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Introduction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The wording of the topic of this typescript implies that Hell is a Biblical subject. As we shall see in this study, it is not given merely passing attention; rather, it receives major emphasis in the inspired Text, thus implying its great significance. It has long been observed that Jesus, the Father\u2019s \u201conly begotten Son\u201d (John 3:16), said more about the eternal abode of the unredeemed than He did about Heaven, the eternal abode of those redeemed. Jesus taught that Hell is a place literally to be avoided at all costs:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.\u2026 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mat. 10:37; 16:26 [KJV]).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0It is apparent to those who have lived several decades that the number of our fellow citizens (including many professed \u201cbelievers\u201d) who take the Biblical teaching regarding Hell has shrunk greatly in recent years. Vast numbers of the pulpiteers in our land have grown largely silent on the subject, while some have even abandoned belief in Hell altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Ironically, we may be hearing more about Hell in one sense at present than we did just a few decades ago. Unfortunately, however, its more frequent employment is not from pulpit and pen, whereby men are warned of its horrors. Rather, as men (and women) have become more godless, lawless, secular, and amoral, it has become one of the most common words by which to curse and swear. It may be the ultimate word of deprecation\u2014the strongest expletive in our language. Some lamely attempt to joke about it: \u201cI want to go to Hell; after all, that\u2019s where all my friends will be.\u201d Many others have taken a murky-gray approach, claiming to believe in Hell, but when pinned down, they confess knowing of no one who is sufficiently evil to be in danger of going there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Tracing the Deconstruction of Hell<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0As far as Biblical teaching is concerned, Hell has fallen on hard times. History amply demonstrates that the outright denial of Hell to any significant degree, or its companion, loss of belief in Hell, are relatively recent phenomena. We will do well to review the way this erosion of faith has occurred.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The doctrine of eternal punishment of the wicked in Hell at the hands of a just God was an almost universally settled conviction throughout Christendom during the first sixteen centuries of the Gospel Age. This was the prevailing view in the period that preceded Christ and His teaching. Phillip Schaff wrote: \u201cEverlasting punishment of the wicked was and always will be the orthodox theory. It was held by the Jews at the time of Christ, except for the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection\u201d (Schaff). The only significant ancient dissenter to the Biblical view of Hell was Origen in the third century, who was eventually condemned by two ecumenical councils for his heresy. With the approach of the Renaissance (c. A.D. 1500) man\u2019s emphasis became less and less God-centered and more and more man-centered. Humanism, which placed man at the center of all things as the be-all, do-all, and end-all, began to displace God. The more men promoted mankind, the more they demoted God. Eventually man (even the \u201ctheistic\u201d humanist) counted himself so precious and valuable that he could not abide the thought of eternal punishment or retribution, or of a sin grievous enough to warrant it. Jon Braun well describes this philosophical development:<\/span><\/p>\n From the sixteenth century on, God\u2019s judgment was a constant target for attack by humanists both within and outside the church [i.e., Protestantism and Catholicism, DM]. Hell, and humanism didn\u2019t mix; they can\u2019t mix and never will mix. It just won\u2019t do to have highly exalted man experiencing the torments of hell eternally. First, it is presumed that the precious creature couldn\u2019t possibly do anything bad enough to warrant such punishment. And even more significantly, the humanists are convinced that God could not bear the eternal loss of even one of the marvelous man-creatures (Braun, pp. 35\u201336).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0In more recent years certain radical liberal theologians have become outspoken universalists. John A.T. Robinson, Bishop of the Church of England, made a career out of blasphemy on several fundamental doctrines, including the doctrine of Hell. In 1949 he wrote an article in which he said the following:<\/span><\/p>\n Christ, in Origen\u2019s old words, remains on the Cross as long as one sinner remains in hell. That is not speculation; it is a statement ground. ed in the very necessity of God\u2019s nature. In a universe of love, there can be no heaven which tolerates a chamber of horrors, no hell for any which does not at the same time make it hell for God. He cannot endure that \u2014for that would be the final mockery of His nature\u2014and He will not (Robinson, Universalism<\/em>\u2026, p. 155).