The New Testament Greek word πύρ, pur occurs 73 times in the New Testament.  It is used in different ways including describing God’s presence (Acts 7:30), judgment (Matt. 3:11, 12; 5:22; 18:8, 9; Mark 9:43, 48; Luke 3:16, 17; Heb. 10:27; Jude 7, 23), purification (Mark 9:49; 1 Cor. 3:13, 15; Rev. 3:18), a spiritual manifestation on people (Acts 2:3), and even shame (Rom. 12:20). Unfortunately, annihilationists sometimes interpret ‘eternal fire’ to mean that God, who is the source of the fire, is eternal. Therefore, the eternal fire itself does not last forever.  But, this does not seem to fit the context of the scriptures (Matt. 18:8; 25:41; Jude 7).  The three verses where this couplet occurs are…

• Matt. 18:8, “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.” 
• Matt. 25:41, “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;”
• Jude 7, “just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”

 

• Greek word:  πύρ, pur
• Meaning:  fire, literal fire, symbolic of punishment and purification
• Strong’s #: G4442
• Frequency:  73 occurrences

Summary of the meaning of the Greek word pur, fire in all verses where it occurs in the New Testament.

1. Appearance
   1. color of fire, Rev. 9:17
   2. of angels, he was 1:7
   3. eyes of Christ, Rev. 1:14; 2:18; 19:12
2. Burning
   1. fire, Rev. 8:5, 7, 8
   2. lamps, Rev. 4:5
3. Eschatological judgment
   1. fire, Acts 2:19
4. Fire
   1. the literal fire that burns people, Matt. 17:15; Mark 9:22; Luke 9:54; 17:29; 22:55; Acts 28:5; Heb. 11:34; 12:18; James 3:5
5. Glory
   1. of Jesus, 2 Thess. 1:7
6. God’s presence
   1. Acts 7:30
7. Idiom¹I used the word “Idiom” to denote figurative type usage, an expression where the literal meaning of the word is not intended and can have a variety of meanings.
   1. burning, Rev. 9:18; 10:1;; 20:9, 10, 14, 15; 21:8
   2. destructive force, James 3:6; 5:3; 2 Peter 3:7;
   3. fire, Rev. 11:5; 13:13; 14:10, 18; 15:2; 16:8; 17:16
   4. of heavens and earth; 2 Peter 3:7
   5. of judgment, Heb. 12:29
8. Judgment
   1. of demonic realm, Matt. 25:41
   2. of people, Matt. 3:11, 12; 5:22; 18:8, 9; Mark 9:43, 48; Luke 3:16, 17; Heb. 10:27; Jude 7, 23
   3. by fire, Rev. 18:8; 19:20
9. Non-existence, Judgment
   1. of people, Luke 3:9; John 15:6
   2. of trees, people, Matt. 3:10; 7:19;
   3. of tares, people, Matt. 13:40, 42, 50
10. Purifying Agent
    1. of people, Mark 9:49; 1 Cor. 3:13, 15; Rev. 3:18
    2. of faith, 1 Peter 1:7
11. Shame
    1. Rom. 12:20
12. Spiritual manifestation
    1. upon people, Acts 2:3
13. Spiritual truth, judgment
    1. truth, Luke 12:49
    2. people, Luke 12:49

 

 

