III. Christ’s Explicit Teachings on “Hell” Examined

In considering the ultimate destiny and doom of the wicked, we must likewise note Christ’s definitive teachings on Hell. Confusion in understanding was introduced, at the time of translation, by the unfortunate rendering into the one English word Hell, the three different Greek words, Gehenna, hades, and Tartaros (from tartaroo), although each has a wholly separate and distinctive meaning. (Christ, however, does not Himself deal with Tartaros. That appears only once, and then in verbal form, in 2 Peter 2:4, and is considered in chapter 20, pp. 383-385.)CFF1 291.1

Singularly enough, the most striking and forceful language in the entire Bible as regards Hell and the punishment of the wicked, fell from the lips of Christ Himself. Nevertheless, these expressions are entirely compatible with His character as Incarnate Love. It is only when invested with the theological deviations of the centuries that they take on the terror and cruelty that is as foreign to Christ’s own heart as they are a distortion of the language He used. John 3:16 presents the simple but comprehensive dual truth of God’s tender love and His holy judgment. To “perish” (apollumi) means nothing less than the “destruction” unquestionably taught in Scripture. It is the terminus of the “wide gate” and the “broad way,” against which He warned.CFF1 291.2

1. TWO TERMS USED BY CHRIST

We now turn to the two terms used by Christ.CFF1 291.3

(1) Gehenna, or the “hell fire” (“Gehenna of fire”) (Matthew 5:22; Matthew 18:9), Christ used to describe the place of future, final punishment of the wicked. Gehenna, Ge Hinnom, or the Valley of Hinnom, was a ravine south of the city of Jerusalem. According to tradition, it was a place of fire and destruction for refuse. Fires were kept burning constantly, and maggots bred freely and fed upon the filthy and putrefying carcasses. Such was the familiar figure used by Christ for the coming destruction of all the unclean things of the universe. It symbolized the coming “lake of fire” mentioned in Revelation. Dr. R. F. Weymouth, in a note on Matthew 5:22, states:CFF1 291.4

“Gehenna of Fire Or ‘Hell.’ The severest punishment inflicted by the Jews upon any criminal. The corpse (after the man had been stoned to death) was thrown out into the Valley of Hinnom (Ge Hinnom) and was devoured by the worm or the flame.” ^{44) Ibid., Matthew 5:22, n. 12.}CFF1 292.1

(2) Hades (Gr. equivalent of Heb. she’ol) is recorded as used by Christ only three times: in His condemnation of Capernaum (Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15); in His reply to Peter’s confession (Matthew 16:18); and in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:23). The parable of the rich man and Lazarus has already been treated, and the rest of the New Testament usages of hades will be noted separately later.CFF1 292.2

2. CHRIST’S SPECIFIC TEACHINGS ON GEHENNA

Christ’s allusions to Gehenna occur in seven passages—the only other New Testament reference being in James 3:6. We note them here:CFF1 292.3

(1) Matthew 5:22—“shall be in danger of hell fire”CFF1 292.4

(2) Matthew 5:29, 30(2)—“that thy whole body should be cast into hell”CFF1 292.5

(3) Matthew 10:28—“able to destroy both soul and body in hell”CFF1 292.6

(4) Luke 12:5—“Fear him, which ... hath power to cast into hell”CFF1 292.7

(5) Matthew 18:8, 9—“Cast into everlasting fire”; “cast into hell fire”CFF1 292.8

(6) Mark 9:43, 45, 47—“go into hell”; “cast into hell”; “cast into hell fire”CFF1 292.9

(7) Matthew 23:15, 33—“twofold more the child of hell”; “How can ye escape the damnation of hell”CFF1 292.10

(In each case the “hell” is from Gehenna.)CFF1 292.11

3. EXPLANATORY NOTES ON THE SEVEN TEXTS

Under No. 1 (Matthew 5:22), Dean Alford states that there were three degrees of guilt: First, those coming under the cognizance of the local synagogue council of three; then came those of the supreme council or Sanhedrin—meted out by the sword, or stoning, and often followed by the disgrace of the fire of Gehenna. And after the first two came the final Gehenna of the fire (tin geennan tou puros, “hell of fire”), wherein the corpse of the malefactor was cast into the Valley of Hinnom, to be devoured by the worm and reduced to ashes by flame—an intensification of the horrors of simple death. But the final punishment in each case was death.CFF1 293.1

Under No. 2 (Matthew 5:29, 30) is stressed the preference of the perishing of an eye (choicest possession), or hand, to that of the whole body when cast into the Gehenna of fire.CFF1 293.2

