Eschatology part 1

First Part

The Christian Notion of
Eschatology
The Last Things

Notes taken from Escatologia by J. Jose Alviar
Notes taken from Escatologia by J. Jose Alviar

Eschatology:
Consummated Eschatology
• Introduction: The Christian Notion of Eschatology
• The Parousia
• The Kingdom of God
• The Resurrection of the Dead
• The New Heavens and the New Earth
• The Universal Judgment
• Eternal Life
• Eternal Death

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
1. The Christian Idea of the Consummation of
History
• The Judeo-Christian faith makes two
affirmations:
(1) History has direction, and is on its way to a
fullness.
(2) Its progress is presided over by a loving God.

2. Peculiarities of Christian Eschatology
• The mission of eschatology is to give light
which shines through the ephemeral, for us to
be able to contemplate the meaning of history
from God’s point of view.
• Eschatology is called to give a solid basis for
men in history to be vigilant and hopeful.

Divine action in history can be traced in
broad strokes in 5 fundamental theses:
(1) Overcoming the “distance” (introduced by
sin) between God and his creatures is a
“dynamics of coming close” (rapprochment)
at God’s initiative.
This will culminate in the Parousia, the divine
coming and presence among creatures.
(2) The divine nearing aims to establish a
communion with free creatures.

(3) This will reach its culmination at the end of
history. Then, the divinizing effects of the divine
presence in creatures will be fully manifested:
Man will resurrect and will possess Life, and the
rest of creation will be transfigured.

(4) Creatures would not necessarily receive God-
who-comes-near. In the end, human beings will
be segregated into two states which they
themselves will have chosen: either
communion, or non-relation with God.

(5) With his calling to belong for ever to the family of the
Trinity (as “son in the Son”), man advances step by step to
his goal.
• The first milestone in his itinerary is Baptism, the
sacrament by which one first participates in the death and
Resurrection of Christ.
• The process of Christological assimilation continues
throughout earthly life, characterized by contrition,
purification, sacramental life.
• It culminates in a special way with death, which seals the
individual’s identification with the Christ of the Pasch.
• It is prolonged beyond that moment, because he who dies
in Christ shall remain united to him forever.

FIRST PART:
CONSUMMATED ESCHATOLOGY

Parousia
• In Christian language, the term is used to refer
to the glorious Coming of Jesus Christ at the
end of history.
• The term derives from the Greek pareimi (= to
be present).

Chapter 2: THE PAROUSIA
• Theology is called to recover the
understanding of the Parousia as the mystery
of God who lovingly seeks the encounter with
men.

1. The Approach of God to Men in the
History of Salvation
• In the Old Testament, the notion of Parousia is
prepared by three ideas:
1)general and basic idea, i.e., God who is “near”
2) expectation of the Day of Yahweh, and
3)expectation of the Messiah

a) The God of Israel who is “far away”
and “near”
• Faith in a God who stays close to men is a characteristic
element of the religion of Israel.
• It is the paradoxical complement of another basic belief:
that of divine transcendence.
• At the same time that the Lord is exalted and his sublime
majesty and holiness are underlined, the fact that he
accompanies men (and especially the Chosen People) is
also insisted.
• Even when men draw away from God by sinning, God
does not abandon them.
• This idea of the nearness of God fosters hope for a future
perfect presence of God in the midst of the people.

(i) Expectation of the Day of Yahweh
• This longing for a divine visitation which brings with it
complete salvation is condensed in the expression
“Day of Yahweh”.
• The Day represents the maximum nearing of God to
men. On one hand, that Day contains a promise of
salvation; but on the other, it also has a terrifying
aspect, particularly for the unfaithful.
• From the time of the exile, under the guidance of the
prophets, a hope develops that is characterized by:
(1) the longing for a future presence of Yahweh that is
truly lasting (eternal Kingdom); and
(2) the acute consciousness that the saving nearness
of God depends on the fidelity of the people to the
Covenant.

