The phrase
"everlasting punishment" means that the punishment will last forever without an end. It implies that the consequences or penalties for one's actions will be eternal and not temporary.
Full definition
The sinful believer who professes the unity of God and acknowledges His Prophet thus will not suffer
everlasting punishment in Hell, a. view which was diametrically opposite to that of the Kharijites.
We come now to say a few words about that disputed subject, the reality of hell and the possibility
of everlasting punishment meted out by God.
I know that the notion of Hell, a Lake of Fire and
everlasting punishment flies in the face of an eternally loving God, it is none the less THERE.
Though true believers may lose reward and privilege in the kingdom, such loss of reward, to my knowledge, is never referred to
as everlasting punishment.
For example, while man was to practise tireless love, vengeance still belonged unto God, and the inherited idea
of everlasting punishment was still retained.
When discussing Calvinism with Calvinists, there are two texts that are almost always brought up in defense of God's right to do anything He wants with people, even if it means deciding from all eternity to send billions of them to
everlasting punishment in hell.
And there is the exterior darkness and
everlasting punishment, roaring fire, sleepless worms, and hellish demons.»
However, the adjective aiōnios can refer to duration as well as a specific age, so there is a sense in which «
everlasting punishment» is a good translation, but it must be properly understood.
The goats go into
everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
And these will go away into
everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
And if Christ's statement here isn't clear enough, he elaborates again down in Matthew 25:46 about these goats being sent into
everlasting punishment.
And they will go away into
everlasting punishment.»
The notion of «hell» or «
everlasting punishment» was cooked up by Tertullian and St. Augustine during, IIRC, the fifth century.
We reject, as ideas not rooted in Judaism, the beliefs both in bodily resurrection and in Gehenna and Eden as abodes for
everlasting punishments and rewards.»