No Repentance in Hell
Reflecting on the Future Abode of the Wicked
According to the Bible, what will hell be like?
The descriptions are awful, and the occupants are unsettling. Jesus said “the devil and his angels” would be there (Matt. 25:41). He taught that the unrighteous would be there (25:41–46). John the apostle described it as “the second death” (Rev. 21:8) and the “lake of fire” (20:15). It is a place of unceasing punishment (20:10; Matt. 25:46), and thus it is a place from which there is no escape.
Growing up, I used to imagine that those who go to hell would, at some point (and probably sooner than later), come to their senses and repent. If the prodigal in the parable (Luke 15:11–32) came to his senses when he was eating pig slop, surely the horrors of hell would provoke deep sorrow and repentance.
Have you ever wondered whether there will be repentance in hell? Should we imagine that those in hell will eventually cry out to God for salvation, only to have their cries rejected? Will they plead for his redemption, pledge themselves to him, and renounce their wickedness, only to have their desperate cries met with divine contempt?
We should not imagine those things, because we have no biblical reason to suppose that the wicked will ever be repentant in hell.
Will they wish they weren’t in hell? Yes. Will they wish the punishment would cease? Of course. Consider the language of the rich man in Luke 16, when he says, “I am in anguish in this flame” (Luke 16:24), and he describes his abode as “this place of torment” (16:28).
Jesus described the emotions of hell’s occupants when he said, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 13:41–42; see also 24:51).
Should we imagine this “weeping” as being tears of repentance? No repentance is specified. Weeping is not the only thing mentioned. We read about weeping and gnashing of teeth. Together, that pair of descriptions—tears and teeth—is an image of distress and rage. The “gnashing of teeth” denotes rage and hostility. The inhabitants of hell are hostile, angry, rageful.
Hell is full of hardened hearts. And repentance doesn’t flow from a hardened heart. Repentance is a gift of God. It is a work of the Holy Spirit. And in the New Testament, repentance is unto salvation. There is never true repentance without salvation. Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38). When addressing those who might be oppositional to the gospel, Paul said, “God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will” (2 Tim. 2:25–26). And, of course, Paul is talking about people alive on earth, not about people in hell.
Faith and repentance are the result of the gracious work of the Spirit, as the Lord opens our eyes to see the ugliness of our sin and the beauty of redemption. He convicts us, and we experience genuine contrition, a godly sorrow. According to Paul, “godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2 Cor. 7:10).
If there is any grief in hell, it is a worldly grief and not a godly grief. Godly grief produces repentance, the repentant are saved, and God is glorified because his Spirit’s merciful work illuminates the sinner’s heart and reveals the glory of Christ to him.
It is unthinkable that repentant people would not be saved. And because those in hell will not be delivered from their judgment, there can be no genuine repentance in them. The Spirit will not produce repentance in the heart of the wicked who cannot be redeemed from the second death.
There will not be any saving grace or common grace in hell. There will only be the unrestrained rage of the godless, who, in their unending unrepentance, will indulge their blasphemies and hatred to the uttermost. If heaven is a place of love and hope, hell is a place of hate and despair.
Those in hell will never desire to worship God. They will never love the Lord. They will never repent. Instead, their hardness of heart will bear the fruit of all the horrors of sin. The wicked in hell will be embodiments of iniquity, living manifestations of spiritual darkness. They will never want to flee to Christ, for they will despise him and blaspheme him forever.
When we reflect on the abode of the wicked, let us rejoice that there is Good News of a Savior who welcomes sinners to him even now. When people flee to Christ, he will never refuse them. In fact, he saves them and keeps them—forever.
Mitch Chase
Following Jesus in Louisville with my family, pastoring Kosmosdale Baptist Church, teaching biblical studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, writing about what I love
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