“These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,” (2 Thessalonians 1:9).
Conditionalists often use 2 Thessalonians 1:9 to support their position that the destruction of persons means their nonexistence. But, does it? If eternal destruction means eternal nonexistence, then how is it possible that such ‘nonexistence’ is “away from the presence of the Lord”? In other words, how does “nonexistence” have location so that it is “away from the presence of the Lord”? It can’t. “Nothing” doesn’t have a substance or location and it cannot be in relation to God and be “away from the presence of the Lord.” Furthermore, it is the wicked who will pay the penalty of eternal destruction. The word for pay in the Greek is τίνω, tino, and it only occurs once in the New Testament, here in this verse. It means “to experience something bad, often in retribution for some wrongdoing—‘to suffer, to experience retribution.’ οἵτινες δίκην τίσουσιν ὄλεθρον αἰώνιον ‘they will receive the punishment of being destroyed forever’ 2 Thessalonians 1:9.”1 Another dictionary says, “to be punished, to suffer, to pay a penalty.2 So, the wicked will experience the penalty of making this payment which will occur away from the presence of the Lord. If the penalty is nonexistence, it is not possible for them to pay by suffering the retribution owed against them for their sin. Remember, nonexistence isn’t ‘being’ anything, so it cannot be away from God’s presence. Something must exist in order for it to be out of the presence of someone. The conditionalist position makes no sense.
What does the Greek say?
| TABLE 1 | |||||||
| English | These | will pay | penalty | eternal | destruction | away from | the presence |
| Greek | οἵτινες | τίσουσιν | δίκην | αἰώνιον | ὄλεθρον | ἀπὸ | προσώπου |
| Trans-literation | hoitines | tisousin | diken | aionion | olethron | apo | prosōpou |
| Grammar | Pronoun Nominative Plural |
Verb Future Active 3rd Person Singular |
Noun Accusative Singular Feminine |
Adjective Accusative Singular Masculine |
Noun Accusative Singular Masculine |
Preposition | NGSN Noun Genitive Singular Neuter |
| English | of the Lord | and | from | glory | of his | power | |
| Greek | κυρίου | καὶ | ἀπὸ | δόξης | αὐτοῦ | τῆς | ἰσχύος |
| Trans-literation | kyriou | kai | apo | doxēs | autou | tēs | ischyos |
| Grammar | Noun Genitivie Singular Masculine |
Conjunction | Preposition | Noun Genitivie Singular Feminine |
Pronoun 3rd Person Genitive Singular Masculine |
Article Genitive Singular Feminine |
Noun Genitivie Singular Feminine |
Notice that the text does not say that the penalty is “being annihilated.” Annihilation is not a state or condition of being out of God’s presence. If a person ceases to exist, he has no relationship to God’s presence, whether it be by location or spiritual condition because he doesn’t exist. He’s nothing. “Nothing” has no attributes, relationships, or… anything. Eternal conscious destruction is what the wicked will pay away from God’s presence. It can’t be eternally paid if they don’t exist.
