Hell: The Unquenchable Fire

This topic is disturbing and dense, but I feel it is necessary to share.

The topic of Hell is uncomfortable. It causes a lot of division within and outside of Christianity. When people die, our society assumes everyone is “in a better place.” I’ve never personally read an obituary that claims the alternative. It has even reached the point where some pastors and theologians within Christianity are reporting that no one actually goes to Hell. While this sounds like a wonderful solution to the discomforting idea of Hell, is there really reason to believe it?

With this much controversy surrounding Hell, let’s look at what the Bible actually says. As I said when I started this blog, if you’re going to believe something, there should be a reason for it. Christianity is based upon the Bible, so it should always be our ultimate source for information regarding Christian beliefs.

When some English translations of the Bible say Hell, the word in the original language could be several different things. The original Hebrew and Greek words that have been translated as Hell are Sheol, Hades, Tartarus, and Gehenna. This is significant. If four different words were used by the original God-inspired authors, then there must be a difference in the meaning of each of them. Most English translations are now differentiating between these words, but just be aware that when an English translation is referencing Hell (example: the King James Version and several lesser-used translations), you may have to do some research to know what Hell is actually referring to. So what does each of these words mean?

We’ll start with Sheol and Hades. Both of these words have the same meaning. The Old Testament uses Sheol because it is written in Hebrew and the New Testament uses Hades, which is Greek. Both of these words are referring to a place that everyone goes when they die. Basically, these words are used to denote the land of the dead, righteous and unrighteous. In other words, all of us will go to Sheol when we die. This is why translating all of these words as Hell is not the most accurate translation, and can be confusing. In the Old Testament, the Hell most of us think of is never mentioned by name. Jewish people knew that everyone died and went to Sheol, but that Sheol had separate sections. Followers of God went to Abraham’s Bosom or Paradise. Unbelievers went to a place of discomfort and torment. This belief is made most clear in the story of the rich man and Lazarus, told by Jesus.

“So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”

-Luke 16:22-31 (NKJV)

Jewish belief understood that in Sheol (Hades), the followers of God would be comforted and the unbelievers would suffer. As for the third word mentioned above, Tartarus, it seems to be referring to the place of torment in Sheol (side note: Tartarus is only mentioned in 2 Peter 2:4, but definitely seems to be what Jewish people would have called the bad part of Sheol). So basically, the rich man in the story went to Tartarus, and Lazarus went to Abraham’s Bosom or Paradise.

Jesus, however, introduced a new concept of Hell. As I discussed last week when talking about Heaven, Christians who die now are going to Jesus in Paradise-like Lazarus in the story above. Heaven will come later. After Jesus returns, we will be resurrected into physical bodies and the universe will be recreated into the eternal Heaven we all think about. The situation is similar for nonbelievers. While they are now in the tormenting part of Sheol, Jesus taught that they would eventually be put in Gehenna. This is the Hell that most of us think about, and this is where things get scary.

Gehenna is directly mentioned 12 times in the New Testament and 11 of those are by Jesus Himself. Anyone who says Jesus didn’t speak about Hell or judgement never read for themselves. What’s interesting about Gehenna is it was the name of a place in Jerusalem where children had been sacrificed to idols (Jeremiah 19:2-6). Jesus used this name to describe the place of eternal torment because he knew the images it would automatically evoke in the Hebrew people. It would be similar to Him comparing Hell to somewhere like Auschwitz today. The second you hear that name, you know it describes evil.

Here is an example of how Jesus describes Gehenna or Hell: “And if your hand causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell, the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:43,45,47-48, CSB).”

Here are the rest of the times Jesus mentions Gehenna for your reference.

• Matthew 5:22
• Matthew 5:29
• Matthew 5:30
• Matthew 10:28
• Matthew 18:9
• Matthew 23:15
• Matthew 23:33
• Luke 12:5

From reading these you can see that Hell is eternal and unimaginably terrible. Revelation talks more about the eternal torment and destruction, though it calls it different things like the “lake of fire”. “Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14-15, CSB).”

So to sum up, as scripture goes on, the concept of Hell gets more clear. There is no denying its existence if your beliefs are based on the Bible. The Old Testament speaks a lot on God’s judgement and Sheol (Hades), the place we all go at death. Then it becomes clear that there is a separation for the righteous and unrighteous in Sheol known as Paradise (Abraham’s Bosom)* and Tartarus respectively. Last Jesus teaches on the final and eternal destination for those who have not accepted Him, known as Gehenna. The Bible tells us in Romans that we all have fallen short of God’s standard and due to our sin, we will end up in this place. It sounds unfair, but it’s our sin that keeps us from God. Basically Hell is a place without God’s presence. There is no way for it to be anything but horrible.

He gives us a way out, though! That’s the message of the Gospel. We are bound for Hell, but Jesus came and lived the perfect standard for us. Then He died anyway, in our place. All we have to do is accept what He did, and truly follow Him. That’s it. No perfection needed.

Based on the Bible:

Hell is real. It’s the place without God and it is horrible.

Heaven is real. It’s creation remade as it should be, with God physically living with us.

Believing in Jesus is the only thing that allows us to spend eternity in Heaven.

What thoughts do you have and do you have any other questions about Hell? This is sure to get you thinking. Share them below or message me here.

Also, if you want more information on this topic, a book I found useful is Erasing Hell by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle.

*Edit: On Christians who have already died: I don’t think it matters as much whether you refer to their current place as Paradise, Abraham’s Bosom, or Heaven. I know some scriptures can make this a confusing concept to wrap our minds around, and people believe different things on this subject. The point is, Christians who have died are with Jesus, awaiting the day when all believers enter the glorious recreated Heaven and Earth (Rev 21).