–
Jesus' Teaching on Hell
–
Revised May 2004
Samuel G. Dawson
Most of what we believe about hell comes from Catholicism and ignorance
of the Old Testament, not from the Bible. This study will cause you to
re-examine current teaching on hell and urge you to further study on
what happens to the wicked after death.
Copyright © 1996, revised © 2004 by Samuel G. Dawson and Patsy Rae
Dawson
Chapter 11 from the book
The Teaching of Jesus: From Mount
Sinai to Gehenna: A Faithful Rabbi Urgently Warns Rebellious Israel.
See Rights Notice below.
Jesus' Teaching on Hell
Samuel G. Dawson
"Don't you know that hell is just something the Catholic Church invented
to scare people into obedience?"
I was righteously indignant when, a number of years ago, a caller
uttered these words on a call-in radio show I was conducting. Perturbed
by his haphazard use of Scripture, I pointed out to him and the
audience, that hell couldn't possibly be something invented by Catholic
theologians because Jesus talked about it. I forcefully read some of the
passages where Jesus did, and concluded that hell couldn't possibly be
the invention of an apostate church.
I now believe that hell is the invention of Roman Catholicism; and
surprisingly, most, if not all, of our popular concepts of hell can be
found in the writings of Roman Catholic writers like the Italian poet
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), author of Dante's Inferno. The
English poet John Milton (1608-1674), author of Paradise Lost,
set forth the same concepts in a fashion highly acceptable to the Roman
Catholic faith. Yet none of our concepts of hell can be found in the
teaching of Jesus Christ! We get indignant at the mention of
purgatory-we know that's not in the Bible. We may also find that our
popular concepts of hell came from the same place that purgatory
did-Roman Catholicism. The purpose of this study is to briefly analyze
Jesus' teaching on hell (more correctly Gehenna, the Greek word
for which hell is given), to see whether these popular concepts are
grounded therein.
A Plea for Open-Mindedness as We Begin
If we strive for open-mindedness and truly want to know what the Bible
teaches, the following quotation will help us in our search:
We do not start our Christian lives by working out our faith for
ourselves; it is mediated to us by Christian tradition, in the form of
sermons, books and established patterns of church life and fellowship.
We read our Bibles in the light of what we have learned from these
sources; we approach Scripture with minds already formed by the mass of
accepted opinions and viewpoints with which we have come into contact,
in both the Church and the world.…It is easy to be unaware that it has
happened; it is hard even to begin to realize how profoundly tradition
in this sense has moulded us. But we are forbidden to become enslaved to
human tradition, either secular or Christian, whether it be “catholic”
tradition, or “critical” tradition, or “ecumenical” tradition. We may
never assume the complete rightness of our own established ways of
thought and practice and excuse ourselves the duty of testing and
reforming them by Scriptures. (J. I. Packer, “Fundamentalism” and the
Word of God [Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,
1958], pp. 69-70.)
Of course, Packer just reminds us of Biblical injunctions to test
everything proposed for our belief. For example, in II Cor. 13.5, Paul
told the Corinthians:
Try your own selves, whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves.
Likewise, in Eph. 5.8-10, Paul commanded the Ephesian Christians to be
involved in such testing:
…for ye were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord, walk as
children of light…proving what is well-pleasing unto the Lord.
In New Testament times, one was only a disciple of Christ when he was
willing to examine himself, his beliefs, and everything proposed for his
belief as a child of light. Nothing less is required now.
Hell vs. Sheol and Hades
We first begin by eliminating the problem the King James Version of the
Bible introduced to this study by indiscriminately translating three
different words in the Bible as hell: sheol, hades, and
Gehenna.
Sheol
Used of Unseen
In the Old Testament, the word for which hell is given in the King James
Version is sheol, a word whose root meaning is “unseen.” The King
James Version translates sheol as “hell” 31 times, “the grave” 31
times (since someone in the grave is unseen), and “the pit” three times.
Yet in the Old Testament sheol was not exclusively a place of
punishment, for faithful Jacob was there (Gen. 37.35, 42.38, 44.29, 31).
Righteous Job also longed for it in Job 14.13. David spoke of going to
sheol in Ps. 49.15 and Jesus went there, Ps. 16.10 and Acts
2.24-31. In all these cases, these men were “unseen” because they were
dead.
Sheol
Used of National Judgments
Many times the Bible uses the word sheol of national judgments,
i.e., the vanishing of a nation. In Isa. 14.13, 15, Isaiah said Babylon
would go to sheol, and she vanished. In Ezek. 26.19-21, Tyre so
vanished in sheol. Likewise, in the New Testament, in Mt. 11.23,
12.41, Lk. 10.15, and 11.29-32, Jesus said that Capernaum would so
disappear. These nations and cities didn't go to a particular location,
but they were going to disappear, and they did. They were destroyed.
Thus, sheol is used commonly of national judgments in both the
Old and New Testaments.
Hades
Used of Anything Unseen
The New Testament equivalent of sheol is hades, which
occurs only eleven times. Like its synonym sheol, the King James
Version translates the word “hell.” However, the correct translation is
hades, or the unseen. The Bible doesn't use hades
exclusively for a place of punishment. Luke 16 pictures righteous
Lazarus there. Acts 2.27, 31 says Jesus went there. In I Cor. 15.15,
Paul used the same word when he said, “Death, where is thy
sting?” In Rev. 1.18, Jesus said he had the controlling keys of death
and hades, the unseen, and in Rev. 6.8, death and hades
followed the pale horse. Finally, in Rev. 20.13, 14, death and hades
gave up the dead that were in them, and were then cast into the lake of
fire. These verses illustrate that hades refers to anything that
is unseen.
Hades
Used of National Judgment
Like its companion word in the Old Testament, hades was also
plainly used of national judgments in the New Testament. In Mt. 11.23
and Lk. 10.15, Jesus said Capernaum would go down into hades,
i.e., it was going to vanish. In Mt. 12.41 and Lk. 11.29-32, Jesus said
his generation of Jews was going to fall.
