Is it possible that ‘eternal dwellings’ (Luke 16:9) could mean eternal hell?

This text is from a letter written by David Gooding in 1999.

This suggestion regarding 'eternal dwellings' in Luke 16:9 is certainly unusual—I think it is the most unusual of all the many suggestions that have been made regarding this verse.

The word skēnē in Luke 16:9 is used elsewhere in the New Testament of God's eternal dwelling place (see Revelation 21:3), and the verb skēnoõ is used of our Lord in the days of his flesh (see John 1:14). To suggest that the lake of fire is a skēnē, or a collection of skēnai, strikes me as highly improbable.

Skēnoõ is also used of God's eternal protection of the redeemed (see Revelation 7:15). It would be very odd, would it not, if some corresponding protection were offered for the impenitent in hell?

In the next place, Luke 16:9 reads, 'when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles'. If the 'eternal tabernacles' are the lake of fire, who are they that do the receiving?

Opinions are divided about who does the receiving if the eternal tabernacles represent heaven. Some think, do they not, that it is the angels that do the receiving; or that the impersonal 'they may receive' is simply a way of expressing the passive: that is, 'so that you may be received'. Others, including myself, think that the antecedent of 'they' is the 'friends' of the previous clause. Will the lake of fire have any welcoming party composed either of demons or of other lost souls?

Elsewhere in the New Testament, both skēnos (see 2 Corinthians 5:1) and skēnõma (see 2 Peter 1:13) are used of the human body. But for the redeemed, this temporary habitation will be exchanged for a solid and eternal building (oikētērion) or house (oikia). I am not aware that the New Testament describes the body which the impenitent will have at their resurrection when they stand before the great white throne. But neither for the redeemed nor the unredeemed would it make sense to talk about receiving them into their eternal bodies.

Finally, the verse 'hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming' (Isaiah 14:9) is part of the description, not of the lake of fire, but of the temporary dwelling of the departed spirits of the lost, namely hades. And this, by definition, is not any kind of eternal tabernacle.

Yours most truly,