TABLE OF ALL NEW TESTAMENT USAGES OF PUR, πύρ
Address	Verse	Meanings	Object
Matt. 3:10	The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.	Non-existence, judgment	Trees, people
Matt. 3:11	“As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.	Judgment	People
Matt. 3:12	His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”	Judgment	People
Matt. 5:22	But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.	Judgment	People
Matt. 7:19	Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.	Non-existence, judgment	Tree, people
Matt. 13:40	So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.	Non-existence, judgment	Tares, people
Matt. 13:42	and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.	Conscious torment	Tares, people
Matt. 13:50	and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.	Conscious torment	Tares, people
Matt. 17:15	“Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.	Literal fire that burns	People
Matt. 18:8	“If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.	Judgment	People
Matt. 18:9	If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.	Judgment	People
Matt. 25:41	“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;	Judgment	Demonic realm
Mark 9:22	It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”	Literal fire that burns	People
Mark 9:43	If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire,	Judgment	People
Mark 9:48	where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.	Judgment	People
Mark 9:49	“For everyone will be salted with fire.	Purifying agent	People
Luke 3:9	Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”	Non-existence, judgment	People
Luke 3:16	John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.	Judgment	People
Luke 3:17	His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”	Judgment	People
Luke 9:54	When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”	Literal fire that burns	People
Luke 12:49	“I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!	Spiritual truth. judgment	Truth, People
Luke 17:29	but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.	Literal fire that burns	People
Luke 22:55	After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them.	Literal fire that burns	Fire
John 15:6	If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.	Non-existence, judgment	People
Acts 2:3	And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.	Spiritual manifestation	People
Acts 2:19	‘AND I WILL GRANT WONDERS IN THE SKY ABOVE AND SIGNS ON THE EARTH BELOW, BLOOD, AND FIRE, AND VAPOR OF SMOKE.	Eschatological judgment	Fire
Acts 7:30	“After forty years had passed, AN ANGEL APPEARED TO HIM IN THE WILDERNESS OF MOUNT Sinai, IN THE FLAME OF A BURNING THORN BUSH.	God’s presence	Fire
Acts 28:5	However he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.	Literal fire that burns	Fire
Rom. 12:20	“BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.”	Shame	Coals
1 Cor. 3:13	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.	Purifying agent	Works
1 Cor. 3:15	If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.	Purifying agent	Works
2 Thess. 1:7	and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,	Glory	Jesus
Heb. 1:7	And of the angels He says, “WHO MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS, AND HIS MINISTERS A FLAME OF FIRE.”	Appearance	Angels
Heb. 10:27	but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.	Judgment	People
Heb. 11:34	quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.	Literal fire that burns	Fire
Heb. 12:18	For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind,	Literal fire that burns	Fire
Heb. 12:29	for our God is a consuming fire.	Judgment	Idiom
James 3:5	So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!	Literal fire that burns	Fire
James 3:6	And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.	Destructive force	Idiom
James 3:6	And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.	Destructive force	Idiom
James 3:6	And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.	Destructive force	Idiom
James 5:3	Your gold and your silver have rusted, and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!	Destructive force	Idiom
1 Pet. 1:7	so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the Rev. of Jesus Christ;	Purifying Agenttd>	Faith
2 Pet. 3:7	But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.	Destructive force	Heavens and earth
Jude 7	just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.	Judgment	People
Jude 23	save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.	Judgment	People
Rev. 1:14	His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire.	Appearance	Eyes
Rev. 2:18	“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:	Appearance	Eyes
Rev. 3:18	I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.	Purifying Agent	People
Rev. 4:5d>	Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;	Burning	Lamps
Rev. 8:5	Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth, and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.	Burning	Fire
Rev. 8:7	The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth, and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.	Burning	Fire
Rev. 8:8	The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood,	Burning	Fire
Rev. 9:17	And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire an and of hyacinth and of brimstone, and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.	Color	Fired>
Rev. 9:17	And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone, and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.	Burning	Idiom
Rev. 9:18	A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths.	BurBurning	Idiom
Rev. 10:1d>	I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire;	Burning	Idiom
Rev. 11:5	And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.	Burning	Fire
Rev. 13:13	He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.	Burning	Fire
Rev. 14:10	he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.	Burning	Fire
Rev. 14:18	Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.”	Burning	Fire
Rev. 15:2	And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God.	Burning	Fire
Rev. 16:8	The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire.	Burning	Fire
Rev. 17:16	And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.	Burning	Fire
Rev. 18:8	For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.	Judgment	Fire
Rev. 19:12	His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.	Appearance	Eyes
Rev. 19:20	And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.	Judgment	Fire
Rev. 20:9	And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.	Burning	Fire
Rev. 20:10	And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.	Burning	Fire
Rev. 20:14	Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.	Burning	Fire
Rev. 20:14	Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.	Burning	Fire
Rev. 20:15	And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.	Burning	Fire
Rev. 21:8	But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”	Burning	Fire

 

Dictionaries and Lexicons consulted

• “πύρ púr; gen. purós, neut. noun. Fire. (I) Literal fire…(II) Used symbolically”
  • Zodhiates, Spiros. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000
• ‘πῦρ, ός n a fire: 2.3 b bonfire: 2.5 πῦρ: units πῦρ βάλλω cause discord 39.15 λίμνη τοῦ πυρο͂ς (καὶ θείου) place of punishment 1.22 σωρεύω ἄνθρακας πυρο͂ς ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν cause to be ashamed 25.199
  • Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. New York: United Bible Societies, 1996.
  • πῦρ [pur /poor/] n n. A root word; TDNT 6:928; TDNTA 975; GK 4786; 74 occurrences; AV translates as “fire” 73 times, and “fiery” once. 1 fire.”
    • Strong, James. Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1995.

   

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