Does “Pay the Last Penny” Mean You Can Get Out of Hell?
Jesus’ words about “paying the last penny” have long been misunderstood, distorted by modern theology to either soften or harden the implications of divine judgment. But what if His words don’t affirm eternal torment or annihilation, but something deeper, more just, and profoundly more hopeful?
“You Will Not Get Out Until…” The Forgotten Key
In Matthew 5:25–26, Jesus warns:
“Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”
What kind of prison is this?
- It’s not financial.
- It’s not civil.
- It’s spiritual, and it involves a moral debt.
Jesus is clearly not just offering advice for legal disputes. He is using the parable form to reveal something terrifying and yet redemptive: post-mortem justice. And the phrase “you will not get out until…” is the key that cracks open the door.
Eternal torment slams it shut forever.
Why This Must Be About Post-Mortem Judgment
Here are the clearest reasons these parables are about judgment after death, not courtroom settlements:
1. The Language Matches Final Judgment, Not Small Claims Court
Jesus uses legal and judicial terms: judge, accuser, guard, prison. These are the same patterns used elsewhere for eschatological judgment. This is not earthly litigation, it’s divine reckoning.
2. “You Will Not Get Out Until…” Assumes You Can Get Out
ECT (Eternal Conscious Torment) doctrine collapses under this phrase. If Jesus meant eternal hell, He would have simply said, “You will never get out.” But He didn’t. The very structure of His warning opens the door to eventual release.
3. The Debt Is Moral, Not Monetary
The “last penny” (Greek lepton) is the smallest coin, symbolizing the last ounce of sin or impurity. No one can pay it with literal money. It’s spiritual debt, purified through judgment. Not torture, correction.
4. The Prison Is Not Death, But Follows It
Nowhere does the parable suggest that death ends the sentence. The person is alive in prison, conscious, waiting, paying. This implies a continuation beyond the grave, not cessation at it.
5. The Word “Prison” Often Symbolizes Hades or the Underworld
In 1 Peter 3:19, Christ preaches to “spirits in prison.” That same Greek word (phylakē) is used here. It’s not talking about Alcatraz. It’s talking about a holding place for souls.
6. You Don’t Get “Handed Over to the Guard” in a Lawsuit
Jesus says the judge hands the person over to the “guard.” This is not how earthly court works. It’s a metaphor for divine enforcement, a symbol for being confined until the debt is settled.
7. The Warning Is Urgent, Because Judgment Is Coming
“Settle with your accuser on the way…” is about preparing before the courtroom, i.e., before death. If this were just civil advice, it would be wildly out of place in a sermon on divine righteousness.
8. It Matches Other Parables About Judgment After Death
Jesus repeatedly uses imagery of separation, darkness, and imprisonment, always connected to God’s justice. From the Ten Virgins, to the Wedding Banquet, to the Rich Man and Lazarus, the theme is consistent: judgment now, restoration later.
9. The Early Church Understood It This Way
The earliest theologians, like Origen and Clement, understood these warnings as describing Hades or temporary punishment in the age to come. The parables were not about avoiding lawsuits. They were about the soul’s journey beyond death.
10. You Can’t Annihilate a Soul That’s Still Paying a Debt
Annihilationism tries to argue that sinners are snuffed out completely. But if you’re paying off a debt, that means you’re still alive and conscious. There’s no “payment” after you’ve been extinguished.
Why This Destroys ECT and Annihilationism
Eternal torment makes the phrase “you will not get out until” a cruel lie.
Annihilationism makes the phrase impossible, because there is no one left to get out.
Only Universal Reconciliation holds this text together with holy integrity.
Jesus doesn’t contradict Himself. He doesn’t issue empty metaphors. He doesn’t speak false hope. When He says you will not get out until, He means there will be a point when the soul has paid the last penny, and will get out.
This aligns with His mission: “to proclaim liberty to the captives… to open the prison to those who are bound” (Isaiah 61:1)
Payment, Not Punishment
Let’s be clear: this is not some lenient loophole.
Jesus is not dismissing sin. He’s revealing that justice and mercy are not opposites.
- Payment must be made.
- The soul must face the fire.
- But the fire is not a torture chamber. It’s a refiner’s fire.
The last penny is paid, not in silver, but in repentance, sorrow, and transformation.
The False Gospel of Endless Punishment
Those who preach Eternal Conscious Torment are not defending holiness.
They are blaspheming the character of God.
They have taken a Judge who disciplines, and turned Him into a Warden who tortures.
They have taken Christ’s promise of redemption, and twisted it into a permanent curse.
They have made the parable of hope into a prison with no key.
Restoration Is the Final Word
The truth of Universal Reconciliation upholds this parable:
- Judgment? Yes.
- Suffering? Yes.
- But for what purpose? To pay the debt, down to the last penny.
And once the debt is paid, you get out.
God’s justice is not a dead-end. It’s a hallway.
And at the far end, the door opens, not into more torment, but into restored fellowship with the Father.
The gate of mercy never closes.
The debt is real. But the end is restoration, not destruction.
That’s not leniency.
That’s the blood of Christ paying more than we could ever owe.
And that’s why the gospel remains good news for all creation.
Let those bound by fear hear it clearly:
“You will not get out until…”
means you will get out.
And when you do, the One waiting to receive you, is the One who never stopped loving you.
