ACC ~ Revelation 20 v14

IT WOULD BE BETTER FOR THE WICKED WERE THEY NOT TO RISE. APHRAHAT: It is right for us to be afraid of the second death, that which is full of weeping and gnashing of teeth and of groanings and miseries, that which is situated in outer darkness. But blessed shall be the faithful and the righteous in that resurrection, in which they expect to be awakened and to receive the good promises made them. But as for the wicked who are not faithful, in the resurrection woe to them, because of that which is laid up for them! It would be better for them, according to the faith that they possess, were they not to rise. For the servant for whom his Lord is preparing stripes and bonds, while he is sleeping desires not to awake, for he knows that when the dawn shall have come and he shall awake, his Lord will scourge and bind him. But the good servant, to whom his Lord has promised gifts, looks expectantly for the time when dawn shall come and he shall receive presents from his Lord. DEMONSTRATIONS 8.19.

THE DEVIL WILL BE SENT TO THE LAKE OF FIRE. AUGUSTINE: In this verse, “hell and death” stand for the devil (together with the entirety of his followers) inasmuch as he is the author of death and of the torments of hell. CITY OF GOD 20.15.

TOTAL DEATH. AUGUSTINE: There is also a total death for a person, a death of body and soul, namely, when a soul, abandoned by God, abandons the body. In this case, the soul has no life from God and the body no life from the soul. The consequence of such total death is the second death, so called on the authority of divine Revelation. This is the death that our Savior meant when he said, “Be afraid of him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Since this second death does not occur until soul and body are reunited, never to be separated again, you might wonder how the body is said to die by a death in which it is not deserted by the soul but rather is given a life by the soul to feel the torment it endures. For in a person’s last and everlasting punishment the soul is rightly said to be dead when its life from God is gone, but, since the body’s life depends on the soul, how can the body be said to be dead? If the body were dead, it could not feel the bodily torments that are to be felt after the resurrection. It is because life of every kind is good, and pain is evil, that we decline to say that that body lives, in which the soul is the cause, not of life, but of pain?The soul, then, lives by God when it lives well, for it cannot live well unless God is the cause of its good works. The body, however, takes its life from the soul when the soul is alive in the body, whether the soul is receiving any life from God or not. … It is true that when a person is finally damned, he does not lose sensation; nevertheless, because his feelings are not gentle enough to give pleasure nor soothing enough to be restful but are purifying to the point of pain, they can more properly be called death rather than life. The reason why this death of damnation is called a second death is that it comes after that first death, which is a divorce of two natures meant to be in union, whether God and the soul or the soul and the body. It can be said of the first death, the death of the body, that it is good for saints and bad for sinners, but of the second that is certainly good for no one and nonexistent for the saints. CITY OF GOD 13.2.

NO ONE WHO DIES WILL DIE AGAIN. APRINGIUS OF BEJA: This is to show that since death has been overtaken no one will die again. Moreover, since the nether region has been condemned, hell will find no one further whom it might receive. TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 20.14.

THE SECOND DEATH HAS SIN AS ITS CAUSE. OECUMENIUS: Once the resurrection has happened and each soul has received its own body, death, namely, the formless, disembodied life of souls in death is destroyed. [The passage] describes this in a figurative manner and speaks of their destruction symbolically when it says that death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The prophet Hosea also speaks similarly, saying, “Where is your penalty, O death? Where, O hades, is your sting?”“This is,” it says, “the second death, the lake of fire.” In previous passages it spoke of physical death, that is, the separation of the soul and the body as the first death, while the second death was the spiritual death, punishment and torment, which has sin as its cause. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 20.13-21.2.

THE EVIL POWERS WILL BE CONDEMNED. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: Death and hades are thrown into the lake of fire. This shows either that “the last enemy to be destroyed is death” or that the evil powers who are the friends of the death caused by sin and who have their abode in hades and escort their followers there will be condemned to this fire. For just as the inhabitants are encompassed in the term city, so also those worthy of death and hades are included in the terms death and hades. However, that fire has no destructive power over those who have been born of God and are exceptionally good. It is written, “God did not make death.” For this reason, this passage signifies that death and corruption shall be no more but that incorruptibility and immortality will reign. And it should not amaze if all who are not written in the Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire. For just as with the Father there are many mansions for those being saved, so also there are distinctions among the places and manners of punishment. Some punishments will be more harsh, some more endurable, which those not worthy to be in the Book of Life will suffer. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 20.14-15.

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