The class here addressed was not the heathen who had no knowledge of the truth, nor the lowest and most ignorant of the Jewish nation, but the scribes and Pharisees, outwardly the most religious, and the leaders and teachers of the people. To these  our  Lord  said,  ” How  can  ye   escape  the   judgment  of the Gehenna?” (Diaglott translation) These men were hypocritical; they were not true to their convictions.

Abundant testimony of the truth had been borne to them, but they refused to accept it, and endeavored to counteract its influence and to discourage the people from accepting it. And in thus resisting the holy spirit of light and truth, they were hardening their hearts against the very agency which God designed for their blessing. Hence they were wickedly resisting his grace, and such a course, if pursued, must eventually end in condemnation to the Second death, Gehenna. Every step in the direction of willful blindness and opposition to the Truth makes return more difficult, and makes the wrongdoer more and more of the character which God abhors, and which the Second death is intended to utterly destroy. The scribes and Pharisees were progressing rapidly in that course: hence the warning inquiry of our Lord, “How can ye escape?” etc. The sense is this — Although you boast of your piety, you will surely be destroyed in Gehenna, unless you change your course.