Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We Made Up

by Francis Chan

The noun is used in 1 John 4:18. Here, John says that “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment (kolasis).” The context here is “the day of judgment” (v. 17), and John is contrasting love with fear. Love enables one to be confident on the day of judgment (v. 17), while fear instills that nagging sense that one will receive punishment (kolasis) on the day of judgment. The sense of “correction” wouldn’t make sense. The verb form of kolasis (kolazo) is used two times in the New Testament: Acts 4:21 and 2 Peter 2:9. Both of these contexts demand that the word be translated “punishment.” For its use in Jewish literature, see especially Wis. 16:1–2, where the verb kolazo is used synonymously with the verb basanizo, which means torment. Retributive punishment is clearly in view. See also T. Reub. 5:5; T. Gad 7:5 (though these texts have been edited by Christians). A related Hebrew expression is used throughout the Dead Sea Scrolls to mean punishment as well (see 1QS 2:15; 5:13; 1QM 1:5; 9:5–6; 4Q510 1:7). See W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison Jr., Matthew (The International Critical Commentary) (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2004), 3.432.