About hades in Greek mythology, Edward Fudge said:
In Greek mythology Hades was the god of the underworld, then the name of
the nether world itself. Charon ferried the souls of the dead across the
rivers Styx or Acheron into this abode, where the watchdog Cerberus
guarded the gate so none might escape. The pagan myth contained all the
elements for medieval eschatology: there was the pleasant Elyusium, the
gloomy and miserable Tartarus, and even the Plains of Asphodel, where
ghosts could wander who were suited for neither of the above...The word
hades came into biblical usage when the Septuagint translators
chose it to represent the Hebrew sheol, an Old Testament concept
vastly different from the pagan Greek notions just outlined. Sheol,
too, received all the dead...but the Old Testament has no specific
division there involving either punishment or reward. (Edward William
Fudge, The Fire That Consumes [Houston: Providential Press,
1982], p. 205.)
We need to make sure that our ideas concerning hades come from
the Bible and not Greek mythology. We have no problem using sheol
the way the Old Testament used it, or hades, as the New Testament
used it. Both refer to the dead who are unseen, and to national
judgments.
The First Use of Gehenna
Most of our modern translations no longer translate hades and
sheol with the word “hell.” Now we want to examine the remaining
Greek word, Gehenna, that is still commonly rendered “hell.” (We
will discuss whether this is an appropriate translation near the end of
this study.) Notice the first occurence of this word in the Bible in Mt.
5.21-22. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:
Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill;
and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say
unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in
danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca,
shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool,
shall be in danger of the hell (Gehenna--SGD) of fire.
When Jesus used the term “hell of fire” in these verses, he actually
used the Greek word Gehenna for the first time in inspired
writing.
We want to begin with this first occurrence of Gehenna and then
study all of its occurrences in the New Testament. In this way, we can
determine the totality of the Bible's teaching on what is now commonly
called hell.
The Message of John the Baptist and Jesus
We devoted Chapter 6 entirely to this topic, but to understand Jesus'
first use of Gehenna in the Sermon on the Mount, we must first
have his ministry, and that of his contemporary, John the Baptist, in
their proper contexts. We saw there that Malachi prophesied the coming
of John the Baptist, and that Jesus confirmed that fulfillment by John.
John's preaching consisted of announcements of an imminent (“the axe
lieth at the root of the tree”) fiery judgment on Israel if she didn't
repent. This was the same fiery judgment of which Malachi had spoken,
and said that John would announce. With this idea of imminent fiery
judgment in the context, John continued in Mt. 3.11-12:
I indeed baptize you in water unto repentance: but he that cometh after
me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall
baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire: whose fan is in his hand,
and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing-floor; and he will gather
his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn up with
unquenchable fire.
Remember this “unquenchable fire.” It will figure in our study
throughout. It is the fire spoken of by Malachi, John, and Jesus.
Old Testament Background of Gehenna
Gehenna,
the word hell is given for in the New Testament, is rooted in an Old
Testament location. It is generally regarded as derived from a valley
nearby Jerusalem that originally belonged to a man named Hinnom.
Scholars say the word is a transliteration of the Valley of the Sons of
Hinnom, a valley that had a long history in the Old Testament, all of it
bad. Hence, Gehenna is a proper name like the Rio Grande Valley
of Texas and New Mexico. This being true, the word should never have
been translated “hell,” for as we'll see, the two words have nothing in
common.
We first find Hinnom in Josh. 1.8 and 18.16, where he is mentioned in
Joshua's layout of the lands of Judah and Benjamin. In II K. 23.10, we
find that righteous King Josiah “defiled Topheth in the valley of the
children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to
pass through the fire to Molech.” Josiah, in his purification of the
land of Judah, violated the idolatrous worship to the idol Molech by
tearing down the shrines. Topheth (also spelled Tophet) was a word
meaning literally, “a place of burning.” In II Chron. 28.3, idolatrous
King Ahaz burnt incense and his children in the fire there, as did
idolatrous King Manasseh in II Chron. 33.6. In Neh. 11.30, we find some
settling in Topheth after the restoration of the Jewish captives from
Babylon. In Jer. 19.2, 6, Jeremiah prophesied calamity coming upon the
idolatrous Jews there, calling it the valley of slaughter, because God
was going to slaughter the Jews there, using Nebuchadnezzar, King of
Babylon. In Jer. 7.32, Jeremiah prophesied destruction coming upon the
idolatrous Jews of his day with these words:
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more
be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of
slaughter; for they shall burn in Tophet, till there be no peace.
Notice the mention of Topheth, “the place of burning,” again. Isaiah
also spoke of Topheth this way in Isa. 30.33, when he warned the
pro-Egypt party among the Jews (i.e., those trusting in Egypt for their
salvation from Babylon rather than God) of a fiery judgment coming on
them. In Jer. 19.11-14, Jeremiah gave this pronouncement of judgment by
Babylon on Jerusalem at the valley of Hinnom:
And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall
be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose
roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have
poured out drink offerings unto other gods.
From these passages we can see that, to the Jews, the valley of Hinnom,
or Topheth, from which the New Testament concept of Gehenna
arose, came to mean a place of burning, a valley of slaughter, and a
place of calamitous fiery judgment. Thus, Thayer in his Greek-English
Lexicon of the New Testament, said, concerning Gehenna:
Gehenna,
the name of a valley on the S. and E. of Jerusalem...which was so called
from the cries of the little children who were thrown into the fiery
arms of Moloch, i.e., of an idol having the form of a bull. The Jews so
abhorred the place after these horrible sacrifices had been abolished by
king Josiah (2 Kings xxiii.10), that they cast into it not only all
manner of refuse, but even the dead bodies of animals and of unburied
criminals who had been executed. And since fires were always needed to
consume the dead bodies, that the air might not become tainted by the
putrefaction, it came to pass that the place was called Gehenna.
Actually, since Gehenna was a proper name of a valley, it would
have been called Gehenna whether or not any idolatry, burning, or
dumping of garbage had ever occurred there, and it did, as we now see.
Fudge said concerning the history of the valley of Hinnom:
The valley bore this name at least as early as the writing of Joshua
(Josh. 15:8; 18:16), though nothing is known of its origin. It was the
site of child-sacrifices to Moloch in the days of Ahaz and Manasseh
(apparently in 2 Kings 16:3; 21:6). This earned it the name “Topheth,” a
place to be spit on or abhorred. This “Topheth” may have become a
gigantic pyre for burning corpses in the days of Hezekiah after God slew
185,000 Assyrian soldiers in a night and saved Jerusalem (Isa. 30:31-33;
37:26). Jeremiah predicted that it would be filled to overflowing with
Israelite corpses when God judged them for their sins (Jer. 7:31-33;
19:2-13). Josephus indicates that the same valley was heaped with dead
bodies of the Jews following the Roman siege of Jerusalem about A.D.
