What Christ Teaches Concerning Future Retribution §5 X fate of the wicked is not an arbitrary (much less a vindictive) infliction, but the necessary consequence of their own sins. Taking the passages in their order, in M att . 5:22; Christ speaks of causeless anger against, and contemptuous condem nation of, others as placing us “in danger of the hell of fire, ' while in verses 29 and 30 He utters a similar warning concern ing the sin of lust; and these are in the Sermon on the Mount, which is the most generally accepted part of His teaching 1 In chapter 8:12 He speaks of unbelieving “children of the King dom” being “cast forth into the outer darkness”, and adds, “There shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth”—expres sions which are repeated in chapters 22:13 and 25:30. In chapter 10:28 Jesus said: “Fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”—a wholesome fear which is de cidedly lacking in the present day, and which many people regard as a remnant of superstition quite unsuited to this en lightened age! In our Lord’s own explanation of the parable of the tares and wheat, He declared: “The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His king dom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and. shall cast them into the furnace of fire,; there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth. The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the righteous, and shall cast them into, the furnace of fire.; there shall, be the weeping and gnashing of teeth” (chapter 13:41, 42, 49, 50). In chapter 23:15 He speaks of the hypocritical Pharisees as ^chil dren ofJheJl ” showing that their^cQpduct had fitted them for it, and that they would “go to their own place”, like Judas (whom He describes as “the son of perdition” in John 17:12), while in verse 33 He asks: “How shall ye escape the judg ment of hglL?” The law of retribution can no more be re pealed than that of gravitation; it is fixed and unalterable. That hell has not been prepared for human beings, but that they prepare themselves for it, is clear from the sentence / ¡ \ /
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