Doug Wilson Says If You Make ‘Venomous’ Comments About Me and ‘Don’t Repent’ You’re Going to Hell

Say Bad Things About Me And Go To Hell

“You need to repent of all the venomous comments you made over the last week, directed at us, and there were quite a few of them. If you don’t repent, you are lost forever. Revilers will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”¹ — Doug Wilson

BACKGROUND: In a 2021 article,² several women³ accused Doug of fostering a patriarchal church culture that enables abuse, strictly controls women, and covers up sexual abuse allegations through in-house counseling, rather than reporting to the appropriate authorities. The quote above is from Doug’s response to those who made negative comments about him on social media, after the article was released.

OPINION: Doug states that commenting online about him in a “venomous” way and then failing to repent, is enough to send someone to hell. This is not the Gospel. We do not go to hell because we fail to repent about one specific sin in our lives. Those who believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins need not fear if we forget to confess a random sin before we die. The Bible clearly states that we are saved, not by our works, but by the completed work of Christ (Titus 3:5; Hebrews 7:27). We are justified by faith, meaning we “have been clothed by the imputation, or transfer, of the righteousness of Christ.”⁴ In Christ, our past, present, and future sins are forgiven, even if we fail to repent of every sin after believing in Christ: “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13–14, ESV).

Doug tries to back up his claim by citing Scripture: “Revilers will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” And it’s true, the Bible does say: “Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). And while he mentions the next verse, he seems to misunderstand it: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11, ESV). We are all sinners, and when we are forgiven of our sins, it doesn’t mean we no longer sin. A thief may steal again–a reviler may revile again. This verse isn’t teaching that Christians never sin after they become Christians, or that if we don’t repent of one specific sin we will go to hell, as Doug claims. David Prior wrote, “Paul is not talking about isolated acts of unrighteousness, but about a whole way of life pursued persistently by those who thus indicate that they would be aliens in the kingdom of truth and light.”⁵ And beyond this, when Jesus said: “…whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire” (Matthew 5:22, ESV), it was to show our need for a Savior because we are all murderers in our hearts—all of us deserve hell because “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23)—Jesus came to save us and forgive our sin, and that salvation is on the basis of faith in him, not because I remember to repent of each and every sin I commit.

I believe this misinterpretation of Scripture goes back to Doug’s misunderstanding of the gospel. He places such an emphasis on works that he confuses them as the cause of our salvation, rather than the fruit.⁶ I am thankful that my eternal salvation rests not on my own works, but completely on Christ’s finished work on the cross, secure for all time in the Father’s hand (John 10:27–30).

My prayer is that Doug would turn from preaching a works-based salvation to preaching the true gospel of Jesus. The gospel calls us to imitate our Savior, not because it is the basis of our salvation, but because we have been saved and indwelled by the Holy Spirit by grace through faith alone. Then, and only then are we enabled to properly imitate our Lord in the strength he provides: “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23, ESV).