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Only eighteen years later (1967) he wrote a book titled, But That I Can\u2019t Believe.<\/em> He apparently thought that he had convinced everybody that Hell belonged to the realm of fable, mythology, and the superstition of the Dark Ages: \u201cThere are still a few who would like to bring back hell, as some want to bring back birching and hanging. They are usually the same types who wish to purge Britain of horror comics, sex, and violence\u201d (Robinson, p. 69). Apparently, Robinson loved horror comics, sex, and violence as much as he hates Hell!<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Emil Brunner, one of the darlings of liberal theologians in the 20th<\/sup> century, obviously agreed with Robinson\u2019s universalism, as his following statement from 1954 demonstrates:<\/span><\/p>\n That is the revealed will of God and the plan for the world which He discloses, a plan of universal salvation, of gathering all things into Christ. We hear not one word in the Bible of a dual plan, a plan of salvation and its polar opposite. The will of God has but one point, it is unambiguous and positive. It has one aim, not two (Brunner, Eternal\u2026, p. 182).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Brunner\u2019s glasses must have been tinted or fogged over when he read the Bible (Why do such infidels bother to read it at all?). Aside from the insistent Scriptural theme of judgment against and eternal punishment for unforgiven transgressors of God\u2019s law, the very existence of a plan of salvation (in which Brunner feigns to believe) necessarily implies \u201cits polar opposite\u201d\u2014damnation. The will of God is \u201cunambiguous and positive\u201d all right, but about the existence<\/strong> rather than the non-existence of a Final Judgment and of eternal retribution for sin in a place called Hell!<\/span><\/p>\n The Legacy of Anti-Hell Theology<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The Hell-denying heresy of such men as Robinson and Brunner has trickled down even to small-town pulpiteers as the abnormal has now become normal. Those once considered radicals have gradually become \u201cmainstream.\u201d For a century or more the sectarian seminaries have to a great degree been filled with professors who are theological liberals of the most rank and radical sort. Many of them had\/have no stomach for anything unpleasant, guilt-provoking, foreboding, or \u201cnegative\u201d connected with their brand of religion and their concept of God. Their primary assumptions all but categorically ignore Divine Justice and Divinely administered retribution for sin. These schools have turned out hundreds of thousands of infidel ecclesiastics who have incessantly vomited their weekly poison of unbelief upon their defenseless denominational flocks for decades across the land.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The basis of their theology is an over-emphasis on and perversion of the love, grace, mercy, kindness, and longsuffering of God. This has been accompanied by an obvious de-emphasis (in many cases total avoidance and\/or denial) of the balancing traits of God\u2019s justice, law, wrath against sin, and the corollary implication of these verities\u2014retribution in Hell for impenitent sinners.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>The centuries-old Biblical \u201corthodoxy\u201d concerning Hell has been so watered-down that even so-called \u201cevangelical\u201d denominations, usually morally conservative, have come to freely accept such things as divorce for any cause, aberrant sexual indulgence, social drinking, abortion, as behaviors that are compatible with a \u201cChristian lifestyle\u201d and the hope of Heaven.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The \u201ctheistic humanism\u201d that emerged from the Renaissance has spawned at least five schools of Hell-denial:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Has all of this influenced any of our brethren? I do not know of any who have declared themselves outright universalists, although some are openly advocating and\/or leaning toward annihilationism (e.g., Edward Fudge (Revelation<\/em>, pp. 475\u2013491; Jackson Wayne. F. LaGard Smith, John Clayton, and Al Pickering (Jackson. Whatever Happened<\/em>\u2026? Pp. 63\u201367).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0However, the number of brethren seems to be ever-increasing who are practical <\/strong>universalists and conditionalists, as demonstrated by their loose and latitudinarian approach to grace, baptism, the identity of the church, fellowship, worship, marriage, divorce, and remarriage, the nature of God, Biblical authority in general, and yes\u2014what the Bible teaches about the Judgment and Hell.