This article is a response to Robert Golding’s recent essay, “Making Sense of Hell,” in which he contends for the logic of eternal punishment on the basis of a progressive and asymptotic conception of sin and sinners in hell. I will argue that this innovation is unnecessary and that both the Scriptures and the “infinite-obligation” proof by Anselm of Canterbury demonstrate that hell is just and necessary for even a single sin.

Lewis may not be entirely wrong to say that the doors to hell are locked on the inside, but in John’s vision it was Christ who was seen to hold the keys to death and Hades ( Rev 1:18). And even if hell’s inhabitants should pound on the door to gain admittance into the blessing of the Bridegroom, He will refuse them, for that door is forever shut, never to open again ( Mat 25:11-12). Lewis was right to speak of the will of men to populate hell, but he was in deadly error to suggest that the will of man eternally prevails over God.

Samuel Renihan has recently published an excellent book on the doctrine of the descent of Christ into hell. His thesis—that Christ descended to hell on the Sabbath, as stated in the ancient creeds—is one with which I was in agreement prior to reading it. What surprised me was how helpful it was devotionally.