The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

I. Archdeacon Guillebaud-Ultimate Extinction for Wicked

The late HAROLD ERNEST GUILLEBAUD (1888-1941) was trained at Marlborough, and then at Pembroke College, Cambridge. After a period as rector of St. Michael’s, Bath, he went to Africa in 1925 under the Church Missionary Society, serving in Uganda and Ruanda. He returned to England in 1933 for a time, then went back to Ruanda in 1936 to continue his important translation work. In 1940 he was made archdeacon of Ruanda-Urundi. CFF2 803.2

Guillebaud was a brillant Bible translator. The C.M.S. magazine Outlook stressed his scholarship and his “linguistic” skills, which enabled him to translate the greater part of the Bible, the Prayer Book, a hymnbook, and Pilgrim’s Progress, and to produce a grammar. ¹ This journal regarded Guillebaud’s death as a great loss to the work of the church. His theological views were influenced by the exacting demands of his translation of the Scriptures, and his were usually mature conclusions. He returned to Cambridge for four years, serving as curate of St. Paul’s. During this period he wrote Why the Cross? (1937), United Bible Study (1939), and Some Moral Difficulties of the Bible (1941). CFF2 803.3

Picture 1: Harold Ernest Guillebaud, Sten Kahnlund, Dr. H. Martyn Cundy
Left: Harold Ernest Guillebaud (d. 1941), archdeacon in Uganda—ultimate extinction for wicked. Center: Sten Kahnlund, rector of the Catharene church of Stockholm—creative resurrection bestows immortality. Right: Dr. H. Martyn Cundy, schoolmaster of Sherborne—no survival of separate souls.
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1. HOW “THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE” CAME To BE WRITTEN

Guillebaud was a keen analyst, a cogent reasoner, and an able Bible expositor-particularly of the problem passages pertaining to the nature and destiny of man. Both Dr. and Mrs. Guillebaud were deeply troubled over the “traditional views” of “everlasting torment in the fires of hell” for the wicked, but they both accepted this view under the impression that it was taught by the Word of God. It was a doctrine, however, that Mrs. Guillebaud rejected with her mind, because it was irreconcilable with the character of God. It appeared to be a “mystery” which she “could never hope to understand on this earth.” So for a time she attempted to “lock it away in the inner recesses” of her mind-“like a skeleton in the cupboard, not even to be thought about, much less spoken of.” ² CFF2 804.1

Just at that time Mrs. Guillebaud was deeply impressed by a sermon preached in Holy Trinity church, Cambridge, setting forth the “eventual annihilation of the lost.” She shared this new idea with her husband, hoping he would accept it. But in this she was disappointed. CFF2 805.1

Soon after, her husband learned that the well-known Evangelical scholar, Dr. Basil F. C. Atkinson, of Cambridge University, likewise held the “ultimate destruction” view concerning unrepentant sinners. This led Guillebaud to put aside all preconceived ideas and to restudy the whole question again from the Scriptures. CFF2 805.2

About this time one of the university students asked, “If God is ‘all in all,’ how can there remain any territory into which He can never enter?”—i.e., an eternally burning Hell. So the work on his book Some Moral Difficulties of the Bible, which Mr. Guillebaud was writing at this time, was set aside, and the manuscript of a new book, “The Righteous judge,” came to be largely written just before his return to Ruanda, Africa. In fact, it was finished on shipboard, en route again to the mission field. ³ CFF2 805.3

2. OUTLINE AND SCOPE OF THE MANUSCRIPT

Decrying traditionalism and wishful thinking, Guillebaud in his Introduction insisted that “any valid doctrine of future punishment must rest upon the Word of God at every point.” Then follow the fourteen chapters, the outline and scope of which can be seen from a glance at the chapter headings:
“Part I. What Does the Bible Teach?
“1. Is Every Soul Immortal?
“2. Will Evil Exist Forever?
“3. The Meaning of the Word ‘Eternal.’
“4. The General Trend of Bible Teaching.
“5. Four New Testament Passages.
“6. The Problem of Unequal Opportunity.
“7. A Second Chance After Death?
“8. Universalism.
“9. Conclusions Sum
marized.”
“Part II. Objections Answered
“10. Objections From the Traditional Side. “
11. Why Should This Life Be Decisive? “
12. Objections to the Extinction of Existence.
“13. Objection to Penal Suffering.
“14. General Conclusion.” CFF2 805.4

