The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

III. Gist of “Future Punishment, Not Eternal Life in Misery” Tract

1. NO “IMMORTAL OR DEATHLESS SPIRITS.”

Grew’s second tract—Future Punishment, Not Eternal Life in Misery, but Destruction—turns from “mystical interpretation” and philosophical speculation to the Word of God, away from “everlasting existence in misery” to “everlasting destruction.” ²¹ Grew again states, “In vain do we search for a single inspired declaration, that man, in the general, is immortal.” A creature is dependent upon his Creator for life. No “prophet or apostle” has “ever told men that they have immortal souls or deathless spirits.” ²² CFF2 304.2

2. SECOND DEATH NOT “INTERMINABLE MISERABLE EXISTENCE.”

The fate of the wicked is “not life in misery, but death.” ²³ The “second death” involves destruction, perishing, coming to an end—“not eternal existence in misery.” ²⁴ “Everlasting punishment” does not involve “everlasting existence.” ²⁶ The destruction of Sodom is then set forth as “an example” of “suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” The length of suffering is not revealed in the Bible, but it will be “apportioned” with justice. However, it definitely is not “interminable miserable existence.” There are “different degrees” of future punishment, which is “perfectly reconcilable with final destruction of being.” Such a position also negates the opposite “error” of “universal salvation.” That was the essence of the Grew tracts, which likewise had wide repercussions. CFF2 305.1