(ii) Hope in the Messiah
• In parallel with the thematic line of the Day of Yahweh,
a second line develops in Old Testament Revelation
that links future salvation to a mysterious person: the
Messiah or Anointed of Yahweh.
• In the apocalyptic book of Daniel, the prophet sees
one “like the son of man” who “comes” (twice the verb
pareimi is used) “with the clouds of heaven” (Daniel
7:13-14), and who receives from the “Ancient of days”
all the “power, and glory, and a kingdom”, in such a
way that “all peoples, tribes and tongues” shall serve
him.

b) The Coming of the Son of Man “in
the flesh” and “in glory”
• New Testament Revelation brings two new
elements:
(1) It concentrates the mystery in Christ.
(2) It distinguishes between two Comings,
one humble and the other glorious.

The Coming of the Son of Man

DIVINITY

HUMANITY

• This look towards the figure of Christ in New
Testament texts contains a primary
indication of the “internal structure” of
eschatology.
• The divinity gets near to humanity through
the Son made man, the one Mediator
between God and men.

2. The Parousia, in the Professions of
Faith and in the Liturgy
a) The Return of the Lord, in the professions of
faith
• Reference to the Return of the Lord in glory
was incorporated early into the professions of
faith.
• In modern times, the special attention which
Vatican II dedicates to the topic of the
Parousia signals its revival.

b) Presence of the Parousia, in the lex
orandi of the Church
• The doctrine of the Return of the Lord has
always found a secure “home” in the lex
orandi of the Church.
• This fact—pertaining to the very life of the
Church—has great dogmatic value, because it
manifests the unanimous belief of Christians
from different places and at different times.

3. Theological Reflection:
The Parousia as Culmination of God’s
Coming Near His Creatures
a) Christianity, a “religion of presence”
• The doctrine of the Parousia speaks to us
about:
(1) a distance between God and creatures;
(2) the coming near of the two parties; and
(3) a final encounter

• There is in the first place the metaphysical abyss,
between the transcendent Creator and his work.
Free creatures, upon sinning, widen the abyss.
• In the mystery of rapprochement, we could
distinguish two “movements”:
(1) God’s stooping down to creatures
(synkatabasis) to open up for them the possibility
of communion with Him; and
(2) Man’s corresponding motion by which he
rises to encounter God.
• The Parousia represents the climax of the divine-
human encounter, and implies mutual
interpenetration: God-in-us; we-in-God.

b) Love as the essential element of the
mystery of the Parousia
• There is no explanation for the marvelous
divine initiative to get close to his creatures,
other than Love. The only valid response of
man, before this God-Love, is to also love.

TIME AND SIGNS OF THE
PAROUSIA
• In New Testament writings we can find three
types of statements about the time of the
end:
(1) The Son of Man will come very soon:
Imminence.
(2) The Son of Man will come by surprise:
Uncertainty.
(3) The Second Coming will be preceded by
signs: Forebodings.

1. Biblical Formulae of Imminence
a) Two texts from the Synoptics
• In Matthew 10:23 Jesus says: “Amen, I say to
you, you will not have gone through the towns
of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
• In Matthew 16:28 (= Mark 9:1) he says:
“Amen I say to you, there are some of those
standing here who will not taste death, till
they have seen the Son of Man coming in his
kingdom.”

(i) A literal interpretation
• The first line of interpretation points to
specific historical events that took place very
soon after, and which imply some glorious
manifestation of the Son of Man, without
being the Parousia itself, like the
Transfiguration, his triumphal entry into
Jerusalem, the Resurrection, Pentecost,
destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70, etc.

(ii) A prophetic and apocalyptic
interpretation
• A second line of interpretation places these
expressions under a prophetic and apocalyptic
style.

(iii) The Christological interpretation
• A third line of interpretation stems from a
peculiar Christian perspective regarding time.
In Christ, God-with-us, is found the closeness
of He who is hoped for. In this sense, “little is
lacking” for the end.

b) The eschatological discourse
• In the middle of the eschatological discourse,
Jesus concludes: “Amen I say to you, this
generation will not pass away till all these things
have been accomplished.” (Mark 13:30)
– The phrase can refer to the end of the material
Temple and the destruction of Jerusalem that actually
occurred soon after.
– It can also be understood as an apocalyptic
statement, with its typical notes of imminence and
urgency.
– It can express a “theological” closeness: With the
Coming of Jesus in history, only a closing act is lacking
to conclude it.