3. INNATE IMMORTALITY NOT DECLARED IN SCRIPTURE

He reasoned logically that if the soul is indestructible, then “every reference to its death or destruction must of necessity be understood to mean an intolerable existence.” ⁴ But he immediately adds, “It is significant that the words ‘immortal soul’ are never found in the Bible.” “A ‘life’ or ‘soul’ which can be forfeited or lost does not at all naturally suggest an immortal soul, but rather the opposite.” ⁵ CFF2 806.1

God alone is “absolutely immortal,” and “there is not a single statement anywhere in the Bible” that suggests He has “bestowed immortality on every soul.” Moreover, a “living soul” is “not an immortal soul,” for God said that if man “disobeyed God he ‘should surely die.’” And Paul says “that the ‘death’ introduced by the fall affects ‘not the body only but the soul in the life beyond.’” The “living soul” in Genesis 2:7 is rendered “living creature” in Genesis 2:19; Genesis 9:12, and elsewhere includes the “brute creation.” ⁶ CFF2 806.2

4. “IMAGE OF GOD” DOES NOT DENOTE IMMORTALITY

Immortality is a “gift” from God to believers, “not something which He has ordered to be a natural possession of humanity.” Nor does the fact that man was made in the “image” of God prove his immortality, for “immortality is no more an essential quality of God than omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, which He certainly never imparted to man.” In any case, that term “tells us nothing by itself as to his [man’s] immortality.” And anyway, man fell “and defaced the image,” and Adam’s son, begotten “after his [Adam’s] image (Genesis 5:3), was subject to ‘death.’” ⁷ CFF2 806.3

5. HOSTILE HELL “CORNER” TO ALL ETERNITY “UNTHINKABLE.”

In chapter two (“Will Evil Exist Forever?”) Guillebaud declares pointedly:
“It seems unthinkable that after it [the end], and to all eternity, there will still be beings hostile to God existing in His universe, still a corner of it subdued by force, and not one with Him in love.” ⁸ CFF2 807.1

6. ETERNAL PUNISHMENT MAY END “EXISTENCE” FOREVER. -

In “The Meaning of the Word ‘Eternal’” (chapter three) Guillebaud says that “eternal” means “more than endless.” Citing Sodom and Gomorrah as examples of “suffering eternal fire” (as in Jude 7), he says: “Eternal punishment may mean a punishment which ends for ever the existence of the persons punished.” ⁹ CFF2 807.2

7. PENAL SUFFERING NOT TO CONTINUE FOREVER

The four problem passages in this area (“Matthew 18:34, 35; Mark 9:43-48; Revelation 14:10, 11; Revelation 20:10”) must be understood in the light of the “general teaching,” of the Bible. And he adds: CFF2 807.3

“Penal suffering therefore certainly forms a part of Bible teaching about the doom of the lost, but there is no statement that this suffering will continue for ever.” ¹⁰ CFF2 807.4

To burn up implies “total destruction,” such as the “chaf,” “utterly destroyed by fire.” “The word ‘unquenchable’ means simply ‘that which nothing and no one can quench,’ which cannot be prevented from accomplishing its destructive purpose.” ¹¹ CFF2 807.5

8. ULTIMATE EXTINCTION OF EXISTENCE FOR WICKED

It is clear that the wicked must “sufer in the process of destruction.” Nevertheless, their doom is “destruction” ¹²—ending in the “end of existence.” These texts are not intended to mean “an eternity of conscious torment,” but rather “destruction.” In other words, they indicate “ultimate ending of existence.” ¹³ CFF2 807.6

“We submit that the life of any living thing is necessarily ended by fire, unless God supernaturally provides otherwise: therefore, where fire is in question, the verb ‘destroy’ is not ambiguous at all, but definitely implies the ending of life.” ¹⁴ CFF2 807.7

Discussing the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18:34, 35), he pointedly observes:
“A prisoner who never comes out of prison does not live there eternally. The slave who was delivered to the tormentors till he should pay two million pounds would not escape from them by payment, but he would assuredly die in the end.” ¹⁵ CFF2 808.1

9. MEMORIAL OF GOD’S “RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT.”

As to Mark 9:43-48, which is based on Isaiah 66:24, Guillebaud says, “The spectacle of corpses,” in the process of “corruption and burning,” becomes a “perpetual memorial of the righteous wrath of God, and His judgment against sin.” ¹⁶ Similarly with the “smoke of their torment,” it will be-“a perpetual memorial of the righteous judgment of God, which will continue after it has achieved the destruction of the wicked.” ¹⁷ CFF2 808.2