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Such brethren seem to have great difficulty identifying any doctrine as heresy or any practice as sinful, however outrageous, and unscriptural. They will not oppose or expose any teacher or preacher as false or his\/her doctrine as damnable, regardless of how contrary to Gospel Truth it may be. They embrace in their fellowship those who are not in fellowship with God. They have found devilish and ingenious ways of contorting the Bible and of redefining ordinary words to create loopholes whereby they promise God\u2019s approval to practicing adulterers and drunkards, and to heretics of almost every stripe and hue.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Without question, the denial or even the mitigation of the Bible doctrine of Hell is very appealing. If human lust and selfish gratification are one\u2019s major pursuits, who would not be attracted to the concept that denies (1) the reality of consequential sin, (2) the ultimate accountability for behavior, (3) that a Supreme Being Creator has imposed a code of conduct, and (4) the existence of a final, inescapable, horrible retribution for rebellion against Divine law?<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Does not the prevalence of this concept offer at least a partial explanation for the unconscionable rampant crime, the animalistic sexual behavior, the rising tide of anti-Christian sentiment, and the rapidly vanishing reverence for truth in a society whose founding fathers were unabashed theists? I opine that this philosophy is at the root of much of the liberalism that has swept a major portion of the Lord\u2019s body into apostasy. It is beyond contradiction that multiplied millions, in one way or another, have rejected the reality of Hell. But shall we surrender its existence to the infidels, the skeptics, the liberals, the doubters? Or shall we, as the Lord\u2019s church, continue to warn people about it and help them avoid it if they so choose?<\/span><\/p>\n Jesus\u2019 Teaching About Hell<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Let me state an unassailable premise: The existence of Hell cannot be denied without denial of the Christ Himself. The crucial issue concerning belief in Hell, therefore, is the even larger and more fundamental issue\u2014belief in the Christ Himself!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Despite all the denials of Hell, there is still the stubborn, nagging, undeniable fact that Jesus had much to say about it. As earlier stated, while I\u2019ve not counted, I\u2019ve long heard (and I do not doubt) that He said much more about Hell than Heaven. Certainly, He used the term far more than any other New Testament teacher. Furthermore, there is far more in His teaching about<\/strong> Hell than merely the statements in which the word Hell<\/em> appears. When rightly perceived, every warning about the Judgment, every prohibition of evil, every encouragement to righteousness, and every declaration about sin has the concept of eternal damnation behind it and embedded in it. Otherwise, they are so many empty warnings.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0In fact, Jesus\u2019 earthly sojourn and the stated purpose of His coming are rendered vain and unnecessary apart from the reality of the eternal damnation of the souls of men because of their sins. Truly considered, setting aside the clear teaching of Jesus about Hell for the moment, the coming of Christ from Heaven to earth and the sacrifice of Himself upon the cross for the sins of mankind are the ultimate arguments for the reality of eternal damnation\u2014Hell itself! Now, from the teaching of Jesus, let us see why we must continue to warn people about Hell, whether or not they want to hear it.<\/span><\/p>\n Man Has an Immortal Soul<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0For there to be an eternal Hell humankind must survive death\u2014that is, he must have an immortal soul. Jesus taught unequivocally that he does\u2014that he is more than flesh and blood: \u201cAnd be not afraid of them that kill the body but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell\u201d (Mat. 10:28; cf. 16:26).<\/span><\/p>\n A Realm Called \u201cHell\u201d Exists in the Spirit World<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0In the foregoing passage Jesus referred to Hell in such a way as to indicate His knowledge of and fullest confidence in its reality. He threatened \u201cthe hell of fire\u201d for those who curse their fellows as fools (Mat. 5:22). He referred to Hell as a real place into which men would be \u201ccast down\u201d as retribution for sin (29\u201330). He further taught that one who causes another to sin will be cast into \u201dthe hell of fire\u201d (18:9).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0When Jesus referred to Hell<\/em>, what did He mean by it? Perhaps a brief history of the word will be worthwhile. First, it is important to notice that the KJV consistently uses \u201cHell,\u201d when, in fact \u201cHades\u201d (transliterated from hades<\/em> [i.e., unseen]), referring to the unseen realm of the dead, i.e., departed spirits, whether wicked or righteous) is under discussion (e.g., Mat. 16:18; Luke 16:23; Acts 2:27, 31; et al.). Our English word Hell<\/em> is correctly translated from gehenna<\/em>, which appears twelve times in the Greek New Testament (eleven of which the Lord used [counting parallels], once by James). Gehenna<\/em> refers to the Valley of Hinnom (aka \u201cthe valley of the Sons of Hinnom\u201d) near Jerusalem. This place is first mentioned by Joshua (15:8) strictly as an innocent landmark. Centuries later, Judah had become so corrupt that the valley of Hinnom referred to the place where the corrupt kings Ahaz and Manasseh burned their children alive in homage to the pagan god, Molech (2 Chr. 28:3; 33:6).