The allowance of damnation: Irenaeus of Lyons and John of Damascus
The allowance
of damnation: Irenaeus of Lyons and John of Damascus
According
to some, the idea that ‘unending damnation’ (either as unending torments or
permanent annihilation) is merely allowed and not ‘imposed’ by God is a
recent idea. However, in what follows, I provide some quotes from Irenaeus of
Lyons (fl. 2nd century) and John of Damascus (fl. 8th
century) that seem to imply that, indeed, if there is such a thing as ‘unending
damnation’ it might, indeed, be allowed by God rather than truly imposed.
The idea
might be compared to the following scenario: let’s say that someone decides to
smoke. If the person continues to smoke, it becomes harder and harder to quit
smoking as time passes. At the extreme limit, it might be the case that the
obstinate smoker reaches a point in which ceasing to smoke becomes impossible.
At that point, it might be argues that even with the help of others, the smoker
can’t stop smoking.
In a
similar way, it might be the case that sinning might lead to become ‘addicted’
to sin. Each time one sins, it becomes easier to sin again. It is notable that
even in the Gospels, the state of sinners is compared to an illness[1]
and to a condition of enslavement[2].
It might be the case that a sinner can reach the point in which changing his or
her will becomes impossible (we might suppose that in such a state even God
can’t ‘cure’ the sinner). So, for instance, Pope Benedict XVI (1927-2022), in
his Encyclical ‘Spe Salvi’ wrote:
“With death, our life-choice becomes
definitive—our life stands before the judge. Our choice, which in the course of
an entire life takes on a certain shape, can have a variety of forms. There can
be people who have totally destroyed their desire for truth and readiness to
love, people for whom everything has become a lie, people who have lived for
hatred and have suppressed all love within themselves. This is a terrifying
thought, but alarming profiles of this type can be seen in certain figures of
our own history. In such people all would be beyond remedy and the destruction
of good would be irrevocable: this is what we mean by the word Hell.”
(source: https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi.html )
As I will
proceed to show, the idea that sinning is a damage to oneself and that one
might reach the point of losing one’s ability to change one’s will is not new.
Indeed, it seems that both Irenaeus of Lyons and John of Damascus believed that
(1) it is possible that one can reach the ‘point of no return’ during this life
and (2) the punishment isn’t imposed directly from God but, rather, it is the
consequence of the disordered condition, the ruined nature of the soul (or to
make another analogy: the soul of the damned is like a burnt seed).
Irenaeus
of Lyons
From
‘Against Heresies’:
“But he who shall reject it, and prove himself
ungrateful to his Maker, inasmuch as he has been created, and has not
recognised Him who bestowed [the gift upon him], deprives himself of [the
privilege of] continuance for ever and ever. And, for this reason, the Lord
declared to those who showed themselves ungrateful towards Him: If you have
not been faithful in that which is little, who will give you that which is
great? indicating that those who, in this brief temporal life, have shown
themselves ungrateful to Him who bestowed it, shall justly not receive from Him
length of days for ever and ever.” (Irenaeus of Lyons, Against All Heresies,
book 2, 34.3; source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103234.htm )
“And to as many as continue in their love
towards God, does He grant communion with Him. But communion with God is life
and light, and the enjoyment of all the benefits which He has in store. But on
as many as, according to their own choice, depart from God, He inflicts that
separation from Himself which they have chosen of their own accord. But
separation from God is death, and separation from light is darkness; and
separation from God consists in the loss of all the benefits which He has in
store. Those, therefore, who cast away by apostasy these forementioned things,
being in fact destitute of all good, do experience every kind of punishment.
God, however, does not punish them immediately of Himself, but that punishment
falls upon them because they are destitute of all that is good. Now, good
things are eternal and without end with God, and therefore the loss of these is
also eternal and never-ending. It is in this matter just as occurs in the case
of a flood of light: those who have blinded themselves, or have been blinded by
others, are for ever deprived of the enjoyment of light. It is not, [however],
that the light has inflicted upon them the penalty of blindness, but it is that
the blindness itself has brought calamity upon them: and therefore the Lord
declared, “He that believes in Me is not condemned”, that is, is not
separated from God, for he is united to God through faith. On the other hand,
He says, “He that believes not is condemned already, because he has not
believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God”; that is, he
separated himself from God of his own accord. “For this is the condemnation,
that light has come into this world, and men have loved darkness rather than
light. For every one who does evil hates the light, and comes not to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that does truth comes to the light,
that his deeds may be made manifest, that he has wrought them in God.””
(Irenaeus of Lyons, Against all Heresies, book 5, 27.2; source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103527.htm )[3]
The second
quote, in particular, states that God does not punish the ‘damned’ immediately
by Himself but, rather, the punishment falls upon them because they are
destitute of all good. He also compares the damned to people who are blind and
cannot see the light of the sun: it is not the sun that make them blind but,
rather, it is the damage of their own eyes that keep them from seeing.
John of
Damascus
From the
‘Exposition of the Orthodox Faith’:
“Now there are two forms of desertion: for
there is desertion in the matters of guidance and training, and there is
complete and hopeless desertion. The former has in view the restoration and
safety and glory of the sufferer, or the rousing of feelings of emulation and
imitation in others, or the glory of God: but the latter is when man, after God
has done all that was possible to save him, remains of his own set purpose
blind and uncured, or rather incurable, and then he is handed over to utter
destruction, as was Judas (Matthew 26:24). May God be gracious to us, and
deliver us from such desertion.” (Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, 2.29;
source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/33042.htm )
From
‘Against the Manicheans’:
“And so we know, that God does not punish
anyone in the future, but everyone makes themselves receptive to share in God.