And as to Revelation 14:10, 11:
“Are we to understand that the torment will continue for ever and ever?... The words ‘the smoke of their torment goeth up unto ages of ages’ do at first appear to say this, but this is not at all necessarily the meaning. In considering Mark 9:43-48 we saw that the meaning there is that there will be a perpetual memorial of the righteous judgment of God, which will continue after it has achieved the destruction of the wicked. ¹⁸ CFF2 808.3

10. SATAN’S EXISTENCE SHALL “COME TO AN END.”

Coming to Revelation 20:10, and the punishment of the devil, Guillebaud holds that this text needs to be understood in the light of Ezekiel 28:11-19, where of Satan—under the symbol of the “King of Tyre,” who was once “‘the anointed cherub that covereth,’ and was in Eden the garden of God”—it is said, “thou shalt never be any more” (Ezekiel 28:19), indicating “his existence shall come to an end.” ¹⁹ CFF2 808.4

11. NOT ALL “SUFFER EQUALLY” IN “SECOND DEATH.”

Under “The Problem of Unequal Opportunity” (chapter six), after an able discussion of the whole question and the matter of “degrees of punishment,” Guillebaud concludes: CFF2 808.5

“The penal suffering of the lost is not endless. And this being so, degrees in the severity of the suffering would probably imply varying durations of it. But here we are in a region of speculation, for time itself is of this world. One thing is clear, that not all the condemned will suffer,equally in the second death, and in view of the immense differences in opportunity and guilt among men, this conclusion is one which we may very thankfully accept.” ²⁰ CFF2 809.1

12. JUDGMENT “IRREVERSIBLE AND FINAL” IN ISSUES

As to “A Second Chance After Death?” (chapter seven), Guillebaud affirms:
“The whole trend of Scripture teaching, and especially that of our Lord, is entirely opposed to any such opportunity being given after the judgment. As Hebrews 6:2 says, it is an ‘eternal judgment,’ irreversible and final in its issue to all eternity.” ²¹ CFF2 809.2

That, he says, is clearly the general sense of Scripture. And as to two obscure disputed passages sometimes cited, Guillebaud sagely says: CFF2 809.3

“It is very unwise to build an important doctrine on the sole authority of two very obscure passages, as to the meaning of which the ablest expositors have offered a wide variety of explanations.” ²² CFF2 809.4

“We must leave the ‘hard cases’ to God, sure that whatever His decision is it will be absolutely just.” ²³ CFF2 809.5

13. BOWING OF “EVERY KNEE” NOT UNIVERSAL SALVATION

Chapter eight deals with the theory of “Universalism,” which Guillebaud defines as the contention that CFF2 809.6

“although those who have rejected Christ will have to pass through a period of penal suffering in the next world, proportionate to their guilt, and to their obstinacy in refusing to turn to Him, all will eventually be saved.” ²⁴ CFF2 809.7

Reverting to the “eternal punishment,” already discussed, Guillebaud defines it as “a punishment with endless results, a doom from which there is no return,” as carrying the “dreadful implication of finality.” ²⁵ Then he continues by examining the passages (1 John 2:2; 1 Timothy 4:10; 1 Timothy 2:4, 6; Titus 2:11) most frequently invoked by Universalists. Guillebaud states that these “texts simply express the universal love of God, and the universal offer of His salvation to those who persist in rejecting it.” ²⁶ CFF2 809.8

Commenting on the expression “every knee shall bow,” he adds that while all lost souls will one day rightly acknowledge Jesus as Lord, “it should be noticed that Paul does not say ‘their Lord,’ and that there is no mention of salvation.” Again, in Philippians 2:9-11 the same apostle states that every “knee” and “tongue” will pay homage to the judge. The “main thought is the divine glory of the Lord Jesus.” But “not a word is said as to the saving effect of the homage.” ²⁷ CFF2 810. 2 Paragraph 37/125 CFF2 810. 3 Paragraph 38/125 The wicked are impelled “to acknowledge His divine glory, and offer Him an unwilling homage.” Having examined Isaiah 45:23; Romans 14:11; and Philippians 2:9-11; Guillebaud remarks, “Not one of the three passages, considered with its context, suggests any idea of the ultimate salvation of those who have died without Christ.” ²⁸ Guillebaud concludes with: CFF2 810.1

“We claim that these [Universalist] interpretations are contrary to the natural use of language, and that there is nothing in the Bible to justify them. Salvation is salvation, offered here and now, to be accepted now, and delivering the soul from death, and there is no other salvation than this.” ²⁹ CFF2 810.2