NEW TESTAMENT HELLS
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. Hell
a) Is hell real or just a metaphor? Is it eternal and without end as the Scriptures seem to indicate? What does the Bible say about whether hell is eternal or not?
b) The Old Testament uses a different word for hell than does the New Testament and that shouldn’t surprise us because the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew while the New Testament was written in Greek, although there is some Aramaic because that is what was commonly spoken in Judea at the time. So what are the differences between what translators used for the word hell in the Bible?
i) Hades
@1. The Greek word for Hades occurs 11 times in the New Testament and refers to the grave and not necessarily a place of torment. Hell is what the English used to refer to as a pit in the ground and that is likely why the King James translations uses the word hell. Hades can refer to being in the state of death as well as we see Paul using it in 2 Corinthians 15:55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” and also in Revelation 6:8 “And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth” and so we see that Hades can refer to a grave or death and this is what is referred to when Jesus is said to have conquered or defeated death.
@2. One important point about Hades is that it can refer to the place of the departed wicked and being in torment as this was where the rich man was at when he saw Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham; so context is everything.
ii) Tartarus
@1. This Greek word for hell is used only one time and it refers to a place of judgment and torment. It is mentioned only in 2 Peter 2:4, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell [Tartarus] and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.” This is not the place to enter into an exposition on why these angels were placed there and if they are still there today but it may well be that these angels were so wicked or despicable that God chained them up to keep them from doing such evil that they would have caused enormous destruction in the world. Are these the foul or unclean spirits that will be released in the tribulation (Revelation 16:13)? We can not be certain of this.
iii) Gehenna
@1. This Greek word occurs only 12 times and is always translated as hell. Gehenna was originally a Hebrew word and came from the “valley of Hinnom.” This same Hebrew word is used in Jeremiah 7:31, “and they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.”
@2. This valley was for the purpose of burning all the idols that were an abomination to God and this valley that is called “Tophet” became synonymous with a place of such abomination that all kinds of things were burnt up in it; dead carcasses, filth, unburied bodies, detestable tings, and refuse. The fire never went out because it was a garbage dump where every bit of trash and unclean things were being continually deposited and the fire never went out so as to burn everything up, thus Gehenna became symbolic of the place of an everlasting fire, a severe and eternal punishment. This may be why Jesus referred to hell “Gehenna” as the place “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48) which seems to point to its eternity. The fire in the Valley of Gehenna and the worms eating the decaying bodies or garbage would never cease.
The End ...
1. Hell a) Is hell real or just a metaphor? Is it eternal and without end as the Scriptures seem to indicate? What does the Bible say about whether hell is eternal or not?
b) The Old Testament uses a different word for hell than does the New Testament and that shouldn’t surprise us because the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew while the New Testament was written in Greek, although there is some Aramaic because that is what was commonly spoken in Judea at the time. So what are the differences between what translators used for the word hell in the Bible?
2. New Testament Hells – Hades, Tartarus and Gehenna
a) In the New Testament, there are three words translated “hell,” but that doesn’t mean that there are three different locations of hell or three different hells. The words Hades and Tartarus are Greek, and Gehenna, which is the Greek form of the Hebrew words Gee and Hinnom, meaning “the valley of Hinnom.”
b) Let’s separate these to see what each means.
a) In the New Testament, there are three words translated “hell,” but that doesn’t mean that there are three different locations of hell or three different hells. The words Hades and Tartarus are Greek, and Gehenna, which is the Greek form of the Hebrew words Gee and Hinnom, meaning “the valley of Hinnom.”
b) Let’s separate these to see what each means.
i) Hades
@1. The Greek word for Hades occurs 11 times in the New Testament and refers to the grave and not necessarily a place of torment. Hell is what the English used to refer to as a pit in the ground and that is likely why the King James translations uses the word hell. Hades can refer to being in the state of death as well as we see Paul using it in 2 Corinthians 15:55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” and also in Revelation 6:8 “And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth” and so we see that Hades can refer to a grave or death and this is what is referred to when Jesus is said to have conquered or defeated death.
@2. One important point about Hades is that it can refer to the place of the departed wicked and being in torment as this was where the rich man was at when he saw Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham; so context is everything.
ii) Tartarus
@1. This Greek word for hell is used only one time and it refers to a place of judgment and torment. It is mentioned only in 2 Peter 2:4, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell [Tartarus] and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.” This is not the place to enter into an exposition on why these angels were placed there and if they are still there today but it may well be that these angels were so wicked or despicable that God chained them up to keep them from doing such evil that they would have caused enormous destruction in the world. Are these the foul or unclean spirits that will be released in the tribulation (Revelation 16:13)? We can not be certain of this.
iii) Gehenna
@1. This Greek word occurs only 12 times and is always translated as hell. Gehenna was originally a Hebrew word and came from the “valley of Hinnom.” This same Hebrew word is used in Jeremiah 7:31, “and they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.”
@2. This valley was for the purpose of burning all the idols that were an abomination to God and this valley that is called “Tophet” became synonymous with a place of such abomination that all kinds of things were burnt up in it; dead carcasses, filth, unburied bodies, detestable tings, and refuse. The fire never went out because it was a garbage dump where every bit of trash and unclean things were being continually deposited and the fire never went out so as to burn everything up, thus Gehenna became symbolic of the place of an everlasting fire, a severe and eternal punishment. This may be why Jesus referred to hell “Gehenna” as the place “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48) which seems to point to its eternity. The fire in the Valley of Gehenna and the worms eating the decaying bodies or garbage would never cease.
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