2. Biblical Texts of Uncertainty
• Other biblical texts refer in different ways to the time
of the Parousia.
• In his eschatological discourse, Jesus makes reference
to the last day saying: “But of that day or hour no one
knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but
the Father only.” (Mark 13:32)
• God is the Lord of history, and the date of his last act
depends on his sovereign authority and not on human
circumstances.
• Jesus, in order to carry out the salvific plan of the
Father, did not need to communicate to men the exact
time of the end.
• It is precisely the not-knowing that gives rise to an
attitude of permanent vigilance.

3. Forebodings of the End
a) Biblical references to the final events
(i) Spread of the Gospel and of the “anti-gospel”
• A principal source containing the forebodings is
the eschatological discourse of Jesus. Basically,
reference is made here to two types of events:
(1) the universal spread of the Gospel;
(2) the opposition that this message and their
carriers suffer in the world: persecutions, false
prophets, etc.

(ii) Conversion of the Jewish people
• In Romans 11, St Paul develops extensively
the idea of the final recovery of the Jewish
people, framing this “mystery” within the
perspective of divine fidelity.

b) Theological significance of the
“forebodings”
• The following seem to be the essential lessons
which these texts teach:
(i) human freedom in relation to God who
approaches us;
(ii) the struggle between the power of God and the
forces of evil;
(iii) a particular aspect of salvation history: the Jews.

• The “signs of the last days” contribute to
maintain the vigilance of each Christian

4. The Three Types of Pronouncements
Regarding the Time of the Parousia
• The texts of imminence tell us that the Lord is
always at the door, not so much in the sense of
chronological closeness, as in a higher sense:
• The messianic era of salvation has already been
inaugurated by Christ, and now we wait for the
last act (his Return or Parousia).
• The texts referring to uncertainty emphasize the
ascetical consequences derived from this
“closeness” of our Lord:
– Each believer should respond by keeping himself open
through faith, hope and love.
– The forebodings help to maintain the faithful on their
toes throughout history.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD (I)
• The coming close of God which culminates in the
Parousia implies his intimate union with creatures, to
constitute a mystery of communion.
• As divine Son made man, he is the core of the Kingdom
as divine-human union. Christ invites men to unite
themselves to his Person, to form with him a “body”
animated by the Spirit and loved by the Father.
• This structure of salvation absorbs all men who desire
to enter, and thus it builds up in history to its
completion in the eschaton.
• This relational and interpersonal reality constitutes
the very essence of the Kingdom.

1. Biblical Revelation about the Kingdom,
as Relation between God and Men

a) Kingdom, People, Covenant in the Old
Testament
• From partial hopes with limited scope, a more
consistent hope takes shape: God will
stabilize his relationship with men, to form
with them an enduring structure of salvation.
• The eschatological Kingdom will be the result
of the perfect meeting of divine generosity
and human correspondence.

b) The Kingdom of God comes with
Christ
(i) Revelation of the Kingdom, in the words and
deeds of Jesus Christ
• New Testament Revelation offers two aspects
which are new (relative to the Old Testament):
1) the announcement of the arrival of the Kingdom; and
2) the centrality of Christ.
• The presence of the Kingdom is tied to his Person
and works. The works of Jesus corroborate that
the Kingdom has effectively come with him: the
cures, resurrections, teachings and exorcisms;
the miracles of abundance; the miracles over
nature; the pardon of sins.

(ii) Christological union in the
Kingdom, according to St Paul
• “He has rescued us from the
power of darkness and
transferred us into the kingdom
of his beloved Son, in whom we
have our redemption, the
remission of our sins.”
(Colossians 1:13-14)
• The sovereignty of Christ is
realized in history and in the
world, in a veiled but real and
efficient way, in the Church and
by means of the Church.

(iii) Christ, beginning of the
Kingdom, according to St John
• St John gives relevant ideas about
the mystery:
(1) the centrality of Christ;
(2) the necessity of faith, Baptism and
the Eucharist to belong to the
Kingdom; and
(3) the interior character of this
mystery.
• The total triumph of God at the end
of time does not suppose the
annihilation of the human part of the
mystery: perfect obedience and
fidelity to God.

