Brentwood Church of Christ

This is a difficult question that the Bible may not give us a clear answer on. Consider two texts. In Matthew 11:20-24 Jesus condemns the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum because He had performed so many of His mighty works there and yet they had not repented. In condemning them He said, “It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.” It is hard to imagine anyone worse than those of Sodom, and yet judgment would be easier on them than on many of the people of Jesus day because those of Jesus’ day had greater opportunity. Jesus expresses the same principle in Luke 12:47-48. Many stripes are given to the servant who knew the Master’s will and yet did not prepare himself accordingly. But only a few stripes are given to the one who did not know yet committed deeds worthy of stripes. The question is, do these passages imply degrees of punishment in hell or a difference in how much mercy each will be shown in the judgment based on how much opportunity each were given? What we do know is, we have been given a great salvation and a great opportunity. God’s word has been clearly revealed to us, and if we do not prepare it will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom than for us!