The most significant and imjjortant passage is perhaps Mk 3^, to which reference has already been made ; and its significance does not altogether de- pend upon the closing words, in which the variation of text occurs. Assuming that the reading aluvlov aij.apTriij.aTos is correct, as we are justified in doing , it is ditficult to see what other ached to the phrase than that > <if which are permanent. An ■I 111- permanent or endless in it may be ceaselessly repeated ; mil- that it endures. And if ■ suii'osed to describe 'sinful- the meaning is practically the same ; for endless sinfulness necessarily involves endless retribution. The earlier part of the verse has its parallels in the two other Synoptists—
Mt 12=- 6s S' &v elirri Kara toO irvev/xaTos tou ayiov ovK atpe$-qff€Tai avT^ qOt€ iv Toi'Ti^ Ti^ a^wfi oihe €v
T(^ fi4W0VTL.
Mk 3-^ Ss S' 5.V /SXao-^ij/njffj e/s rb TrveO/ia t6 dyioy ouK ?xf' Siipeaiv rij rbv alava, dWd Ivoxis iar^v aiwyiov afiapTTj/jaTos.
Lk 12'° Tip Si ets rA 07101' iryeO/ia ^Xaa^irin-^aavTi ovk d<p€&ricr€Tai.
The simplest form is that of St. Luke; but it is hardly less pregnant or decisive tlian those of the other Evangelists. The blasi>hemy is per- stmal, the conscious and wilful act of a conscious and responsible being ; and therefore — unless the words are to be emptied of their force, and reduced to meaninglessness — the consequences are personal also, falling not on someone else, but on the blasphemer himself, for whom there is no place for forgiveness either in this ' age ' or in that which is to come. The reason is supplied by St. Mark, and by St. Mark only, — he ' is guilty of an eternal sin,' is liable to its penalty, and sub- ject to its consequences. The permanence of sin implies and necessitates the |)ermanent impossi-
(see abov meaning can 1 of a sin the n 'act of .sill " ( execution, tlim it is only in a/xaprrifxaTos ra nes.s ' in any
IM]\IORTALITY
IMMORTALITY
bility of fori;i\-eness. On the central and essential point tlio tin-.-,. i<<]inits nrc at our.
Tlio simiili' Miirr toi Ihr .IcKliiiir of immortality
of the ]Kii-:il.l ■ a]...r,,ly|,M> ..f Ml -Vi-" with the
sentence^ |jiiiii(>hiki-iI i>ii tin' ■sIh.h'ji' and ' goats ' and the |)ena]ties inoiured, lies in the application of identical words and phrases to describe the duration of that future into which both pass from the judgment-seat. If the fwj) of the righteous is aiiivtos, so is the KoXaan <ii the wicked (v.'^); the flre into which the hitter di'part is aluiviov also (V.*"), although this wcr.l is not applied to the Kingdom prepared for tin- riuhtt-ous (v.^'). It is surely an abuse of languaj;e to maintain that the Speaker designed to convey a ditlerent meaning in the two instances. If, as «e have seen reason to believe, the terra aiuvws carried with it the thought of the absence of an assii;iicil or assiunable end to that vista of the future eonimiplateil by the Sjieaker, or, in other words, was piaetically identical in signiticance with our ' inuuurtal,' 'eternal,' it cannot justly be shorn of this con- notation when it is applied to tlie ' punishment ' which overtakes those on the left hand of the Judge.
An expression is found in Jn 5-' which has some bearing upon this subject. Its importance for a doctrine of universal immortality must not be over- estimated ; for the stress lies again upon the paral- lelism ; but by implication, though not directly, it appears to assert the same equality of lot for all as regards the duration of the revived existence. It would not be difficult, indeed, to draw out at length a sindlar proof for tlie words avaArrrivaL and avaaraaii to that which has been attempted above for alt!>v and aiJivios ; and to show that these ex- pressions never, on the lips of Christ and in the Gospels, denote a resurreittion which is the prelude to a new life leading only to a new deatli. On the contrary, dvd<rTa(m ushers in another period and fresh conditions of existence, of which no termina- tion is contemplated or conceivable. ' All that are in the tombs . . . shall come forth.' And as the ' resurrection of life,' the portion of those who have done good, can hardly be understood to indicate a merely temporary restoration or perpetuation of existence, so no interpretation of the diffi<ult phrase ' resurrection of judgment ' will be satis- factory which postulates a distinction in this respect between the righteous and those upon whom the judgment falls.
A similar argument uiiglit not unfairly be based upon the parable of the liieh Man and 1-azarus (Lk le''""-). or the Kiim and thi' Weddine (iuests (Mt 22=-'*), viz. that the cou.litious, the data of tlie parable, do not in either ('ase suggest, liut rather by their tone deprecate the idea of alisolute annihi- lation awaiting those who, on the one hand, find no place in Abraliam's bosom, or. on tlie other, lia\e failed to fitly provide themsehes with r.ainieni meet for the wedding feast. It would, ho\M'\('i, be at the best no more than an 'n-'/inii, nhim f silentio, to which no great value conlfl !«■ .■at.ulied. The declaration of Christ also to the (Sadducees, as reported in St. Luke's Gospel, that 'all live to him' (Lk 20-'"'), though from one point of view .susceptible of a universalistic interpretation, does seem on any construction to exclude the idea that there are some who finally cease to live in any real or intelligible sense of the word. _ 'AiroWiivai,, airoSi'riirKeii', etc. It remains to con- .sider briefly the significance and implication of the terms employed in the Gospels to denote 'death,' 'perishing,' or 'destruction.' The principal of these are the verbs diroX\i5cai and ciTrofli'-^trKeii', with the cognate nouns diriiXem and Bdvaros.