VERSION 2.0
Revised 2022
Revised 2022
PROVE ALL THINGS, HOLD FAST THAT WHICH IS GOOD
1 Thessalonians 5:21
1 Thessalonians 5:21
SECTION IV NOTES
Verses in Which 'Hell' Has Been Rendered From the Greek word Hades
Revelation 20:13-14
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. |
Here we see clearly that Hades is to be emptied of its occupants and done away with. Hades therefore represents a temporary condition. Every man is guaranteed a resurrection from Hades; the death state. Hades is to be abolished, symbolized by its being cast into the lake of fire. As the apostle Paul stated: The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 1 Cor 15:26. |
Revelation 6:8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. |
Here, in symbolical language, "Death and Hell" simply means "Death and the grave".
|
Revelation 1:18
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. |
That is, the keys of death and the grave, which Jesus conquered by his resurrection, thus guaranteeing a resurrection for all.
|
1 Corinthians 15:55
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? |
Here Hades has been rendered properly as it should have been elsewhere. It is simply the grave, or the 'death state'.
|
Acts 2:27, Acts 2:31
Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Acts 2:27) |
Please see our work Man Became a Living Soul Chapter 6 - A Weekend in Hell or in the Tomb for more information. Jesus' soul was his very being. God promised not to leave Jesus in the grave, or in the state of death. These verses have nothing to do with the doctrine of eternal torment, nor do they teach an intermediate state for 'souls' (Greek psyche, life) between death and the resurrection.
|
Matthew 16:16
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. |
That is, the Church which Jesus built could not be brought down to destruction, ruin, and a state of non-existence.
|
Matthew 11:23, Luke 10:15
And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. (Matthew 11:23) |
Was the city of Capernaum brought down literally to a place of fiery torment? No Capernaum was overthrown and destroyed. The city lays in ruins to this day. It was brought down to ruin, death and destruction.
|
Luke 16:19-31
There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And 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 thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. |
For a detailed analysis of this passage please see:
The Rich Man and Lazarus Concerning this passage, the eminent theologian E. W. Bullinger wrote: 'In dealing with this scripture, and the subject of the so-called "intermediate state", it is important that we should confine ourselves to the Word of God, and not go to tradition. Yet, when nine out of ten believe what they have learnt from tradition, we have a thankless task, so far as pleasing men is concerned' I am most aware that almost all advocates of eternal torment will never be convinced that this passage is a parable. The truth is that they so desperately NEED this passage in order to maintain their doctrine. It's sad that so many cling to this passage to teach literal torment when such a literal reading of the passage contradicts so much of what they hold to be true. Is being poor a guarantee of salvation? Does being rich and having nice clothes damn anyone to hell?
Look at the use of the Greek word Hades in the passages above? Is there any hint of the elaborate theology which so many wish to attach to this single passage? John Lightfoot, the 17th century English theologian, in his commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud wrote concerning this passage: "Whoever believes this not to be a parable, but a true story, let him also believe those little friars whose trade it is to shew the monuments at Jerusalem to pilgrims, and point exactly to the place where the house of the 'rich glutton' stood. Most accurate keepers of antiquity indeed! who after so many hundreds of years, such overthrows of Jerusalem, such devastations and changes, can rake out of the rubbish the place of so private a house, and such a one too as never had any being, but merely in parable. And that is was a parable, not only the consent of all expositors may assure us, but the thing itself speaks it." |
The teaching here is not that of Jesus, but that of the Pharisees in which he used their own false doctrine to 'condemn them out their own mouths'. We have commented on this passage extensively elsewhere. For more information please see our extended discussion in The Rich Man and Lazarus.
E. W. Bullinger writes concerning this passage:
E. W. Bullinger writes concerning this passage:
"It will be asked, is it possible that our Lord would give utterance to such words without giving some warning to us as to the way in which He used them? Well, the answer is such that, warning has been given in the uniform and unanimous teaching of Scripture. His own words: "they have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them," addressed to the Pharisees through the rich man may be taken as addressed to us also. We have (as they had) the evidence of the Old Testament (in "Moses and the Prophets"), and we have also the evidence of the New Testament, which accords with the Old. If we "hear them", it would be impossible for us to suppose, for a moment, that Christ could be teaching, here, that which is the very opposite to that of the whole Word of God."
Once again it must be noted that the passage speaks only of Hades which is to be emptied of its occupants and done away with prior to the judgment. Therefore, no matter what conclusions are drawn from this passage, they ultimately have no bearing upon the doctrine of eternal torment.
