IS HELL A REALITY? WHERE IS THE SPIRIT OF THE DEAD PEOPLE
TODAY? ARE THEY IN HELL FIRE?
Prof. Satheesh Kumar
Academic Dean - AECS
Introduction
In the minds of most English-speaking people, hell
is a place of terrible torment where the wicked dead are sent for final
punishment. This idea can be true for the word Gehenna (Matt. 10:28; 18:9; 23:33; Mark 9:43-48; James 3:6), it is
not true for other biblical words translated ‘Hell’[1].
According to New Testament, the Hell or Gehenna is a place of eternal torment.
The followings are the nature of Hell or Gehenna: it is eternal burning (Matt.
13:42; 18:8-9; Rev. 20:10); eternal darkness (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 2 Pet. 2:4,
17); eternal destruction (Matt. 7:13; Phil. 1:28; 2 Pet. 3:7, 10); and eternal
separation from God and His blessings (2 Thess. 1:9).
“Hell is an invisible place where the souls and spirit of men depart in death”[2].
It is an invisible state, not the grave, which has a depth that cannot be known
(Psa. 9:17 KJV; 16:10 KJV; 18:5 KJV; Isa. 5:14 KJV; Ezek. 31:16 KJV; Amos 9:2
KJV; Jonah 2:2 KJV; Hab. 2:5 KJV).
HADES/HELL: A Place of the Dead
The
English word “Hell” is the translation of the Greek word “Hades”. The “Hades” simply
means ‘the unseen realm of the spirit world or underworld’. It is referring to the place of the dead. Hades (hayสนdeez), a Greek god whose name means ‘The
Unseen.’
He was lord of the underworld, the abode of the dead.[3]
In
the Old Testament times the soul and spirit of every person
went there after death. Therefore, Hedes is the place where the soul and spirit of all human being
would go after death. It refers to the underworld, or region of the departed,
the intermediate state between death and the resurrection. It occurs eleven times
in the NT: Matt. 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27, 31; 1 Cor. 15:55; Rev.
1:18; 6:8; 20:13–14[4]
Hedes is also a place of punishment (Matt. 11:23; Luke 10:15; 16:23). Both the souls and spirit of believers and unbelievers will go to this place upon
death (Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:27, 31; Rev. 1:18; 6:8; 20:13, 14). But there will
be a “great gulf” between the souls
of believers and unbelievers or the righteous and unrighteous (Luke 16:23-28)[5].
From
the time of Christ’s resurrection, the paradise of “Abraham’s bosom” has
apparently been transferred to “third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:1-4). This is the
immediate presence of God for the believers (1 Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Cor. 5:1-8).
All
the unsaved, however, (both before and after Christ’s resurrection) still go to
Hades and are in conscious torment (Luke 16:22-24). At the Great White Throne
Judgment, which introduces the eternal state (Rev. 20:11-15), the wicked will
be raised. Then Hades becomes part of Gehenna
or eternal hell. This eternal destiny of Satan, fallen angels, and unsaved
humanity (Matt. 25:41) is called “the second death” (Rev. 20:6). Hades is also
a place of eternal punishment for the wicked (Rev. 20:12).
Greeks
Understanding of ‘Hades’
In
Greek religious thought Hades was
the god of the underworld; but more commonly the term referred to his realm,
the underworld, where the shades or the souls of the dead led a shadowy
existence, hardly conscious and without memory of their former life. In early times
it seems Hades was usually conceived as a place of sadness and gloom (but not
punishment) indiscriminately for all the dead. However, as early as Homer the
notion existed that some individuals experienced endless punishment in Hades,
and later, especially through the influence of Orphic-Pythagorean ideas, belief
in postmortem rewards and punishments in Hades became common. While Greek ideas
about the afterlife probably did not influence the origins of Jewish
expectations of retribution after death, later Jewish writers sometimes
incorporated particular terms and concepts from the Greek and Roman Hades into
their own pictures of the afterlife.
