Perdition a Word Study

64 BI Summer 2006

ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ BRITISH MUSEUM (31/26/17) to about425. crucixion; dates himself andJesus’ Judas hanging carving depicts Above: Ivory A WORDSTUDY “field ofblood.” means literallythe field. Akeldama strangers, apotters the burialsitefor used topurchase of silverwere Judas’s 30pieces Tradition holdsthat (also Aceldama). called Akeldama and thefield ing (Matt.27:3-5) suicide byhang- site ofJudas’s also thetraditional significantly, thisis crucifixion. More and afterJesus’ have hiddenduring the apostlesmay tradition heldthat a cavewhere alate Valley isbuiltover Hinnom (Gehenna) overlooking the of MountZion the southslope Onuphirius on astery ofSt. Right: Themon- Testament) uses The context. Jewish/Hebrew of inOld Testamentin light thought “Hebraism,” which meanstheword isbestunderstood resources).in squandering annihilation, ruin, utter destruction, andwastingaway (as death.” apoleia as John Milton’s derived from biblicalusage, aswell aslater literature, such after deathforthosewhoare evil. Thismeaningisclearly perdition meaning itheldinJesus’ day. Modern explain dictionaries Perdition UnderstandingGeneral troubling phrase perdition.”“son of prayer, Jesus His betrayer described usingthedarkand other disciples. Yet Judas intentions. hadevil SoinHis him—the samewayHis lifewith He hadinvested inthe betray Him. Thiswastroubling. Jesus loved Judas, sharing thetwelve,also knewoneof Judas Iscariot, wasready to men, days andknewchallenging were aheadforthem. He He loved thetwelve disciples, into poured these Himself passionately forHis beloved disciples. by theBible’s perdition). depictionof J Jesus’ thephrase useof perdition”“son of isa The New Testament word translated “perdition” (Greek, John 17recounts Jesus’ prayer earnest forHis followers. anxiety filledHisanxiety heart. Yet itall, inspite of He prayed was emotionallyexhausting forJesus. and Grief fixion were onthehorizon. Approaching thecross ESUS KNEW thatbetrayal, humiliation, andcruci- BY JOSEPHBECKLER 2 ) means “an torment and everlasting state of Other meanings rendered Othermeanings from LESSON REFERENCE as an eternal state of punishmentthatcomes asaneternal state of isaword thathasnotchanged much from the Septuagint Paradise Lost apoleia FBS: John 17:12 (the Greek translation of theOld (theGreek of translation to describe one’s to describe character. This 3

(which wasalsoinfluenced 1

apoleia include

ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ KEN TOUCHTON (3/13/17) 65 BI Summer 2006 66 BI Summer 2006 Judas, perdition orwastefulness, thesonof astheonewho perfume. However, John’s specified Gospel particularly making thiscomplaintthe discipleswith regarding wasted it onJesus’ head(26:8). the woman’s perfume, extravagant waste of asshepoured disciples usedtheword form of of form uselessness. TheNew Testament uses sense, wastingaway hellisaplace of and thing beingwasted ormadeuseless. In this light of one’s of light ancestral connection. introductionstradition were often madein .“son . of .” Judas. of inHis description In theHebrew eternal destiny. text, bothcharacter and communicating of adescription connect perdition’s with useintheOldTestament con- the Antichrist. theseNew Testament Bothof references ence to Judas and2Thessalonians2:3, to which pertains tion” ontwo occasions—John 17:12, which isJesus’ refer- (RSV). TheNew Testament usesthephrase perdi- “son of For example, Isaiah 34:5states, “the peopleIhave doomed” apoleia— road thatleadspeopleto aplace ordestiny of Matthew 7:13, forexample, abroad describes repent andwhoreject Christ. Jesus’ teaching in Such istheeternal fate for those whodo not anddeath. judgment to do with everything refers waste, to thiseternal state of which has context theNew Testament, of perdition clearly which are clearreferencesof to hell. Within the eternal destruction, death, waste, andruin—all As noted earlier, perdition refers to astate of “Perdition” as “Hell” intheNew Testament (Matt. 26:24). hehadnotbeenborn”better forthatmanif Man isbetrayed!Son of It would have been would say, woe“but to thatmanby whomthe cross. which Jesus Thiswasthebetrayal of would betray Him onthe into destruction even more dangerous. toward destruction, which makes him perdition”“son of canleadothers hell. orachildof of—destruction as beingrelated to—literally asachild perdition” Judas to describe Iscariot David,”of KJV.) Jesus used “son of Matthew 1:1—“Jesus Christ, theson was. (Forthisform, anexample see of Septuagint themeaning carries “children unrighteousness.” of The is thecaseinIsaiah 57:4where thephrase “Perdition” some- alsogives aclear senseof Following Jewish Jesus traditional form usedthephrase More troubling isthefactthat The lineagedefinedwhoaperson apoleia of ruin anddestruction. ruin of alsouses 7 4 , to describe this sense of , thissenseof to describe “wasting.” The

