Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

HELL

An English word used to translate four biblical terms. Heb. šĕʾôl and Gk. hádēs generally refer to the world of the dead. Tartarus (cf. Gk. tartaróō, 2 Pet. 2:4) is the place of punishment for fallen angels awaiting final judgment. Gk. géenna is the place and condition of just retribution saved for the post-judgment impenitent.

Originally, all the dead had the same banal existence in Sheol. Sheol later included an eschatological dimension, a future with resurrection, final judgment, doctrines; it was the grave, and the shadowy realm of the dead, where the human spirit no longer exists. The three-tiered cosmology of heaven, earth and Sheol or Hades shifted with the realization of a planetary system. Preexilic Hebrew thought assumed the dead formed a faceless collective after death. Gk. phylakḗ, also the underworld or the place of punishment in hell, is where Satan is made harmless during the millennium (Rev. 20:7); though death occurs, the pneúma exists, and “prison” becomes the place of torture.

Gehenna first clearly occurs as a post–final judgment locus of the wicked in Enoch. In Hades, a preparatory place, the souls await their end. In rabbinic literature Gehenna refers to the final, not an intermediate, place of retribution. Apocalyptic writings announce death, resurrection, a judgment, final punishment, and a place of retribution that imply Gehenna. The term derives from “the valley of Hinnom” (or “lamentation”) near Jerusalem. The pollution there signified horror, defilement, and consuming fires. Consequently, Gehenna became a metaphor for acute torment. During Jesus’ time, Gehenna meant an irrevocable, eternal doom for the wholly wicked.

The Lukan Hellenistic Gehenna concerns immediate reward and punishment after death, the resurrection of the just. Following judgment, God sends the wicked to Hades or Gehenna, and the righteous go to Paradise for resurrection with Jesus at the Parousia. A Jewish-influenced Matthew omits reward and punishment at death, and ascribes a judgment day, resurrection, bodily Gehenna, and an eternal agony for the wicked. After the resurrection and judgment, Gehenna receives the evil for retribution.

Hades, the place of all the dead, is the name of the Greek underworld god. Sheol and the old concept of Hades are the dark, gloomy abodes of the dead. Increased Jewish belief in resurrection meant God would bring the dead from Hades back to life — a return of corporeal life; a life for resurrected spirits in heaven. God brings the soul from Hades and the body from the grave to be rejoined in resurrection. At the resurrection, death ceases, and Hades will be closed. Both death and Hades diminish into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14).

In Jewish eschatology, death meant the separation of the body and soul. Yet no harm occurs after death, for the soul remains secure. Matt. 25 portrays hell as the domain of Satan and his angels, and the damned. The OT makes no reference to torture once persons are relegated to Sheol. Intertestamental literature focuses on heavenly assistance against God’s enemies, a human messiah, and divine justice.

Most scholars agree that the only text (1 Pet. 3:18-20) which might imply Jesus’ descent into hell does not support earlier interpretations that suggest Jesus’ preaching to the dead or experiencing a passion or damnation. Recent scholars view this event as the work of the risen Christ. Some scholars contend Christ descended into hell triumphantly after his death, to show himself as the defeater and conqueror of death, Satan, and hell. The NT does not reflect any passion or activity of Jesus between death and resurrection.

Most interpreters agree that Eph. 4:8 first concerns Christ’s descent (v. 9), then his triumphant ascent after his death and resurrection: from heaven to earth (incarnation) or from earth to grave (Sheol). Others contend the descent occurred after Jesus’ ascension and depicts the return to the earth of the exalted Christ as the Spirit and Pentecost.

Jesus did not proclaim a doctrine of hell nor describe damnation, and spoke only marginally of hell. His proclamation of the kingdom of God invited one to choose salvation or doom, yet Jesus did not preach dualism. Many contrasting metaphors for hell indicate God’s wrath and punishment. The notion of eternity indicates a final punishment, but not necessarily one that extends for all times. Ideas of complete destruction and infinite punishment over against universal love, mercy, and reconciliation exist throughout Scripture and Church history. Ultimately, damnation is not an absolute and remains contingent on God’s will and grace.

Bibliography. G. Doehler, “Descent into Hell,” Springfielder 39 (1975): 2-19; W. H. Harris, III, “The Ascent and Descent of Christ in Ephesians 4:9-10,” BSac 151 (1994): 198-214; H. Küng, Eternal Life? (Garden City, 1984); C. Milikowsky, “Which Gehenna? Retribution and Eschatology in the Synoptic Gospels and in Early Jewish Texts,” NTS 34 (1988): 238-49; H. Scharen, “Gehenna in the Synoptics,” BSac 149 (1992): 324-37, 454-70.

Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

HELL

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)