69-70...Josiah desecrated the repugnant valley as part of his godly
reform (2 Kings 23:10). Long before the time of Jesus, the Valley of
Hinnom had become crusted over with connotations of whatever is
“condemned, useless, corrupt, and forever discarded.” (Edward William
Fudge, The Fire That Consumes [Houston: Providential Press,
1982], p. 160.)
We need to keep this place in mind as we read Jesus' teaching using a
word referring back to this location in the Old Testament.
The Twelve Gehenna Passages in Chronological Order
Mt. 5.21-22
In Mt. 5.21-22, Jesus used Gehenna for the first time in inspired
speech:
Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill;
and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say
unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in
danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in
danger of the hell of fire (Gehenna--SGD).
As we mentioned earlier in this study, Jesus actually used the Greek
word Gehenna for the first time in inspired writing. The word had
never occurred in the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint. When we read
the word hell, all kinds of sermon outlines, illustrations, and ideas
come to the fore of our minds. None of these came to the minds of Jesus'
listeners, for they had never heard the word before in inspired speech.
It is very significant that the word did not occur even once in the
Septuagint, quoted by Jesus and his apostles.
I suggest that to the Jews in Jesus' audience, Jesus' words referred
merely to the valley southeast of Jerusalem. In their Old Testament
background, Gehenna meant a place of burning, a valley where
rebellious Jews had been slaughtered before and would be again if they
didn't repent, as Malachi, John the Baptist, and Jesus urged them to do.
Jesus didn't have to say what Gehenna was, as it was a
well-known place to the people of that area, but his teaching was at
least consistent with the national judgment announced by Malachi and
John the Baptist. The closest fire in the context is Mt. 3.10-12, where
John announced imminent fiery judgment on the nation of Israel.
Let's notice the other Gehenna passages to ascertain more about
Jesus' use of Gehenna. As we do so, let's analyze each passage
thus: Does the passage teach things we don't believe about an unending
fiery hell, but which fit national judgment in Gehenna?
Mt. 5.29-30
The next passage is Mt. 5.29-30, where Jesus used Gehenna twice
when he said:
And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it
from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should
perish, and not thy whole body go into hell (Gehenna--SGD). And
if thy right hand causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from
thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should
perish, and not thy whole body go into hell (Gehenna--SGD).
In our traditional idea of hell, unending fire after the end of time, we
normally don't think of people having their physical limbs at that time.
This is not an argument, but just the realization that we don't think in
terms of some people being in heaven with missing eyes and limbs, and
some in hell with all of theirs. However, these words do fit a national
judgment. It would be better to go into the kingdom of the Messiah
missing some members, than to go into an imminent national judgment of
unquenchable fire with all our members. This was equivalent to John's
demand that his Jewish audience bring forth fruits worthy of repentance
or receive imminent unquenchable fire. The whole body of a Jew could be
cast into the valley of Gehenna in the fiery judgment of which
John spoke.
Mt. 10.28
The fourth time Jesus used Gehenna was when he said:
And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill
the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body
in hell (Gehenna--SGD).
Again, Jesus spoke of Gehenna consistently with imminent national
judgment on Israel. The whole body of a Jew would be cast into the
imminent fiery national judgment of which John spoke.
Lk. 12.4-5
This is the fifth time Jesus used Gehenna, when he said:
And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body,
and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom
ye shall fear: Fear him, who after he hath killed, hath power to cast
into hell (Gehenna-SGD): yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Here Jesus taught the same thing John taught in Mt. 3.10-12, that only a
divine being has the power to cast someone into unquenchable fire. A
human can kill you. A divine being can imminently bring an unstoppable
national judgment in which a divinely ordained religion would be brought
to an end. Notice also that Jesus said that one would be cast into
Gehenna after he has been killed (Lk. 12.4-5) and that God can
destroy both the soul and body in Gehenna.
Notice also in verse 49 that Jesus said:
I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what do I desire, if it is
already kindled?
The fiery judgment of which Jesus spoke was not far off in time and
place, but imminent and earthly. In verse 56, Jesus noted that the
judgment of which he spoke was imminent, for he said:
Ye hypocrites, ye know how to interpret the face of the earth and the
heaven; but how is it that ye know not how to interpret this time?
The word for earth in both these verses is gen, the standard word
for land or ground, not necessarily the planet, which we might think.
Thayer defined the word as:
1. arable land, 2. the ground, the earth as a standing place, 3. land,
as opposed to sea or water, 4. the earth as a whole, the world. (p. 114)
This is the word used in Mt. 2.6 (the land of Judea), Mt. 2.20 (the land
of Israel), Mt. 10.15 (the land of Sodom and Gomorrah), Mt. 11.24 (the
land of Sodom), Mt. 14.34 (the land of Gennesaret), Jn. 3.22 (the land
of Judea), Ac. 7.3 (into the land which I shall show thee), Ac. 7.6
(seed should sojourn in a strange land), Ac. 7.11 (a dearth over all the
land of Egypt), etc. Thus, Jesus again spoke of imminent fiery
destruction on the land of Israel, just as Malachi and John the Baptist
said he would announce.
Mt. 18.9, Mk. 9.43-45
These verses contain the sixth, seventh, eight, and ninth times Jesus
used the word Gehenna. These are verses like Mt. 5.29-30, which
speak of it being better to enter life or the kingdom without some
members of one's body rather than going into Gehenna with a whole
body. However, we want to pay special attention to Mark's account,
because in it, Jesus further described Gehenna:
And if thy hand cause thee to stumble, cut it off: it is good for thee
to enter into life maimed, rather than having thy two hands to go into
hell, into the unquenchable fire [emphasis mine-SGD].
Notice that Jesus specifically said what's coming in
Gehenna-unquenchable fire. John the Baptist said he would baptize
with unquenchable fire, not necessarily fire that would burn unendingly,
but which would not be quenched. Unquenchable fire is unstoppable! It's
fiery destruction brought about by a divine being. In Ezk. 20.47-48, God
promised such a national judgment on Judah:
Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am about to
kindle a fire in you, and it shall consume every green tree in you, as
well as every dry tree; the blazing flame will not be quenched, and the
whole surface from south to north will be burned by it. And all flesh
will see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.
Of course, Babylon fulfilled these words in the destruction of Jerusalem
in 586 B.C. when the Jews were carried off into captivity. The fire was
not quenched, but Jerusalem didn't burn unendingly from 586 B.C. on.
