Deep Thoughts on "Hell"

 A few years ago, I decided to compile notes on what hell is, and what we try to define it as. As I study more and more about eschatology, I am convinced that we may have a grave misunderstanding of what scripture teaches on hell. What follows are some notes I have made over time concerning Hell, Hades, Sheol, Gehenna, and fire.

·         Scripture uses a few different words the we translate or interpret as “hell” - Sheol (Hebrew) / Hades (Greek), Fire/Lake of Fire and Gehenna

o   Sheol and Hades – Outer darkness, where men weep and gnash their teeth, the abyss of the sea (Jonah), depths of the earth, the grave, the realm of the dead

§  It seems that it is part of our world

§  David describes being brought up from Sheol in Psalm 30:3, 86:13 – was David raised from the dead and delivered from “hell” at some point that we did not know about?

§  Jonah described the belly of whale as being in “Sheol” – was he dead or in “hell”?, it does not seem so since he “called out to the Lord”

§  Job asked to be hidden in Sheol until God’s wrath had passed and then God would remember him and appoint him at a set time

§  Sheol/Hades seems to be a place where all feel alone and “forsaken”

§  Sheol/Hades seems to be a place of God’s absence

§  Sheol/Hades seems to begin even in this life and extends beyond this life.

§  Jesus descended into Sheol/Hades and preached to those who rejected grace in this world and “perished” in judgment.

o   Eternal Fire or Lake of Fire (this actually seems to be the OPPOSITE of Sheol/Hades)

§  Have we simply made an assumption this is “hell”?

§  Scripture never explicitly says that it is hell.  In fact, hades is thrown into the Lake of Fire

§  Could the “Eternal Fire” or “Lake of Fire” actually be God?

§  God is a “consuming fire”, a “refiner’s fire”

§  The Lake is filled with Fire and Brimstone in Revelation 21:8 – pyri and theiō

·         God translated to Greek is Theós

·         Divinity translated to Greek is Theiótita

·         Divine is Theïkós

§  It is not lost on me that we somehow attribute “fire” to eternal hell, but we consistently see fire as God’s embodiment in the scriptures (fire on Mt. Sinai, fiery furnace, the burning bush, fire at Pentecost, etc.)

§  God is love, God is Fire, God is eternal

o   Gehenna

§  Translated as “hell”, but clearly different than Sheol/Hades or the Lake of Fire

§  The terms are derived from a place outside ancient Jerusalem known in the Hebrew Bible as the Valley of the Son of Hinnom

§  In the Hebrew Bible, Gehenna was initially where some of the kings of Judah sacrificed their children by fire.  Thereafter it was deemed to be cursed

§  It was considered a place of “judgement”

§  Is “judgement” bad? 

§  Is “judgement” hell?

§  Is it possible that Jesus is the Judgement, the Gehenna?  And at his judgement we have been completely redeemed by his blood on the cross?

 

 

(The following questions and/or statements are not my own, but are directly copied from Peter Hiett’s An Adventure in Taking Scripture Literally, or How to be Accused of Being a Liberal Heretic by Evangelical Christians)

 

IT WOULD SEEM THAT:

1. The Fire is the realm of God, Light, and Divine Life. Whereas Hades is the realm of “not God,” darkness and death.

2. The Fire descends in this world as blessing and as judgment: blessing for those who desire mercy, judgment for those who despise mercy. Yet the Fire is one fire

3. No one can entirely avoid the fire. If we don’t receive it at Pentecost, we will be burned by it in the end. It is the end. Jesus is “the end.” Jesus is the revelation of God who is Love. Who is revealed to us as Mercy.

4. The Fire has no end, because it is the End. “Death and Hades come to an end in the Fire.

5. We have referred to Hades and the Fire as the same thing and called it “Hell,” when in fact Hades and the Fire are opposites.

6. The realm of Hades, encounters the realm of Fire in the valley of Gehenna. The fire descends on Gehenna and when it does it devours all evil.

7. The Fire has no end. Hades comes to an end. Gehenna is transformed in the end.

8. As believers, in some sense we pass through the Fire in this world. We are baptized with Fire.

9. It appears that some are cast into the Fire at the end. Yet, as we will see, things consumed, show up again in “eternity.”

10. It is not explicitly stated that anyone will be cast into the fire except the satanic trinity.

However, it is implied: all those who “worship the beast,” and those “whose names are not written in the book of life.” The persecutors in Thessalonica will be destroyed by the “epiphany of His coming” which appears to be like a flood of fire.

11. Whoever the “goats” are in Matthew, they go into the Fire.

12. Jesus is our scapegoat, and he bears our sins into the Fire. He becomes sin for us and bears our iniquity into the consuming Fire.

 

 

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I cannot say with 100% certainty that God will save ALL things in the end, but it is pretty clear to me that there are 2 options:

1.       God makes “All” things new

2.       If you somehow have the ability to refuse Christ’s gift of salvation, those people are annihilated in the Lake of Fire

An idea of eternal torment in hell does not hold a lot of water for me

 

 

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·         To me, what we think about hell really hinges on what we think about “free will vs. predestination”

o   It seems difficult to me to embrace an idea that people choose to live apart from God without fully embracing the notion of “free will”

o   Yet there are major problems with free will

§  Who is God?  You or God?  Who really holds the power?

