How Long is Hell?

Perhaps you've heard someone say, “Hell can’t be eternal. I mean, God wouldn’t torture people forever — that would make Him a sadist, and God isn’t a sadist.”

I get where that comes from, and there's many similar arguments. Nobody likes the idea of eternal suffering. But when we reason along these lines, it's looking through the wrong end of the telescope because such views diminish the infinite holiness of God and magnify our assumptions and moral discomfort. Put another way: we're starting with what feels right and trying to work backward. That always leads to the same place— how bending Scripture to match our intuition instead of letting Scripture shape it.

It’s the same move I’ve heard on other hot-button issues—like when folks say, “God accepts homosexuality because that’s the loving thing to do. And God is love, after all.” Sounds nice. Feels compassionate. But both arguments follow the same flawed route:

1. Start with a human assumption about what’s “good.”

2. Project it onto God’s character.

3. Reinterpret the Bible so it matches.

That’s not how truth works. Truth defines what is good — not the other way around.

Jesus put it this way: “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (Jn. 17:17). Truth first. Then you learn what’s good—"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good" (Mic. 6:8). Then you align yourself with both (Rom. 12:2). Flip that order, and “good” becomes whatever I want it to be this week. That’s how Adam and Eve ended up believing a piece of fruit was “good” despite God clearly saying the opposite (Gen. 3:4–6). So let’s start where God starts: with what He says.

Sadism is getting pleasure from another’s pain. The Bible never says God enjoys judgment. Quite the opposite:

“As I live!” declares the Lord God, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11).

God doesn’t delight in pain. He delights in righteousness. His judgment is the necessary response of a holy God to unrepentant evil (Ex. 34:6–7). The reason Hell is eternal isn’t because God enjoys dragging it out—it’s because the seriousness of sin isn’t measured by our feelings, but by the worth and holiness of the One we’ve sinned against.

Jesus didn’t leave Hell’s duration vague:“These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46).

Same Greek word (aiōnios) for “eternal” is used for both life and punishment. If life is forever, punishment is too.

John wrote:“The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night…” (Rev. 14:11).

Paul wrote:“These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thess. 1:9).

The duration isn’t fuzzy. I don't know how it could be plainer.

By the way, that word “eternal” — aiōnios — is also used of God Himself:“…according to the commandment of the eternal God…” (Rom. 16:26).

So if you’re going to ask, “How long is Hell?” you might as well ask, “How long is God?” Same word. Same scope. You can’t shrink Hell without also shrinking Heaven and God Himself.

The “God is not a sadist” argument sounds like it’s defending His character, but it’s actually redefining it. It makes our feelings the standard of divine justice. But if you start with sentiment, you end up with a god made in your image.

The God of Scripture has already told us the truth: Hell is real, Hell is eternal, and Hell is just. He has also told us the good: He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and offers full pardon through Christ.

If you reject that, you’re not left with “a more loving God” — you’re left with no God at all, just a projection of your preferences.

This is why the Gospel is not a casual suggestion. God has already acted to keep you from Hell — by sending His Son to redeem you from your sins—the very thing that invokes His wrath (Rev. 1:5; Rom. 5:9).

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).

“God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed…” (Acts 17:30–31).

Jesus isn’t offering advice—He’s offering rescue. And it only makes sense if the danger is as bad as He says it is.

If Hell were temporary, or not real, or just symbolic, there’s no urgency. But it’s not temporary. It’s not symbolic. It’s as eternal as God Himself.

So here’s the choice:

• Keep editing God’s Word until it feels nicer, so we can rest easy in rejecting the only cure for sin.

• OR bow to the truth, obey the Son, and receive the eternal life He freely gives.

He’s not a sadist. He’s a Savior. But the offer has an expiration date, and once you cross it, eternity begins—one way or the other.