Likewise, in Amos 5.6, God had promised a similar judgment on the
northern kingdom at the hands of the Assyrians, fulfilled in 722 B.C.
when they were carried into captivity:
Seek the Lord that you may live, lest He break forth like a fire, O
house of Joseph, and it consume with none to quench it for Bethel.
The unquenchable fire which consumed Israel was unstoppable, but no one
believes it's still burning unendingly. Thus, when Jesus spoke of
unquenchable fire in Mk. 9.43, he used language that his Jewish
listeners would associate with the national judgments God had brought on
nations in the Old Testament. In fact, they had never heard such
language used any other way! Of course, we have, but not from the
teaching of the Bible.
Mt. 23.15
In the tenth time Jesus used Gehenna, he said:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and
land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him
twofold more a son of hell (Gehenna-SGD) than yourselves.
These Jews knew what Gehenna was, and Jesus and John had foretold
the unquenchable fiery judgment awaiting them there. He told these Jews
that they were headed for it, and the people they taught were as well.
It is the same national judgment he's been speaking of thus far.
Mt. 23.33
Eighteen verses later, Jesus used Gehenna for the eleventh time.
Continuing in the same address, he said:
Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of
hell (Gehenna-SGD)?
Just three verses later, Jesus said, in Mt. 23.36:
Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
About these same things, Jesus said in Mt. 24.34:
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all
these things be accomplished.
Thus, Jesus gave the time element when this fiery destruction on the
land would be carried out: in that generation, i.e., in the time of his
dealing with the then present generation of Jews. To sum up, Jesus
threatened the Jews in the environs of Jerusalem that they were headed
for the valley named Gehenna where there would be unquenchable
fire (Mk. 9.43) upon his generation (Mt. 23.36) in his
generation (Mt. 24.34), when God destroys the souls of those of
Jesus' generation after killing their bodies (Lk. 12.5, Mt. 10.28).
We cannot make it more precise! Gehenna is where Jesus said
Jerusalem would end up after its unstoppable fiery destruction in 70
A.D.
Jas. 3.6
There remains but one more occurrence of Gehenna in the Bible.
It's the only time the word occurs outside the gospels, where James,
writing to Jews shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem, said:
And the tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among our members is the
tongue, which defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the wheel of
nature, and is set on fire by hell (Gehenna--SGD).
While this is the only passage speaking of Gehenna outside the
gospels, it is consistent with how Jesus defined it. James condemned
misuse of the tongue, specifically in terms Jesus used the first time he
used the word in Mt. 5.22, where he spoke of cursing one's brethren
putting one in danger of the hell of fire (Gehenna--SGD). In Jas.
3.9, James said:
Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith curse we men, who
are made after the likeness of God: out of the same mouth cometh forth
blessing and cursing.
Thus, the last time Gehenna occurred in the Bible, it taught the
same thing it taught in the first. The Jew of Jesus' day who abused his
brother with his tongue was in danger of imminent, fiery, national
destruction. He was headed for unquenchable fire on his generation, in
his generation.
We see the same imminence of this judgment against Jesus' generation of
Jews later in James. For example, in Jas. 5.5, James mentioned a day of
slaughter coming. In Jas. 5.7, he mentioned the coming of the Lord. In
Jas. 5.8, he said the coming of the Lord was “at hand.” In Jas. 5.9, he
said “the judge standeth before the door.”
Summary of the Twelve Gehenna Passages
From these twelve Gehenna passages, we learn that Gehenna
would be the familiar valley on the southwest side of Jerusalem where an
imminent fiery judgment was coming on the Jews of the generation in
which Jesus was crucified. It was unquenchable fire on that generation
in that generation. It was a national judgment against the Jews.
Gehenna was to the Jews of Jesus' day what it was to the Jews of
Jeremiah's day-where the term originated-the city dump! But it entailed
all the horror of being rejected and abandoned by God to the merciless
enemy who surrounded the gates and who would cause their dead carcasses
to be thrown into the burning, worm-infested place. Thus, when Jesus
used the term He used it in the same sense that Jeremiah did: as
Jerusalem then was abandoned to Babylon's invasion, so Jerusalem of
Jesus' day was about to be abandoned to Roman invasion-unless they
repented. None of these hell passages say that anyone of our day can
go to hell. None of them associate hell with Satan. None of them say
that Satan's domain is hell. Though they speak of men being killed and
destroyed in Gehenna, none of them speak of men being tormented there.
Contrast Jesus' use of hell with traditional preaching on the
subject. For example, we quote a Rev. J. Furniss, who said:
See on the middle of that red-hot floor stands a girl: she looks about
sixteen years old. Her feet are bare. Listen; she speaks. “I have been
standing on this red-hot floor for years! Look at my burnt and bleeding
feet! Let me go off this burning floor for one moment!” The fifth
dungeon is the red-hot oven. The little child is in the red-hot oven.
Hear how it screams to come out; see how it turns and twists itself
about in the fire. It beats its head against the roof of the oven. It
stamps its little feet on the floor. God was very good to this little
child. Very likely God saw it would get worse and worse, and would never
repent, and so it would have to be punished more severely in hell. So
God in His mercy called it out of the world in early childhood. (J.
Furniss, The Sight of Hell [London and Dublin: Duffy], cited by
Edward William Fudge, The Fire That Consumes [Houston:
Providential Press, 1982], p. 416.)
Charles H. Spurgeon, renowned Baptist preacher, said:
When thou diest thy soul will be tormented alone-that will be a hell for
it-but at the day of judgment thy body will join thy soul, and then thou
wilt have twin hells, body and soul shall be together, each brimfull of
pain, thy soul sweating in its inmost pore drops of blood and thy body
from head to foot suffused with agony; conscience, judgement, memory,
all tortured….Thine heart beating high with fever, thy pulse rattling at
an enormous rate in agony, thy limbs cracking like the martyrs in the
fire and yet unburnt, thyself put in a vessel of hot oil, pained yet
coming out undestroyed, all thy veins becoming a road for the hot feet
of pain to travel on, every nerve a string on which the devil shall ever
play his diabolical tune….Fictions, sir! Again I say they are no
fictions, but solid, stern truth. If God be true, and this Bible be
true, what I have said is the truth, and you will find it one day to be
so. (Charles H. Spurgeon, Sermon No. 66, New Park Street Pulpit, 2:105,
cited by Edward William Fudge, The Fire That Consumes [Houston:
Providential Press, 1982], p. 417.)
Only conceive that poor wretch in the flames, who is saying, “O for one
drop of water to cool my parched tongue!” See how his tongue hangs from
between his blistered lips! How it excoriates and burns the roof of his
mouth as if it were a firebrand! Behold him crying for a drop of water.
I will not picture the scene. Suffice it for me to close up by saying,
that the hell of hells will be to thee, poor sinner, the thought that it
is to be for ever. Thou wilt look up there on the throne of God-and on
it shall be written, “for ever!” When the damned jingle the burning
irons of their torments, they shall say, “For ever!” When they howl,
echo cries, “For ever!” “For ever” is written on their racks, “For ever”
on their chains; “For ever” burneth in the fire, “For ever” ever
reigns.” (From a sermon preached in 1855, cited by Edward William Fudge,
The Fire That Consumes [Houston: Providential Press, 1982], p.
417.)
Jonathan Edwards, famous Calvinist preacher of an earlier century, said:
So it will be with the soul in Hell;
it will have no strength or power to deliver itself; and its torment and
horror will be so great, so mighty, so vastly disproportioned to its
strength, that having no strength in the least to support itself,
although it be infinitely contrary to the nature and inclination of the
soul utterly to sink; yet it will sink, it will utterly and totally
sink, without the least degree of remaining comfort, or strength, or
courage, or hope. And though it will never be annihilated, its being and
perception will never be abolished: yet such will be the infinite depth
of gloominess that it will sink into, that it will be in a state of
death, eternal death….
To help your conception, imagine yourself to be cast into a fiery oven,
all of a glowing heat, or into the midst of a glowing brick-kiln, or of
a great furnace, where your pain would be as much greater than that
occasioned by accidentally touching a coal of fire, as the heat is
greater. Imagine also that you body were to lie there for a quarter of
an hour, full of fire, as full within and without as a bright coal of
fire, all the while full of quick sense; what horror would you feel at
the entrance of such a furnace! And how long would that quarter of an
hour seem to you!…And how much greater would be the effect, if you knew
you must endure it for a whole year, and how vastly greater still, if
you knew you must endure it for a thousand years! O then, how would your
heart sink, if you thought, if you knew, that you must bear it forever
and ever!…That after millions of millions of ages, your torment would be
no nearer to an end, than ever it was; and that you never, never should
be delivered! But your torment in Hell will be immeasurably greater than
this illustration represents. How then will the heart of a poor creature
sink under it! How utterly inexpressible and inconceivable must the
sinking of the soul be in such a case. (Jonathan Edwards, cited by A. W.
Pink, Eternal Punishment [Swengel, PA: Reiner Publications, n.d.],
cited by Edward William Fudge, The Fire That Consumes [Houston:
Providential Press, 1982], p. 417.)
Did all that preaching come from the twelve Gehenna passages
we've just analyzed? Did any of it? We can find none of this
language of red-hot floors, dungeons, red-hot ovens, vessels of hot oil,
being able to see the throne of God, brick-kilns, torture racks, chains,
or great furnaces anywhere in these twelve passages that deal with the
subject of Gehenna in the Bible. However, they are easily found
in Milton's Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno.
The reader may wonder, “Well, if Jesus didn't teach that the wicked
presently living will finally go to hell, then what did he teach about
the final destiny of the wicked?” First, we don't have to know the
answer to that question to know that traditional teaching on hell is
Biblically bankrupt. Second, Jesus didn't teach anything about the final
destiny of the wicked, that is, at the end of time. If we're tempted to
use the account of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16), let's recall that
in this account, Lazarus, the rich man, and Abraham were all in hades
(they couldn't be seen), and the passage doesn't address what happens
after the end of time at all. Whatever the passage teaches, it doesn't
deal with the final destiny of the wicked.
Other Terminology Commonly Thought to Refer to Eternal Fiery Hell
Now we want to notice other expressions of fiery judgment which we
traditionally use to describe hell. These include fire burning to
sheol, the worm dying not, unquenchable fire, fire that is not
quenched, everlasting fire, weeping and gnashing of teeth, gnashing of
teeth, fire and brimstone, rising smoke, no rest day or night, being
cast into fire, and melting.
Fire Consuming a Nation
In Isa. 33.10-1, Isaiah said about Assyria:
Now I will arise, says the Lord, now I will be exalted, now I will be
lifted up. You have conceived chaff, you will give birth to stubble; my
breath will consume you like a fire, and the peoples will be burned to
lime, like cut thorns which are burned in the fire....Who among us can
live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual
burning?
A careful study of the Old Testament prophets shows these expressions of
the Assyrians being consumed by fire, and burned to lime are expressions
of national judgment upon that nation. These expressions are similar to
Jesus' statement in Lk. 12.49 that he came to send fire on the land of
Israel. This is also the Old Testament basis for Jesus' statement to the
Jews in Jn. 15.6:
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered;
and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Isaiah's language was also similar to that in Dan. 7.9-12, where Daniel
foretold the judgment of the beast about to overcome the saints of the
Most High:
I kept looking until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took
His seat; His vesture was like white snow and the hair of His head like
pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning
fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him;
Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriads upon myriads
were standing before Him; The court sat, and the books were opened. Then
I kept looking because of the sound of the boasting words which the horn
was speaking: I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was
destroyed and given to the burning fire.
This scene portrayed the national destruction of the pagan power
attempting to destroy the saints of the Most High. This is the same
scene described in Rev. 20.11-15:
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place
for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before
the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is
the book of life; and the dead were judged out of the things which were
written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the
dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in
them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death
and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. And if any was not found
written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
Both of these scenes depict national judgments against a nation
persecuting God's saints, both have judgment scenes, both have people
judged out of things written in the books, and both have those not
pleasing God in the judgment being cast into a river or lake of fire.
This national judgment goes with John's expressions of imminence in Rev.
1.3 (“the time is at hand”), Rev. 22.6 (“things which must shortly come
to pass”), and Rev. 22.10 (“Seal not up the words of the prophecy of
this book: for the time is at hand”). Those who take the early date of
Revelation (A.D. 67) believe these words refer to the destruction of
Jerusalem, while those who take the later date for Revelation (A.D.
90-96) believe these words refer to the destruction of the Roman Empire.
Whether they refer to Jerusalem or the Roman empire, they refer to a
national judgment.
