A STUDY OF THE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN HELL, HADES, THE ABYSS, TARTAROS

AND THE BOTTOMLESS PIT IN THE GREEK, KJV AND NIV BIBLES,AS WELL AS A STUDY OF WHAT HAPPENS TO UNBELIEVERS AND EVIL ANGELS

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: There is a great deal of difference in the way that the various Bible translations and theologians use the terms hell, Hades, the Abyss, etc. This can be very confusing, even if you spend a good deal of time studying the topic. There is good agreement on some things including:

1. Hades and Sheol are the Greek and Hebrew words, respectively, which represent the abode of the dead. However, there is disagreement on the details of what that means. There is disagreement about whether or not all dead, both believers and unbelievers, still go to Hades at death. Many believe that upon Jesus’ death, there was a transition and the spirits of believers now go to heaven at death.
2. Hell is the final abode of the wicked dead after the final judgment at the end of the age. However, there is significant disagreement on whether or not hell and Hades are the same place.

I will now summarize some of my conclusions from Bible searches and other research.

1. Hades and Sheol: The Septuagint is a translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek completed almost 300 years before Jesus. It consistently translates Sheol as Hades. Sheol was the abode of the dead, whether redeemed or unredeemed and was thought of as “the grave” or the “dark pit.” Thus, Hades means the same thing as Sheol to the Bible authors. In fact in Luke 16:19-31 Jesus gives a clear description of Hades and he calls it Hades in the original Greek. He clearly says that it had two compartments, one for the redeemed and one for the unredeemed, separated by a large impassable chasm. In the New Testament Greek, Hades is used 11 times. In the Hebrew Old Testament Sheol is used 65 times. Neither Hades nor Sheol are ever used in the KJV. The KJV translates Sheol as hell 31 times, the grave 31 times and as the pit 3 times. The KJV uses hell in place of Hades, Gehenna and Tartaros (the deepest Abyss) in the NT. The fact that the KJV was the Bible of choice for almost 400 years has lead to much confusion about the proper use of these terms as indicated by the original translations. In the 11 occurrences of Hades in the Greek NT, the NIV properly translates this 5 times. Otherwise the NIV translates Hades as the depths, the grave, death or hell from place to place. Likewise, Sheol is not used in the NIV Bible.
2. Hell: Hell is not used in the Greek Bible. In fact hell is an Anglo-Saxon or English word and it first appeared in the English Bibles. The 1611 King James Bible consistently translated Hades, Sheol and Tartaros improperly as hell, leading to the current confusion about the proper use of the words. Hell should be properly thought of as the final abode of the wicked or unjustified dead of all ages. Jesus spoke often of this place but never gave it a proper name, instead graphically described what it would be like and symbolically compared it to Gehenna. From Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary we learn the following about Gehenna. Gehenna is the Greek form of the Hebrew word that means “the valley of Hinnon,” a valley just south of Jerusalem. In Jesus’ time this valley was used as the garbage dump of Jerusalem, into which was thrown all of the filth and garbage of the city, including dead bodies of animals and executed criminals. To consume this, fires burned constantly. Maggots worked the filth. When the wind blew from that direction over the city, its awfulness was quite evident. At night wild dogs howled and gnashed their teeth as they fought over the garbage. Several times Jesus used this awful scene as a symbol for hell. The word hell is only used 14 times in the NIV. Twelve times the Greek word Gehenna is properly translated as hell in the NIV. However, the Greek words Hades and Tartaros are improperly translated as hell one time each.
3. ABYSS, TARTAROS AND THE BOTTOMLESS PIT: The Abyss is used 10 times in the Greek. It is properly translated as the Abyss 8 times in the NIV. The other two times it is translated as the deep and as hell. It is consistently translated as the bottomless pit in the KJV. It seems to be the same as Tartaros and is the current abode of particularly evil angels from the past, 2 Peter 2:4. The angels in Luke 8:31 begged Jesus not to send them to the Abyss. The evil angels being held in the Abyss awaiting their final judgment and punishment will be released upon the earth for five months during the tribulation period, Rev 9:1-11. Satan will be thrown into the Abyss to be held for the 1000 years of the millennium, Rev 20:3. Since the Greek word Tartaros is also called the Abyss, it seems that the Abyss may be a lower compartment in Hades. There are also other clues to this being the case.

ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS: We are seeking to confirm the conclusions made by several current and past conservative theologians concerning what the original Greek Bible meant by the words that current Bibles translate as hell, Hades, the Abyss, Tartaros, the bottomless pit and Gehenna. A few of the well known theologians who I generally agree with on this topic include Clarence Larkin, Grant Jeffries, David Reagan, and Chuck Missler. I did a search in the NIV, KJV and Greek Bibles for each of these words. As I analyzed what I found in the Greek I noticed something quite fascinating. Jesus uses the work Gehenna several times to describe what the place we call hell is like and he also uses the word Hades and describes what it was like before his death and resurrection. However, after the gospels these words are rarely used again until Revelation. Acts uses Hades twice, Peter uses Tartaros once and James uses Gehenna once. Revelation uses Hades several times, the Abyss several times and the lake of fire to represent hell several times. In fact in Revelation we see both the beast from the Abyss and Hades itself being thrown into the lake of fire (hell) in order to destroy them. When I consider why the authors of the books between the gospels and Revelation do not use these words I come to suspect the following as one major reason. They are making a very positive presentation of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They want to concentrate on the good message concerning how to be saved, or be born again, and what it means to live the good life. They spend surprisingly little time discussing the alternative and rarely mention the places that unbelievers go after death. The book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament is all awash with that topic. What the authors of the intermediate books do say about what happens to unbelievers is the following: they will perish, they will be eternally destroyed, they face eternal condemnation, they will be paid back for their bad deeds, they will be confined in blackest darkness forever and they face a fearful expectation of judgment and raging fire that will consume them as enemies of God. These specific condemnations are repeated several times in the New Testament. It is also possible that the authors felt it would be more effective to spell out the consequences of not accepting Jesus rather than naming the final destination of those who do not accept him. Otherwise we must rely primarily on what Jesus said in the gospels and what he told John in his Revelation in order to understand the names and functions of the various places where unredeemed humans and evil angels are being kept or will be assigned to in the future.

Let me now summarize how I interpret the revelation of Hades, hell, etc. being presented in the original language and how they evolved in the later Bible translations:

• Sheol and Hades are presented as the abode of the dead, both unredeemed and redeemed before the death of Jesus, and are often translated as the grave or death.
• The redeemed are taken from Hades to Paradise by Jesus upon his death. After that the spirits of the redeemed go immediately to heaven at their death.
• Jesus described the final abode of the wicked dead in graphic terms and compared it to the place that was called Gehenna, just south of Jerusalem in Jesus day. The English word that we use for this place is hell.
• In the apostolic era after Jesus death, Paul and the other authors of the books between the gospels and Revelation often described the punishment that awaited unbelievers in their final abode but rarely named it. That may be because Jesus did not give it a proper name, but only compared it to Gehenna. Gehenna would not have been a generally meaningful word to the people of Asia Minor or Greece where the new churches were being planted and the New Testament books were being written.
• The King James Bible introduces us to a new English word for the final abode of the dead, hell, but also mistakenly translates Sheol, Hades and other words as hell. This has lead to much confusion and misunderstanding.
• The NIV is generally much more accurate in the translations involving hell, but still misses in several instances.

I will next include a couple of short studies that I feel confirm what I have found to be true in this area.

 STUDY OF THE WORD PARADISE AND WHAT IT TELLS US

We find the word paradise used three times in the Bible. This is the Greek word 3857, paradeisos {par-ad'-i-sos}. It’s possible meanings follow.

 1) the part of Hades which was thought by the later Jews to be the abode of the souls of pious until the resurrection: but some understand this to be a heavenly paradise

2) the upper regions of the heavens. According to the early church Fathers, the paradise in which our first parents dwelt before the fall still exists, neither on the earth or in the heavens, but above and beyond the world

3) heaven. The three places that the word paradise are used in the Bible follow:

In Luke 23:43, Jesus said to the man on the cross beside him, “Today you shall be with me in paradise.”
In 2 Cor:12:4, we find Paul “caught up” to paradise, which from the description Paul gives was obviously heaven.
In Rev 2:7 we find Jesus saying that to those who overcome he will allow them to eat of the tree of life in the paradise of God.

What do we learn from these three passages about Paradise?

