Passage

Revelation 20.14

Book: Revelation · NASB95

Verse

"Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:14, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

NASB95 (NASB95)

"12. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds."

"14. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire."

"15. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:12-15, NASB95)

Setting

Speaker: John of Patmos in apocalyptic-vision narrative voice; the verse describes the post-judgment scene the seer is shown.
Audience: the seven churches of Asia Minor (Rev 1:4, 11; 22:16); broader ecclesial readership of the apocalyptic-revelation.
Location of vision: Patmos (Rev 1:9) c. AD 95-96 (Domitianic dating per Irenaeus AH 5.30.3, the consensus position) or alternatively 60s under Nero (preterist dating).
Visionary setting: post-Great-White-Throne judgment (Rev 20:11-15); the structural climax of the apocalyptic-eschatology before the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev 21-22). The "second death" disposition resolves the cosmic-evil-and-death problem on the eve of the new-creation inauguration.

Theological reading

1. The "second death" identification

The verse contains the second of four explicit "second death" identifications in Revelation (Rev 2:11; 20:6; 20:14; 21:8). Verse 14 is the most explicit identification: "This is the second death, the lake of fire." The Greek houtos ("this") makes the identification grammatically definitional, the lake of fire IS the second death. Rev 21:8 reinforces: "their part will be in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

The "second death" terminology is rabbinic-eschatological: the targumim (Onqelos on Deut 33:6; Pseudo-Jonathan on Isa 22:14, 65:6) use mōtā tinyānā ("second death") for post-judgment-final death of the wicked. Revelation appropriates this Jewish-eschatological vocabulary and gives it apocalyptic-Christological elaboration. The "first death" is biological cessation (Heb 9:27); the "second death" is final-eschatological-disposition after the resurrection-of-judgment (Jn 5:29; Dan 12:2).

2. The destruction of death and Hades

The verse asserts that thanatos ("death") and hadēs ("Hades"), the personified powers of mortality and the realm-of-the-dead, are themselves thrown into the lake of fire. This functions as the cosmic resolution of 1 Cor 15:26's promise: "the last enemy that will be abolished is death." Revelation 20:14 narrates the eschatological-fulfillment of Pauline death-defeat. Death and Hades, having "given up the dead" for judgment (v. 13), are themselves judged-and-removed. The cosmic-dramatic effect is that the new-creation order (Rev 21-22) inaugurates with no more death (Rev 21:4: "there will no longer be any death"), death has been definitionally-abolished by being cast into the lake of fire.

3. Three contested Christian readings (treated fairly, not adjudicated)

Conditionalism / annihilationism, the verse is the strongest single-verse anchor: lake of fire is explicitly equated with second death (v. 14b); death is cessation, not a mode of conscious existence; the unredeemed are ultimately destroyed, not endlessly tormented. The "first death" is bodily-only (soul/spirit persists); the "second death" is whole-person final-cessation. Edward Fudge's The Fire That Consumes (1982 / 3rd ed. 2011) builds this case from Rev 20:14 + 21:8 + the apollumi word-cluster (Mt 10:28; 2 Pet 3:7) + OT prophetic destruction-language (Mal 4:1-3; Isa 66:24). John Stott (Essentials 1988), John Wenham (The Goodness of God 1974) endorse.

ECT (Eternal Conscious Torment), historic majority, read with Rev 20:10 ("tormented day and night forever and ever"; basanizō + eis tous aiōnas tōn aiōnōn, the standard Revelation eternity formula used 12× of God's eternal existence) and Mt 25:46 (symmetric aiōnion construction: kolasin aiōnion parallel to zōēn aiōnion). "Second death" is metaphorical for separation-from-God-in-conscious-suffering (Paul's spiritual-death-while-physically-alive: Eph 2:1; 1 Tim 5:6). Tertullian, Augustine (De Civ. Dei 21.2-3 explicitly rejecting conditionalism), Aquinas, Calvin, Edwards, Packer, Grudem, Peterson.

Universalism, lake of fire as purgatorial / purifying; draws on 1 Cor 3:13-15's "saved as through fire" + Mal 3:2's "refiner's fire" + Rev 21:24-26's "kings of the earth bringing their glory" into the new Jerusalem. Origen (De Princ. 1.6), Gregory of Nyssa (Cat. Or. 26), Robin Parry (The Evangelical Universalist 2006), David Bentley Hart (That All Shall Be Saved 2019).

6. Patristic, Reformation, and modern reception

Irenaeus (AH 5.30-36) treats the lake of fire as final-judgment with notable ambiguity on torment-vs-destruction. Tertullian (De Res. Carnis 35; Adv. Marcionem 3.24) is the strongest patristic ECT advocate. Origen (De Princ. 1.6) reads the lake purificatorially within universalist trajectory. Augustine (De Civ. Dei 21.2-3, 9-13) is the central ECT defense, explicitly engages and rejects conditionalist + universalist alternatives; dominated Western Christianity until the modern era. Gregory of Nyssa (De Anima; Cat. Or. 26) is the Cappadocian universalist anchor. Aquinas (ST I-II q. 87; supp. qq. 99-100) codifies Augustinian ECT (poena damni + poena sensus). Luther + Calvin (Inst. 3.25) maintain historic-majority ECT. Edwards (Sinners 1741; Eternity of Hell Torments 1739) is the Reformed-evangelical locus classicus. Modern: G. K. Beale (Revelation NIGTC 1999 pp. 1032-1037, formal-identification reading + ECT majority), Robert Mounce (NICNT 1997), Grant Osborne (BECNT 2002), Edward Fudge (The Fire That Consumes 1982 / 2011, conditionalist landmark), Robin Parry (The Evangelical Universalist 2006), David Bentley Hart (That All Shall Be Saved 2019).

Key words (Greek)

G2288 - thanatos, thanatos (death), used 22× in Revelation; here personified as a power-and-realm thrown into the lake of fire. The "second death" of v. 14 names a distinct theological category from biological-first-death.
hadēs (G86, "Hades"), LXX-standard rendering of Hebrew Sheol (the realm of the dead); used 4× in Revelation (1:18; 6:8; 20:13, 14). Personified alongside death in vv. 13-14. The pre-judgment intermediate-state realm is itself eschatologically dissolved.
limnē tou pyros (G3041 + G4442, "lake of fire"), used 5× in Revelation (19:20; 20:10, 14, 15; 21:8). Apocalyptic final-judgment symbol; explicitly equated with the "second death" in v. 14b + 21:8. Theological referent contested between ECT (eternal-conscious-suffering symbol), conditionalist (cessation-of-existence final state), and universalist (purgatorial-purification) readings.
deuteros thanatos (G1208 + G2288, "second death"), used 4× in Revelation (2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8). Rabbinic-eschatological terminology (targumic mōtā tinyānā) appropriated and Christologically elaborated. The contested theological core of the conditionalism-vs-ECT-vs-universalism debate.

Cross-references

Revelation 2:11, "He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death", first NT mention; identifies the "second death" as what believers escape
Revelation 20:6, "Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power", millennial-saints-protection
Revelation 20:10, "they will be tormented day and night forever and ever", ECT proof-text (already a rich hub); pair these two verses for the full hell-doctrine debate
Revelation 21:4, "there will no longer be any death", new-creation-implication of v. 14's death-abolition (already a rich hub)
Revelation 21:8, "their part will be in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death", confirms v. 14's identification
1 Corinthians 15:26, "the last enemy that will be abolished is death", Pauline anchor; v. 14 narrates the eschatological-fulfillment
Matthew 25:46, "these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life", symmetric aiōnion construction; ECT proof-text
Daniel 12:2, "those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt", OT background