§  Do you know more than God that you can outwit him by being able to be in control of your decision to follow or not follow?

o   Reformed theology or “predestination” makes quite a bit more sense to me 

§  God being Omnipotent and Omniscient would KNOW and choose you as marked for salvation

§  However, God is also LOVE, how does an all-loving God predestine some to not accept the Grace offered at the Cross?

·         It seems reasonable that God does not consign some to death, but instead he predestines ALL of his sheep to life

 

Paul was definitely an advocate for predestination, and he would praise God for that. 

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" 5 He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Acts 9:1-9

 

Jesus seems to “force” himself upon Paul.  There was not a lot of “free-will” going on there.  In fact, it says Paul was “still” breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.  He was still sinning, and not at all interested in changing.  Yet Christ knocked him to the ground and basically told him, hey Saul, like it or not, I am Jesus and you are going to follow me.

 

·         Did Paul respond to that free gift from Jesus by saying, cool, I’m good, Jesus saved me?  No, that grace of Jesus transformed him.  It caused him to have the exact opposite reaction

 

Does a hope in “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:5) make a person say, “well cool, I can do whatever I want, God’s got me covered in the end?”  It certainly does not for me!  Exactly the opposite, that grace has moved me to tears on many occasions (and I am not a big crier).  That grace stirs me to proclaim it to anyone that will talk to me about it.

 

Stated a lot better by my friend Peter Hiett than I could say it:

Remember, "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Karl Barth taught that double predestination means that we were all "chosen in Christ" for salvation. And that Christ was chosen in our place for destruction. I hope that He is right. I do want to not sin, and I do want everyone to believe God's grace now, so that they will stop sinning, because Christ has already chosen to bear that sin. Therefore I should preach and evangelize, not because I'm afraid, but because I'm grateful, and I want to minister to the wounded body of Christ, which I hope is every derelict, every whore, every Pharisee, and even me. 

 

Key Verses in Scripture that deserve reflection

 

Revelation 21:5…And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all (panta) things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

 

John 12:32…And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all (pantas) people to myself.”

 

Romans 3:21-26 (KJV)…21But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all (pantas) and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23For all (pantas) have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Those “being justified” by grace in verse 24 certainly seem to be the same that have sinned in verse 23. How many is this? All.

 

Romans 5:15-21…15But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many (polloi) died through one man’s trespass much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many (pollous). 16And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many (pollon) trespasses brought justification. 17If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all (pantas) men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all (pantas) men. 19For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many (polloi) will be made righteous. 20Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Do you think that Paul just accidentally used the word “pantas” instead of “polloi” as he had been using?

 

1 Timothy 4:10…For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

 

Philippians 2:8-11…8And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. 9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

Wouldn’t this under the earth (katachthoniōn) be understood as Sheol?

 

Matthew 18:12-14…12What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish

 

1 Timothy 2:1-6…1First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

 

 

Matthew 19:26…But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Is it “possible” God will save “all”?  It sure seems to be his explicitly stated will.

 

Revelation 20:13-14…13And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

 

It is pretty clear that Hades and Fire are not synonymous.

 

 

I was reading Ephesians 1 today, here it is directly translated from Greek…

 

Blessed [be] the God and Father of the Lord of us Jesus Christ, the [One] having blessed us with every blessing spiritual in the heavenly realms in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world, to be for us holy and blameless before Him, in love have predestined us for divine adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, to Himself, according to the good pleasure of the will of Him, to [the] praise of [the] glory of the of grace of Him, which He has freely given us in the Beloved [One], in whom we have redemption through the blood of Him, the forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of the grace of Him, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and understanding, having made known to us the mystery of the will of Him according to the pleasure of Him, which He purposed in Him for [the] administration of the fullness of the times, to bring together the all things (panta) in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, in Him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to [the] purpose of the [One] all things working according to the counsel of the will of Him, for to be us to [the] praise of [the] glory of Him, the [ones] having first trusted in Christ, in whom also you, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of the salvation of you, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Spirit of promise Holy, who is [the] guarantee of the inheritance of us, to [the] redemption of the acquired possession, to [the] praise and glory of Him.

 

#1 – If this Scripture from Paul does not make it crystal clear that we are predestined for salvation, I do not know what does.  It is so clear when Paul writes, “He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world, to be for us holy and blameless before Him”

#2 – In reading this, I cannot see how one does not read this and conclude that in “choosing us in Him before the foundation of the world”, that he did not choose ALL.  The scripture is very clear and does not lend itself to hyperbole, he purposed “to bring ALL things in Christ”. 

 

This is not a new epiphany but should be stated again.  We humans really like to judge ourselves against others and have this innate sense (I might say psychosis) of what is fair and what is not.  Is it not this nature, our sinful nature I would add, that causes us to read and largely dismiss these Scriptures, which clearly communicate God’s predestined salvation for ALL, and try to find ways to reconcile these to Scriptures such as Sheep and Goats in order to make the exclusive Scriptures fit our need for judging others?  What if we tried just the opposite and thought through how the exclusive Scriptures could be reconciled with the notion that God will eventually save ALL?