Fire Burning to Sheol, Consuming the Earth and Mountains
This language is generally associated with a fiery judgment at the end
of time, and hell. However, in Dt. 32.22, Moses said the same about the
punishment God would bring on Israel for her idolatry:
For a fire is kindled in My anger, and burns to the lowest part of
Sheol, and consumes the earth with its yield, and sets on fire the
foundations of the mountains.
This language described national judgment that caused a nation to
vanish.
Worm Dieth Not, Fire Not Quenched
While this language is generally applied to hell, it's not so used in
any of the Gehenna passages in the Bible. In Isa. 66.24, we read
of God's destruction of Jerusalem in the generation when Jesus was
crucified:
Then they shall go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have
transgressed against Me. For their worm shall not die, and their fire
shall not be quenched; and they shall be an abhorrence to all mankind.
This passage contains nothing about conscious suffering, much less
enduring to the end of time. Yet this is the same kind of language we
saw in Mk. 9.47-48, the passage where Jesus described Gehenna
with “unquenchable fire.” There Jesus said:
It is good for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye,
rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell; where their worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched. When Jesus spoke these words, the
Bible had never used such language of anything but a national judgment.
Unquenchable Fire
Likewise, when John the Baptist and Jesus spoke of unquenchable fire,
the Jews had never heard such language used of anything but a national
judgment. For example, in Ezk. 20.47-48, God promised national judgment
on Israel:
Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am about to
kindle a fire in you, and it shall consume every green tree in you, as
well as every dry tree; the blazing flame will not be quenched, and the
whole surface from south to north will be burned by it. And all flesh
will see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.
In Amos 5.5-6, we have the same language used of national judgment on
Israel again. God had promised a similar judgment on the northern
kingdom at the hands of the Assyrians, fulfilled in 722 B.C.:
Seek the Lord that you may live, lest He break forth like a fire, O
house of Joseph, and it consume with none to quench it for Bethel.
In Isa. 66.15-16, 24, Isaiah spoke of New Jerusalem's enemies being
burned with unquenchable fire, as he spoke of the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70:
For behold, the Lord will come in fire, and His chariots like the
whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of
fire. For the Lord will execute judgment by fire, and by His sword on
all flesh. And those slain by the Lord will be many....Then they shall
go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed
against Me. For their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be
quenched; and they shall be an abhorrence to all mankind.
In Jer. 21.10-12, we read of Babylon's burning Jerusalem with
unquenchable fire, a national judgment fulfilled in 586 B.C.:
For I have set My face against this city for harm and not for good,
declares the Lord. It will be given into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and he will burn it with fire. Then say to the household of the
king of Judah, Hear the word of the Lord, O house of David, thus says
the Lord: Administer justice every morning; and deliver the person who
has been robbed from the power of the oppressor. That My wrath may not
go forth like fire and burn with none to extinguish it, because of the
evil of their deeds.
Again, at the time John the Baptist and Jesus used this language in the
gospels, the Bible had only used it of national judgments.
Fire That Is Not Quenched
The same thing is true of this expression. In Jer. 4.4, Jeremiah used it
of the destruction of Jerusalem. In Jer. 21.12, he used it to describe
the destruction of the house of David. In Amos 5.5, 6, Amos used it of
the destruction of Jerusalem. In II K. 22.17, it's used of the
destruction of Judah. In Isa. 34.10, Isaiah used it of the destruction
of Edom, and in Isa. 66.24, he used it of the destruction of the enemies
of the Messiah's people. See also Jer. 7.20, 17.27, where Jeremiah used
it of the destruction of Judah, and Ezk. 20.47-48, where Ezekiel spoke
of God's destruction of Jerusalem.
Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth
These words are so often thought of as applying to people suffering
unending conscious torment in hell, that it will surprise many to find
that the Old Testament used this language exclusively of national
judgments.
In Isa. 22.12, speaking of the time Jerusalem would be destroyed by
Babylon, Isaiah said:
Therefore in that day the Lord God of hosts, called you to weeping, to
wailing, to shaving the head, and to wearing sackcloth.
See also Isa. 16.9, Jer. 9.1, and 48.32. The entire book of Lamentations
contains such language as Jeremiah lamented the destruction of Jerusalem
by Babylon. In the New Testament, Jas. 5.1 uses the same kind of
language to describe the weeping of the rich for fear of God's imminent
judgment on Jerusalem:
Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon
you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
This judgment was also imminent in Jas. 5.5-9, where the day of
slaughter was spoken of as at hand, as the judge was standing before the
door. John used this same language in Rev. 18.9, of the pagan kings
lamenting the destruction of spiritual Babylon:
And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived wantonly
with her, shall weep and wail over her, when they look upon the smoke of
her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Woe,
woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! for in one hour is thy
judgment. And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her...
On the gnashing of teeth in particular, an adversary about to kill his
victim did this in Job 16.9, Ps. 35.16, Ps. 37.12, Lam. 2.16, and Acts
7.54. Ths Psalmist used it of gnashing of teeth by the victim in Ps.
112.10, where the psalmist said:
The wicked man will see and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and waste
away: the longing of the wicked will come to nothing.
Thus, when Jesus and John the Baptist issued their warnings of the
impending destruction of Jerusalem, they used language that the Old
Testament had only used of national destruction.
Fire and Brimstone
In Isa. 34.9, Isaiah used this language of national judgment on Edom:
And its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its loose earth into
brimstone, and its land shall become burning pitch.
In Isa. 30.33, Isaiah used it of such a judgment on Assyria:
For Topheth [the place of human sacrifice to Molech, an Assyrian god--SGD]
has long been ready, indeed, it has been prepared for the king. He has
made it deep and large, a pyre of fire with plenty of wood; the breath
of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.
Psalm 11.6 spoke of fire and brimstone on the wicked, Ezk. 38.22 used
this language to speak of national judgment on Gog, a pagan nation
opposed to God's people in the restoration after Babylonian captivity.
In Rev. 14.9-11, John used fire and brimstone of national judgment on
the empire attempting to eradicate the Messiah's people. Scripture uses
this language only of national judgment.
Rising Smoke
Isaiah used this language of national judgment against Edom in Isa.
34.10:
It shall not be quenched night or day; Its smoke shall go up forever;
From generation to generation it shall be desolate; None shall pass
through it forever and ever.
