Mark 9:48

Mar_9:44; Mar_9:46; Mar_9:48

Where their worm dieth not.

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The punishment of the wicked, dreadful and interminable

Some will say that this doctrine has no tendency to do good; it is idle to think of frightening men into religion. It is my duty not to decide what doctrines are likely to do good, but to preach such as I find in the Scriptures. I dare not pretend to be either more wise or more compassionate than our Saviour; and He thought it consistent, both with wisdom and compassion, to utter the words of our text. These expressions allude to the manner in which the Jews disposed of the bodies of the dead; placed in tombs they were consumed by worms; or on a funeral pile it was consumed by fire. You have seen this, but there is another death, of the soul. Those who die this death shall be preyed upon by worms which will never die, and become the fuel of a fire that will never be quenched. The language is indeed figurative, but not on that account less full of meaning.

I. In dilating upon these truths, I shall say little of the corporeal sufferings which await impenitent sinners beyond the grave. Such sufferings will certainly compose a part of the punishment; for their bodies shall come forth in the resurrection of damnation; as it is the servant of the soul, its tempter to many sins, and its instrument in committing them, there seems to be a manifest propriety in making them companions in punishment. But to the sufferings of the soul, the Scriptures chiefly refer. The clause-where their worm dieth not-intimates that the soul will suffer miseries, analogous to those which would be inflicted on a living body, by a multitude of reptiles constantly preying upon it; that as a dead body appears to produce the worms which consume it, so the soul dead in trespasses and sins, really produces the causes of its own misery. What are those causes, what is the gnawing worm?

1. its own passions and desires. That these are capable of preying upon the soul, and occasioning acute suffering, even in this life, need not be proved. Look at a man who is habitually peevish, fretful, and disappointed. Has he not gnawing worms already at his heart? Look at the envious, covetous, ambitious, proud; these passions make men miserable here; even while in this world there are many things calculated to soothe or divert mens passions. Sometimes they meet with success, and this produces a transient calm; at another time, the objects which excite their passions are absent, and this allows quietness. Men have not always the leisure to indulge their passions; they are under the operations of causes which tend to restrain them, such as sleep. But suppose all these removed, deprived of sleep, success, and the objects which excite his strongest passions constantly before him, and all restraints gone. Would not such a man be miserable? Nothing inflames the passions of men more than suffering.

2. The gnawing worm includes the consciences of sinners. Conscience has inflicted terrible agony, as in the case of Judas. Here she speaks only at intervals; there without intermission. Here she may be stifled by scenes of business or amusement, sophistical arguments; but there will be no means of silencing her; she will see everything in the clear light of eternity. What a God she has offended, Saviour neglected, heaven lost. Well may this be compared to a gnawing worm.

II. Our Saviour speaks not only of a gnawing worm, but of an unquenchable fire. So far as the soul is concerned, this refers to a keen and constant sense of Gods presence and righteous displeasure. He says of Himself, I am a consuming fire.

III. We learn from the passage before us, that those sufferings will be endless. Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. The passions and consciences of sinners endure as long as the soul of which they are a part. God lives forever, He must forever be displeased with sinners. It is impossible that I should deserve it. You know nothing of your sins, or of what sin deserves. As well might a man, who should put vipers into his bosom, complain of God because they stung him. Christ died to save them from their misery. (E. Payson, D. D.)

Preserving fire

Preserving fire, or salting with fire. Decay is a species of burning; and only those things that have been burnt, or cannot be burnt, will not decay.

I. Temptation is a preserving fire. The boy who has been sheltered at home is honest; but his integrity is not as firm as that of the honest merchant. The clay (Isa_64:8) is soft and plastic; but after it has been burnt in the furnace it will break before it will bend. All must pass through the fire of temptation. If you are to be a vessel of honour fit for the heavenly palace, the Lord must be your potter.