2. From People to Family of God
(Plenitudo Legis Est Dilectio)
• There are two principal “familiar” categories
used by Scripture to express the loving plan of
God for men:
1)spousal covenant and
2)paternal-filial relation
• Jesus shows to men the possibility of really
becoming, in him, adopted sons of the Father.

Trinitarian Dimension of the Kingdom,
in Patristic Doctrine
• Progress in this theological direction—Trinitarian,
filial—was the collateral effect of intense debate
against the subordinationist heresy.
• Defense of the divinity of the Son and the Spirit
necessitated serious thought about the biblical
passages alluding to the “submission” of Christ to
the Father, and led to the study of the mystical
body to which men are called to form with Christ
to finally enter into the intimacy of the Trinity.

2. The Kingdom of God, in the
Magisterium of the Church
• Lumen gentium describes the ultimate goal of
the People of God in relational terms:
– Christ, Shepherd and head, forms a new
humanity; he acts through the sacred ministers,
who “assemble the family of God as a
brotherhood fired with a single ideal, and through
Christ in the Spirit they lead it to God the Father.”

2. The Kingdom of God, in the
Magisterium of the Church
• Gaudium et spes uses terms markedly personalist
when talking about the end of man:
– “The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he
is called to communion with God.
• The eschatological picture which the Catechism
offers is characterized as communion among
divine and human persons, with a family
structure and a Christological core.
– “This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity—this
communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the
Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed—is called
‘heaven’.”

3. Theological Reflection: Kingdom as Mystery
of Communion between the Trinity & Mankind
a) Union with the Trinity in the Kingdom
• God’s plan to elevate rational creatures to the
status of (adopted) sons, through
incorporation into Jesus, implies placing men
in a position analogous to that which the Son
has relative to the Father: a relation, not of
simple subordination, but of ineffable
familiarity.
• “Christ has become what we are, to give us
the possibility to be what he is.” (St Irenaeus,
Adversus Haereses, V)

b) Collective dimension of salvation
• God wants to save man, not as an isolated being,
but as part of a collectivity.
• This plan reveals that the human person is not
only de facto capable of relations, but, as imago
Dei, is structurally and metaphysically related
with other beings.
• The parallelism which the Bible and the Fathers
establish between the first Adam and the second
makes more sense in light of the relational
dimension of the person.
• The expression “communion of saints” is an
expression of the corporate aspect of salvation.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
• We can distinguish two essential elements
contained in the dogma of the resurrection:
(1) the identity between the person who lives in
history and he who resurrects, as well as the
transformation of this person; and
(2) full communion with Christ which the
resurrection implies: For the just, it is to-
resurrect-in-the-Lord.
• The resurrection will be the work of the Most
Holy Trinity, like the Resurrection of Jesus.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
• The “how” of the resurrection could be a
balance between two schools, seeing that:
(1)the survival of a spiritual core has a crucial
role in the resurrection of the human subject,
and
(2)the present body is not totally irrelevant to
the body that will resurrect.

THE NEW HEAVENS AND
THE NEW EARTH
• “At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in
its fullness. Then the just will reign with Christ forever,
glorified in body and soul, and the material universe
itself will be transformed” (Catechism of the Catholic
Church, no. 1060).
• This point of faith indicates the profound solidarity
between human creatures and inferior creatures:
– Basically, the two groups constitute one unity, in such a
way that man does not exist without a cosmic setting, and
the material universe has in man its most sublime point of
contact with God.
• In the final analysis, it is the global unity that will be
saved, elevated, transformed by God.

1. The Cosmos, Part of the Historia
Salutis
a) Solidarity between man and the rest of creation,
in the Old Testament
• The human being appears as a most special work
of the Creator (formed by divine action), at the
same time that it pertains to the earth (taken
from it).
• He is placed by Yahweh in the garden for him to
till it and take care of it (cf. Genesis 2:15).
• Isaias 65:17-21 speaks of a new creation: “For
behold I create new heavens, and a new earth.”

b) Regeneration of the world in Christ
• The expectation of eschatological salvation which
includes cosmic renewal continues in the New
Testament, and is formulated in various ways:
– as palingenesia (= regeneration);
– as apokatastasis (= restoration);
– as ouranoi kainoi kai ge kaine (= new heavens and a
new earth, equivalent to the Old Testament phrase).

