What is hell?

What we do in life echoes in eternity — Maximus in Gladiator

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Thirty years ago I had the audacity to attempt an answer to this question (I was young then). Of all the devotional messages I spoke to our small church, I vividly remember this one. I remember looking out at the people with a sober face and saying, “Hell is the place where everyone is absolutely alone.” And I remember the chill that settled on us. I didn’t say much else because I didn’t know much more than that. But I knew it was true.

But it certainly wasn’t the whole truth either.

And what I’ve discovered since then is nothing short of mind boggling.

I will not pretend to have solved the mystery of hell. Just as we cannot possibly envision the new heavens and earth, neither can we fully envision hell, whatever it is. But the truth is, the Word does give us the broad contours, enough to say with confidence that hell is NOT the caricature that we’ve been told.

So in this article, my answer to the question, what is hell?, may very well surprise and even shock you.

Caricatures of hell

Before we seek answers to the question we should look at the most common caricatures of hell. Yes, there are variations on this theme but the vision is usually some version of the following:

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Hell is a literal place of fiery torment, where either disembodied souls or resurrected wicked embodied persons are thrown into a lake of fire to be consciously tormented forever. This torment is complete: it is physically painful, and mentally and emotionally full of anguish. In some versions the fiery lake is also populated with demons and fallen angels.

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So consequently we don’t have much of a stomach to examine it for validity. We simply repress it, and like a bad memory, we quickly move on to more pleasant subjects. This is true for a wide swath of the evangelical world. How many sermons have you heard that focused on this doctrine of hell? In my nearly fifty years as a Christian, I cannot remember hearing one!

Obviously hell is a sensitive subject that deserves to be discussed with discretion. But the reality is, it’s rarely, if at all ever discussed in polite circles. Yes, it’s a horrific and distressing subject, but there’s a deeper reason we’re reluctant to go there. We don’t talk about it because it causes us to instinctively question the character of God.

How could a loving God send people to hell?

Yes, how does this view of eternal punishment square with the character of God? Has God really decided to torment people forever, apparently gratuitously? In fire no less? Wouldn’t it be enough to simply banish them outside the kingdom? Why torment souls, especially those who have never heard of the gospel of Jesus.[1]

This vision of hell — what I believe to be a false doctrine — very well may be fully or partially responsible for many sincere souls shunning and walking away from God and from his saving grace. Too often these souls then open themselves to other lies about who or what God is. One apparently common ‘rebound god,’ is some form of pantheism — god is all or nature is god.[2]

So this question, what is hell? is deadly serious and deserves a serious answer. But to answer the question we first need to examine the words in the Bible traditionally translated as ‘hell.’ There are three.[3]

sheol– Hebrew [she–OLE] the underworld, the place to which people descend at death. For example, sheol is used in Psalm 139:8: “If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell [sheol], behold, You are there.”

hades – Greek [HAH–dace] from ha “not” and idein/eido, “see,’ the unseen place, the realm in which all the dead reside. It is the Greek equivalent of sheol. For example, hades is used in Matthew 16:18: “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

gehenna – Greek [GHEH–en–nah] from ge “valley” and hinnom, the place name of Hinnom, a literal valley west and south of Jerusalem. For example, gehenna is used in Matthew 5:22: “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell [gehenna] fire.”

Gehenna was a literal place that everyone in Jesus’ day would have known about. They would have known he was referring to the Valley of Hinnom. This valley was situated just outside of the city of Jerusalem. It had a long history of being a place of idolatry and child sacrifice and in Jesus’ day, served as the city incinerator/dump.[4] The perpetual fires there burned to consume the refuse and animal carcasses, thereby dampening the stench that would otherwise waft into the city.

Jesus’ use of this word gehenna, is clearly metaphorical and was intended to evoke a horrific scene of suffering and death. It’s used twelve times by Jesus.

Here is probably the most frightening verse of them all:

“And 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. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell [gehenna]; yes, I say to you, fear Him!” — Luke 12:4–5

Certainly Jesus wanted to evoke fear in the disciples, fear of God himself who has ‘power to cast into gehenna.’ But how would God do this? How would he cast a soul or spirit into the literal city dump? The answer is that this is metaphorical; that for some after death, there will be suffering (and possibly even torment). The question is: what kind of suffering is experienced after death? Is it a vision of endless torture in a lake of fire? That is the question.

It’s obvious that Jesus’ intent here is to sober us and put the fear of God in us. Clearly God is able and has the right to do this and it should sober us. But Jesus balances this in the next verses:

Also: ‘do not fear therefore . . .

“Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” — Luke 12:6–7

Is this a contradiction? No, both are true. Jesus’ warning is directed to those who want to persist in their sin, who don’t care about the hell they’re creating, for themselves and those around them. But Jesus’ assurance in the next verses is directed to those who do see and don’t want that.