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Josiah, the righteous restorer king, abolished this heinous practice (2 Kin. 23:10), and the valley thenceforth became a place of abomination and abhorrence, the literal \u201ccity dump\u201d of Jerusalem. As early as the second century B.C., uninspired Jewish literature used gehenna<\/em> as a figurative expression for the final, eternal punishment of sinners. The Son of God placed His stamp of Divine approval upon this usage and applied this word in the very same way. He used the name<\/strong> of the literal valley of abomination and abhorrence to refer to the place of ultimate and eternal abomination and abhorrence.<\/span><\/p>\n The Descriptions of Hell <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Consider the following descriptive New Testament terms for Hell:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Significantly, Joseph Henry Thayer, the renowned Greek lexicographer, defined apollumi<\/em> as \u201cto be delivered up to eternal misery.\u201d Commendably, his integrity as a Greek scholar outweighed his personal Unitarian conviction, which denies the Bible doctrine of eternal punishment. Robert Morey makes the following strong statement:<\/span><\/p>\n In every instance where the word apollumi<\/em> is found in the New Testament, something other than annihilation is being described. Indeed, there isn\u2019t a single instance in the New Testament where apollumi<\/em> means annihilation in the strict meaning of the word.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Assuredly, the Biblical idea of being \u201cdestroyed\u201d in Hell is that its occupants will suffer utter, irreclaimable loss and ruin forever, rather than annihilation (i.e., rather than cessation of existence or consciousness). The Christ referred to Hell as a place of \u201ceternal punishment\u201d in His description of the Final Judgment (Mat. 25:46). Punishment<\/em> is from kolasis<\/em>, referring to torment, torture, suffering, chastisement. It is the word behind \u201ctorment,\u201d which the rich man experienced in Hades (Luke 16:23, 38; cf. Rev. 14:10\u201311).<\/span><\/p>\n The Duration of Hell<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Jesus not only taught the reality of Hell, but the eternality of it as well. It will last just as long as Heaven. When He concluded His description of the Final Judgment, He said, \u201cAnd these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life\u201d (Mat. 25:46). The fire of Hell is \u201cunquenchable\u201d (Mat. 3:12; Mark 9:43, 48). The \u201chell of fire\u201d is \u201ceternal fire\u201d (Mat. 18:8\u20139). Both Paul and John taught the same thing (2 The. 1:8\u20139; Rev. 20:10). No one can believe the words of Jesus and believe in the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory, the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses doctrine of annihilation, the \u201cconditionalist\u201d heresy, nor any other concept of temporary punishment for the unredeemed.<\/span><\/p>\n The Populace of Hell<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We have already observed that the general populace of Hell will be those who reach the Judgment in a state of unforgiven sin. However, the Lord is more specific than this. Jesus consigned the following to Hell:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Additionally, Paul, Peter, and John identified the populace of Hell:<\/span><\/p>\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We have it directly from the mind and the mouth of the Only Begotten of the Father, Jesus the Christ, concerning the reality, nature, eternality, and populace of Hell, along with the consistent teaching of the New Testament throughout. After quoting several statements from our Lord in his book, Whatever Happened to Hell? <\/em>(in which the Lord set forth the doctrine of Hell as a place of eternal punishment for the ungodly), Jon Braun observed:<\/span><\/p>\n Does any question remain as to whether or not Jesus declared the eternal punishment of the wicked? All the authority of the almighty God is present in the Words He spoke about hell. Jesus had more to say about hell than any other speaker or writer in the Bible. If He was mistaken in what He said, then the almighty, eternal, and everlasting God was mistaken. And that is not the case. Indeed, if it comes to a disagreement: \u201cLet God be true and every man a liar.\u201d \u2026What more could Jesus have said? There is absolutely no way the clear impact of His words can be brushed aside, and the assertion made that there is no eternal doom for the ungodly, unless of course, we join the critics who arbitrarily determine that Jesus didn\u2019t really say these things at all\u2026. Those who maintain Jesus did not utter these severe sayings about hell are like gamblers playing a game they will surely lose.