What the Hell, Part 4

 

What the Hell, Part 4

So far we have seen that hell is used in the Bible to translate Hades/Sheol and Tartaros. We have seen that Hades and Sheol are used to the Place of the Dead. At times it is used as a parallel to grave or pit but there are uses that seemed to teach that Hades is way more than the pit (See What the Hell, Part 3). Believers and unbelievers alike in OT expected to went there though as I argued the last time they went to different compartments. Tartaros is the holding area for the horny angels of Gen 6 and another area called the Abyss holds the deranged and murderous creatures that will be released during the Tribulation. I also addressed Jesus' descent into hell.

Now the third and last word used to translate hell is Gehenna, (Geena). I almost hesitate to post this because I am sure that what I will write will not be popular to some of you. Most dictionaries and commentaries will list Gehenna as the equivalent of Lake of Fire, and that this is an eternal conscious torment of unbelievers. I will disagree with these. Now don't get me wrong, I firmly believe in ECT, but I think some of our Gehenna passages probably do not refer to LoF. On the other hand I believe some do. I have read of articles by universalists and/or universalists titled "To Hell and Back" and what they meant is they have gone to Valley of Ben-Hinnom and that is the only Gehenna there is. I also disagree.

Gehenna presumably means the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom. I don't know who Hinnom is but he must be ugly as sin, lol, to be associated with such a terrible place. It appeared first in Josh 15:8 and 18:16 as actual places that are part of the land that will be divided among the Israelites. In 2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chron 28:3 and 33:6 these are places where child sacrifices are performed. As such these are considered a very bad place with fires burning, flesh melting and cries heard over the fire. Post exile, it is mentioned in Nehemiah 11:30. 

But the most extensive treatment of Valley of Ben-Hinnom is found in Jeremiah. Jer 7:31,32; 19:2,6 and 32:15 describes this place graphically. I will not reproduce them here, just read your Bible. After all if our omniscient God is described as being "shocked" by the things that never even entered His mind, I think we ought to be shocked too. It must be a terrible place of burning, flesh melting and cries of pain. Jeremiah prophesied that this will be a place of slaughter when God judged Judah for the evils propagated chiefly by King Manasseh. 

According to historians and scholars this became a burning place for garbage and thus there is always a fire and there are possibly maggots among the decomposing refused there. This afford the Lord Jesus a graphic picture or illustration of the judgment that awaits those who merit it. So wheb Gehenna is used keep in mind that it means judgment. Whether eternal or temporal in my opinion depends on usage. 

The question of course is if this means a literal place of judgment identified as the Lake of Fire that will burn forever or a metaphor for judgment or a Lake of Fire but will not burn forever, either because its inhabitants will ultimately be consumed or its inhabitants will ultimately escape it after a period of time. It is not my purpose to discuss ECT (for the record, my view) or annihilationism or universalism (possibly the least orthodox of the three) but just to see if Gehenna refers to LoF or something else. 

From my count of its usage (I looked into BLB), it is used in 12 passages, all of which are in the Gospels, and once in James. So whatever Gehenna is, it played a role in the message of the Synoptics which is the offer of Jesus as the Promised King of the promised earthly, Davidic, kingdom. I have to use several adjectives to distinguish it from the common idea of a spiritual kingdom. It is literal and we are not in it. Briefly, in the Synoptics, as with regards to eternal destiny, you are either in the kingdom or in fire in judgment. We'll see how Gehenna play to that theme. 

Even though it is used in 11 passages in the Synoptics, some are parallel passages and so by my count they are delivered in 4 different occasions: 1. SOTM (Matt 5:22, 29, 30; Mark 9:43, 45, 47) 2. A Discourse to the Disciples when they were sent to preach ahead of Him (Matt 10:28; Luke 12:5, probably a different event) 3. A discourse to disciples again about being like a child to enter the kingdom (Matt 18:9) and lastly a blasting of the religious leaders in Matt 23:15,33). There is a use outside of James and we'll look at it first:

James 3:6

[6]And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

I think it simply shows the infernal power of a misused tongue to defile the entire body and set on fire the course of our life. Simply put it simply affirms that the tongue has the power of life, and in the case of James' audience, death, ruin, defilement. I don't think it is a helpful passage to identify whether Gehenna is a place of ECT like LoF since that is not the purpose of James. He is simply comparing the ruin of the tongue to the fire lit by Gehenna- both can ruin. And I don't think you literally take fire from Gehenna to lit the tongue. 

So we'll focus on the synoptics by looking at each group.

1. SOTM used. 

Depending in how you interpret SOTM, you may see Gehenna as the LoF or simply temporal judgment. I believe the SOTM is given primarily to disciples already so I believe it is given to a saved audience. I know that not all disciples are believers but I think this audience is since what Jesus is asking them is to live in perfection (be perfect as the Father is) not on how to get saved or be perfected in the same place. I think He is asking them to live a life that is worthy of the kingdom that is being offered. Entrance to that kingdom of course is based on faith (Jn 3:3, 5).

