“And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more,” (Luke 12:47-48).
These verses are part of a short discourse Jesus gave on the faithful steward whom the master put in charge of other servants (Luke 12:42-48). In these verses, Jesus says, “but if that slave says in his heart,’my master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men, and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk…” So, Jesus spoke of an evil slave and went on to say in verse 46 that when the master returned at an hour that the servant did not know, that the master will come and “cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.” (This is paralleled in Matt. 24:45-51) It is in this context we find verse 48, where Jesus speaks of different degrees of punishment. And, it is in this context that we compare this to annihilationism
Not all annihilationists are the same. Some believe in immediate nonexistence upon a person’s physical death while others believe in soul sleep. Yet there are others who affirm that a wicked person is resurrected, punished for a while according to his sins, and then is annihilated. This latter view is what I am addressing here in this article.
It cannot be that the wicked are resurrected to face varying degrees of punishment, and then they are annihilated. This is because varying degrees of punishment must be according to the Law of God. After all, sin is breaking the Law of God (1 John 3:4). Therefore the severity of punishment must be equivalent to the laws broken. But if the wicked are punished according to the Law before they are annihilated, then why are they annihilated at all if they’ve complied with the requirements of the Law after their punishment? In this case, annihilation should not be an option because they satisfy the requirements of the Law by their suffering. Why then are they not saved? This is a huge problem for this particular view held by some annihilationists and should be abandoned.
Conclusion
Even though annihilationists hold different views about the nature and extent of the final judgment, their view of experiencing a measure of punishment before being annihilated seems to be self-refuting. If the wicked suffer according to the Law, then once the suffering is completed why don’t they go to heaven? Shouldn’t they be saved because they’ve accomplished the requirements of the Law? But, to have God then annihilate them would mean they suffer two punishments, not one for the same offenses. This would risk accusing God of immorality by having him punish a person twice for the same sins committed. It makes no sense and cannot be true.
