The end of the wicked
Eternal conscious punishment, annihilation, or the reconciliation of all — read with Revelation 14:9-11; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Colossians 1:19-20; Romans 5:18.
Matthew 25:41-46
41Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
42for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;
43I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44“Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’
45“Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’
46These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
What each tradition says
Rabbinic / Midrashic
The Jewish Encyclopedia reports a rabbinic view that the wholly pious and arch-sinners are not purified, but those between are. The Babylonian Talmud adds that sinners who did not lead others astray remain twelve months in Gehenna; then their bodies are destroyed, souls burned, ashes strewn under the pious. Heretics and Jeroboam shall not pass away, though hell passes away.
Kaufmann Kohler and Ludwig Blau, The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 5 (Funk & Wagnalls, New York, 1905) — s.v. 'Gehenna'
Patristic
Augustine reports that holy men did not grudge angels of any rank the blessedness of the heavenly kingdom after being cleansed by suffering. Yet they held that they could not invalidate or evacuate the divine sentence the Lord predicted He would pronounce in judgment: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."
Augustine of Hippo (354-430), The City of God (trans. Marcus Dods, 1871), in NPNF ser. 1, vol. 2 — Book XXI, ch. 23
Patristic
Origen writes that the world’s end and final consummation will come when each person is subjected to punishment for his sins, at a time God alone knows, when God gives each what he deserves. He thinks God’s goodness, through Christ, may recall all creatures to one end, with even his enemies conquered and subdued.
Origen of Alexandria (c. 185-254), De Principiis (trans. Frederick Crombie), in ANF vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1885) — Book I, ch. 6, 'On the End or Consummation'
Catholic
Thomas Aquinas cites Matthew 25:46, where the just and the damned are spoken of together: the damned go into everlasting punishment, the just into everlasting life. Since the life of the just will never end, he concludes that the punishment of the damned will never come to an end.
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274); trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Summa Theologiae, Second and Revised Edition (1920) — Supplement, q. 99, art. 3, sed contra
Orthodox
John of Damascus says we will rise again, our souls once more united with bodies made incorruptible and having put off corruption, and stand beside Christ’s awful judgment-seat. The devil, his demons, the man that is his, the Antichrist, and the impious and sinful will be given over to everlasting fire, not material fire.
John of Damascus (c. 675-749), An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (trans. S. D. F. Salmond, 1899), in NPNF ser. 2, vol. 9 — Book IV, ch. 27, 'Concerning the Resurrection'
Orthodox
Isaac of Nineveh says even those scourged in Hell are tormented by the scourgings of love. Those who perceive they have sinned against love suffer more bitterly than by fear or any other torture. It is evil to think sinners in Hell are destitute of love for the Creator.
Isaac of Nineveh (7th century), Mystic Treatises (trans. A. J. Wensinck, Amsterdam, 1923) — Treatise 'In how many different ways the sight of incorporeal beings is received by human nature', p. 136
Reformed / Protestant
Calvin calls it stupid and frivolous to fear that too much severity is ascribed to God if the reprobate are doomed to eternal punishment. He dismisses the idea that the Lord would be unjust for excluding from his kingdom those who by ingratitude have rendered themselves unworthy.
John Calvin (1509-1564), Institutes of the Christian Religion (trans. Henry Beveridge, first published 1845) — Book III, ch. 25, 'Of the Last Resurrection', sec. 5
Evangelical
J. C. Ryle holds that the state after judgment is changeless and without end. The misery of the lost and the blessedness of the saved are both forever, standing on the same foundation as God's own eternity: as surely as God is eternal, so heaven is an endless day and hell an endless night.
J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew (1856) — On Matthew 25:31-46
Evangelical
Edward White holds that the “eternal punishment” means a person has a part in “the lake of fire, which is the second death.” Through penal infliction, bodily and spiritual, suited to each person’s demerits, that person reaches final extinction of life. He sees no reason to question this.
Edward White (1819-1898), Life in Christ: A Study of the Scripture Doctrine on the Nature of Man, the Object of the Divine Incarnation, and the Conditions of Human Immortality (London, 1878) — Book IV, ch. 25, on Matt. xxv. 41, 46