Kto może zostać potępiony? Lektura kontekstualna Ap 21,8
Who Can Be Damned? A Contextual Reading of Rev 21:8

Summary/Abstract: The author of the article offers a contextual analysis of Rev 21:8. The text describes the eternal punishment using the metaphor of the fiery lake of burning sulfur. In the context of the Book of Revelation, the whole Bible and the extra-biblical sources the analysis of this image leads to the conclusion that this is a place or state of eternal damnation, deprived of hope and any possibility of changing the fate of those who are there. It is an ultimate deprivation of the possibility of communion with God. Rev 21:8 also presents a list of those who are potentially endangered with eternal damnation, which is analyzed in the light of other enumerations from the Book of Revelation (9:20-21; 21:27; 22:15). It shows that this is not a complete list, but rather a kind of portrait or model of those who can be condemned. All the faults or sins mentioned in this text – to a greater or lesser extent – refer to idolatry or are the consequence of it. Thus, they become an image of the pagan world in which Christians live and which can threaten them from within. In this context, Rev 21:8 is a type of warning for Christians called to the community of the saved. The aim of their lives is to live in the Holy City (a perfect communion with God and the Lamb), not in the “fiery lake of burning sulfur”. Christians are to live like the saved people, not like the people of this world, a pagan world immersed in idolatry. The pericope of Rev 21:8-9 read in the context of the whole Book of Revelation shows all the chances or opportunities given to Christians to participate in an unlimited eternal life.

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