What the Bible Says About Hell

Gehenna

The word for Hell in the New Testament is Gehenna. It occurs twelve times. This does not refer to a garbage dump outside Jerusalem as a once popular interpretation claimed. Gehenna is a reference to the Valley of Hinnom. This is the valley where Israel’s kings practiced child sacrifice (2 Kings 16:3 and 21:6). This was later used by Jeremiah the prophet to talk about God’s future judgement of the wicked (Jeremiah 7:29-34, 19:6-9, and 32:35). It is debated whether this was already a common reference in the first century or if Jesus was the one to pick it up from Jeremiah and continue it. Either way, Gehenna became the word used to describe the place of God’s judgement in the age to come.

Top 10 References about Hell in the Bible

Here are the top references to Hell in the Bible.

“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord. “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

Isaiah 66:22-24 NIV

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise^[a] will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

Daniel 12:2-3 NIV

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Matthew 18:6-9 NIV

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Matthew 25:31-46

If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where “‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’

Mark 9:42-48

God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

2 Thessalonians 1:6-10

In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

Jude 7

They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

Jude 13

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”

Revelation 14:9-11

And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:10,14-15

Attributes of Hell in the Bible

Based on the verses above we can identify several clear attributes about Hell. The first is that Hell is separation from God. The final judgement will separate the righteous from the unrighteous and the unrighteous will be cast into Hell.

The second aspect is that Hell is final. The final judgement is irrevocable. There will be no second chance to repent and choose to follow God after death. The Universalist interpretation argues that God’s desire to reconcile all creation to himself will be achieved in the end and everyone’s ultimate destiny is the Kingdom of Heaven. While I hope this is true (and cannot be completely ruled out), it does not appear to be supported by Scripture.

Thirdly, Hell is a punishment. God is both loving and just. His loving justice demands that the penalty of sin must be paid. This can be paid by the death of Jesus on the cross or it can be paid by the individual. Hell is where those that do not accept the gift of salvation are punished for their sin. This is retributive justice, not restorative justice.

Images Used to Describe Hell in the Bible

We can also understand Hell based on the images that the Bible uses to describe Hell. Fire is the image most commonly used to describe Hell. Fire is an image that describes both destruction and purification. It burns things up and destroys them. Fire can also be used to purify things. Fire removes contaminants and what remains is pure.

Darkness is another image used to describe Hell. If God is light, then separation from God is darkness. We can also tell that these images must not be taken too literally because fire and darkness cannot both exist in the same place and the same time. They convey meaning through symbolism. Hell is real but cannot be described by straight forward facts using the existing categories of our current reality.

Thirdly, Hell is described as death and destruction. This highlights the finality of Hell. The unrighteous are destroyed and experience a “second death” (Revelation 20:14-15).

What the Bible Doesn’t Say about Hell

Eternal conscious torment (ECT) is the traditional and majority view of Hell within Evangelicalism. This interpretation claims that the unrighteous will suffer punishment in Hell forever. They will be conscious and tormented for eternity. There is support for this view in Scripture, so I agree that it is a valid interpretation, but I do not think it is the most compelling view.

First, ECT would require that the unrighteous receive new bodies that are fit for eternal torment. Humans would not be able endure physical or mental torment for eternity in our current state. There is no evidence in the Bible that God provides humans with new bodies fit for eternal torment.

Secondly, ECT claims that the just punishment for finite sins is an infinite punishment because the one sinned against (God) is infinite. This claim is also not in the Bible. When dealing with concepts like infinity and categories that exclusively apply to God, this claim is not obviously true (based on logic or human experience).

Thirdly, the default assumption that everyone has an immortal soul comes from Greek philosophy, not the Bible. The Bible claims that the righteous are given immortality and will experience life in the Kingdom of Heaven forever. As we will see below, it isn’t as obvious as you might have thought that the unrighteous will suffer forever in Hell. Also, a lot of our current ideas about Hell have been formed by medieval culture and art like Dante’s Inferno.

Hell as Terminal Punishment

The view that I find more compelling than ECT is called Terminal Punishment, Conditional Immortality, or Annihilationism. This view claims that Hell is finite in duration and the unrighteous will cease to exist after paying the penalty for their sins.

What Does “Eternal” Mean in the Bible

First, let’s take a look at the word “eternal” as it is used in the Old and New Testament. It is the Hebrew word olam and the Greek word aionios. The word can mean both “a long period of time” and “without end”. Scholars debate how to best translate these words when it comes to Hell. It seems that the meaning is often determined by the presumed image of Hell one brings to the text.

There is also a distinction between “eternal existence” and “eternal implications”. Something can be thought of as eternal because it itself exists forever. It can also be thought of as eternal because the implications of it can last forever. Hell can be eternal because the implications are eternal without one having to consciously suffer torment forever.

Next, let’s look at what the word “eternal” is describing in the passages above. In the majority of cases, it is referring to fire. It is the fire that is eternal. It does not say that the people in the eternal fire are themselves eternal. Other verses refer to eternal darkness, eternal punishment, eternal smoke, eternal contempt, and eternal destruction. None of these are referencing eternal people, eternal bodies, or an eternal experience of suffering.

The Finality of Death and Destruction

Next, let’s look at the words “death” and “destruction”. These words align more with a terminal punishment interpretation. It is conceivable that burning in a fire could last forever because the concept of burning does not inherently imply the object ceases to exist. On the other hand, it is hard to see what an ongoing death or what a continual state of being destroyed would even mean because these concepts inherently imply an ending and finality.

Regardless of what the individual words mean, we must also take into account the genre of the verses and the intent of the author. For example, the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 is a parable and not intended to communicate specific details about the literal mechanics of Hell. There is a good argument to be made that the Bible is not actually interested in communicating the mechanics of Hell at all. God is more interested in communicating the severity and implications of not choosing to follow him.

God’s Character

Lastly, it is important to interpret these passages through the lens of what we know about God’s character from other passages in the Bible. God is loving and just. His loving justice requires payment for sin. Does everlasting conscious torment or terminal punishment better align with God’s loving justice? I think there is a strong argument that demanding eternal conscious torment as the penalty for sin does not align with God’s love and mercy and doesn’t align with our sense of justice.