1885 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

of them for more than thirty years.They have always admitted that thesame Greek word used with reference toboth the righteous and the wicked in thisplace, must have the same force in eachcase, as to duration; that the "everlasting"punishment of the one class willbe just as long as the "eternal" life ofthe other. And they have always claimedit not a question of duration, but of thenature of the punishment, and it has beenvery common among them to explainMatt. 25:46, by quoting Paul's languagein 2 Thess. 1:9, making the everlastingpunishment in the one text theexact equivalent of the everlasting destructionin the other, absolutely withoutlimit. And they have constantly emphasizedthe utter hopelessness of thepunishment by explaining that the Greekword is kolasin, which means, literally,to cut off, or lop off, as when a limb, orthe branches of trees are cut or loppedoff; this being everlasting, could notpossibly admit of the idea of limitation.I am perfectly sure, dear brother, thatyou would not knowingly misrepresentany one's views.Yours in Jesus,Our glorious Lord and Living Head,R. WAKEFIELD.P.S. I would add, that the Adventists,in speaking of the "everlastingfire," v. 41, claimed that, even if forcedto allow that the fire was everlasting, thesame word, aionion, being used, still,the office of fire being not to preserve,but to destroy, it would prove beyond apossible question, that the wicked beingcast into the fire, they must inevitablyperish. And further, as it was well understoodthat aionion has, sometimes, alimited signification, it was suggestedthat the fire having done its work of destructionmight then (supposing it to beliteral) be permitted to go out, in perfect