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The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

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    V. Rothe-Suffering Ends in Extinction of the Wicked

    RICHARD ROTHE (1799-1867), another noted Lutheran theologian, was successively professor at Wittenberg (1828), Bonn (1849), and Heidelberg (1854). A disciple of Schleirmacher and Neander, he combined a devout spirit with a keenly historical and critical sense, and emphasized the inseparable relationship between religion and morals. He was noted for his devotional works. His chief treatises included Theological Ethics, The Beginnings of the Christian Church, and his famous Dogmatics.CFF2 593.3

    1. PRINCIPAL CONDITIONALIST ADVOCATE IN GERMANY

    “The great Rothe was a Conditionalist,” said Dr. E. Petavel. 3030) Ibid., p. 291, note 1. And the learned Dr. S. D. F. Salmond, professor of theology, Free Church College of Aberdeen, makes this interesting observation concerning Rothe, and his Conditionalist position:CFF2 593.4

    “It is, however, in the writings of Richard Rothe of Heidelberg that this doctrine [Conditionalism] obtains, perhaps, in briefest terms its most scientific exposition. He is its principal advocate among the theologians of Germany, and it is a singular circumstance that a thinker of such rare insight as Rothe could have committed himself to a dogma which we should have judged a priori so little likely to satisfy him.” 3131) S. D. F. Salmond The Christian Doctrine of Immortality (2nd ed.), p. 607.CFF2 594.1

    2. IMMORTALITY ACQUIRED: PERSONALITY OF WICKED EXTINGUISHED

    The concept that immortality is to be acquired forms the foundation of the Rothe system-and Rothe was called the “most powerful dogmatician of our [19th] century.” Back in 1870 he had written: “It is no longer maintained that the human soul possesses immortality by virtue of a supposed simplicity of substance.” 3232) Rothe, Dogmatik (Heidelberg, 1870), vol. 3, p. 158, quoted in Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, p. 17.CFF2 594.2

    Rothe also reached the conclusion of the ultimate extinction of the personality of the wicked, as did many other Continental theologians. But Rothe held that the duration of the chastisement of a soul would be in proportion to its guilt.CFF2 594.3

    “We are obliged to admit that the sufferings endured in hell by the reprobate will in reality end, but that the end will consist in the destruction of the guilty. This idea is very ancient in the church.... This opinion alone seems capable of satisfying all the conditions. It has nothing to fear from contemporary philosophy, for men have ceased to maintain that the human soul possesses a natural immortality.” 3333) Ibid., quoted in Piper, Conditionalism, p. 203.CFF2 594.4

    3. SENSE OF “AIONIOS” Is RESTRICTED

    Inasmuch as Professor Rothe teaches the “eventual extinction” of the wicked, let us note how he answers objections:CFF2 594.5

    “At the first glance, Jesus appears to teach the endless punishment of all who enter Gehenna. This however is not the fact. The word aionios (aiwvios) which occurs in Matthew 25:41, 46, is used in the Scriptures in a more lax sense. It signifies, not an indefinitely long time, but the longest time which can belong to an object, in accordance with its nature. There are many examples of this restricted meaning: e.g., Exodus 21:6; Deuteronomy 15:17. In Jude (ver. 6, cf. 2 Peter 2:4), a stronger term... is applied to a terminable period.CFF2 594.6

    “As to the opinion of the Jews, in the time of Christ, respecting the duration of future punishment, they were not agreed on this point; and, if they had been, this does not authorize us to conclude that he followed the popular view. Eternal life and eternal death are spoken of together; but if ‘eternal’ denotes the longest time which the conception, or nature, of an object admits of, that fact presents no difficulty. Of the wicked it is only said, in Matthew 25:41, 46, that ‘during the continuance of their stay in Gehenna, their pain will not cease, without any determination of the question whether that stay will, or will not, be endless.’ The statements of Jesus in Matthew 5:26; 12:32 (cf. Mark 3:29), oblige us to restrict the sense of aionios.” 3434) Summarized in That Unknown Country, p. 59.CFF2 594.7

    4. IDEA OF ANNIHILATION IS INVOLVED

    The unpardoned will “gradually be deprived of sense and being.”CFF2 595.1

    “The terms by which the apostles denote perdition... most naturally signify annihilation of soul, as well as of body; especially as Paul (Titus 1:2; Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:9) uses aionios (aiwvios) in the looser sense of the term. Revelation 14:11; 20:10 must be understood in the light of Revelation 20:14; Revelation 17:8. The idea of annihilation is involved in many passages of the New Testament both in the gospels and the epistles, such as Matthew 10:28, 30; Matthew 7:13; John 3:15, 16; John 10:28; Philippians 1:28; Galatians 6:8; Hebrews 10:27, 39; 2 Peter 2:1, 3, 12, 19; 1 John 3:15 and many others....CFF2 595.2

    “No conceivable reason can be given why the hopelessly wicked should be kept in being: the notion that their endless suffering is required as a warning is groundless.... The only satisfactory solution of the problem is found in the supposition of a gradual wearing out and extinction of their being.” 3535) Ibid., pp. 59, 60.CFF2 595.3

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