Anti-universalist interpretations of Luke 12:47-48, Matthew 5:26/Luke 12:59

 

Anti-universalist interpretations of Luke 12:47-48, Matthew 5:26/Luke 12:59

I already reported how the above verses were interpreted in an ‘universalist’ way by Theodore of Mopsuestia and Gregory of Nyssa in another post: https://ancientafterlifebelifs.blogspot.com/2026/02/on-justice-and-infinite-torment.html

In this post, I’ll provide evidence, however, that they were, in ancient times, interpreted in a different way, a way that suggested an infinite duration of eschatological punishment.

Barsanuphius of Gaza (fl. 6th century), Babai the Great (fl. 7th century) and Dionysius bar Salibi (fl. 12th century) on Mt 5:26/Lk 12:59

there is a paper by A. Pirtea in Academia ("Origenism and the Memory of Evagrius Ponticus during the Syriac Renaissance: Dionysius bar Ṣalībī’s Commentary on the Chapters on Knowledge", link: https://www.academia.edu/129664834/Origenism_and_the_Memory_of_Evagrius_Ponticus_during_the_Syriac_Renaissance_Dionysius_bar_%E1%B9%A2al%C4%ABb%C4%AB_s_Commentary_on_the_Chapters_on_Knowledge ) in which three eastern writers argue against an universalist interpretation of Mt 5:26/Lk 12:59 and try to read Evagrius Ponticus as a supporter of the view that punishments are endless. Here are the quotes:

"For although it is promised that a person may eventually come out of prison, nevertheless it is ordained that no one can come out from there unless each one pays back even the last penny. But if not even one penny, which is the penalty of the smallest sin (quod est minimi peccati poena), is remitted until it is atoned for in prison by means of punishments, how is it possible for someone to be set free by the hope of being exempted from punishment, or how will he regard the gift of grace as a license to sin?" (Barsanuphius of Gaza, Letter 607)

"His [Evagrius’] statement is [directed] against the evil Origenist thought hat is fully assured by the empty hope that there is no judgment and no punishment, but that all human beings will cast their bodies off on the last day and will be united with God in one nature. For he rebukes them from the Scriptures, [showing] that all evil-doers will inherit punishment forever, together with Satan, their father, and that they will receive retribution for every small fault [resulting from] transgressing the Law" (Babai the Great, commenting on a passage of Evagrius Ponticus* which quotes Mt 5:26)

"He [Evagrius] demonstrates here that there is no end to judgment. The ‘last penny’ is the extended retribution of the sin that has not been corrected in this world by way of repentance" (Dionysius bar Salibi, commenting the same passage)

*For reference here is the passage from Evagrius:

"In the world to come, no one will escape from the prison in which he will fall. For it is said, “You will not get out of there until you give the last penny” (Matthew 5:26), which is the retribution for a small fault" (Chapter of Knowledge, 1.40)

Basil of Caesarea (fl. 4th century) on Lk 12:47-48

“Question: If one will be punished with many beatings and one with few, how can some say that there will not be an end to punishment?

Answer: Things that seem ambiguous and expressed in a veiled way in some passages of the Scripture inspired by God are clarified on the basis of the more explicit words found in other passages. Now, in a passage the Lord says that these will go to αἰώνιος punishment, in another passage he sends some to αἰώνιον fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, and yet another time he mentions the Gehenna of fire and adds: “where their worm does not die and their fire is not extinguished”; again, the prophet has foretold, con­cerning some, that “their worm will not die and their fire will not be extin­guished.” In divinely inspired Scripture there are these and similar passages in many places. But, for a deception of the devil, many people, as though they forgot these and similar statements of the Lord, adhere to the conception of the end of punishment, out of an audacity that is even superior to their sin. For, if at a certain moment there is an end to αἰώνιος punishment, αἰώνιος life will certainly have an end as well. And if we do not admit of thinking this concerning life, what reason should there be for assigning an end to αἰώνιος punishment? In fact, the charac­terisation of αἰώνιος is equally ascribed to both. For Jesus states: “These will go to αἰώνιος punishment, and the righteous to life αἰώνιος.”

 

If one accepts this, one must understand that the expressions “One will be punished with many sufferings,” or “with few,” do not indicate an end, but a difference in punishment. For, if the Lord is a righteous judge, he is so not only with the virtuous, but also with the wicked, and renders to each one according to one’s deeds. One may deserve the eternal fire, and this, milder or stronger; one may deserve the worm that does not die, and his such a to cause more or less suffering, in accord with each one’s desert; and another may deserve the Gehenna, which is similarly differentiated in its kinds of punishments, and another person may deserve the outer darkness, where one may be found only in weeping, another also in the gnashing of teeth, accord­ing to the duration of these punishments. And it seems indeed to be the case that there are an outer and an inner darkness. And the Proverbs’ expression, “down to the bottom of hell,” indicates that there are some who are in hell, to be sure, but not on its bottom; these undergo a less severe punishment. Now, too, it is possible to notice something of the sort in bodily illnesses: one has fever along with other symptoms and suffering; another has only fever; the latter is not found in the same situation as the former; and yet another one has no fever, but is afflicted by some suffering in his limbs, and this one too, in turn, has more or less pain than another one. Now, also what the Lord said, “with many or few pains,” was said according to the established custom […] Likewise, the expression “to be tortured by many or few punishments” should not be understood—I repeat—in the sense of an extension in time or a fulfilment in time, but in the sense of a differentiation in punishments.” (Reg. brev. 267 PG 31.1264C-1265D; trans. Ramelli, source: https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2020/02/07/committing-theological-fraud-st-basil-the-great-and-david-bentley-hart/ )

Tertullian (fl. 3rd century)

“In short, inasmuch as we understand the prison pointed out in the Gospel to be Hades, Matthew and as we also interpret the uttermost farthing to mean the very smallest offense which has to be recompensed there before the resurrection, no one will hesitate to believe that the soul undergoes in Hades some compensatory discipline, without prejudice to the full process of the resurrection, when the recompense will be administered through the flesh besides.” (A Treatise on the Soul, chapter 58, source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0310.htm . Earlier in the same work he pointed out (chapter 35) that the sect of Carpocrates, a gnostic sect of his time, also interpreted the text as referring to temporary punishments. But they believed that after the punishments, the souls of the sinners would transmigrate.)

Here we see a similar view to the one that the Catholic Church developed about Purgatory. That is, that some souls would experience temporary punishments before entering to the Kingdom of God at the resurrection.

 

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