On the possible outcomes in the case of actual eternal damnation

 

On the possible outcomes in the case of actual eternal damnation

What follows can be applied to all theistic views that accept the possibility of an actual eternal damnation for human beings or, more generally, rational beings. I'll focus more on Christian theologies that accept the concept of eternal damnation, but similar considerations can be applied to theologies belonging to other theistic traditions that accept a good, loving God and some form of eternal damnation.

In the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, we read that Jesus says that, in the case of Judas Iscariot, the betrayer, it would be better if he was never born (cf. Mark 14:21; Matthew 26:24). These words, I believe more than others, seem to affirm that salvation isn’t possibly anymore in the case of Judas Iscariot and, presumably, other sinners. Their fate, hence, might be that which can be well described by the Biblical expression ‘eternal ruin’ (2 Thessalonians 1:9). 

Even theologians that have believed in God’s universal love, indeed, have affirmed that it is possible that some human beings will condemn themselves in a state of incurability. We might quote opinions of many theologians but, by way of example, I quote a contemporary theologian and an ancient theologian: Pope Benedict XVI and St. John of Damascus.

“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.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi, 45; source: https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi.html )

“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 (cf. Mark 14:21; Matthew 26:24). May God be gracious to us, and deliver us from such desertion.” (John of Damascus, An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, 2:29; source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/33042.htm )

The problem is, then, to understand what might happen to those who experience ‘eternal damnation’, if we assume that such a state is indeed possible. We have also to take consider that, according to the Gospels, it seems that God loves His enemies (cf. Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 6:27-36).

On one hand, if the damned still have the capacity to repent, it seems impossible for me to accept the fact that, if a sincere repentance occurs, God wouldn’t free them from the sentence of eternal damnation. How could a good God allow that people that turned their will to the good will continue to be in torment forever? Furthermore, if good rational beings continue to suffer forever, it appears that this would imply that evil persists forever in the final state of creation precisely in the form of suffering of these rational beings turned to the good.

On the other hand, if the damned lose the capacity to repent, I can’t understand why God doesn’t avoid for them a state of perpetual conscious torment – without hope and without end – which is worse than non-existence. Furthermore, if they remain rational beings, this inability to repent seems to mean that they will continue to sin forever and, therefore, sin will be part of the final eschatological reality.  I believe, indeed, that if the capacity to repent is irreversibly lost, there are two other possible outcomes in which the damned still experience an eternal punishment because in both cases they experience an infinite loss:

1.       We might think that God would choose annihilation for the damned in order to avoid that they experience a state of perpetual torment which is worse than non-existence. This would be a sort of ‘eschatological euthanasia’ where a lesser evil (annihilation) is allowed in order to avoid a worse evil (a perpetual conscious torment). This seems to be consistent with what the Gospels seem to affirm, i.e. that God loves His enemies (cf. Matthew 5:43-8; Luke 6:27-36) and arguably this would imply that God would choose to actualize the lesser evil, if possible. After all, even annihilation is an eternal and irreversible punishment as it is an infinite loss. If the divine justice requires the application of an infinite punishment, annihilation (possibly preceded by a limited period of conscious torments proportional to the gravity of sins) seems to be a permissible option

2.        Another possibility might be a final state of natural beatitude for the damned, which would still be an irreversible and infinite loss of an infinite good (since the damned would be still excluded forever from the Kingdom of God and lose rationality). This state of final natural beatitude may be preceded by a limited period of conscious torments proportional to the gravity of sins. It should be noted that in this outcome, the damned have ceased to be rational beings and, hence, they forever exist in a ‘lower form’ without rationality (so, in a sense, they are destroyed as rational beings) and arguably without the ability to truly sin (if they persist forever in sin, sinning becomes part of the final state of creation…). Of course, if it is not possible to exist forever in a state of natural beatitude, the other option that seems to me more acceptable seems to me to be annihilation, as I said before. Indeed, if we take the statement about Judas  literally, even this option of a 'final natural beatitude' might be too 'optimistic', after all. 

Or, of course, it might be the case that some rational beings are totally annihilated and others 'reduced' to a state of natural beatitude. 

The idea that it may be possible an annihilation after a limited period of conscious torment seems to have been supported by the ‘Old Man’ quoted by St. Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho:

“But I do not say, indeed, that all souls die; for that were truly a piece of good fortune to the evil. What then? The souls of the pious remain in a better place, while those of the unjust and wicked are in a worse, waiting for the time of judgment. Thus some which have appeared worthy of God never die; but others are punished so long as God wills them to exist and to be punished.” (Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 5; source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01281.htm )

Regarding the position of ‘final natural beatitude’ as the final state for the damned, it has been advanced by the theologian Jacques Maritain: https://afkimel.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/maritain-beginning-with-a-reverie.pdf



Comments

  1. boundless93August 10, 2026 at 4:17 PM

    It appears that the Catholic theologians of the Middle Ages allowed the possibility that the *intensity* of the torments for the damned might decrease even if damnation remains unending. For an in depth discussion about this see this lecture and debate among contemporary Catholic thinkers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vz8tdZam6s

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