The texts most strongly urged as teaching the annihilation theory,
if rightly interpreted, will be seen to refer to removal from off
the earth, and not to future retribution. Here are the principal
passages:
Psa. 37:20--"But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the
Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke
shall they consume away." This psalm is written for the encouragement
of Israel and against her enemies and their power on the earth. This
earthly power shall be utterly broken, and be of no more account
than the smoke of a burnt sacrifice. The great truth taught here
is that the earth is the inheritance of the saints, and that the
wicked shall have no part in it.
Obadiah 16--" . . . And they shall be as though they had not been."
These words are taken from the vision regarding Edom, and refer
to the destruction of the Edomites and their land, and not to the
future of the wicked in the next life.
In speaking of the "everlasting punishment" with which the wicked
will be visited, as recorded in 2 Thess. 1:9, the annihilationist
would say that reference is made to the "results or consequences"
of that punishment and not to the punishment itself. But the
Scriptures state that it is the "punishment" itself, and not the
consequences, that is everlasting.
No such interpretation as that put upon these passages by those holding
the annihilation theory can be maintained by sound exegesis. What
need is there of a resurrection if the wicked are to be annihilated
at death, or why should they be raised from the dead if only to
be at once extinguished for ever? Again, there is no such thing
as "unconscious" punishment. You cannot punish anything that is
unconscious. Can you punish a stone or a house? Punishment can
take place only where there is consciousness on the part of the
one suffering.