Hell

Christadelphians reject the doctrine of eternal conscious punishment in hellfire. They hold that the unfaithful dead — those who are raised for judgment at Christ's return and found unworthy — face the second death: they cease to exist rather than suffering unending torment. This is a form of annihilationism or conditional immortality: only the faithful receive the gift of immortality; the unfaithful simply die permanently.

Because Christadelphians deny that humans possess immortal souls, the question of an eternal hell is moot in the traditional sense: there is no immortal spirit to be eternally tormented. Death is the cessation of existence. The 'lake of fire' and similar biblical imagery is interpreted as referring to destruction and permanent death, not a state of ongoing conscious torment. The 'second death' (Revelation 20:14) is understood literally: a death from which there is no further resurrection.

Christadelphians also limit who will be judged at Christ's return. Only those who are 'responsible' — meaning those who have been exposed to the gospel and made a conscious response — will be raised for judgment. Those who never heard the gospel are not raised for judgment in this system. This limits the scope of final judgment considerably compared to mainstream Christian eschatology and eliminates the moral problem of people being eternally tormented for sins they could not have known were wrong.