Saved Through Fire: The Fiery Ordeal in New Testament Eschatology

An unusually polyvalent symbol, fire assumes numerous functions in the Bible.

It is a defining feature of theophanies, it serves as an instrument of judgment, and in some instances it cleanses and purifies.

Examining a complex of traditions ranging from John the Baptist to Jesus of Nazareth and from the Pauline to the Petrine Epistles, Daniel Frayer-Griggs identifies a recurring motif in the New Testament, arguing that these disparate traditions, which appear in both very early and very late New Testament texts, testify to a shared belief that everyone--both the righteous and the wicked--would be subjected to eschatological judgment by fire and that the righteous would experience this judgment as a fiery ordeal through which they would be tested and, in some cases, ultimately purified.