This is the reality: if we sin, we WILL reap the consequences of our sin; there is no way to avoid it. And if we continue in sin, ultimately the end result is total destruction. In other words, fire — the consequences for sin and the trials and troubles that result — are real and can be severe and we should be warned of it. Jesus is right to do so. He is not being morbid or fear mongering; he is being sober and compassionate.

God did not create hell

Joshua Ryan Butler in his book, The Skeletons in God’s Closet, makes the point that heaven and hell are never mentioned together in the Bible, yet the common evangelical idea of final judgment makes this a simple binary — heaven or hell. In contrast Butler says you will find heaven combined with earth around two hundred times. He says:

These two hundred or so verses are not clustered in one particular place; they are spread everywhere throughout the Old and New Testaments, showing up all over the place between Genesis and Revelation.[5]

Butler makes the critical point that, to understand what hell is, we have to reframe the entire biblical narrative. He says:

In the problematic story, earth is now; heaven and hell are later. Heaven, when it arrives is “above”; hell is “below.” They are two coequal counterparts competing for my eternal destiny. It is easy to see how the caricature of the “underground torture chamber” can start to arise. Hell begins to look like a place God creates alongside heaven for the primary purpose of torturing sinners for eternity.

But this is the wrong story.

In the gospel story, heaven and earth are currently torn by sin. Our world is being ravaged by the destructive power of hell. Sin has unleashed it into God’s good world, and God is on a mission to get it out, to reconcile heaven and earth from hell’s evil influence to himself through the reconciling life of Christ. The time is coming when God’s heavenly kingdom will come down to reign on earth forever, when Jesus will cast out the corrosive powers of sin, death, and hell that have tormented his world for so long.

This is the right story.[6]

Heaven and hell are not co-equal eternal domains. They exist now. Hell has invaded earth, but heaven and earth will be reconciled and hell will be banished, and not allowed to ravage the earth any more.

Butler again:

[Sin, death and hell] together constitute an “anti-creation” force, not as substantive things in themselves so much as parasites that prey upon the good creation God has made in an attempt to devour it and destroy it, to drag creation back down into the nothingness, the darkness, the void from which it came.[7]

God did not create hell. A ‘living hell’ is the result of sin and suffering and death run amok. And Jesus is being faithful to soberly warn us of the very real danger of it. There is a direct correlation of sin to suffering and death that we’re liable to cause in this life and that we unintentionally create for ourselves and others. We do this stupidly, ignorantly, but willfully. One small spark, if left unchecked will produce a conflagration.

Hell is real, but God did not make it. He did not create an ‘official’ place to torment sinners. If he did, it seems there would be a clear statement to that effect in the scriptures, but it is not there. All we have is metaphor (gehenna), parable (Lazarus and the rich man), and symbology (lake of fire in Revelation).

Final Judgment

We can’t really talk about hell without talking about the final judgment. We’re told that hell is one outcome of this judgment. So let’s look at it and ask ‘what is the final judgment?’

The final judgment is primarily about the revelation of the truth and what’s really going on. It’s a comprehensive vision of the Truth, writ large, in both the visible and invisible realms. And the only one qualified to judge is the One who sees perfectly and completely. Only he can see and hear, not only what you do and say, but why you do and say it, which is just as important if not more so.

Judgment is the blazing light that lays bare the secrets of the heart.

For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to the light — Luke 8:17

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. — I Corinthians 4:5

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. — Hebrews 4:13

This life’s trials and triumphs produce a mix of joy and sorrow, pain and suffering and yes, even torment. We try to sort it out and trace the origins and ends of our life, but in the end it’s only the Lord who can completely reveal and unravel all of the threads that make up the story of our lives. I believe our individual judgment will be the most thorough, the most compassionate, the most honest, the most transparent weighing of every consideration, every influence, every cultural force, everything, large and small, that contributed and influenced our lives, both directly and indirectly — ‘every idle word.’[8]

Most of this intense light will end in surprise, but wherein we’ve been wronged, he will make it right and there will absolutely be NO objection or accusation. All questions will be answered; nothing will be forgotten or left off.

This is the fire of judgment.

The word is very clear — we will be judged according to our works. But what does that mean? Does it mean that our good and bad works will be weighed on a scale to determine our reward or punishment? No, I don’t think it’s like that.

Being judged/rewarded according to our works means we will receive — in this life and the next — the consequences of our works. As Jacques Ellul says, “God lets the work of man bear its own fruits, and that is the judgment.”[9] We know this is true in this life; God is the One who established this phenomenon of cause and effect. So if you eat five thousand calories a day, you will most likely gain weight; if you say hateful words to your wife, she will be afraid of you; if you jump off a cliff, it will be the last time you do so, etc.

