Perdition
Not annihilation. For in the case of the lost not only the worm but "their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched"; i.e. both the instrument of punishment, and the object of it, the lost man, die not. Thrice repeated by Christ with awful emphasis (Mar 9:44; Mar 9:46; Mar 9:48).
(See HELL) Mat 10:28; Mat 13:50; Mat 3:12; 2Th 1:9; Joh 3:36; Joh 5:29; Isa 66:24 ten "son of perditions"; applied only to him and Judas, marking the like character and destiny of both (Joh 17:12; Act 1:20; Psalm 69; 2 Thessalonians 2; Rev 17:10-11); his course is short, from the moment of his manifestation doomed to perdition. (See ANTICHRIST.)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Perdition
Perdition per-dish'-un (apoleia, "ruin" or "loss," physical or eternal): The word "perdition" occurs in the English Bible 8 times (Joh 17:12; Php 1:28; 2Th 2:3; 1Ti 6:9; Heb 10:39; 2Pe 3:7; Re 17:11,18). In each of these cases it denotes the final state of ruin and punishment which forms the opposite to salvation. The verb apolluein, from which the word is derived, has two meanings: (1) to lose; (2) to destroy. Both of these pass over to the noun, so that apoleia comes to signify: (1) loss; (2) ruin, destruction. The former occurs in Mt 26:8; Mr 14:4, the latter in the passages cited above. Both meanings had been adopted into the religious terminology of the Scriptures as early as the Septuagint. "To be lost" in the religious sense may mean "to be missing" and "to be ruined," The former meaning attaches to it in the teaching of Jesus, who compares the lost sinner to the missing coin, the missing sheep, and makes him the object of a seeking activity (Mt 10:6; 15:24; 18:11; Lu 15:4,6,8,24,32; 19:10). "To be lost" here signifies to have become estranged from God, to miss realizing the r…
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible on Perdition
One of the renderings of ἀπώλεια in NT (AV and RY), but not found at all in OT, in either version. It occurs eight times both in AV and in RV, but the latter has substituted " perdition’ for ‘destruction’ at Ph 3" (‘whose end is perdition ’), and ‘destruction’ for ‘perdition’ at 2 P 37 (‘destrue- tion of ungodly men’), a parently because in the former Pees the ‘final perdition’ (cf. τέλος) of the soul is the prominent sense, and in the latter the OT Messianic destruction of the present bodily mode of existence. It would seem as if the Re- visers took this view of the eschatology of 2 P generally, for ney have translated ἀπώλεια by ‘destruction’ in the five passages containing It, even in 2? and 3156. It is difficult, however, to see why, if this distinction between destruction ΑἹ and perdition is to hold (cf. Gwynn’s note in Speaker’s Commentary on Ph 3), the Revisers did not carry it out more consistently. At Ro 95 (xarnpricuéva els ἀπώλειαν) ‘destruction’ has no doubt been allowed to remain as more suitable to the figure of the potter and the clay ; but why is it left at Mt 7'* ‘br…
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia