The Myth of "Hell-Free" Evangelism: How Bob Wilkin Misreads John 3

There is a growing tendency in some theological circles to sanitize the New Testament and present a gospel completely stripped of the reality of judgment. A fascinating critique of this mindset recently appeared on the Roll To Disbelieve website. In an article titled "The Evangelism Dialogues: The heresy of love," the author analyzes how a certain Free Grace ministry manages to completely miss the plain text of Scripture. The following is excerpted from that article:

Well, everyone, I’ve finally found the definitive, surreally-otherworldly evangelical narrative about evangelism. We can stop looking. I’ve found it. I’ve found the worst dialogue ever constructed by an evangelical. It’s so weird that I half-suspect that it might be some Poe’s Law invention meant to make evangelicals look insectoid space aliens who are completely out of touch with humanity. [...]

Everyone, meet Grace Evangelical Society (GES)

Founded in 1986, Grace Evangelical Society (GES) performs evangelism. For the most part, they do this through free podcasts, webpages, and e-books. Evangelical donations pay for it all. Bob Wilkin founded GES. He lives in Texas and is easily 60 or 70 years old. [...]

[Explaining his favorite evangelism approach], he writes:

Well, maybe I should turn to Scripture to see how the Lord and His Apostles convinced people that they needed salvation.

But wait! The Lord and His Apostles did not do that. At least not all the time. Often, they just presented the promise of eternal life to the one who believes in Jesus.

[Wilkin] supports this claim [that he supposedly evangelizes like Jesus did by just telling people about the promise of eternal life] with a Bible story he calls “Nic at Nite.” It’s in John 3 and concerns Nicodemus, a high-ranking Pharisee who visited Jesus at night. (I do like that nickname!) Jesus didn’t tell Nicodemus he was a sinner, or threaten him with Hell—or so Wilkin thinks. Here’s how Nicodemus’ conversation begins, and what Jesus tells him immediately:

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

The rest of that encounter involves Jesus explaining a bit more about what “born again” means, but it does indeed end with threats of Hell—or at least, what passed for Hell at the time of John 3’s writing:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Perish of what, pray tell? Eternal life as opposed to what, I ask? Save us from what, exactly? Condemn us to what, precisely?

Hell, of course. Convert or face Hell.

And here’s the amazing part:

Like most evangelism-minded evangelicals, Wilkin probably doesn’t even notice these threats. He thinks he’s escaped the entire Problem of Hell by stressing “eternal life,” but the entire point of Hell is its nature of eternal death, the terrifying opposite of Heaven.

This isn’t the only Bible story he describes, either. He also misses the threats [of Hell] implicit in John 4. And in Paul’s exhortations in Acts 13, and in Paul’s words to his jailer in Acts 16. [...]

In the Gospels, Nicodemus learned he must be “born again” —or he’ll face condemnation, death, and perishing. Likewise, the woman at the well in John 4 learned that if she rejected Jesus’ “living water,” she would miss out on “eternal life.” And if she made that grievous mistake, she faced eternal death.

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Editorial Commentary

The excerpted critic highlights a massive blind spot that often occurs when theological systems try to water down or sanitize the text by preaching a feel-good message meant to tickle people's ears (cf. Rom. 16:18; Gal. 1:10; 2 Tim. 4:3-4). But when we examine the underlying Greek text in John 3:16-18, the alternative to "eternal life" is impossible to ignore. In explaining the gospel to Nicodemus, Jesus uses definitive terms such as "perish" (Jn. 3:16, Grk. ἀπόληται, from ἀπόλλυμι), "saved" (John 3:17, Grk. σωθῇ, from σῴζω), and "condemn"/"condemned" (Jn. 3:17-18, Grk. κρίνῃ/κρίνεται, from κρίνω). Grammatically and contextually, the promise of eternal life is explicitly contrasted against the reality of eternal destruction. You cannot logically preach salvation and eternal life without acknowledging what the unbeliever is being rescued from.

Interestingly, the words "perish" and "saved" in John 3:16-17 are the very same Greek root words that the Apostle Paul uses in 1 Cor. 1:18-21 when he explains his saving gospel message! (Cf. 1 Cor. 4:15, NKJV, where Paul speaks of being "begotten...through the gospel"; and 1 Pet. 1:23-25, NKJV, which connects the gospel to being "born again".) The apostle Paul says that his gospel is "the message preached to save those who believe." Save from what, you ask? Hell, of course! Have you believed it? If not, do so today! "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2, NKJV).