II. Affliction is a preserving fire. The metal comes forth from the furnace more useful (Mal_3:3).

III. The day of judgment is also compared to a fire (1Co_3:13). Fire is a searching test. All paint, enamel, pretence of every kind, will melt before it. Its results are enduring. All must pass through the fiery ordeal. Only such works can stand as proceed from gospel love.

IV. Another preserving fire is the fire of hell. The misery of hell is two fold: sin and its punishment. (J. B. Converse.)

Their worm dieth not-Conscience in hell

It has been discovered that there are worms which eat and live upon stone. Many such have been found in a freestone wall in Normandy. So there is a worm in hell-conscience-which lives upon the stony heart of the condemned sinner, which gnaws with remorse all whom grace has not softened.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9:48 The eternality of hell is emphasized by the phrases never die and never goes out (cp. 9:43). The horror of hell is emphasized by its portrayal as a place of everlasting fire, and of decay and corruption where maggots eternally eat everything away. The putrid smell of decay and the presence of maggots in the Valley of Hinnom may lie behind this imagery (see study note on 9:43). This imagery is a powerful warning for people to repent in order to escape the punishment of hell.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 48. See Clarke on Mr 9:43.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

Ver. 48. Where the worm never dies] This is three different times repeated, that it may the better be observed. Utinam de Gehenna ubique dissereretur, saith a father. Oh that word never (said a poor despairing creature on his death bed) breaks my heart. This worm of conscience is worse than the fire, if worse may be: it is the very hell of hell, as being the furious reflection of the soul upon itself for all its neglected opportunities and flagitious practices. This will be a bodkin at thy heart one day (saith a reverend man), I might have been delivered.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

[2]For every one shall be salted with fire. The sense seems to be, that every wicked unrepenting sinner (of whom it was before said, that their worm dieth not) shall be severely and continually punished, though not consumed by the fire of hell. --- And every victim shall be salted with salt; that is, even good men shall be cleansed and purified by trials and sufferings in this world, as some victims were to be salted by the law. (Leviticus ii. 13.) (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Omnis enim igne salietur, et omnis victima sale salietur, Greek: pas gar puri alisthesetai, kai pasa thusia ali alisthesetai.

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George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

48. Worm dieth not, … fire is not quenched. An expression borrowed from the last verse of Isaiah, and probably in current use among the Jews of our Savior's time, as applied to the state of future retribution.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

48. ὅπου ὁ σκώληξ κ.τ.λ. This highly metaphorical expression is here part of the true text. It comes from Isa 66:24; cf. Jdt 16:17; Sir 7:17; Apocalypse of Peter 10. The “worm” and the “fire” are opposed to “life,” and seem to denote “destruction”; they can hardly mean life in endless torture. They have no end so long as they have anything to devour. Victor and Theophylact interpret them of the gnawing reproaches of conscience and the memory of shameful things done in this life. Perhaps they point rather to permanent loss, irreparable deterioration of the man’s real self. Jews had strange ideas about the unseen world, as that one of the joys of the righteous was to see the torments of the wicked. Christ did not contradict these ideas, but He has left teaching which enables us to correct them.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

48. ὅπου ὁ σκώληξ αὐτῶν οὐ τελευτᾷ, καὶ τὸ πῦρ οὐ σβέννυται—where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched. Both worm and fire are here destructive forces, and belong in the same category as life and death, denoting natural and not imposed penalties. Of course, it is the soul that undergoes punishment, and the punishment consists in the forces that prey upon it and destroy it. ὁ σκώληξ αὐτῶν—their worm; the worm, i.e. that preys upon the inhabitants of this dread realm.

οὐ τελευτᾶ, καὶ … οὐ σβέννυται—dies not, and … is not quenched. It is the permanence of the retribution that is expressed in these material figures. This is characteristic of natural penalties as distinguished from imposed penalties. Whippings and imprisonments are subject to limitations of time, but the wounds inflicted on the man himself by his sins, the degradation and deterioration of his being, have no such limitation. The worm that gnaws, and the fire that burns inwardly have no limits. They propagate themselves.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.