1. It is up, not down.
2. It is in heaven.
3. We see that Jesus, who is the tree of life, is in paradise.
4. We see that Jesus was going there the very day that he died on the cross and that the man beside him on the cross was also going there.
5. This means that after Jesus’ death those who believe in him go to paradise, to heaven, and not to the place that Jesus described in Luke 16:19-31 as Hades.
6. Hades was the place where the spirits of all dead were residing, the redeemed in one compartment and the unredeemed in the other, while Jesus was conducting his ministry on earth. That implies that something changed at Jesus death. In Luke 16 all spirits were in Hades while in Luke 23 believer’s spirits were now going to heaven.
7. Since we are told over and over in the New Testament that Jesus died “once for all,” once for all sins of all ages, that implies that those being held in Abraham’s Bosom in Hades at Jesus’ death could now go to heaven since their sins had finally, once for all, been redeemed.

A STUDY OF MATT 16:28: DID SOME OF JESUS’ APOSTLES NOT DIE?

Matt 16:24-28 is a very puzzling scripture for most of us and one that I have had more questions about than maybe any other. The reason for this is that many of the modern Bible translations seem to give the impression that Jesus would return to rapture believers to heaven during the first century while many of his followers were still alive. However if we go back to the Greek Bible we can get quite a different picture of what Jesus was saying. If we put this passage in context with what we understand about the rapture from other New Testament passages and with the long held church belief that Jesus descended to Hades at his death to take the saints in Abraham’s Bosom to heaven, we get a very different picture of what this passage is all about. The real key to translating this passage lies in picking out the proper Greek word interpretations in line with this context. Let’s begin by reading Matt 16:24-28.

Matt 16:24-28

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

The Greek word used for death in Matt 16:28 is Strong’s word 2288. This particular Greek word for death implied that the person dying was going to Hades. That understanding may help us place Matt 16:27 in context. Matt 16:27 may be referring to Jesus visit to Hades at his death to take the saints there to heaven and give them gifts as stated in Eph 4:7-9. When Jesus says in verse 28 that “some of those standing here will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom,” he may be saying that many of those who were listening to him would not die and have to go to Hades. The reason for that was that he would change the paradigm at his death by covering the sins of all believers so that they would no longer have to go to Hades. When they died they would immediately go to be with Jesus in his kingdom in heaven.

The NIV translation of Matt 26:28 reads as follows: “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” Using selected possible meanings from the Greek, this passage could be translated differently as follows:

I tell you with absolute confidence, some who are standing here will certainly not experience misery in Hades whatsoever; they will see and know that the Son of Man has established his Messianic kingdom (The spiritual phase of the kingdom of heaven which was set up at the time of the death and resurrection of Jesus).

When viewing verse 27 in this context, we see that it is not speaking about the rapture at all, but about Jesus mission into Hades and his setting up of the spiritual phase of the kingdom of heaven at that time. Jesus told those he was speaking to, which included his disciples, that some of them would not have to go to Hades upon their death because he was going to set up his kingdom in heaven for them to go to at their death. Why did he use the word “some” here? Because Judas and other non-believers were apparently in the crowd and they would still have to go to Hades when they died.

A REVIEW OF HELL; WHAT IT IS LIKE AND WHO GOES THERE

We will do a quick review of terms we have defined from the way in which they were used in the original Bible to get us started on this study.

• Soul – a living human, composed of a spirit residing in a physical body. This combination results in a conscious, thinking being who can live in and interact in the physical world.
• Death – a condition that results when the spirit leaves the body. The body turns to dust and ceases to exist. The spirit lives on, either in heaven for believers in Jesus or in Hades for those who do not believe in Jesus.
  
  Resurrected body and soul – at the rapture believers will be given a resurrected, glorified body as the permanent dwelling place for their spirit through all of eternity. For unbelievers, their spirits in Hades will be given a resurrected bodies as they stand before God at their final judgment, the great white throne judgment. They will all be declared guilty and thrown into the lake of fire where they will suffer the second death.
• Second death – the fate of unbelievers after their final judgment. The first death is defined as the separation of the spirit from the body. The second death will likewise be separation of the spirit from the body, this time the resurrected body. Unbelievers will then face eternity as spirits without bodies.

We will research and discuss the fate of these disembodied spirits in this study. This includes everyone in the history of the world who has not known or been a believer in Jesus, no matter what the reason.