No Rest Day or Night
Isaiah used this language of national judgment on Edom in Isa. 34.10,
quoted above.
Cast Into Fire
In Ezk. 5.4-5, this language described Israel being cast into the fire,
in her destruction by Babylon:
And take again some of them and throw them into the fire, and burn them
in the fire, from it a fire will spread to all the house of
Israel...Thus says the Lord God, This is Jerusalem; I have set her at
the center of the nations, with lands around her.
Thus, this expression is used consistently of national destruction.
Unfruitful Branches to Be Burned Up
In Ezek. 19.10-14, Ezekiel used this language of the national
destruction of Israel:
Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, Planted by the waters; It
was fruitful and full of branches Because of abundant waters. And it had
strong branches fit for scepters of rulers, And its height was raised
above the clouds So that it was seen in its height with the mass of its
branches. But it was plucked up in fury; It was cast down to the ground;
And the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branch was torn off So
that it withered; The fire consumed it. And now it is planted in the
wilderness, In a dry and thirsty land. And fire has gone out from its
branch; It has consumed its shoots and fruit, So that there is not in it
a strong branch, A scepter to rule. This is a lamentation, and has
become a lamentation.
Melt
In Mic. 1.2-7, God said he would melt Israel and Judah. In Ps. 75.3, the
Psalmist used this language of the destruction of God's enemies in the
Old Testament. Peter may well have used this language of the destruction
of Jerusalem in II Pet. 3.10-12. (See Appendix 1, “II Peter 3:
Destruction of Universe or Jerusalem?” for a full discussion of this
chapter.) Like all the other expressions, melt portrays national
destruction.
This section shows that none of the language we usually associate with
hell is so associated in the Bible, and most of that language was used
of strictly national judgments.
Is Hell Even a Proper Translation for Gehenna?
Having seen the concept involved in Jesus' use of Gehenna, that
it was an unstoppable fiery punishment on his generation in his
generation, we now ask whether hell is even a proper translation for
Gehenna. Does our English word “hell” fit the concept of Gehenna
we find in the teaching of Jesus?
Did Gehenna Even Need Translating?
As we have seen, Gehenna was the proper name for a location just
outside Jerusalem. Why did it even need translating at all? We don't
translate other proper names, such as Gethsemane, Calvary, or Bethlehem,
all in the vicinity of Jerusalem. People living far away from Jerusalem,
say in Ephesus or Rome, might not have known what these names referred
to, but residents of the environs of Jerusalem certainly did, and didn't
need the word translated.
When interpreting the Bible, or any other writing, for that matter,
one of the fundamental rules is that we take a passage in its most
literal sense unless something in the context forces us to interpret it
otherwise. Thus, we should take any expression as literal, or at
face value, unless the evident meaning forbids it. By evidently
forbidden, we mean there's evidence that forbids the idea that it should
be taken literally. By evidence, we don't mean, “I just hope it's taken
figuratively, or I can't figure out what this means; so therefore, it
must be figurative.” That's not evidence. By evidence, we mean things
like the correct definition of a word or something in the context or
other verses that demonstrate that it is not to be taken literally.
Applying this rule to the present case, we ask, “Is there evidence that
forces us to think that Gehenna is anything other than the valley
just outside Jerusalem? What is the evidence that Jesus' language cannot
mean that?” In the absence of such evidence, Jesus simply warned the
Jews in the region of Jerusalem, that unless they repented, their city
was imminently to be destroyed.
A second rule for the interpretation of potentially figurative
(non-literal) language is that expressions are figurative when the
literal meaning would involve an impossibility.
Applying this rule to the present case (the interpretation of Gehenna),
we ask, “Does interpreting Gehenna literally involve us in an
impossibility? Does interpreting `Jesus as warning the Jews in the
region of Jerusalem that unless they repented, their city was to be
imminently destroyed' involve an impossibility?” Of course not, because
historically, that is exactly what happened.
A third rule is that a passage isn't literal if the literal view places
it in conflict with another.
Applying this rule to the present case, we ask, “Does interpreting
Gehenna literally place these passages in conflict with any others?”
Again, the answer is, obviously not, since Old Testament prophets
foretold of Jerusalem's destruction (including John the Baptist, and
Jesus himself). Why didn't translators obey these rules when
interpreting Jesus' teaching on Gehenna? Is there anything in the
context that forced them to think that Gehenna doesn't mean
exactly what it says, i.e., a physical, literal location just outside
Jerusalem? Of course, people who lived far away from Jerusalem probably
wouldn't have known what Gehenna was, any more than people
outside New York City may not know about Fishkills (the proper name of
their municipal dump). But no one outside the region of Jerusalem was
threatened by the destruction of Jerusalem. No one in Ephesus or Rome
was ever threatened with the prospect of Gehenna if he didn't
repent. No Gentile was ever threatened with the prospect of Gehenna
if he didn't repent. We are not threatened with the prospect of
Gehenna if we don't repent.
As one reviewer commented, “Of all things--Gehenna just means
Gehenna!”
What Is the Origin of the English Word “Hell”?
Concerning the word “hell,” the Encyclopedia Britannica says:
Hell, the abode or state of being of evil spirits or souls that are
damned to postmortem punishment. Derived from an Anglo-Saxon word
meaning “to conceal,” or “to cover,” the term hell originally designed
the torrid regions of the underworld, though in some religions the
underworld is cold and dark. (The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol.
5, 15th edition [Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.], p. 813.)
Britannica's lexicographer (whose job is to define words as they are now
used) correctly defined hell as it's used now as the place of punishment
after death. However, notice that the word historically meant “a cover.”
Our word “helmet” comes from the same origin, as it covers the head.
Scholars tell us this word was used in the middle ages of a farmer, who
would “hell” or “cover” his potatoes to preserve them during the winter.
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
says:
Hell [ME, fr. OE; akin to OE helan to conceal, OHG hella,
hell, to conceal, ON hel] heathen realm of the dead, Goth
halja hell, L celare to hide, conceal, Gk kalyptein to
cover, conceal, Skt sarana screening, protecting, basic meaning:
concealing. (Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the
English Language Unabridged, editor Philip Babcock Gove, Ph.D.
[Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster Inc., 1993], p. 1051.)
Webster agrees that the Old English origin of the word means “cover.”