Matthew 5:22,29-30

[22]But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

[29]If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

[30]If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.

So if we keep this in mind I think Gehenna is used here simply to mean as temporal judgment. That is if they tell their brothers Raca or if they commit adultery even in the heart, they will be in danger of Gehenna or they will be judged temporarily. I don't think it means they will be thrown to the LoF for doing or not doing certain things. That will make this a works salvation passage which contradicts the 150 or so faith passages in the Bible (as claimed by Chafer; I have a list of 185). I understand some hold to works salvation (I don't) or lordship (I don't) and will list these as support. But I think that is contrary to sola fide. I understand that some see a different salvation for the Gentiles for this dispensation (grace) as opposed to Jews and other Gentiles in other dispensation (requires works) but I don't hold to it. Maybe someday I will discuss why. Also as I have said in the beginning, the Synoptics is not about how to have life and enter the kingdom. It is simply the kingdom or judgment. How to enter it is defined in Jn 3. 

In Matt 5 Jesus is telling His audience that it is better to be mutilated than be judged. If you offend a brother and called him Raca, you will be judged as well. If you have a problem with a brother, seek reconciliation first before offering or again there is a temporal repercussion. If we remember that Jesus is speaking under the Law and not under the church dispensation, we'll understand why judgment is prominent after all that is what the law is about- to give penalty.

2. Discourse to the Disciples

Matthew 10:28

[28]Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Luke 12:4-5

[4]"I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.

[5]But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

Here Jesus is talking to His disciples. He sent them to preach ahead of Him and part of His instruction is that they should have the courage to speak His teaching. Do not be afraid of people who can harm you mortally (kill your body) but fear God who can ruin, destroy, defile both body and soul. The issue is either fear man or fear God, and for the disciple it is his fear of God that should give him the courage to teach the unpopular message. 

Note what it does not say. It does not threaten the Disciples with judgment. It isn't even about judgment but fearing the right Person. This Person has the power to ruin a person (body and soul is a figure for the whole person, the entirety of the human unbeliever will be harmed, not just the body. As a trichotomous, I see the absence of spirit as a sign that his human spirit isn't regenerated yet. But that is another story.) So I vote this as LoF. We shouldn't fear man but God who can punish people in LoF. And if some of those rejectors are family, it is a double incentive to preach with boldness to them. 

3. Be like this child

Matthew 18:8-9

[8]"If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.

[9]If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.

Here the issue is stumbling. Earlier He taught that one has to be a child to enter the kingdom. Some take to be a child to mean be trusting like a child; others take it to mean to be willing to have no reputation like a child, in 1st century AD they are basically ignored. Whatever your take it is required to enter the kingdom. Some take it to be justified (after all it is kingdom or fire); others to be sanctified (that is live a kingdom worthy life). Whatever your take you have to be a child to enter the kingdom. 

But in vs 4-6 I think there is a transition from the literal child He is embracing to a child in the sense of new believers. But "whoever causes these little ones who believe in Me to stumble" indicate believers, young newbie believers. They will be judged by eternal fire. Vs 8-9 refers to those who are the stumbling blocks of the new believers- they deserve eternal fire or fiery Gehenna. My first, gut reaction, is these are unbelievers since whoever these are they are part of the world of vs 7. So any unbeliever who causes the newbie to stumble deserves LoF. First for not believing in Him, second for becoming a stumbling block to those who believe but scarcely saved from fire. 

I will agree that some stumbling blocks are believers in which case Gehenna for them means temporal judgment. 

4. Woe to Pharisees

Matthew 23:15,33

[15]"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

[33]You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

Jesus blasted the religious leaders of His day majority of whom are unbelievers and the ones who actually rejected HIM and committed the unpardonable sin. So this easily for me is LoF. They are unbelievers and prevent others from becoming believers. They "evangelize" others to become twice the son of Gehenna as they are. That is these proselytes as unbelievers already are the sons of Gehenna, and by giving them the "false gospel" become double the son of Gehenna. 

In summary Gehenna is used for either temporal or eternal judgment. When temporal judgment is view, I believe it has the culmination in 70 AD when Titus destroyed Jerusalem. Hence Peter's admonition to save yourself from this generation- that is do not join them in temporal judgment. When used as eternal judgment I believe it is the LoF. And for the record I believe the LoF is not a metaphor but an actual place and I hold to ECT.

(Kung gusto ninyo ng karagdagang impormasyon, bisitahin ninyo kami. May pagtitipon kami sa Dahat, kada Linggo, alas 8:30-10:30 am. Sa Amoguis, 1:00-3:00 pm. Sana manampalataya kayo at kita-kita tayo.)