The possibilities that we will explore include:

• All of the resurrected lost will be thrown into the lake of fire and suffer loss of their resurrected bodies as well as any other punishment that they deserve forever. They will live on as disembodies spirits who will be permanently separation from God and those who are with him in the new heaven and new earth.
• All of the resurrected lost will be thrown into the lake of fire and suffer loss of their resurrected bodies, living thereafter only as disembodied spirits. Some may remain in suffering in the lake of fire while others may be sent on to outer darkness. Outer darkness may be either a consciousness in an unpleasant place of eternal darkness or it may represent a permanent loss of consciousness. Some may simply cease to exist even as spirits. In either case it is a place of permanent separation from God and those who are with him in the new heaven and new earth.
• All of the resurrected lost will be thrown into the lake of fire and suffer loss of their resurrected bodies, living thereafter only as disembodied spirits. All will thereafter spend eternity in outer darkness, suffering only to the extent that each deserves. This may go all the way from permanent loss of all consciousness, eternal death of both body and spirit, all the way to eternal suffering.

God apparently does not want us to know too much detail about what he has in store for those who are called wicked, sinners, unbelievers in Jesus Christ. He only gives us a few clues, but he repeats them over and over many times. In this study we will seek out those places where he discusses this throughout the Bible, analyze them and see what sort of conclusions that we can come to.

We will give a few shortened definitions in review as we get started:

• Hell – the lake of fire into which Satan, his evil angels, unbelievers of all ages and Hades itself will be thrown at the final judgments. It will be the place of the second death.
• Hades or Sheol – a temporary jail where the spirits of unbelievers in Jesus of all ages past are being held awaiting their final trial and judgment.
• The Abyss – a jail for a special class of u wicked angels. Jesus holds the key to that place.
• Outer darkness – a term sometimes used as the final abode of the wicked after their judgments.

THE REALITY OF HELL

 Are hell and Hades literal places? Many people, including Christians, do not believe that they are. It seems to be politically correct in today’s society to believe that everyone is going to heaven. If that is the case then there is no need for hell or Hades to exist. But if hell is not literal then we have a real dilemma. If hell is not real and everyone goes to heaven at death then what did Jesus die to save believers from? Would his death have been necessary if everyone goes to heaven? If we do not believe in the literalness of hell then how can we really believe the gospel of Jesus? The language throughout the Bible certainly seems to paint a picture of a literal hell. But what exactly is the picture that the Bible paints of Hell? It seems that there are at least four very different pictures that Christians see in the Bible as follows:

1. Hell is a figurative place and it does not literally exist.
2. Hell is a place of eternal punishment for all those who do not believe in Jesus and follow his gospel.
3. Hell is a place where unbelievers and the wicked are sent for a period of punishment as determined by God’s fair judgment of them and then they are simply destroyed and cease to exist forever. This final condition might be thought of as outer darkness.
4. Some combination of numbers 2 and 3.

The understanding of man’s architecture that I have developed over the last few years leads me to a fifth possibility. It is distinctively different and we will develop it in the following pages. Theologians generally believe that hell is a literal place but they have argued over the possibilities listed above for over 1900 years and nobody can really prove their point to the satisfaction of the other side. Anytime there are seemingly apparent contractions in the Bible that means to me that there is some basic flaw in the interpretation. There must be some basic understanding that is escaping the scholars. With the architecture of man that is generally accepted by most theologians, there are contradictions in many of the Bible’s descriptions of hell. The concept that I have developed of man’s architecture eliminates all of these seeming contradictions from my perspective. It really boggles my mind as to why modern theologians continue to use and believe concepts of man’s soul and spirit that lead to so many contradictions in the Bible. These concepts have been around for 1600 years or so and in my opinion they are just plain uninspired. They are based upon flawed Greek concepts and have become such tradition that people are blinded to the truth. The Bible uses the terms correctly in every case; they are after all inspired of God, and he knew the real architecture of man since he created it. Why do theologians want to use understandings of these terms that result in scriptural contradictions? As we move on in our study you will understand what I am saying.

STUDY OF THE NATURE OF HELL; DO WE FACE DEATH IN HELL?

We will begin this study by reading Rom 6:20-23, which tells us that the wages of sin is death, and 1 Cor 15:54-57 which tells us that death has lost its sting because Jesus won the victory over death.