This also works in reverse — if we fail to do good, we will reap the consequences too. If you don’t eat you will become malnourished and will eventually die; if you don’t sleep, the same thing is likely to happen; if we fail to love the people in our lives and care for those we encounter along the way, we will eventually become isolated, bitter and filled with despair.

How this judgment of consequences works in the next life I do not pretend to understand, but I believe it makes the most sense. Probably the greatest scriptural insight on this subject comes from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. I’ll first quote the relevant passage:

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. — I Corinthians 3:11–15

Ellul again:

It suffices that the works of man be disclosed in their profound reality . . [10]

The context of First Corinthians chapter three is that Paul is being judged inappropriately, wrongly, by appearances. He does not meet the contrived standards for the Office of Apostle that the Corinthians have erroneously learned from other so-called self-appointed ‘apostles.’ This led to major divisions in the church of Corinth.

Paul is working to build up the body, the temple of God. There are others who apparently are working to do the same thing. And Paul is not saying his works will burn or not; he does not judge himself, (he’s waiting for the Lord to judge). But the Day will declare it. And yet he’s hopeful that his works will contribute to the Temple materials, materials worthy of the Temple of God: gold, silver, and precious stones and perhaps even wood.

Sins are reciprocal – intertwining, and if left to continue they will create a raging fire. But these same fires are also designed to purify and lead us to repent and to life.

So judgment is the amount of clarity that dawns on us. Until death it will be partial; it will always be partial ‘until The Day declares it.’ And then everything will be made plain — every idle word, every act, every motive, we will see its effects and how it affected others. On that day we will see the extent that our life had for good and evil.

We will see how far the ripples go, not only in our own generation, but in previous and future generations.

Paul likens our works to six materials, some appropriate for building a temple and some not.

gold > silver > precious stones > wood > hay > stubble

This is apparently a progression of the following:

• most valuable to least valuable/desired
• least combustible to most combustible
• most appropriately usable for temple construction to least usable.

So if this is an intentional progression, what is the significance? These materials represent their quality, the quality of works. What determines the quality of a work? It is the amount of self-sacrifice undertaken to sustain that work. For example, for me, the work is writing. What constitutes self-sacrifice in the work of writing? Is it the amount of time spent studying, writing, praying, seeking? Is it the amount of creature comforts sacrificed for the purpose of the work? Is it the amount/degree/depth of truth written? The amount of ridicule, opposition I’m willing to face?

Is it the willingness to admit when I don’t know or understand?

Is it the willingness to admit when I’m wrong, to be teachable and correctable?

The answer: Yes, all of the above.

Most of life is internal. And because that’s true it is unseen and unknown. It is unknown even to ourselves. As Paul says: “I do not even judge myself.”[11] Often I don’t know fully what I’m going to say until it comes out of my mouth or out of my pen.

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. — I Corinthians 13:12

This is why judgment is and will be a surprise, and even a shock. We cannot possibly predict the final judgment of God. The fires of judgment that reveal who we really are, begin in this life and continue until they culminate on The Day with the full sun blazing overhead. The better we know God in this life, the more he can reveal to us to purge and purify, correct, instruct and guide.

But how long is that ‘Day?’ must we take it literally that the Day of Judgment is a 24-hour period of time? I don’t think so. The time alloted for judgment is not relevant and we should say that the judgment really happens outside of time as we know it.

Richard Murray makes the statement that the Greek language captures this distinction with the contrast between the two words: kairos and chronos.

Kairos is measured by relational events, renewed thoughts, repentant hearts and acts of love. Chronos, by contrast, is man’s time measured apart from God. Chronos is linear clock time which is running down this fallen world like a time bomb waiting to explode.

Chronos is the sand of our lives slowly but surely emptying out our life force. Chronos is the process of dying. Chronos doesn’t caress, doesn’t change and doesn’t forgive. Chronos ages us, disappoints us, crushes us and ultimately kills our bodies. Kairos, by contrast, cures us, restores our youth and allows us to be fully present in “the now” with our God.

. . .

Heaven is not Heaven because clocks will be ticking and ticking for all eternity without interruption. This Chronos concept that we will be sitting around stroking our harps forever and ever is not eternal life in the Kairos sense.

Eternal life in the Kairos sense means life of infinite quality and blessedness. It is life which has evicted death altogether. Chronos doesn’t even exist anymore where Kairos life exists. This life doesn’t extend time, it transcends it altogether.

So too, with Hell, it is not a Chronos reality but a Kairos event which will be determined by God alone. That God doesn’t view time from Chronos’ viewpoint is established by 2 Peter 3:8 which states, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” In fact, Revelation 10:6–7 says that when the seventh angel declares that “the mystery of God should be finished, “that” there should be time (literally Chronos) no longer![1]

How is this relevant?

