The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE: Majority Adhere to Historic Conditionalism

I. Ethiopic Enoch—Underworld Torments End in Annihilation

We now turn to certain stalwart Conditionalists who parallel and close the Jewish dispensation witness, counterbalancing the advocates of Immortal-Soulism just cited. The Ethiopic Enoch, or 1 Enoch (not to be confused with several other Enochs), consists, according to Littmann, ¹ of a series of layers, or sections, the oldest produced about 200 B.C. and the latest about 63 B.C. Some of it was consequently pre-Maccabean. CFF1 681.1

However, the bulk of it was evidently written between 144 and 120 B.C. by a Jew of northern Palestine, while other portions were seemingly produced by a Sadducee. It is a pseudepigraph, and greater “authority” is being sought for it by the putting of it into the “mouth” of the Biblical Enoch. In any event the Ethiopic Enoch is one of the more comprehensive of the Jewish apocalypses. Fuchs says: CFF1 681.2

“[It is] the most magnificent of all apocalypses, the ‘apocalyptic Bible of the time of Jesus.’ ... It affords the most important religio-historical material for the study of the mystic tendency, among the Jews of the Maccabean time, which some pronounce to be already Essene.” ² CFF1 681.3

R. H. Charles gives a formidable list of more than fifty New Testament passages that coincide either in phraseology or in thought with passages in the Ethiopic Enoch—some of them strikingly similar. ³ One excerpt was apparently quoted by Jude, in verses 14, 15 (see Book of Enoch 1:9). ⁴ And Enoch not only exerted a definite influence on Judaism but also played a significant part in the formation of Christian Gnosticism. However, around A.D. 300 this treatise began to be discredited by the Christian Church. Nevertheless, it reflects clearly the general tendency of Jewish thinking in the immediate pre-Christian Era. The future judgment is portrayed and the times of final restitution, along with fallen angels and legions of darkness, the resurrection and retribution, and final rewards. Such was its eschatological outline. CFF1 681.4

1. SOMBER SCENES OF JUDGMENT DAY DEPICTED

He deals with the approaching judgment of the wicked, with the “Righteous One” coming as judge (38:2). The sobering scenes of the future day of judgment of man and fallen angels are depicted: CFF1 682.1

“And the Lord of Spirits placed the Elect One on the throne of glory. And he shall judge all the works of the holy above in heaven, and in the balance shall their deeds be weighed” (61:8) ⁵ CFF1 682.2

The wicked He will “deliver” “to the angels for punishment, to execute vengeance on them.” But the “righteous and elect shall be saved on that day,” and “never thenceforward see the face of the sinners and unrighteous.” Their “garments shall not grow old” nor their “glory pass away” (62:10-16). ⁶ “The days of their life shall be unending, and the days of the holy without number” (68:3). ⁷ CFF1 682.3

The somber scenes of the great assize are presented, with the “books of the living” open (47:3). The “Most High” will “execute great judgement amongst sinners” (100:4), ⁸ and fear and trembling will come upon them (102:1-3). ⁹ CFF1 682.4

2. RESURRECTION EXPRESSLY PORTRAYED

On the question of death, resurrection, and the intermediate state, contradictory statements sometimes appear—just as would be expected in a book of composite authorship, with its parts written over an extended period. Sometimes mention is made of a general resurrection, sometimes of a partial one. As to the “sleep” of the righteous, “Enoch” interestingly says, “And though the righteous sleep a long sleep, they have nought to fear” (100: 5). ¹⁰ Here is an illuminating excerpt: CFF1 682.5

“And in those days shall the earth also give back that which has been entrusted to it, and Sheol also shall give back that which it has received, and hell shall give back that which it owes. For in those days the Elect One shall arise, and he shall choose the righteous and holy from among them: for the day has drawn nigh that they should be saved” (51:1, 2). ¹¹ CFF1 683.1

It has been noted that the first alleged use of the word “Sheol” “in its New Testament signification” in these apocalyptic writings appears here in 1 Enoch. ¹² CFF1 683.2

3. WICKED TO BE UTTERLY CONSUMED

Various verses tell of coming utter destruction of the wicked, with “no trace” remaining: CFF1 683.3

“And I will give them over into the hands of Mine elect: as straw in the fire so shall they burn before the face of the holy: as lead in the water shall they sink before the face of the righteous, and no trace of them shall any more be found” (48:9). ¹³ CFF1 683.4

“Yet the sinners shall be destroyed before the face of the Lord of Spirits, and they shall be banished from off the face of His earth, and they shall perish for ever and ever” (53:2). ¹⁴ CFF1 683.5

On this point of utter destruction Dean F. W. Farrar, of Canterbury, observes pointedly: CFF1 683.6

“The book [of Enoch] explains its own threats to mean annihilation, which is the very antithesis of endless torment.” ¹⁵ CFF1 683.7

“An everlasting judgment shall be executed, and blasphemers shall be annihilated everywhere (Enoch 92:16 [Archbishop Laurence]).” ¹⁶ CFF1 683.8

Evil “kings and the mighty” will suffer a severer punishment—being cast into “burning fire” in a “deep valley,” with great “chains” prepared for the “hosts of Azazel” (author of sin), who are cast into the “abyss of complete condemnation” (54:1-5). ¹⁷ CFF1 683.9

4. TORMENTS OF ACCURSED IN UNDERWORLD

On the other hand, a forerunner of Dante’s Divine Comedy appears in the treatise from some other hand. “Enoch” is led by an angel through both heaven and the underworld. He sees the “prison of the angels” and the place of punishment of fallen angels (21:7-10). They are judged “till they are made an end of” (19:2). And “Enoch” gives a detailed description of the mountains of fire. He sees heaven’s storehouse of rain, hail, and thunder. CFF1 684.1

During his wanderings he comes to Sheol. He sees hollow places, deep and dark and wide, for the “spirits of the souls of the dead,” the “souls of the children of men” who should assemble there. He hears them make appeal to the courts of Heaven (22:2-6). ¹⁸ Sheol, in this instance, is no longer a place where the dead are unconscious, and unaware of what is happening on earth. CFF1 684.2

Under the hand of this writer they are fully conscious, and raise their voices in clamor. Here the unrighteous suffer great pain, and there are scourgings for those “accursed forever” (22:9-12). ¹⁹ CFF1 684.3

Thus, while some passages (according to the Charles edition) accord with New Testament thought, there is on the other hand a radical departure from the former Old Testament teachings on death and the destiny of the soul hereafter. And the innovations unquestionably laid the groundwork for many of the pronounced departures that later crept into the thinking of the Christian Church. But we need to know how these departures came about, that we may understand the grave results. CFF1 684.4

We must press through the remaining writings that we may have the whole story before us. CFF1 684.5