 Rom 6:20-23 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Cor 15:54-57 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 Rom 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. What type of death is this? 1 Cor 15:54-57 describes death as being swallowed up in victory. What victory? Jesus overcame death on the cross and achieved victory for us, a victory that allows us to once again live in heaven with God. Death lost its sting and no longer has a hold on us because of Jesus’ victory. But what kind of death is this speaking about? Our body still dies and returns to dust in spite of Jesus victory. Our soul still temporarily ceases to exist since the thing that gives it life, the spirit, has left the body. However that death is not permanent. Our souls are resurrected to eternal life at the rapture, Rev 20:4. Death has lost its sting since it is not permanent (1 Cor 15:55). Just as Jesus’ soul was resurrected so will our souls be resurrected. The soul is resurrected in that it exists again as a spirit dwelling in a body; the original spirit living in a new type of body, a glorified body that can live forever. Jesus body was dead for three days, meaning that his soul inactive, but his spirit was still very active. His spirit continued to live. In Luke 23:46 Jesus committed his spirit to God just before the death of his body on the cross. At his death, Jesus went to Hades in his Godly Spirit self and took the spirits of all believers, who were temporarily there awaiting his purchase of their pardon, to heaven (Eph 4:7-10). After Jesus paid the price for us, when our bodies die, assuming that we are believers in Jesus, our spirits immediately go to heaven.

During the period of time from the death of a person until the rapture for believers and the final judgment for unbelievers, the soul in essence does not exist. It is sometimes referred to in the Old Testament as being asleep, as in Dan 12:2, but also as something that will one day awaken again to life. The spirit never sleeps, it remains conscious. At death the believer’s spirit immediately goes to heaven to be with God, while the unbeliever’s spirit goes to Hades to await the final judgment. This is not the “soul sleep” that was condemned by the early church. The belief that was condemned by the early church was in reality spirit sleep, a belief that the spirit would lose consciousness at death. The confusion results from improperly using the words soul and spirit as synonymous, which is totally improper if you remain true to the original languages in which the Bible was written. See the topic the nature of man for much more detail on this.

When God first created man he lived with God in God’s Garden of Eden. God is spirit so man was likely living as a spirit who would not die. He also likely had a glorified body since he could apparently live in both heaven and on earth. However, after man sinned he could no longer live forever with God for “the wages of sin is death.” Man’s higher dimensional awareness was removed and he lost contact with his higher dimensional spirit and was now only aware of his three dimensional soul (He saw that he was naked, Gen 3:7). 2 Cor 5:1-4 seems to say that to be naked means to not have a glorified body for the spirit to dwell within. Man’s glorified body was transitioned to a human body. He was no longer in the presence of the Tree of Life (Jesus) who provided for eternal life, so man was doomed to the death of his body. He was taken from a perfect world (heaven) and placed in a world bound by the laws of entropy. His world would grow old and eventually die and so would he. The thing that returned to the ground when man died was his body (Gen 3:19). So we see that the wages of sin is death, death of the body, that which returns to the ground as dust. Believers face death of the body one time, while unbelievers face death of the body tow times; the first is death of the human body while the second death is death of the resurrected body in the lake of fire at the final judgment, Rev 20: 4, 14. As we look back to the time before Christ what picture do we see painted for man? He lived a short life on earth, his body died and returned to dust, his spirit went to Sheol (Hades), and he was separated from God because of unforgiven sin. So what was the penalty for man’s sin in the Old Testament times? His body was destroyed and his spirit was separated from God. There are really three different situations described here;

1. For everyone who died, no matter whether they were believers of unbelievers, their bodies were destroyed.
2. For those whose spirit went to the dark side of Sheol, the side where unbelievers went, there was constant torment (Luke 16:23). This torment was akin to being in a very hot and dry place characterized by great thirst (Luke 16:24). This thirst was akin to a thirst for light, the light of Jesus which could take them to the other side (Luke 16:27-28). The torment was possibly a mental anguish in knowing what they had missed and what others who did not find the light while on earth would be missing. Unfortunately there was no way to quench their thirst for light (Luke 16:26). The spirits of those here were figuratively experiencing both a great thirst (for light) caused by an unquenchable fire (desire for the light) and outer darkness since there was total absence of the light of Jesus.
3. For those whose spirit went to the good side of Sheol, the side where believers went, there was comfort and peace in knowing what was ahead of them. They were temporarily separated from God because of unforgiven sin. They could not pay the price for their own sin and Jesus had not yet paid it for them. Fortunately for those in this place, after Jesus paid the price for their unforgiven sins, he took them to heaven and permanently closed down this section of Sheol/Hades.