2. Continuity/Discontinuity Between
the Present World and the New World
• Tradition echoes the doctrine of universal
renewal, insisting on two principal points:
(1)Against spiritualist currents, it defends the
transfiguration of material creation, not its
annihilation.
(2)It gives reasons of convenience for the
adaptation of the universe to the glorious
situation of men and the total presence of
God at the end of time.

a) Transformation, not annihilation
• Even though Christian writers of early times
sometimes give the impression of a depreciative
attitude to the world when they express a longing for
the prompt return of the Lord, Christians in fact quickly
and clearly stay away from dualist currents (of the
Gnostics, etc.) which see with pessimist eyes matter in
general and the human body in particular.
• Contrary to the Gnostic theory of two gods—one
revealed in the Old Testament as a god of ire, and
another revealed by the New Testament as a god of
goodness—Christian Tradition defends a strongly
unitary view of the Creator of the created universe.

b) A home apt for the resurrected
• With regard to the reasons of convenience for
the palingenesia, writers of Christian antiquity
cite the congruence which the transfigured
state of man demands.
• St Augustine cites an additional reason for the
mystery of the eschatological transformation
of the cosmos: Only a transfigured world
would be able to manifest the brightness of
the presence of God.

3. The Magisterium of the Church Regarding the
New Heavens and the New Earth
• The appearance of many magisterial declarations
in modern times is due to the proliferation of
worldly utopias (e.g. the Marxist proposition)
which propose the goal of a worldly paradise as
an alternative to Christian hope for an
eschatological Kingdom.
• Also, the Church of the 20th century sees the need
to respond to certain pessimistic and spiritualist
currents which put in doubt the salvific relevance
of human activity in a world and a history
affected by sin.
• The thesis here is not that of an invalidation or
future annihilation of the present world, but its
future purification and transfiguration.

4. Theological Reflection: The
Palingenesia as Redemption of the Cosmos
• God, world and man are three realities that have
been somehow separated by sin.
• Man, upon breaking his original link with his
Creator, causes the formation of an abyss, not
only between his person and God, but also—
being responsible for the cosmos—between the
world and God.
• The final state of man will be to live in Christ by
the work of the Spirit, and the final state of the
cosmos will be to participate through resonance
in the transfiguring power flowing from the
Person of the Son to men.

THE UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT
1. Divine Judgment, in the Old Testament
• The development of the idea of a Final
Judgment is set within a wider framework of
Old Testament concepts:
(1)The functions of governance and judgment
are united in the person of the sovereign.
(2)God is not indifferent to the moral conduct of
men.

2. The Judgment United to the
Parousia, in Tradition
• The idea of a universal Judgment in the
Patristic age is extensively intertwined with
the expectation of the Parousia:
– When Christ returns, he will bring with him
complete retribution for each one.

a) A mystery of retribution
• St Clement of Rome assures us: “God is
faithful to his promises, and just in his
judgments.”
• The reason is basically theological: Justice,
understood as an attribute of God.
• Furthermore, the notion of perfect justice
seems to demand a “waiting” until the end of
history, so that the balance considers all the
consequences in time of human actions.

b) A mystery of discrimination
• The Fathers speak of the judgment of God as
capable of producing either one of two final
sentences: either eternal salvation or eternal
condemnation, according to each one’s deeds.
• The doctrine occasions a mixture of hope and
fear, of longing and anxiety.

c) The mystery of revelation
• The Fathers emphasize the convenience
quoad homines of a complete revelation at
the end of history of the value of persons and
events.

3. The Last Judgment, in the Symbols
of Faith
• The affirmation that “he shall come to judge
the living and the dead” already appears as
the conclusion of the Christological article in
the first creeds, being the echo of apostolic
preaching.
• The 4th Lateran Council (1215) adds a phrase:
“he shall give to each one according to his
works”.

