1. Die a natural death:

Ye shall die in your sins28

2. Spiritual death (during life) that results from sin:

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.29

3. Eternal death:

This is the bread of heaven which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die…I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever…30

And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.31

4. To die with Christ:

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.32

5. To be about to die, to face death, be mortal; to be dead.

φθείρω (“phthero”). When this word is used for death, it means a death with a nuance of shame. However, this word is never used to mean torture or eternal destroying.

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich (University of Chicago Press), 2d Ed. 1958, s.v. φθείρω gives these meanings:

1. To ruin financially; so seduce

2. To corrupt by erroneous teaching or immorality

3. To punish by destroying (not unending destroying)

If any man shall defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.33

άπόλλυμι (“apolumi”) This word is used to mean simple destruction. It is never used to mean a never ending destroying that never actually destroys. See Comment on Eternal Punishment, Eternal Destruction page 50 . The word also means to ruin in the sense of destroying a reputation or loss of all assets, bankrupt.

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich (University of Chicago Press), 2d Ed. 1958, s.v. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich (University of Chicago Press), 2d Ed. 1958, s.v. άπόλλυμι defines it as follows:

1. Ruin, destroy generally:

“Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against Him, how they might destroy Him.”34

“And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying Arise, and take the young child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him.”

“… He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen …”35

“… The Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, after ward destroyed them that believed not …”36

“… destroy the wisdom of the wise …”37

“… he shall in no wise lose his reward.”38

2. Be destroyed, ruined, as in perish or die. The word means to die with ignominy or violence.39 It is used in Matthew 5:29,40 Matthew 18:14,41 Luke 13:33,42 Luke 21:18,43 2 Peter 3:9.44 And it is found in the very center of Christian theology in John 3:16:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”45

“… all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”46

“… And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”47

John 3:16 tells us that we are saved from perishing; it does not say that we are saved from eternal torment. The word άπόλλυμι (“perish”) carries the nuance of an unpleasant death. It is the perfect word describe the death that one would die by being thrown into a lake of fire.

The word is used to describe what Herod intended to do to the Christ child: kill him;48 it is used to describe what would happen to the disciples if they drown: they perish, they die;49 and it means death with ignominy as in the parable of the prodigal son.50 It is very similar in English. If one were to say, “He perished at sea!” It certainly means that he died at sea, but it does not mean that he died peacefully in his cabin. The same word means the same thing in John 3:16: Jesus does not save us from a peaceful death, He saves us from perishing in the lake of fire, which scripture refers to in Revelation 21:8 as the "second death." Thus scripture uses

John 3:16 teaches that all those who trust in Christ will be delivered from perishing. But perishing when? Our bodies are not delivered from perishing in the first death, because we will all perish in the first death, Christians included. Scripture tells us that it is appointed unto man to die once.51 So from what death does Christ deliver us? Christ delivers us from the second death, not the first. It is for this reason that Hebrews 9:27 specifies that all men are appointed to die once, not twice. Only those who do not turn to Christ will die twice.

The same Truth is expressed in John 8:51. Christ teaches that those who keep His word will never see death.52 The word used in that verse is the plain, simple word for death: thanatos. Christ was not saying that the body of everyone who kept His word would never die. He was saying that no one who kept His word would see the second death. It is the second death that we avoid when we keep the words of Christ, not eternal torment.

Scripture explicitly teaches that the (unredeemed) soul that sins will die.53 But the doctrine of eternal torment teaches that the unredeemed will never die. Therefore, the doctrine of eternal torment is precisely the opposite of scripture. The doctrine is an error. It has all of the unredeemed punished the same as Satan!54

Scripture has a word for torture or torment. That word is βασανίζϖ (“basanitzo”). This is the word that scripture uses with the word "eternal," meaning "eternal torment." But those words and that phrase are used only once in scripture and then is to describe the eternal fate of Satan, the anti-Christ and the false prophet.55

The word βασανίζϖ (“basanitzo”) never means death because by its very nature it cannot mean death-it can never mean death because once the tortured victim dies, he can no longer be tormented. 56†

All of the uses of this word in the New Testament are as follows. The word is never used to refer to the eternal fate of all of the unredeemed and the word is never used to refer to eternal torment except that of Satan:

And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?57

... I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.58

... the devil ... shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.59

…What have I to do with thee thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.60

… And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick, grievously tormented.61

…but that they should be tormented five months and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion…62

…because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth.63

…if any man worship the beast and his image, and receives his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wrath of God…and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb…64

…And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.65

In the end, God destroys death, and hell66 and destroys the unredeemed67 by throwing all three of them into the lake of fire in order to begin the new heavens and new earth.68 What happens to them there? Scripture states that death itself will die; it will no longer exist.69 Scripture does not characterize what the death of hell and the death the death of the unredeemed will mean other than just death. But if the meaning is the same, then, like death itself, hell and the unredeemed will no longer exist. Further, it is clear that death, hell and the unredeemed are destroyed forever because the term used to describe what happens to the unredeemed is “death” (Rev. 20:14 and Rev. 21:8) and scripture refers to this death as an “everlasting destruction,”70 that is, the destruction that is permanent and for all time and no longer subject to resurrection or judgment.71

Warnings of the consequence of sin permeate the scriptures from beginning to end. And every one of them is the same: death. They are warnings of both spiritual death in this life and the final, second death which is an eternal death. None of them, not one, warns of eternal torment.

The only manner in which the eternal torment argument can be made is to take words that do not mean eternal torment such as, death, eternal destruction or eternal punishment72 and change their meanings. But the meaning of the word for death in Romans 6:23 ("the wages of sin is death)73 does not change simply because the same word is used again in Revelation 21:8 (second death).74

As the protagonist in our story states:

“Seems to me,” said John, “that if God intended to say that everybody but us would be burned alive for eternity, He would have said so at least once.”

If the reader is a pastor or a teacher of scripture who is teaching this doctrinal error, it would behoove him to look carefully at these scriptures because he is held to a higher standard.75

Annihilationism

The doctrine of annihilationism teaches that when the unredeemed are cast into the lake of fire and die the second death they are annihilated. Scripture does not use the word annihilation. It uses the word death and in Isaiah 66 refers to the continued existence of the corpses of the enemies of the Lord.76

Scripture makes no reference to the annihilation of whatever remains of the dead souls and bodies of the unredeemed. Scripture does say, however, that they have been destroyed with an everlasting (permanent) destruction.77 Thus scripture teaches death as the final end of the unredeemed, not annihilation. But for the unredeemed the effect is the same. They are eternally dead.

REVISED SEPTEMBER 10, 2017