If the wages of sin is death applies to the body, does it also apply to the spirit? We saw above that because of man’s sin he was doomed to an existence wherein his body would one day die and turn to dust. We also know that the bodies and therefore the souls of everyone, believers and unbelievers, will one day be resurrected; believers at the rapture and unbelievers at the Great White Throne Judgment. We saw above that death applied to the body and not the spirit. Does that also apply to the second death of Rev 20:6 and 20:14? Will the resurrected bodies of the lost be destroyed in the lake of fire into which they are thrown? I suspect that is the case. What about the spirits of the lost, will they also be destroyed or will they live forever? Will the existence of the spirit be akin to that in Hades as characterized in Luke 16:19-31?

Back to the original question, if the wages of sin is death applies to the body, does it also apply to the spirit? The answer may be in Matt 10:28.

 Matt 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

This tells us that a man can kill another man’s body but he cannot kill his soul. Since the soul is composed of a spirit living in a body this implies that death of the body does not include death of the spirit. One man cannot kill another man’s spirit and thus he cannot kill another man’s soul. However we also see that God can destroy both the body and the soul. That means that God can also kill a man’s spirit. The question remains, does God sometimes kill a man’s spirit? I suspect that this statement would not be included in the Bible if God does not sometimes do it. So we see another great difference in the afterlife of believers and unbelievers. Believers live forever in heaven with both a resurrected body and a spirit while unbelievers face the second death of their resurrected bodies in the fires of hell; their body will be eternally destroyed. Matt 10:28 leaves open the possibility that their spirits will also be destroyed in the lake of fire. My suspicion is that their spirits of unbelievers then live forever in the place referred to as “outer darkness,” a place where the light of Jesus does not shine, a place completely absent of the presence of God. This outer darkness may include the eventual complete loss of consciousness for some, if not all unbelievers. The Bible does not tell us much about this place called outer darkness. Since we have never lived solely as a spirit and we have never been in a place devoid of God we cannot really relate to what it will be like to be there. We can only be sure that it will be a fair existence for those sentenced to be there since God is infinitely fair.

WHY DID GOD CREATE HELL?

We are told in John 3:36 and in many other places in the Bible that the decisions that we make in this life regarding Jesus will determine our destiny after we die; we will either spend eternity with God or be separated from God.

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

The Bible consistently tells us that there are two distinct literal destinations for man after he dies and goes to his final judgment; heaven and hell. When believers die their spirits immediately go to heaven to be with God. For unbelievers there is an interim place where they go to be held while awaiting their final judgment. This place is called Hades in the New Testament and Sheol in the Old Testament. We are told in Rev 21:14 that at the final judgment of unbelievers Hades and its occupants will be judged and thrown into hell. This is described as a literal place and the final destination for Satan and his angels.

We are told in Matt 25:41 that hell was created for the devil and his angels. This was as a result of the devil’s rebellion against God which is described in Isa 14 and Ezek 28. It was created as a place of eternal punishment for Satan and his followers because of his rebellion. After Satan rebelled against God he apparently convinced about 1/3 of the angels in heaven to follow him. After God created mankind Satan began working on mankind to also follow him in his rebellion against God. Those who choose to follow Satan in his rebellion will face the same destination as Satan and his angels; the lake of fire. Satan and his angels will forever be tormented in the fires of hell, while unbelievers will have their bodies destroyed by the fires of hell and then their spirits may be moved to a separate part of hell, that part referred to as outer darkness. We are not told enough to be dogmatic about the difference between the fires of hell and outer darkness.

There are many things about hell that are not clear even to Bible scholars. Scholars debate several questions about hell including the following:

1. Is it the same for all those who are sent there?
2. Is the language that describes hell as a place of unquenchable fire literal or figurative?
3. How do we interpret the language which describes the punishment in hell as being everlasting and eternal?
4. Does the language which describes hell as a place of outer darkness mean that those who go there are eventually destroyed and cease to exist, both as bodies and spirits?

We will next begin studying the scriptures which describe hell and see what additional conclusions we can come to.

WHAT IS HELL LIKE?

1. DARKNESS OR OUTER DARKNESS

• Place of darkness; absence of the light (Matt 8:10-12; 22:13; 25:29-30, 1 Thess 5:4-5, 1 Sam 2:9).
• Blackest darkness for eternity; total absence of the light (Jude 4,13, 2 Peter 2:17)
• Believers have been rescued from the dominion of darkness; the place where the prince of darkness will reside for eternity (Col 1:13)