SHEOL:
A Resting Place of the Body
The
Hebrew word Sheol is translated as the
“grave” (Gen. 42:38; Job 14:13; Psa. 88:3). Therefore, Sheol is “a place where
the body of human being goes after death” (Matt. 11:23; Luke 10:15; Acts 2:27,
31; 1 Cor. 15:55). So it refers to “the temporary resting place of the body”. The
word Sheol found in the Old Testament
for 65 times. Sheol is not the place of eternal punishment but rather it is
simply a place of the bodies of all people (Job 17:13-16; 24:19-20). The term
is thus used with reference to both the righteous and the wicked: of the righteous
(Psa. 16:10; 30:3; Isa. 38:10; etc.), of the wicked (Num. 16:33; Job 24:19; Ps.
9:17; etc.).
At the resurrection Hades will return
what has been entrusted to it (1 En. 51:3; 4 Ezra 4:42; 7:32; 2 Bar.
42:8; 50:2; Ps.-Philo 3:10; 33:3; cf. Rev 20:13)—a notion which expresses God’s sovereignty over Hades
(cf. 1 Sam 2:6; Tobit 13:2; Wisdom
16:13). The dead have been temporarily entrusted by God to the safekeeping of
Hades; at the resurrection he will demand them back (Rev. 20:11-15). Thereafter
death will no longer happen, and so the mouth of Hades will be sealed so that
it can no longer receive the dead (2 Bar. 21:23; Ps.-Philo 33:3).
Death and Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:14). Thus Hades
retains its close association with death and is not confused with the place of
eternal torment for the wicked after the Day of Judgment, which was usually
known as Gehenna.
In Jesus’ story of the rich man and
Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31), which reflects popular conceptions of the afterlife,
it seems that only the rich man goes to Hades (though this is not entirely
clear), where he is tormented in fire, while Lazarus goes to “Abraham’s bosom”
in paradise (cf. T. Ab. A 20:14). The two locations are within sight of
each other (cf. 4 Ezra 7:85, 93); but this need not imply that both are in the
underworld, since even after the last judgment paradise and Gehenna are said to be within sight of
each other (4 Ezra 7:36–38; 1 En. 108:14–15; Apoc. El. 5:27–28).
The gates of Hades (Matt 16:18) are
traditional. Both the Babylonian Underworld and the Greek Hades had gates, but
the image more immediately reflects the OT (Isa 38:10; cf. “gates of death” in
Job 38:17; Ps 9:14; 107:18) and later Jewish writings (Wis 16:13; 3 Macc. 5:51;
So. Sol. 16:2; cf. Apocalypse Pet. 4:3). The gates of Hades keep
the dead imprisoned in its realm. Only God can open them (cf. Wis 16:13; Ap.
Pet. 4:3, which probably reflects a Jewish description of resurrection; Ps
107:16 may have been interpreted in this way). Whatever the precise meaning of
Matt 16:18, its reference must be not to the powers of evil, but to the power
of Hades to hold the dead in death. A related image is that of the keys of
Hades (Rev 1:18), which open its gates (cf. 2 En. 42:1): the risen
Christ, victorious over death, has acquired the divine power to release from
the realm of death (cf. also b Sanhedrin. 113a).
Conclusion
Hell
or Hades is the place of the dead. In the Old Testament times the soul
and spirit
of every person went there after death. Therefore, Hades is the place where the
soul and spirit of all human being
would go after death. All unbelievers today upon death will go to Hades to wait
for future eternal punishment. At the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev.
20:11-15), the wicked will be raised. Then Hades will become part of Gehenna or eternal hell.
The
soul
and spirit
of believers today upon death will go to Abraham’s bosom not in the Hades like
in the Old Testament and their body will rest in the “grave” – a temporary
resting place for the body – will be raised at the Coming of Christ (1 Cor.
15:51- 57; 1 Thess. 4:13-17).
All
the souls and spirit of men will not go to one place but all the people will go
to the “grave” (Job 17:13; Psa. 16:10; Isa. 38:10). The term “grave” is used 71
times in the Old Testament. It is a “pit” and “earth below”.
[1]Don Fleming, Bible Knowledge Dictionary, (India: Pilot Books Co., 1990), 171.
[2]William Wilson, Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies, (Mclean:
Mac Donald Publishing Co.,),215.
[3]Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of
Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st
ed.) (365). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
[4]Unger, M. F.,
Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The
new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd
ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
[5] Lawrence O. Richards, Expository
Dictionary of Bible Words, (Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1985), 337.
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