| Hell (Part 2) The following definition of hell has been excerpted from Vine�s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (an excellent resource): GEENNA represents the Hebrew Ge-Hinnon (the valley of Tophet) and a corresponding Aramaic word; it is found twelve times in the N.T. (New Testament), eleven of which are in the Synoptists, in every instance as uttered by the Lord Himself. He who says to his brother, You fool, will be in danger of "the hell of fire,"� the warning concerns the person himself (for which obviously the "body" stands in chapt. 5); in verse 8, "the eternal fire" is mentioned as the doom, the character of the region standing for the region itself, the two being combined in the phrase "the hell of fire," verse 9. To the passage in Matthew 18, that in Mark 9:43-47, is parallel; here to the word "hell" are applied the extended descriptions "the unquenchable fire" and "where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched." That God, "after He has killed, hath the power to cast into hell," is assigned as a reason why He should be feared with the fear that keeps from evil doing, Luke 12:5; the parallel passage to this in Matthew 10:28 declares, not the casting in, but the doom which follows, namely, the destruction (not the loss of being, but of well-being) of "both the soul and body." Notes: (1)For the rendering "hell" as a translation of Hades, corresponding to Sheol, wrongly rendered "the grave" and "hell," see Hades. (2) The verb tartaroo, translated "cast down to hell" in 2 Peter 2:4, signifies to consign to Tartarus, which is neither Sheol nor Hades nor Hell, but the place where those angels who whose special sin is referred to in that passage are confined "to be reserved unto judgement;" the region is described as "pits of darkness,"� HADES, the region of departed spririts of the lost (but including the blessed dead in periods preceding the Ascension of Christ). It has been thought by some that the word etymologically meant the unseen� but this definition is questionable; a more probable derivation is from hado, signifying all-receiving. It corresponds to "Sheol" in the Old Testament� It never denotes the grave, nor is the permanent region of the lost; in point of time it is, for such, intermediate between decease and the doom of Gehenna. For the condition see Luke 16:23-31. The word is used four times in the Gospels, and always by the Lord� it is used with reference to the soul of Christ, Acts 2: 27, 31; Christ declares that he has the keys of it, Revelation 1: 18; in Revelation 6: 8 it is personified, with the signification of the temporary destiny of the doomed; it is to give up those who are therein, 20: 13, and is to be cast into the lake of fire, verse 14. I wanted to include these definitions in this study to show the following: (1) that hell is real; (2) that it is a state of being as well as a place in the afterlife; (3) that it is a necessary component to the fear of God; and (4) that there are different levels of damnation. I shall refer to this definition in future treatments of this subject. In the next study we will examine (among other things) the mindset of those for whom the threat and terrors of hell are necessary. |