2. ETERNAL FIRE, UNQUENCHABLE FIRE, FIERY FURNACE, BURNING SULFUR

• Place of eternal fire, Gehenna (Matt 18:8-9; 25:41; Mark 9:42-48; Jude 7).
• The unquenchable fire (Matt 3:12; Luke 3:17).
• A fiery furnace (Matt 13:42, 50).
• Fire, fire of hell (Matt 3:10; 5:22, 7:19, John 15:6, Isa 66:16).
• The blazing fire (Dan 7:11)
• The lake of fire (Rev 20:14-15).
• Lake of Burning Sulfur (Rev 19:20; 20:10, 21:8).
• Fire may be figurative language; God is said to be a consuming fire, his work is like fire, etc. (Deut 4:24, Jer 4:4, Nahum 1:6, Mal 3:2, Heb 12:29). Also James 3:5-6 says that the tongue is a fire, set ablaze by the fires of Gehenna.
• The Abyss is described as a gigantic furnace emitting smoke, (Rev 9:2). It is not clear whether the Abyss is a part of the lake of fire or a separate place. The Abyss has been in use since before the flood while the first mention of the lake of fire being used is when the antichrist and the false prophet are thrown into it at the Second Coming of Jesus. Hades is clearly a separate place from the lake of fire since Hades is thrown into the lake of fire and destroyed at the final judgment.

WHO GOES TO HELL?

• The beast and false prophets (Rev 19:19-20; 20:10; 2 Thess 2:8).
• Death and Hades (Rev 20:13-14).
• The Devil; hell was created for Satan and his angels (Matt 25:41; Rev 20:10).
• Wicked angels (Matt 25:41).
• Evildoers (Matt 17:19-23; 13:38-41; 23:29-33; 1 Cor 6:9-10; Gal 5:19-21).
• Unbelievers (Luke 8:11-12; John 3:18, 36; 1 Cor 1:18-23; Heb 3:12-19; 4:1-3).
• Those whose names are not in the book of life (Rev 20:15).
• Jews who do not believe (Matt 8:5-13; 22:1-14).
• Both Jews and Gentiles who do not believe (Rom 2:5-11).
• The Pharisees (John 8:21).

WHAT IS THE FATE OF THOSE WHO GO TO HELL?

1. THEY RECEIVE PUNISHMENT FOR SIN

• Punishment with eternal consequences (Matt 5:22; 25:46, 2 Thess 1:8-9).
• Payback for harm done, accountability (2 Peter 2:13, Rom 14:12).
• Judgment, sentencing and penalty (1 Cor 6:2-3, Rom 1:27, 9:27-28).
• Put in a dungeon, in prison (Isa 24:22).
• Suffering, agony, weeping, gnashing of teeth and torment day and night (Luke 13:28, 16:19-31; Rev 14:9-11).
• Condemnation (Matt 23:33, Rom 3:8, Gal 1:8-9).
• Won’t enter heaven (1 Cor 6:9, Gal 5:21, Eph 5:5).
• Separation from God (Matt 22:1-14, 25:1-13, 14-30, 31-46; Luke 13:24-28; Rom 11:22, 2 Thess 1:8-9).
• Separation from the righteous (Matt 13:47-50; 24:36-51, Luke 12:41-48).
• Death (Rom 6:23, 11:15).

2. THEY RECEIVE DESTRUCTION WHICH IS EVERLASTING

• Suffer the second death; the body is destroyed a second time (Rev 2:11, 20:6, 14, 21:8).
• Destruction (John 3:16, Matt 7:13; Rom 2:12, 9:22; Phil 3:17-19; Gal 6:7-8, 1 Thess 5:1-3, Heb 10:39, 2 Pet 2:1, 3:16).
• Destruction which is everlasting (1 Cor 5:5, 1 Thess 5:3, 2 Thess 1:8-9, 1 Tim 6:9).
• Body and soul are destroyed (Matt 10:28).
• Consumption by raging fire (Heb 10:26-27).

DISCUSSION: The word “eternal” as used in the Bible generally means endless or everlasting. Thus eternal life would mean endless or everlasting life. However, there are instances in the Bible where the word “eternal” is used to describe a one time event with everlasting or endless consequences. For example, Heb 9:12 speaks of eternal redemption, which is the result of a one time event, Jesus sacrifice, with everlasting consequences; Heb 6:2 speaks of eternal judgment, which is a one time judgment with everlasting consequences; Mark 3:29 speaks of an eternal sin, the unpardonable sin which is a one time sin with everlasting consequences; Isa 47:7 speaks of the eternal queen of Babylon, a one time queen who will be remembered forever since she is mentioned in the Bible.