\u2026 Jesus, the One who is coming again to judge the living and the dead, expressed Himself clearly and without room for doubt about it. The rest of the New Testament writers followed His lead to the letter. Retribution for the ungodly is eternal, without end (Braun, pp. 146, 163).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0On the one hand are the annihilationists, the Humanists, the Universalists, the liberal theologians, the New Agers, and all the other no-hell advocates. Arrayed against them in stark contrast is Jesus the Christ, the Lord of Heaven and Earth. None can rationally question the fact that He taught the reality of Hell as a place of eternal punishment of the wicked.<\/strong> Men may accept or reject the teaching, but they cannot deny that He did thus teach. Ironically, those who reject His teaching (on this or any other subject) will themselves be rejected at the Judgment and confined to the very place, the existence of which they denied (John 12:48)!<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0In her book, Like Lambs to the Slaughter, <\/em>Johanna Michaelsen quotes from various New Agers and their totally subjective denials of the existence of the devil, sin, and Hell. She then summarizes the teaching of Jesus concerning Hell, and draws the following incisive conclusion:<\/span><\/p>\n If hell is not<\/strong> a literal reality then Jesus was indeed a fool for going to the cross: The whole reason He did so was in order to save us from that place of eternal torment and separation from God. \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life\u201d (John 5:24). \u201cI said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins\u201d (John 8:24) (Michaelsen, p. 299).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Heaven and Hell stand or fall together, both in reality and duration. If Heaven is real, so is Hell. If Hell is denied, so must Heaven be. If Hell exists, but is only brief, Heaven must be also. However, if Heaven is eternal, Hell cannot be otherwise. They are both as real as the God Who made us and Who gave us the inspired revelation concerning Himself, His Son, and their marvelous plan of salvation.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0It is not because God is mean or cruel, but because He is merciful that He has warned us of Satan, sin, the Judgment, and Hell. God sent His Son into our world in the flesh that we might have a road, a path, a way to Heaven and to God\u2014a destination and hope otherwise unreachable (John 1:1\u20132; 3:16; Phi. 2:5\u20138). Jesus the Christ is Himself that road, the only<\/strong> road, that leads to God and Heaven (John 14:6). If we pass through the narrow gate and then stay on the straitened way it opens to us, it will lead us to life eternal (Mat. 7:13). Jesus\u2019 own simple summary of entering that road to Heaven is as follows: \u201cHe that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned\u201d (Mark 16:16).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Hell, as depicted by Jesus, is so frighteningly, horribly, terribly unimaginable that He boldly challenges all men to make whatever sacrifice is necessary to escape its horrors (Mat. 5:29\u201330; 6:19\u201325, 33; 8:18\u201321; 10:28, 37\u201338; 13:44\u201345; 16:24\u201326; 19:21\u201322; et al.). Surely, this is the course of wisdom!<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0As the church of Christ, we cannot fail to warn all who will hear what the Lord and His inspired apostles taught about Hell. Those among us who refuse to do so are on the very brink of absolute apostasy.<\/span><\/p>\n Endnotes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Parts of this chapter were originally published in a slightly different form in \u201cWhat Jesus Says About Hell,\u201d Whatever Happened to Heaven and Hell?<\/em>\u00a0 ed. Terry M. Hightower (San Antonio, TX: Shenandoah Church of Christ, 1994), pp. 102\u2013112.<\/span><\/p>\n All Scripture quotations are from the American Standard Version unless otherwise indicated or included in quotations from others.<\/span><\/p>\n Works Cited<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Braun, Jon E. Whatever Happened to Hell?<\/em> (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Pub., 1979), pp. 35\u201336, 146, 163.<\/span><\/p>\n Brunner, Emil. Eternal Hope <\/em>(Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1954), p. 182.<\/span><\/p>\n Fudge, Edward. Studies in the Revelation<\/em>, ed. Dub McClish (Denton, TX: Valid Pub., Inc., 1984). pp. 475\u2013491.<\/span><\/p>\n Jackson, Wayne. Whatever Happened to Heaven and Hell?<\/em>\u00a0 ed. Terry M. Hightower (San Antonio, TX: Shenandoah Church of Christ, 1994), pp. 63\u201367.<\/span><\/p>\n Michaelsen, Johanna. Like Lambs to the Slaughter <\/em>(Eugene, OR: Harvest House Pub., 1989), p. 298\u2013299.<\/span><\/p>\n Morey, Robert A. Death and the Afterlife<\/em> (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Pub., 1984), p. 90.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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