apoleia apoleia 6 I Jss cs, Judas case, Jesus’ In 9 apoleia apoleia Interestingly, Matthew credited to describe aperson’s to describe destiny. to voice theirprotest at 8

5

apollumi tekna apoleias , theverb over night. He wasdetained Caiaphas, where was takento his arrest, Jesus Jerusalem. After house in site ofCaiaphas’s built overthe Armenian church Upper right: evil. merciless, butnot He wasgrimand went afterdeath. shades ofmen world, where the lord oftheunder- A.D. Hadeswas 1st -2ndcenturies Roman; dates is alsocalled). (or “Pluto”ashe head ofHades Above: Bronze goes. Judas embodiedthisreality. He wasswallowed up wherever ruin he hellwholeaves of a child of atrail someone a perdition”“son of wasto say thathewas which embodieswastefulness and destruction. To call eternal ruin. Perditionof aplace, describes namelyhell, Godaswell ashisdestiny theSonof desire to betray of perdition” isareference to bothJudas’s destructive sobering. Jesus’ His disciplesa callingoneof “son of Peter rebuked himsaying, “May your silver bedestroyed purchase theHoly thepower from Sprit Simon Peter, of leads to destruction.” BecauseSimon the sorcerer to tried 7:13 refers to “the andtheroad gate isbroad iswide that destruction, namelyhell. As mentionedearlier, Matthew Testament uses, theword specificallyrefers to aplace of tion” or “destruction”) 20times. theseNew In several of wasting away asheplannedto betray Jesus. himself Judas, othersforwastefulness, criticized who wasactually scolded forwastingtheperfume(seeJohn Mary 12:1-8). The New Testament uses with you”with (Acts 8:20). Paul’s usageaswell inhis ruins others. ruins andonewho perdition—is adestroyer self of is Apollyon Revelation.personified asthedarkangelof 28:22; Ps. 88:11; andProv. 15:11). a Hebrew word (seeJob fordestruction 26:6; Greek hehasthename Apollyon.” abyss; hisnameinHebrew is Abaddon, andin states, the hadastheirkingtheangel of “They ( The New Testament alsorefers to perdition . Usage Other destruction”their own (v. 16). ungodlymen”tion of (3:7); and themto“twist not sleep” (v. 3); “day anddestruc- judgment of on themselves” (2:1); does “their destruction Exploring the meaning of perdition is themeaningof Exploring ing] heresies” and destruction swift bring “will bring indestructive andevenbring [worthless damn- apoleia Epistles relates to eternal ruin: adestiny of Abaddon to describe eternalto ruin: describe secretly will “They “objects of wrath ready“objects fordestruction” wrath of (Rom. 9:22); theirdestruc- “evidence of destruction” (v. 11). . . goto destruction” (17:8)and “goes to the beast—“The beast.the beast—“The . . isaboutto . ) by thename in Revelation regarding thedestiny of Second Peter alsouses tion” (Phil. 1:28); “their endisdestruc- , playing off of theGreek , of playing off (Heb. 10:39). perdition is of A form who draw back andare destroyed” (1 Tim. 6:9); and “we are notthose tion” (3:19); “desires, which plunge people into anddestruction” ruin , theangelwho—like thesonof 10

