Thesecond death, also known aseternal death,[1]: 47 [2]: 439 [3] is aneschatological concept inJudaism,Christianity, andMandaeism related to punishment after a first/initialdeath on Earth.
Although the term is not found in theHebrew Bible (the Canonical collection of Hebrew scriptures), Harry Sysling, in his study (1996) ofTeḥiyyat ha-metim (Hebrew; "the resurrection of the dead") in theTargums, identifies a consistent usage of the term "second death" in texts of theSecond Temple period and earlyrabbinical writings. In most cases, the "second death" is identical with the judgment, following the resurrection, inGehinnom at theLast Day.[4]
InTargum Neofiti (Neof.) and the fragments (FTP and FTV), on the verse Deutoronomy 33:6, the "second death" is "the death that the wicked die."[5]
Targum Isaiah has three occurrences. The first is 22:14, where theAramaic paraphrases theHebrew as "This sin will not be forgiven you until you die the second death."[6] The final two examples are from Targum Isaiah 65, which sets the scene for an apocalyptic final battle. Targum Isaiah 65:6 paraphrases the Hebrew in line with the interpretation of the penultimate verse of the Hebrew Isaiah found in theGospel of Mark, where "their worm does not die" is equated with Gehinnom. Here both Targum Isaiah and Gospel of Mark supply the term "Gehinnom", where Hebrew Isaiah simply concludes with the heaps of corpses following thelast battle where "their worm does not die", making no further eschatological extension into resurrection and judgment.
Targum Jeremiah 51:17 has the Aramaic "they shall die the second death and not live in the world to come", which appears to depart from the other Targum uses in not being explicit that the second death isafter resurrection but may instead be an exclusion from resurrection.
The majority reading of Targum Psalm 49:11 has the Aramaic translation "For the wise see that the evil-doers are judged in Gehinnom". However, several manuscripts, including Paris No.10, Montefiore No.7, and Targum of Salomos 113 have the variant Aramaic translation "He sees men wise in wickedness, who die a second death, and are judged in Gehinnom".[7]
David Kimhi (Toulouse,c. 1160–Narbonne, 1235) considered the phrase to mean "the death of the soul in the world".[8]
Maimonides declares, inhis 13 principles of faith, that the souls of the wicked would be punished with annihilation.[9]
Bahya ben Asher understands second death as referring to the death of a soul after it has been reincarnated, i.e., afterGilgul Neshamot.[10]
The term "second death" occurs four times in theNew Testament, specifically inRevelation 2:11, 20:6, 20:14, and 21:8. According to Revelation 2:11 and 20:6, those who overcome the devil's tribulation have part in thefirst resurrection and will not be hurt by the second death, which has no power over them. Revelation 20:14 and 21:8 connect thelake of fire to the second death.
One interpretation states that when people aresaved, they are not subject to the second death and only die of the earthly first death, whereas an unsaved person will experience two deaths: the first at the end of this life and the second after theresurrection. The second death has been interpreted as endless torment by many,Lactantius being one of them:
We term that punishment the second death, which is itself also perpetual, as is immortality. [...] we thus define the second death: Death is the suffering of eternal pain, or thus: Death is the condemnation of souls for their deserts to eternal punishments.[11]
Annihilationists andconditionalists, including allSeventh-day Adventists andJehovah's Witnesses, and many others in many denominations, oppose the idea of eternal suffering and believe that the second death is a literal death and that the bodies and souls condemned to it after thefinal judgment will be completely destroyed. Many believe there is limited conscious torment after the first death, but many others believe there is none and thus those who experience the second death cease to exist instantly.
Christian universalists, who believe all will be reconciled to God, offer different interpretations, rejecting both endless torment and utter destruction.Gregory of Nyssa understood the second death as a cleansing, albeit a painful process. He wrote that "those still living in the flesh must as much as ever they can separate and free themselves in a way from its attachments by virtuous conduct, in order that after death they may not need a second death to cleanse them".[12]
Mandaeans believe that the souls which could not be purified inside of demonUr[13] would get destroyed along with him at the end of days,[14] so they die the second death.[15] Other evil powers and the planets will suffer this "second death" in the blazing "sea of the end" as well.[16]