> "I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny." (Matthew 5:26)

This verse is used by annihilationists and universalists to suppose that at some point the person might "pay the last penny" and "get out of jail". Such an argument fails to account for the reality of debtor's prison: In such cases, barring intervention, the person never pays the last penny, because they can't get out of prison to make money to pay the debt. If this happened a relative would have to get you out by selling their own land, which is where any analogy to eternity breaks down; only a broker acting for a patron (i.e., Jesus) could pay such a debt.

Some suppose that since death releases someone from prison, then this verse can still support annihilation; but Jesus never says, "you will not get out until you die" -- and could not say it, because the problem again is the lack of an earthly parallel to an eternal prison. No other metaphor is available.