In No. 3 (Matthew 10:28) the killing of soul and body is man’s complete abolition, or destruction. Apollumi, and its cognate apoleia, translated into English as “destruction” or “perdition,” gives us the key to our Lord’s meaning. And this is corroborated by Peter and Paul, each of whom gives selfinterpreting passages in which they use the terms “destroy” and “perish.” Christ first cites the terrible fate of the Galileans who perished under Pilate. Then He warns, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish [apollumi]” (Luke 13:3). Next He adds the episode of those killed by the falling of the tower of Siloam. And again He warns, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish [apollumi]” (Luke 13:4, 5).CFF1 293.3

Such is the doom for the impenitent—swift, tragic, fatal, complete. Be it noted, however, that there is not a syllable about being kept alive forever in endless conscious torment. Peter subsequently said to Simon Magnus—when he offered money in an endeavor to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit for his own use—“Thy money perish [apollumi] with thee” (Acts 8:20). The doom of both Simon and his money was destruction.CFF1 293.4

No. 5 (Matthew 18:8, 9) stresses the preference for entering into the resurrection life, or life eternal, rather than being cast into “everlasting fire” (Matthew 18:8), or “hell fire” (Matthew 18:9)—the Gehenna of fire.CFF1 293.5

In No. 6 (Mark 9:43-48) Christ four times speaks of those who “go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched” (Mark 9:43). This is repeated in verses 45 and 46 as the fire that shall never be quenched. It is the same expression used by John the Baptist, who spoke of the Coming One as gathering the “wheat into the garner; but he will burn up [katakaio] the chaff with unquenchable fire [puri asbesto]” (Matthew 3:12). The rendering “unquenchable fire” is unfortunately translated. It is fire that “shall not be quenched.”CFF1 294.1

The inspired New Testament interpretation of pur aionios is given by Jude, who describes the judgments that overtook Sodom and Gomorrah, as “set forth for an example,” of “suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 1:7). Jude joins the experience of Sodom and Gomorrah with that of the Israelites who died in the wilderness, and of Korah and his companions who were swallowed up by an earthquake. These all signified total destruction.CFF1 294.2

4. INSPIRED KEY TO EXPRESSION “ETERNAL FIRE.”

Then to these Peter parallels the words: God, “turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly” (2 Peter 2:6). Then he adds, “The Lord knoweth how ... to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Peter 2:9). So the “eternal fire” (pur aionios) is not still feeding on its victims, for the waters of the Dead Sea mark the site of the cities whose inhabitants perished in the dreadful flames. Thus the “eternal” of Jude is not an endless process but a result. This is the inspired key to the tremendous phrase “eternal fire.”CFF1 294.3

The “unquenchable fire” of Matthew 3:12 will “burn up” (katakaio) entirely the chaff. And nothing is more swiftly consumed than chaff. It creates a blaze that nothing can extinguish until its work is done. Then, the chaff burned up, the fire ceases for lack of material to feed on. Consequently, the example of Sodom and Gomorrah signifies the total destruction and disappearance of the thing consumed. The pur aionios and asbestos, which do the obliterating work, are the Master’s definitive description of the fires of Gehenna.CFF1 294.4

And the undying worm and the quenchless flame feed upon their victims until the whole is consumed. Thus again the work of the “worm” and the “fire” are eternal in results, but not in process or duration. Hence we must distinguish sharply between Hell as Gehenna, the place of final doom and the second death, in contrast with Hades, the place of the dead (gravedom) between death and the resurrection.CFF1 295.1

5. NOT MISERY BUT “DESTRUCTION” IS ETERNAL

As to the punishment of the wicked, be it noted that it is neither the sinfulness nor the misery of which the eternity is predicted (Matthew 25:41, 46). It is the punishment—“kolasis” (Matthew 25:46)—the endless result, not the transitory penal process. It is the eternal effect of the divine act of cutting of from life. It is the penal deprivation of what otherwise might be enjoyed, the forfeiture of its joys and privileges. This is specifically the death penalty for sin, everywhere set forth in God’s Word from Genesis to Revelation—the wicked shall be punished with “everlasting destruction” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). That is the punishment of Matthew 25:46.CFF1 295.2

Here, then, is the contrast—not the incidence of happiness or misery but the life that is awarded to the righteous, in contradistinction to the derivation of that life, the cutting off, the extinction, the capital punishment by death of the other. And both are here declared to be equally final and irreversible. “Everlasting punishment” is clearly not the same as being everlastingly punished. It is eternal loss of being.CFF1 295.3

Such is the testimony of Christ, the Supreme Witness of all time, and the Infallible Authority in the realm of the nature and destiny of man. Whoso controverts His inerrant dictums must settle it with his Lord.CFF1 295.4

Picture 2: Christ’s Trial, Burial, Resurrection:
Despised and Rejected by Those He Came to Save, Christ Went to Calvary. His Death Changed Our Death Into a Sleep and His Resurrection Brought Immortality to Light and Reality.
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