This word had nothing to do with a place of punishment or eternal
torment. Those connotations came much later, just in time, we might say,
to be corrupted by Roman Catholicism into its present form. To translate
“Gehenna” (which didn't contain any meaning of eternal torment or
punishment), with the word “hell” (which also didn't contain any meaning
of eternal torment or punishment) isn't a translation at all, but a
substitution of a man-made doctrine into a word convenient to be
corrupted.
This would be like the proper noun “Palo Duro Canyon,” a familiar
feature in the Texas Panhandle near the author's residence. People
living far away probably have never heard of it. If someone translated
the words “Palo Duro Canyon” with a completely unrelated word, and then
said that new word meant “eternal torment,” it wouldn't make sense,
would it? That is exactly what happened with the proper noun Gehenna,
a location familiar with inhabitants of Jerusalem. But to then
suggest that the word Gehenna should be translated by the word
“hell,” a word that has none of the meaning of the word Gehenna,
compounds the problem. “Hell” is not a translation of Gehenna,
any more than New York is a translation of Jerusalem.
Another example of this unjustified substitution of a completely
unrelated English word for a Greek word is the word “Easter” in Ac.
12.4. The King James Version tells us that Herod arrested Peter:
And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him
to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to
bring him forth to the people.
The word “translated” Easter is Pascha, the standard word for
Passover throughout the New Testament. The translators of the King James
Version, all members of the Church of England, essentially the English
version of the Roman Catholic Church, knew the word “Easter” didn't mean
Passover, and didn't have any relation to the Passover. Rather than
translate Pascha as Passover, they just jammed Easter into its
place. The same thing happened when the translators jammed the word hell
into the place of Gehenna. Hell is no more related to Gehenna
than Easter is to Pascha.
Universalist J. W. Hanson wrote something on this subject worth
considering, even though we do not agree with his theory of salvation:
The word should have been left untranslated as it is in some versions,
and it would not be misunderstood. It was not misunderstood by the Jews
to whom Jesus addressed it. Walter Balfour well says: “What meaning
would the Jews who were familiar with this word, and knew it to signify
the valley of Hinnom, be likely to attach to it when they heard it used
by our Lord? Would they, contrary to all former usage, transfer its
meaning from a place with whose locality and history they had been
familiar from their infancy, to a place of misery in another world? This
conclusion is certainly inadmissible. By what rule of interpretation,
then, can we arrive at the conclusion that this word means a place of
misery and death?”
The French Bible, the Emphatic Diaglott, Improved Version, Wakefield's
Translation and Newcomb's retain the proper noun, Gehenna, the name of a
place as well-known as Babylon.
Dr. Thayer significantly remarks: “The Savior and James are the only
persons in all the New Testament who use the word. John Baptist, who
preached to the most wicked of men did not use it once. Paul wrote
fourteen epistles and yet never once mentions it. Peter does not name
it, nor Jude; and John, who wrote the gospel, three epistles, and the
Book of Revelations, never employs it in a single instance. Now if
Gehenna or Hell really reveals the terrible fact of endless woe, how can
we account for this strange silence? How is it possible, if they knew
its meaning and believed it a part of Christ's teaching that they should
not have used it a hundred or a thousand times, instead of never using
it at all; especially when we consider the infinite interests involved?
The Book of Acts contains the record of the apostolic preaching, and the
history of the first planting of the church among the Jews and Gentiles,
and embraces a period of thirty years from the ascension of Christ. In
all this history, in all this preaching of the disciples and apostles of
Jesus there is no mention of Gehenna. In thirty years of missionary
effort these men of God, addressing people of all characters and nations
never under any circumstances threaten them with the torments of Gehenna
or allude to it in the most distant manner! In the face of such a fact
as this can any man believe that Gehenna signifies endless punishment
and that this is part of divine revelation, a part of the Gospel message
to the world? These considerations show how impossible it is to
establish the doctrine in review on the word Gehenna. All the facts are
against the supposition that the term was used by Christ or his
disciples in the sense of endless punishment. There is not the least
hint of any such meaning attached to it, nor the slightest preparatory
notice that any such new revelation was to be looked for in this old
familiar word.”
Salvation is never said to be from Gehenna. Gehenna is never said to be
of endless duration nor spoken of as destined to last forever, so that
even admitting the popular ideas of its existence after death it gives
no support to the idea of endless torment. (J. W. Hanson, D.D., The
Bible Hell, fourth edition [Boston: Universalist Publishing House,
1888. Available on World Wide Web].)
Summary of Jesus' Teaching on Hell
False theories of eternal punishment of the wicked have done
unfathomable damage in the religious realm. Untold millions of people
have obeyed God purely out of fear of a false concept of hell. Other
untold millions have turned their backs on God because of a false sense
of hell, as described by Roman Catholic sources, and their followers in
most denominations.
This study shows that when John the Baptist and Jesus used these terms,
they used language familiar to the Jews whom they taught. The Jews had
heard this language no other way than in scenes of national judgment.
While it is easy for us to read these passages from the point of view of
enduring conscious punishment, we should read them as the Jews who heard
them first.
Rather than our present day beliefs about hell coming from the Bible,
the caller to the radio program was right. Our beliefs come from Roman
Catholic theologians. As a result of an earlier version of this
material, many have asked the author to deal with the final destiny of
the wicked. While we are not prepared to deal with that larger subject
at present, we can see, if our conclusions are correct thus far, that
the subject of the final destiny of the wicked was never part of Jesus'
teaching on Gehenna or hell. That connection was given to us courtesy
of Roman Catholicism, just like it gave us purgatory, the sale of
indulgences, Limbo Patrum, Limbo Infantrum, etc.
This chapter is available at the website:
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These electronically-transmitted pages are copyrighted © 1996, revised ©
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Copyright
All Old Testament scripture quotations are taken from The New
American Standard Bible, © 1960-1977 by the Lockman Foundation. Used
by permission. All New Testament scripture quotations are taken from
The American Standard Version New Testament, © 1901, 1929 Thomas
Nelson and Sons. All rights reserved.
Chapter 11, "Jesus' Teaching on Hell," comes from the book The
Teaching of Jesus: From Mount Sinai to Gehenna: A Faithful Rabbi
Urgently Warns Rebellious Israel by Samuel G. Dawson © 2004 by
Samuel G. Dawson and Patsy Rae Dawson. Used by permission of publisher.
Copyright © 1996, revised © 2004 by Samuel G. Dawson and Patsy Rae
Dawson
ISBN 0-938855-61-1
Publisher
Gospel Themes Press
2028 South Austin Street Suite 906
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