Lexical Summary asbestos: Unquenchable, inextinguishable Original Word: ἄσβεστος Strong's Exhaustive Concordance unquenchable. From a (as a negative particle) and a derivative of sbennumi; not extinguished, i.e. (by implication) perpetual -- not to be quenched, unquenchable. see GREEK a see GREEK sbennumi NAS Exhaustive Concordance Word Originfrom alpha (as a neg. prefix) and sbestos (quenched, extinguished) Definition unquenched, unquenchable NASB Translation unquenchable (3). Thayer's Greek Lexicon STRONGS NT 762: ἄσβεστοςἄσβεστος, ἄσβεστον (σβέννυμι), unquenched (Ovid,inexstinctus), unquenchable (Vulg.inexstinguibilis): πῦρ, Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17; Mark 9:43, and R G L brackets in 45. (Often in Homer; πῦρ ἄσβεστος of the perpetual fire of Vesta, Dionysius Halicarnassus, Antiquities 1, 76; (of the fire on the altar, Philo de ebriet. § 34 (Mang. i. 378); de vict. off. § 5 (Mang. 2:254); of the fire of the magi, Strabo 15 (3) 15; see also Plutarch, symp. 50:7, probl. 4; Aelian nat. an. 5, 3; cf. Heinichen on Eusebius, h. e. 6, 41, 15).) Topical Lexicon Overview Strong’s Greek 762 (ἄσβεστος) portrays a fire that no human action can extinguish. The word is reserved in the New Testament for the judgment imagery of John the Baptist and of Jesus Himself, where it functions as a solemn warning that divine retribution is irrevocable and everlasting. Biblical Usage 1. Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17 – John the Baptist warns that the Messiah “will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” The metaphor pictures the final sorting at harvest time: the repentant are likened to wheat safely stored, while the unrepentant chaff is consigned to a blaze that nothing can put out. Old Testament Background Prophets repeatedly speak of a flame no one can quench (Isaiah 66:24; Jeremiah 17:27; Ezekiel 20:47; Isaiah 34:10). Those texts provide linguistic and theological soil for New Testament usage: God’s wrath burns until its purpose is accomplished, and no earthly power can extinguish it. Theological Significance • Finality of Judgment – ἄσβεστος denotes not merely a long-lasting blaze but one immune to all attempts at extinction (contrast Isaiah 1:31 where man’s fire “cannot be quenched” because God sustains it). The term therefore undercuts notions of a reversible or temporary punishment. Historical and Cultural Insights In classical literature ἄσβεστος described lamps kept perpetually burning in temples or a forge that never cooled. Jewish writers applied similar language to the fires that consumed idolatrous cities (e.g., Jubilees 36:10). By the first century, the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna) had become a ready symbol of such destruction. Jesus taps into this cultural memory yet lifts it to an eschatological horizon: Gehenna’s flames are not a municipal dump but a preview of eternal destiny. Representative Berean Standard Bible Quotations Matthew 3:12 – “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Mark 9:43 – “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.” Doctrinal Connections • Eternal Punishment (Revelation 20:10, 14-15) – While ἄσβεστος itself is not used in Revelation, the vision of the lake of fire parallels the concept: the flame continues “forever and ever.” Patristic Reception Early church fathers such as Ignatius (Letter to the Ephesians 16) and Polycarp (Philippians 2) echoed the vocabulary of “unquenchable fire” when warning wayward believers. Their consistency with New Testament usage illustrates the early church’s grasp of eternal conscious punishment. Ministerial Application • Preaching – ἄσβεστος keeps sermons from reducing divine judgment to metaphor; it insists on a real, enduring consequence of sin. Summary ἄσβεστος stands as a four-fold New Testament beacon declaring that God’s final judgment is certain, irreversible, and eternal. The word’s vividness compels every hearer either to embrace the Messiah who gathers the wheat or to face the fire that will never be quenched. Forms and Transliterations ασβεστον άσβεστον ἄσβεστον ασβεστω ασβέστω ἀσβέστῳ ασβόλην asbesto asbestō asbéstoi asbéstōi asbeston ásbestonLinks Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel TextsEnglishman's Concordance Matthew 3:12 Adj-DNSGRK: κατακαύσει πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ NAS: up the chaff with unquenchable fire. KJV: the chaff with unquenchable fire. INT: he will burn up with fire unquenchable Mark 9:43 Adj-ANS Mark 9:45 Adj-ANS Luke 3:17 Adj-DNS Strong's Greek 762 |
    |