4. Theological Reflection: The
Judgment, Corollary of the Parousia
a) God’s coming close, the differentiation
among men
• The final mystery contains a discriminatory
dimension (between the wheat and the chaff,
between the sheep and the goats).
• God’s coming close to his creation will finally
result in a differentiation among free
creatures.
• God’s coming close to men throughout
history, in fact, acts like a sword dividing
hearts.

b) Primacy of salvation over
condemnation
• Theologians affirm with reason that the
double prospect (salvation/condemnation)
contained in the revelation of the Judgment is
not “symmetrical”.
• Salvation has more weight, since that is the
original objective of the divine economy.

c) The last judgment as revelation of
the meaning of History
• The final Coming of the divine
King will bring a clear order to
creation, by which each creature
will occupy its definitive place
within the whole.
• The King “will put everything in
its place”, even in the mind of his
creatures, making them know
exactly—as He knows—the value
of persons and works.

d) Christological dimension of the
Judgment
• This does not simply mean that Christ will
exercise his authority over men as God and
Redeemer.
• It tells us exactly how God works out the
salvation of men: Christ configuring them to
himself, sending them his modeler Spirit,
presenting them to the Father.
• Christ will not only be the Judge, but also the
Criterion for the Judgment.

ETERNAL LIFE
• “I believe… in life everlasting.” (Apostle’s Creed)
• “We look for the resurrection of the dead, and
the life of the world to come.” (Nicean-
Constantinopolitan Creed)
• With these few words we try to express the
object of the hope of every human being.
• In reality, with these terms we try to say much (in
a certain sense, everything): union with God and
the saints, the fullness of corporeal and spiritual
existence, an experience of joy and peace… that
await the just at the end of time.

1. Richness of Biblical Revelation
about Eternal Life
• Our scriptural survey groups the principal categories by
which the mystery is formulated according to the
following order:
(1) “Local” expressions, which simply serve to indicate
“to be where God is”: heaven, paradise, promised
land, house of the Father, heavenly Jerusalem,
heavenly temple, etc.
(2) More formal expressions: to be with God, to be with
Christ
(3) Expressions which add the aspect of intimate
colloquium: to see, to know God.
(4) Expressions which indicate the fullness that comes
with union with God: eternal life, banquet, etc.

2. Divine Communication and
Divinization of Man
• The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms
the following aspects of the mystery:
– The essence of eternal life as communion;
– The central place of Christ in this mystery;
– The aspect of vision and divinization, in the
mystery of communion;
– The concomitant consummation of the deepest
dimensions of man.

3. Theological Reflection: Communion
with God as Essence of Eternal Life
• From the mystery of communion between
human persons and the divine Persons flows
the dimensions of happiness in heaven:
– The assimilation of man to the Person of the Word
implies a divinization.
– Insertion in the Son gives a greater participation in
his intimate knowledge of the Father.
– Incorporation in Christ brings with it solidarity
with other just men also.
– Intimate union with God produces in the creature
joyous effects: fullness, Life, etc.

a) A God who gives Himself
• The essence of that which we call heaven or
blessedness is not so much the permanence in
a physical place, but a “stay” of another kind:
staying in God.
• It is God with us, we in God.

b) Trinitarian dimensions of the
mystery
• Human fulfillment does not consist simply in
the contemplation of the divine unitary
essence, but in contemplating the different
relations of the three divine Persons according
to the order which the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit live within themselves.

c) The transformation of man united
to God
• The repercussions in the creature caused by
the Trinitarian presence are:
– elevation and divinization of the poor creature;
– joyful knowledge of divine intimacy, and
understanding of things which are deep inside
God;
– joy and fruition of love;
– experience of vital fullness, spiritually and
corporeally (feelings and senses included);
– in sum, superabundant satisfaction and happiness.

d) The profound sense of heaven as
reward
• Eternal life consists in abiding in the interior of God.
• The loving dialogue requires a prepared
correspondent, made in some way connatural with the
Trinity.
• Who can eternally contemplate the Father, if not
someone who has already learned to love him in this
life as his son?
• Our stay on earth is a verum spatium (moment of
truth).
• Our moral efforts here, now, acquire an
“eschatological value” to the extent that they make us
better or less prepared to live Life-without-end, with
him who is All-Holy, and with all the saints.

