WHAT IS BIBLICAL HELL



WHAT IS BIBLICAL HELL?

I wonder if there is any other word in the English language that has more meanings and applications than the word “hell.” It is used as a noun with a seemingly innumerable number of meanings, and as an adjective or adverb modifying an equally innumerable number of subjects and verbs. Think about it. Hell can indicate fast or slow, hot or cold, fat or thin. The meaning of what other word could be more confusing?

I would like to state right up front that the typical Christian belief in an ever-burning hellfire for the wicked is simply found nowhere supported in the scriptures. This belief originates in ancient pagan culture and philosophy. In years past I had to dig long and deeply into original research of many esoteric sources in order to demonstrate common errors in typical Christian beliefs. No longer. Anyone today with an electronic device and an internet connection can do what it took me hours, days, and weeks to do. So you do not have to take my word for it on the above statements concerning hell. Google it for yourself.

When one moves to the biblical word “hell” in the King James Bible, which translation I will use in this article, there is scarcely more clarity of meaning than we saw earlier. There are no less than three Greek words which are all translated “hell” in the New Testament. Their meanings in Greek are all distinctly different. Add in the Hebrew word for “hell” in the Old Testament, and the result can be nearly as confusing as the everyday secular English vernacular for hell. No wonder most Christians do not fully comprehend the meaning of biblical hell. So let’s try to understand.

Our English hell comes from the Old English word hel, which is of Germanic origin. It means “to cover or hide.” The Hebrew word sheol is used 65 times in the Old Testament, and 31 times it is rendered as “grave,” 31 times as “hell,” and 3 times as “pit.” In every context, sheol refers to the grave—to cover or hide. Grave and pit mean the same thing, so why did the translators use “hell” half of the time? The reason is that every place the context for sheol was punishment they used “hell.” And the reason they did that was because of their pre-conceived, false pagan concept of the future punishment of the wicked.

The Greek counterpart to sheol is hades, which means “grave, pit, or hole in the ground.” This is affirmed by the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which everywhere translates sheol as hades. Hades is used 11 times in the New Testament, and 10 times it is incorrectly rendered “hell,” and one time correctly “grave” (I Cor. 15:55). Here the translators knew they could not show dead people coming back from hell. After all, no one escapes hell, right? No wonder the biblical concept of hell is so difficult to understand, since the translators deliberately tried to deceive!

But the translators blew their own cover when they translated Psalm 16:10 and Acts 2:27. First, absolutely no one believes that Jesus went to hell after he died, or at least the hell most people envision. King David prophesied concerning Jesus’ death, and in reference to the fact that Jesus would only be in the grave 3 days and nights, when he said, “For you will not leave my soul in hell (sheol); neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption.” When the apostle Peter quoted David, he used hades for hell.

The second Greek word translated “hell” in the New Testament is tartaru, and it is found only once, in II Peter 2:4, which says, “…God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” What is this hell for angels? Since angels/demons are spirits which do not occupy space and time, it cannot be a place. The context reveals the answer: it is a condition of restraint, a kind of spiritual incarceration. It is reminiscent of Revelation 20:1-3,7. Beyond this, we have no particular understanding of tartaru.

So far we have seen that the majority of the time we see “hell” in the Bible, it is a mistranslation. In fact, it is often deliberate! Sheol and hades should always be translated “grave.” Or another way to look at it is if we all still spoke Old English then hell or hel would not be a mistranslation, since it can mean the grave. Confusing isn’t it?

Now we come to the last Greek word translated “hell,” geenna (gheh’-en-na), which means “Valley of Hinnom.” This word is found 12 times in the New Testament, and in all but one case it is spoken by Jesus. The Valley of Hinnom has a long history in the scriptures. It is a deep, narrow ravine lying on “the south side of…Jerusalem” (Jos. 15:8). Both Kings Ahaz and Manasseh used this valley for idolatry and child sacrifice (II Chron. 28:1-4; 33:1-7). Manasseh’s son, King Josiah, tore down his father’s idols and ended the human sacrifices (II Kgs. 23:10, 13,14), and it became a place “filled…with the bones of men.” With the imminent destruction of Jerusalem looming, God indicted the Jews for what had taken place in Hinnom and used it as a symbol of the coming judgment. (Jer. 7:31-33; 19:1-7).

When the Jews returned from their captivity to Jerusalem, they turned the Valley of Hinnom into the city garbage dump. James Hastings writes,

“It [Hinnom] became an object of horror to the Jews, and is said to have been made the receptacle for bones, the bodies of beasts and criminals, refuse and all unclean things. The terrible associations of the place…the fires said to have kept burning in order to consume the foul and corrupt objects that were thrown into it, made it a natural and unmistakable symbol of dire evil…absolute ruin. So it came to designate the place of future punishment” (A Dictionary of the Bible).

Jesus was referring directly to the presently existing city dump in the Valley of Hinnom when he taught his disciples, saying, “Where there worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mk. 9:43-48). What did he mean by worms not dying and fire not being quenched? There were two ways the refuse would be consumed. What got caught up on the ledges below the rim would be eaten by maggots, and what made it below to the fires would be consumed. Unquenchable fire just means that no one was going to put the fires out, else Sodom and Jerusalem would still be burning (Jude 7; Jer. 7:20; 17:27).

The idea is that the future fate of the wicked is complete and utter destruction. Jesus was not saying this destruction would result from maggots or fire. I have always found it interesting that those who believe the wicked await a fiery end, never try to make the case for consumption by worms. Why not? While we’re on it, why not make a case for the wicked being “cut…in pieces” (Mtt. 24:51), or “plucked up by the roots” (Jude 12)? Fire, maggots, cutting, and roots are simply metaphors.

In Revelation we see the beast and false prophet being thrown into a “lake of fire” (Rev. 19:20). Isn’t this literal? Well, the Devil, who is spirit and therefore unaffected by fire, is thrown into it (20:10). So what would be the point? In addition, death and the grave are thrown into it (v14). How can these abstracts possibly be burned up? I think you can see the problem. The lake of fire is a symbol, fire is only a symbol for the complete destruction of the wicked by whatever means God chooses. We cannot know the means by which God will end the lives of the wicked for all eternity. I imagine a loving God will do it in a merciful way.

So finally, what is biblical hell? By now we should understand that the question itself is wrong, since the English word “hell” does not even belong in the Bible. Nor does the concept it conjures. The right question should be: what is the future of the wicked? It is not a place. It is a condition—“twice dead”—of non-existence.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download