Abaddon/Apollyon apoleia Apollyon (translated as (translated “perdi- . Revelation 9:11 apoleia Abaddon Abaddon apoleia, often is is ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/DAVID ROGERS/BRITISH MUSEUM (565/5) ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ DR. LOUISE KOHL SMITH (32/4/14) mythological figure. “tantalize” from this We get ourword would disappear. of water, thewater bent overforadrink his grasp.Whenhe would risebeyond fruit, thebranches he reached forthe grape vine.When water beneatha stand inapoolof sentence wasto ment. Tantalus’s punish- eternal secrets brought Divulging divine secrets ofthegods. and revealed the back tohispeople and brought them nectar andambrosia table. Yet hestole comed tohisfather’s of Zeus,waswel- Tantalus, theson to thestory, ishment. According pun- tions ofeternal also hadrepresenta- Greek mythology ETERNAL PUNISHMENT IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY ETERNAL PUNISHMENTINGREEK

© JupiterImages Corporation Doctrine— 1275. Draper, 1274- andArchie eds.(Nashville:Holman Bible Publishers,2003), England,gen. Standard Bible. (Nashville: ThomasNelsonPublishers,1986),818. 1987), 299. 2005]. Available from Internet: Language asp?key=58795&dict=CALD cited 8September2005].Availablefrom Internet: Lexicon oftheNewTestament also Walter Bauer, WilliamF. Arndt,andF. WilburGingrich“ Testament) (electronic edition).(Oak William B.Eerdmans PublishingCompany, 1968),395-397. New Testament perils of perdition. has defeated from deathandcreated the eternal relief astheirLord. Christ say trust forthosewho For Jesus last word! Perdition, likewise, doesnothave thefinal theresurrected Christ.of Judas’s betrayal wasnotthe event—Jesus’ crucifixion. andhisactionswould leadtoin destruction aterrible Durango, Colorado. Joseph Becklerisachurch planter minister andresort in

10. JoachimJeremias, “ 9. R.B.Girdlestone, 8. KenMassey, “Perdition” in are noted,allScripture quotations 7. Unlessotherwise from theHolmanChristian 6. “Perdition” in 5. Oepke,397. 2. Albrecht 1. 4. George R.Beasely-Murray, 3. J.Swanson, Yet must always Christians perdition inlight view Cambridge Advanced LearnersDictionary Cambridge , Fourth Edition, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company., FourthEdition,2000by [online,cited8September electronicedition (OakHarbor, WA: LogosResearch Systems,Inc.,1998). Oepke,“ (TDNT),Gerhard Kittel,ed.,G.W. Bromiley, trans.,vol.1(GrandRapids: Dictionary of BiblicalLanguageswithSemanticDomains:Greek Dictionary Nelson’sIllustrated BibleDictionary a po j Synonyms of the Old Testament:Synonyms oftheOld TheirBearingonChristian ’ llumi v Abaddw . Seealso (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1957), 103. (Chicago:TheUniversityofChicagoPress,1957),103. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=perdition. ” “ John Holman IllustratedBibleDictionary vn a ” inTDNT, vol.1,4. Harbor, WA: LogosResearch Inc.1997).See Systems, pw j in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English The AmericanHeritageDictionaryoftheEnglish leia v Word BiblicalCommentary ” “ ’ , Cambridge University Press, 2000 [online, , CambridgeUniversityPress,2000[online, Apollu http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. wn v ” in , HerbertLockyer, gen.ed. a Theological Dictionary of the Theological Dictionaryofthe pw j leia v , vol.36(Waco: Word, , Chad Brand, Charles , ChadBrand,Charles ” in A Greek-English (New i 67 BI Summer 2006