What about the “fire and brimstone”, “eternal punishment”, and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” scriptures?

This is three different questions. The question concerning fire and brimstone is addressed in the post, The Refiner’s Fire and the question of eternal punishment is addressed in the post, Everlasting vs Age-lasting.

The question with regard to “weeping and gnashing of teeth” is an interesting one and is treated here and, in more detail, in the post of the same name, accessed here.

The phrase “weeping [wailing] and gnashing of teeth” is used by our Lord seven times in the New Testament. Three times it appears uniquely in Matthew (22:13; 24:51; 25:30), twice in what appears to be parallel passages in Matthew 8:12 and Luke 13:28, and twice it is used in the space of 9 verses in Matthew 13. Five of the seven are mentioned in conjunction with parables.

These are those that suffer wailing and gnashing of teeth in the New Testament:

• The children of the kingdom (the Jews), the man without a wedding garment, and the unprofitable servant all upon being cast into outer darkness
• The tares (they that work iniquity) upon being cast into a furnace of fire
• The abusive and unfaithful servant upon being cut asunder and cast in with the hypocrites

This may be difficult for my readers to accept, but we’ve been reading eternal punishment into these passages and this terminology for so long we don’t even realize that it’s not there! Read the passages again free of any predispositions and see if you can find eternal punishment anywhere in them. It is not there. (Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28)

Granted, there is strong language in these and other scriptures that deal with the judgment of the wicked, but once we learn to consider them without a predisposition to everlasting punishment, we will see that there is nothing eternal about them. As a matter of fact, attaching the element of endlessness to them seems absurd, as in the case of the servant that knew the Lord’s will but didn’t make ready for His return and was beaten with many stripes. The servant who didn’t know His Lord’s will and committed acts worthy of stripes suffered few. So, we have one beaten a lot and one not so much in eternity? How is one eternally beaten with few stripes? Isn’t that, by definition, many stripes?

Neither this phrase nor being cast into outer darkness nor being cast into a furnace of fire can be shown to represent eternal torment. There is nothing in these passages to indicate a correlation. The weeping and gnashing of teeth experienced by those who are judged by God would indicate an excruciating experience, but not one that lasts into eternity and not one that is without the purpose of purification.