The phrase “weeping and gnashing of teeth” occurs seven times in the Bible, all of them in the New Testament gospels, and all spoken by Jesus. The reference is obviously to a condition of agony, a punishment that is experienced. Jesus speaks of it as happening in outer darkness (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; Matt. 25:30), in a furnace of fire (Matthew 13:42; 13:50), alongside hypocrites (Matt. 24:51), and out of the presence of the Lord (Luke 13:28). In the context of annihilationism, these verses do not support the idea that there will be a judgment leading to nonexistence. However, some annihilationists say that the fire into which the wicked are cast will consume them and they will cease to exist. Of course, this is just conjecture, something imposed in the texts to support their preconceived ideas of annihilationism.
Some annihilationists say that the phrase weeping and gnashing of teeth is really a reference to being angry and therefore it means the people are just angry. This way they can lessen the support for eternal conscious torment. They cite Old Testament occurrences where people gnash their teeth in anger (Job 16:9; Psalm 37:12; 112:10). They take the Old Testament context and impose it upon the New Testament in order to get the New Testament phrase to agree with their assumptions. Of course, this is not the proper way to interpret Scripture since the New Testament interprets the Old Testament. Furthermore, the New Testament phrase “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” is not the same phrase as the Old Testament “gnashed at me with their teeth” (Psalm 35:16) and “gnash their teeth” (Lam. 2:16). They are different phrases and as such need to be examined separately. Words mean things in God’s inspired writings. Every word, every phrase, every word order is inspired and is there for a reason. Conditionalists often fail to see this truth when they bend God’s word to their preferences.
Finally, in each instance of the phrase weeping and gnashing of teeth,” we see that the person is experiencing agony. This is important because, in annihilationist thought, the final judgment means a person doesn’t exist anymore. Their idea of eternal punishment is eternal nonexistence. But the biblical pattern of punishment is to experience the punishment, not have it be eternal nonexistence as annihilationism would require.
| TABLE OF ALL NEW TESTAMENT USAGES OF WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH | ||
| Address | Verse | Meaning |
| Matt. 8:12 | “but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”” | Experience of agony |
| Matt. 13:42 | “and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” | Experience of agony |
| Matt. 13:50 | “and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” | Experience of agony |
| Matt. 22:13 | “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” | Experience of agony |
| Matt. 24:51 | and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” | Experience of agony |
| Matt. 25:30 | “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” | Experience of agony |
| Luke 13:28 | “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out.” | Experience of agony |
