What did Christians believe in hell throughout history?
After an introduction to the three main points of view on hell, we present here the great names in history and what they stood for on the subject (Go to the introduction to see the index)
- Origen was perhaps the most controversial early Christian writer in the field of eschatology (in addition to other doctrines).
- Deeply molded by the traditions of Middle Platonism.
- A philosophical current present in Alexandria in the second century.
- As well as by the works of Clement.
- For Origen the drama of the history of salvation was a divine initiative to take the “spirits”.
- Created back to the ecstatic intellectual union with God in which they were originally created.
- The entire physical world.
- In Origen’s theology.
- Was a purgative discipline created by God to give fallen spirits the necessary encouragement to let go of their state of apathy.
- Hell was simply the extreme form of this cleansing discipline.
- And the texts of Scripture dealing with eternal punishment are benevolent deceptions of God for the purpose of scandalizing us and thus leading us to repentance.
- Although Satan and demons are at a disadvantage because they have no bodies.
- Origen expressed the hope that they would return to God in apocatastasis.
- The final restoration of all creation.
- Apocatastasis was condemned as a heretic at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553.
- Three centuries after Origen’s death.
Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria and staunch defender of the full divinity of Jesus, described salvation primarily as a return to union with divine life. Because we were created out of nothing, Athanasius believes, we tend to revert to a state of nothingness when we are separated from divine life due to sin. This is not only the natural result of sin, but also a just punishment imposed by God. All aspects of weakness and corruption? human result, therefore, of our separation from divine life. Like Irenaeus, Athanasius believed that Jesus had redeemed humanity as a whole by assuming the just punishment for our sins after his death (thus defeating death and ending its legal claims on us) and by reestablishing the bond that had existed. between human nature and the life of God. What is the understanding of Athanasius? Corruption? That seemed to imply that the bad guys would eventually be eliminated, but it can’t be said that he actually came to that conclusion. What could have been defended, on the contrary, was the belief that the conviction represented an endless slide towards nullity without ever succeeding. belief later adopted by C. S. Lewis.
Being one of? Cappidons, who contributed to the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity, Gregory of Nazianzo discussed the concept of apocatastase defended by Origins and refused to take a conclusive position on this subject, either contrary or favorable, preferring to leave the matter to God.
Another cappio, Gregio de Nissa, relied heavily on the work of Origins and even on the doctrine of apocatasse. Gregory liked the image of purifying fire, which removes impurities from metal. Although he sometimes mentions eternal punishment, he seems to understand it simply as a long-term purgative punishment that would eventually lead to salvation. Corruption of the human body, as Gregory desired, is purged by physical death, while the corruption of the soul is eliminated by post-mortem punishments.
Gregory was one of the most prominent defenders of the “rescue theory,” according to which Jesus offered himself to Satan as a ransom for the souls of sinful humanity. When Satan bites “the hook,” he ends up being caught by the hook of Christ’s Divinity, and thus Jesus’ humanity acquires his freedom. But Gregory also says that this defeat of Satan is not only for our own good, but also for Satan’s own good, because eventually he too will be restored to union with God.
Joel Crisstomo was charged? Origenism? As part of a quest for heresies undertaken for political reasons, but he does not appear to have defended Origen’s views on apocatastase. It is not uncommon for his sermons to warn of eternal punishment. expounded what he perceived as a “prosperity gospel” proclaimed by the Jews, comparing it to the more modest (and therefore more authentic) Christian teaching: “In our churches we have heard countless speeches on eternal punishment, on fire that never comes out, on the worm that never dies, on chains that cannot be broken, on the darkness outside?
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