And so to share in God is a delight, while not sharing in Him is hell.”
(“Against the Manicheans”, PG 94:1545D-1548A; source: https://preachersinstitute.com/2013/12/04/st-john-of-damascus-on-hell/ )
“… after death, there is no means for
repentance, not because God does not accept repentance – He cannot deny Himself
nor lose His compassion – but the soul does not change anymore … people after
death are unchangeable, so that on the one hand the righteous desire God and
always have Him to rejoice in, while sinners desire sin though they do not have
the material means to sin … they are punished without any consolation. For what
is hell but the deprivation of that which is exceedingly desired by someone? Therefore,
according to the analogy of desire, whoever desires God rejoices and whoever
desires sin is punished.” (“Against the Manicheans”, PG 94:1573??; source: https://preachersinstitute.com/2013/12/04/st-john-of-damascus-on-hell/ )
““God forever supplies good things even to the
devil, but he does not want to receive it. And in eternity God supplies good
things to all because He is the source of good things gushing forth goodness to
all, while everyone makes themselves receptive, and they share in the good …
those who do not have habitual pleasures and suffer without being healed,
without God making hell, but because we lay out hell for ourselves, and indeed
nor did God make death, but we ourselves caused this for us.”” (“Against the Manicheans”,
PG 94:1569B; source: https://preachersinstitute.com/2013/12/04/st-john-of-damascus-on-hell/ )
Other translation
of ‘Against Manicheans’ with fuller context (the provided link also has the
Greek text):
“44 And this one must know, that God does not
punish anyone in the future, but each one makes himself receptive of
participation in God. And participation in God is delight, but
non-participation in him is punishment; and here God does not bring on temptations
to punish, but to discipline and to heal evil, so that we may know him and turn
back and attain his holiness. “For the discipline of the Lord opens my ears.””
(Against the Manicheans, 44, source: https://catholiclibrary.org/library/view?docId=/Fathers-Synchronized-EN/John_of_Damascus__Contra_Manichaeos.en.html;chunk.id=00000029
)
“71 God always provides good things also to the
devil, but he does not will to receive them. And in the age to come God gives
good things to all; for he is a fountain of good things gushing forth goodness
to all, but each one, according as he has prepared himself to be receptive,
partakes of the good. Here, then, having our desire set on other things and
obtaining them, we may take some pleasure, but there, when "God may be all
in all," there being no food, no drink, nor any carnal pleasure nor any
injustice, those who have neither their accustomed pleasures nor are receptive
of the things of God, will suffer incurably, not because God has inflicted
punishment, but because we have prepared the punishment for ourselves, since
God did not make death, but we have brought it upon ourselves. ” (Against
the Manicheans, 71, source: https://catholiclibrary.org/library/view?docId=/Fathers-Synchronized-EN/John_of_Damascus__Contra_Manichaeos.en.html;chunk.id=00000043
; https://catholiclibrary.org/library/view?docId=/Fathers-Synchronized-EN/John_of_Damascus__Contra_Manichaeos.en.html;chunk.id=00000047)
“He revealed to us, but that which it was
profitable for us to know; but that which it was not profitable for us to know,
He concealed. Let us not then hold God to account; for He Himself is the judge
and He Himself is the fount of good things, and there is nothing good, unless
it is what He Himself wills, just as there is no light unless it is what
springs from the sun. 75 God Himself, then, being good and compassionate by
nature, does not will sin, He does not will the death of the sinner nor is He
pleased at the destruction of the living nor is He possessed by the passion of
anger or punishes, but He gushes forth good things to all. He who desires
receives, and the good man obtains good things; and in this life there is a
certain economy and governance and unspeakable providence calling sinners to
conversion and repentance, but after death there is no longer turning, no
longer repentance, not that God does not accept repentance—for He cannot deny
Himself nor does He cast off compassion—but the soul no longer turns.
Wherefore, even if one performs all righteous deeds and, turning back, sins and
departs from life desiring sin, he will die in his sin. Likewise also the
sinner, if he repents and dies in his repentance, his sins shall not be
remembered. For just as the demons after their fall do not repent nor do the
angels now sin, but both have received immutability, so also men after death
have immutability, and the righteous, desiring God and having Him always,
rejoice in Him, but the sinners, desiring sin and not having the materials of
sin, being devoured as if by fire and a worm, are punished, having no
consolation. For what is punishment if not the deprivation of what is desired?
In proportion then to their desire, those desiring God rejoice and those desiring
sin are punished; for those who obtain what is desired rejoice according to the
measure of their desire, and those who fail to obtain it are pained according
to the measure of their desire.” (Against the Manicheans, 74-75, source: https://catholiclibrary.org/library/view?docId=/Fathers-Synchronized-EN/John_of_Damascus__Contra_Manichaeos.en.html;chunk.id=00000047
)
[1] Cf. Mark 2:17, Matthew 9:12-13;
Luke 5:31-32
[2] “ Jesus
replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
(John 8:34, NIV translation. Source: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%208%3A34&version=NIV )
[3] The analogy of blindness is also
present in Theophilus of Antioch (2nd century):
“For
God is seen by those who are enabled to see Him when they have the eyes of
their soul opened: for all have eyes; but in some they are overspread, and do
not see the light of the sun. Yet it does not follow, because the blind do not
see, that the light of the sun does not shine; but let the blind blame
themselves and their own eyes. So also you, O man, have the eyes of your soul
overspread by your sins and evil deeds.” (To Autolycus, book 1, chapter 2;
source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02041.htm )
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