Definition
Second death is the biblical term for the final judgment described in Rev. 20-21 as the lake of fire: “And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14). The term contrasts with the first death — the physical death that befalls all humanity as a consequence of Adam’s sin. In traditional Orthodox interpretation the second death signifies eternal damnation or hell. In the corpus the term is contested because Jones understands the second death as a temporary corrective judgment for individual sins, sharply distinguished from the first death as the penalty for Adam’s inherited guilt.
Usage in the corpus
Stephen Jones
Jones develops a hamartological distinction that undergirds his interpretation of the second death: there are two sins and two corresponding deaths. The first death (mortality) is the penalty for Adam’s sin, imputed to all. The second death is God’s judgment for individual sins: “God’s judgment, lawful correction, and discipline for our own sins is the second death.” Decisively, the second death is not the penalty for Adam’s sin — no one is cast into the lake of fire on account of Adam’s inherited guilt. The lake of fire is corrective judgment with an inherent limit: “It is a place where men must pay the last farthing of debt to sin until the final Jubilee sets the creation free.” [Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Ch. 9]
Jones links this to his law-of-judgment theology: the law sets a maximum on penalties (Lev. 25:10); the second death likewise has an end at the great Jubilee after 49,000 years. [Jones, The Restoration of All Things, Ch. 2]