In John 15:1-14 Jesus is presenting the image of the vine and the branches, with the Father being the gardener, Jesus himself being the vine and mankind being the branches. The image presents those who do not remain in Jesus being cut off, thrown away, withering, and then being picked up and thrown into a fire. This image seems to be of unbelievers dying (being cut off), their spirits being sent to Hades (being thrown away), their bodies turning to dust in the ground (withering), and then being resurrected, judged and sent to hell (being picked up, thrown into the fire and burned up). The image we might get from this is the branches being consumed by the fire, since that is what happens when branches are thrown into a fire. This seems to me to mean that the body is destroyed a second time; this time permanently, while the spirit may still be alive in hell. When the branches are burned up, there is a residue, the smoke. Might this be the spirit? Is that what Jesus meant to present to us? Again, according to Matt 10:28 God can destroy both body and spirit if he so desires,

We’ll next look at the word destruction to see if we can verify my conclusion about what the Bible means when it says that unbelievers face destruction after the judgment. We want to determine if this destruction means that both body and spirit will completely cease to exist for eternity or if it means that the body will be completely destroyed and the spirit placed in a very ruinous and undesirable situation for eternity. There are several Greek words that are used in the Bible that are interpreted as being destroyed, perishing, being consumed, etc. We will look at several of them.

 Destruction;

Greek 3639 (final, eternal, irrevocable ruin; ruination of body and possibly of spirit as well; often implies death)- 1 Thess 5:3; 2 Thess 1:8-9; 1 Tim 6:9; 1 Cor 5:5

Greek 684 (loss of well being, not loss of being)-Phil 3:19; 2 Pet 2:1; 3:16, Matt 7:13

Hebrew 2475 (destruction)-Prov 31:8

Destroy, destroyed, perish;

2673 (loss of well being, not loss of being, reduce to inactivity, do away with)- 1 Cor 6:13; 15:26;

622 (loss of well being, not loss of being, ruin, perish, utter destruction)-John 3:16; Matt 10:6, 10:28, 15:24; Luke 15:4, 6, 32; 2 Cor 2:15, 4:16; 2 Pet 3:9, Jas 4:12; Jude 5

Consuming

2654 (to utterly and wholly consume)-Heb 12:29

1 Tim 6:9 uses both of the two principal Greek words described above for destruction, 3639 and 684. I’m not sure what this may be saying other than that some face more serious consequences for their sinful lifestyle that others do. It may be simply saying that some face ruin both in this life and in the next life because of their sins, or it may be implying something more. Since word 3639 may imply death, this could possibly be telling us that some may face death of the both body and spirit in hell.

1 Tim 6:9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin (3639) and destruction (684).

Three of the four words that are interpreted as destroy or destruction seem to imply loss of well being, but not loss of being. Word 3639 may also imply a final, total and irrevocable death of both body and spirit. We will next look at some other scriptures where this word is used.

1Thes 5:3-5

3 While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.

5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.

II Th 1:8-9 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power

1 Cor 5:1, 5

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife.

5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

We will next look at the Greek Bible version of 1 Cor 5:5 to see if we can find a better interpretation of what this may mean. The Greek seems to say that this person faces loss or death of the flesh so that the spirit may not be lost. This is certainly consistent with what I believe I am finding as I research the many scriptures that mention this topic, namely that the bodies of unbelievers face destruction or death in hell but the spirits live on eternally in hell or outer darkness. Let us wrap up this study by reading a few other relevant scriptures.

Matt 25:41, 46 41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Dan 12:1-2 1 everyone whose name is found written in the book-- will be delivered.

2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?"

Jude 1:12-13 12 These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm-- shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted-- twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

In conclusion, we have read and discussed many scriptures describing hell and who goes there. It is a horrible thought that maybe as many as 90% of mankind may end up there as unbelievers. We see that Satan, the angels who follow him and all of those who have not been followers of Jesus will end up in the lake of fire after the final judgment. All unbelievers will face the second death, a loss of their resurrected bodies. Their disembodied spirits will then face varying amounts of punishment as they deserve. This may vary from total loss of consciousness with death of their spirits to a varying but everlasting amount of punishment. Only God knows the details. He has given us a number of clues from which we can draw conclusions, but not enough specific detail to allow us to be dogmatic about some of our conclusions. There is enough, however, to make it very clear that we want to be a believer in and follower of Jesus so that we may avoid that place at all cost. If you are not a believer and would like to become one go to How to become a believer.