ETERNAL DEATH
• “Life” and “Death” are two faces (albeit
unsymmetrical) of just one mystery: the
response of the free creature to God-who-
comes-near.
• The contrast in biblical expressions shows that
they are diametrically opposed existential
situations.
• The union of man with God is the logical
conclusion of the salvific plan; to be lost is the
thing most contrary to the divine intent.

1. Eternal Death as the Reverse of
Eternal Life, in Sacred Scripture
• As in the case of eternal life, we find in the Revelation
about eternal death a great variety of formulations, all
of them expressions of different facets in the mystery.
• Evidently, there is a certain parallelism between the
formulations about eternal life and eternal death:
– Heaven // abyss or the depths of the sheol;
– to be within (the eschatological Jerusalem) // to be
outside (in Gehenna, outside the walls);
– to be with Christ // “depart from Me”;
– house of the Father, “children of the Kingdom” // not to
inherit the Kingdom;
– to see, to know God // “I do not know you”;
– joy // weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

a) Geographic terms
• The difference and separation between the
two states (salvation and perdition) is made
clear using graphic expressions.
(i) The “deep places” in the Old Testament: The
deepest place in the sheol. Gehenna.
(ii) Hades, abyss and Gehenna in the New
Testament

b) Exclusion from God’s presence
• As counterpart to the formulations for
“eternal life” (e.g. “to see” or “to know” God,
“to be with” Christ, etc.) we find in the Bible
expressions which formally indicate a mystery
of exclusion from the company of God and the
just.

c) Eternal death
• As it happened with the idea of “life”, the
theo-logical dimension of “death” (i.e. its
dimension of non-relation with God)
expanded with time until it became the fullest
expression of the mystery of definitive
separation from God.

d) Other Biblical expressions
• A last group of expressions describes the
consequences of separation from God as:
inextinguishable or eternal fire; worm that
does not die; weeping; gnashing of teeth;
darkness; shame; lack of rest.

2. The Reality and Duration of Hell
• The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes
the dogma of the existence of hell thus: “The
teaching of the Church affirms the existence of
hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the
souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin
descend into hell, where they suffer the
punishments of hell, ‘eternal fire.’
• The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation
from God, in whom alone man can possess the
life and happiness for which he was created and
for which he longs.” (no. 1035)

3. Theological Reflection: Hell as the
Creature’s Shunning God
a) Hell as the absence of God (God lost by man)
• Hell is above all the free creature’s shunning
God who comes to him.
• In Trinitarian terms, it is to repel or “sadden”
the Spirit (cf. Ephesians 4:30) who wants to
live in the person in order to conform him to
the Son and bind him intimately with the
Father.
• Seen in this way, hell is man’s creation, not
God’s.

b) Theories that deny the existence of
hell
• There have been theories which deny the
reality of hell. The most widespread are
based on two principal arguments:
(1) The infinite love, mercy and power of God
make the possibility of “failure” in his plans to
save mankind unthinkable.
(2) The existence of creatures lost for ever
seems incompatible with the full happiness of
the angels and saints.

b) Theories that deny the existence of
hell
• The thesis of “the impossibility of
condemnation of anyone” falls apart when we
consider a particular dogmatic fact: the fall of
some angels, and their consequent state of
permanent enmity with God.
• The alternative proposition that “hell exists
but is empty” is simply false because devils
exist.

c) Poena sensus (pain of sense)
• The theological concept of eternal death as an
existential situation, self-inflicted by man himself,
allows us to avoid a sadistic view of the sufferings
of the damned as extrinsic punishments violently
inflicted by an avenging God.
• It seems more correct to think of the sufferings
of the condemned as the necessary effect of their
chosen separation from God, i.e. as an internal
dimension of the divine absence:
– It is he himself who allows chaos to reign in his
existence, in the disordered function of his intellect
(since he thinks only of himself) and will (since he
loves only himself and not others).

Eschatology part 1

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