Gathering up into one view a few other solemn .statements about the ruin of the unbelieving, which we rind in Scripture — and apart from Scripture we
know absolutely nothing of the matter, as we know neither the nature nor the results of sin — we see that there are persons who " die in their sins" (John viii, 24), who "have no forgiveness" (Matt, xii, 31), "God's wrath abideth on them" (John iii, 36), they rise to "the resurrection of damnation" (John vi, 29), they "de- part" from Christ (Matt, vii, 23), " into outer dark- ness" (Matt, viii, 12), and into a "furnace of fire" (Matt, xiii, 50). There they reap the fruit of tlieir actions done here, being accursed and utterh* degraded. AVe know nothing about the nature of their sufferings, and we have no right to indulge in exaggerated and glowing descriptions of their future misery. All such attempts are based upon the supposition that their physical constitution will be the same then as now. But this is a most unsafe hypothesis. Physical pain now depends on the exciuisite sensitiveness of the ner- vous system, which is devised for man's benefit. Man si/JTers more than other animals because he has per- verted his nature which was constituted for him to en- joy more. The accursed will "rise with their bodies," but the constitution of those bodies may be far less sensitive. They are described as "cai'casses" in Isa. Ixvi, 24, and the word (^."iS) literall}' means that which is faint or exhausted, and so excludes the idea of strong nervous sensibility. They are in "outer dark- ness"— this seems to shut them out from spiritual and physical light and knowledge. They are " bound hand and foot," which appears to exclude the idea of any physical activity. In fact their punishment should be represented as the extreme of degradation rather than the height of suft'ering, though it is true that they suf- fer the bitterness of remorse, described as "weeping and gnashing of teeth," and that "the smoke of their torment" will be a lasting memorial of God's wrath against man's pride and ingratitude. Though we know so little about perdition, one thing is clear, that not a gleam of hope is given in Scripture to those on whom this awful sentence shall be pronounced. Their condition is represented as one from which there can be no recovery. It is sometimes argued that God's threats are eternally conditional, and that the destiny of no man even in the world to come is hopeless. At- tempts have been made to defend this hA'pothesis bj' reference to God's temporal threatenings, the accom- plishment of which has been modified \>y the repentance of the i)ersons threatened. But before this idea can be entertained it must be shown, first, that tlie finally lost are even capable of repentance or of any good thought ; secondly, that God will set a way of return — another sacrifice for sin — before them ; thirdh', that any indications can be found in Scripture that any or all of those who shall be cast into Gehenna shall be re- stored to favor ; and, lastly, those passages must l)e explained or explained away which reveal the perdi- tion of the lost as et rnal. — Fairbairn. See Punish- ment.
PERDITION, SON OF {moQ rijc a-n-wXiiac). It was common among the Jews to express a man's char- acter by calling him "the son of some abstract qual- it}'. 1 hus we read in the New Testament of tlie sons of the kingdom, the sons of light, the sons of God, the sons of the devil, the sons of this age, the sons of dis- obedience, the sons of thunder ; the children (-k-ro) of wisdom, of the promise, of wrath, of obedience, of a curse. So in the Sept. Ave read of a son of death (1 Sam. XX, 30), a son of strength (2 Sam. xiii, 28), sons of the captivity, a son of a hundred years, sons of the boAV (Lam. iii, 13), sons of wisdom (Sir. Ia', 12); children of unrighteousness (Hos. x, 9), and children of perdition (Isa. Ivii, 4). By this last expression Ave understand that perdition marks both the character and destiny of the jiei'sons spoken of. Our Lord calls Judas Iscariot "the son of perdition," and refers to his end as the fulfilment of Scripture (John xvii, 12). The best commentary on this statement is that afforded by
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St. Peter (Acts i, 20), who refers directly to Psa. Ixix as predicting tlie fate of the betrayer of the Lord. See Bex-.
But it majr be gathered from 2 Thess. ii, 3, that an- other son of perdition is to be revealed, and he is iden- tified as the Man of Sin, the great opponent of the Christian religion, who shall set himself up in the place of God. He is afterwards called "the lawless one," and his miraculous impostures are described, but he is to be destroyed at Christ's appearing. He appears to be the final incarnation of irreligion, and his character is drawn in the book of Revelation as the great de- ceiver and tormcnter of nations, who, after becoming the instrument of the destruction of the mystic Baby- lon, aims at universal despotism, forbids all worship of the true God, and defies the power of Christ; but he is to be destroj'ed and cast into the lake of fire. The terms in which this "son of perdition" is de- scribed seem to implj' that he will be a real person ; but arguing from the very figurative character of prophecy many writers have been led to an opposite conclusion. — Fairbairn. See Antichrist.