PERDITION (Gk.
apōleia,
‘loss’, ‘destruction’). A word employed in the
NT, in the sense of ‘destruction’ and with special reference to the fate
of the wicked and their loss of eternal life (Rev. 17:8, 11). (*Hell,
*Eschatology.)
In addition, the phrase ‘son of perdition’ occurs, a form
of speech in which the Jews often expressed a man’s destiny (e.g.
‘sons of light’, ‘children of disobedience’;
cf. Mt. 23:15; Lk. 10:6). It is applied to
Judas Iscariot (Jn. 17:12) in a vivid sense which the
Eng. does not fully convey as meaning literally ‘not one perished but
the son of perishing’. The term is used also by Paul to describe the ‘man of
lawlessness’ (2 Thes. 2:3), for which see
*Antichrist. The phrase ‘sons
of perdition’ is found in Jubilees
10:3, with reference to those who perished in the Flood.
The Gk. word stands in direct antithesis to full and
complete blessedness (sōtēria).
j.d.d.