It’s relevant because depending on the amount of wood, hay and stubble in our lives, the fires may be more intense and may ‘last longer.’ The fires of judgment are designed to consume, but also to purify and save us: “ . . . if any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but himself shall be saved yet so as by fire.” Yes, ‘saved . . . by fire.’

Could this be ‘hell?’ — judgment’s grand revelation of our lives in all its regrets and joys and poignancy? Again: “ . . . he shall suffer loss, but . . .shall be saved . . . by fire.”

I find it very interesting that this was the majority view of the early church fathers. They believed that hell was a rescue operation, not an opportunity for God to punish and torment.[2]

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What is hell?

In the end hell is a mystery. I will not go too far beyond my youthful definition: “hell is the place where everyone is absolutely alone.” But I do believe it is NOT the caricature it’s too often made to be.

In this life, hell is the void that we create for ourselves when we refuse to enter the only refuge graciously provided for us by the Most High God. It is the anti-creation that we presume to claim and reserve for ourselves — the so-called autonomy from God, which in fact cannot exist and is only imagined.[12] This self-serving deception of ‘autonomy’ creates a ‘living hell’ full of suffering, anguish and destruction that we blame on anything but ourselves, including God, who in fact is our only sanctuary. But God intends this suffering to be redemptive, turning us to cry out and seek the salvation that God offers us in Christ.

But if someone persists in this delusion of ‘autonomy,’ through all of the suffering that ensues, and apparently refuses to acknowledge the Lord, even to his dying breath, we still must wait for the judgment of God, who alone can bring to light all of the hidden factors, influences, blindnesses, limitations, etc, that contributed and weighed upon that person’s life.

Remember the thief on the cross. His dying words to the Lord were simply: “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” — a humble request that, despite the appearances of Jesus also dying on a cross, acknowledged Jesus as the King.

I cannot prove it but I believe, just as there are varying degrees of rewards in the kingdom, these degrees extend to the point of hell itself: the stubble. That is, for the one whose works are completely consumed, Paul says, “he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

So if hell is the void that we create for ourselves by persisting in our delusional autonomy that will eventually be resolved in the judgment fires, this amounts to a severely restricted impairment and constriction now before judgment’s resolution. This confinement/separation is experienced as limitation — limitation of thought, movement, communication, imagination, enjoyment, relationship, etc.

Here’s an analogy: contrast two people preparing for a marathon. One person eats healthy, prepares by running and working out every day and gets plenty of good rest and sleep; the other person eats junk food and sits on the couch all day and worries about everything and who consequently becomes overweight and develops diabetes. Now, they both line up on the starting line of the marathon — which one do you think will make it farther?

Our eternal salvation is a continuation of our posture in this life. I believe our ability to be aware, to participate in, to enjoy the new heavens and new earth are a direct result of our life here and now.

In Revelation 22:11 a call goes out after God makes all things new (21:5):

 . . . for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.” — Revelation 22:11

It’s time to make a final decision: will you be one of those who . . .

 . . . do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. — Revelation 22:14–15

Will souls be confined, cordoned off, banished from the kingdom of heaven?

Yes, but in the end, I have to believe that hell, whatever it is, is temporary. And, like the hell we make for ourselves here, God always wants it to be, intends it to be redemptive. This hell may, if it could be measured in Chronos time, last for a very long time. But it would be worth it. The Tree of Life that was offered at the beginning in the Garden of Eden has now been replanted and made accessible again in the New Jerusalem. And for — what? — for the ‘healing of the nations.’ This again points to periods, times, kairos, where healing and resolution and restoration take place.

Conclusion

If what I’ve said here is true, that hell is not a place designed and created by God for endless, conscious torment, should that cause us to ‘relax?’ Will that knowledge consciously or unconsciously diminish our vigilance or avoidance of sin?

My answer: No, not if we understand it correctly.

No, because if we understand that hell is the void that WE create, that there is a direct connection with what we do and don’t do in this life, that hell is not ‘tacked on’ – a gratuitous one-size-fits-all torment for all wicked souls, then this reality is to me more sobering because I see this void being created in so many today. So many hollowing out their souls, feeding their flesh with non-stop media, lying, sex, perversity and hate. So many now are unable to stop, reflect, and simply to “sit quietly in their own room” (Pascal).

The good news is that our God is full of mercy and grace. And he desires that no one perish but that all come to the knowledge of the truth.

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever:

To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who made great lights,
For His mercy endures forever—
The sun to rule by day,
For His mercy endures forever;
The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His mercy endures forever. — Psalm 136: 1–9

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[1] The subject of whether the Gentile nations, the unreached people groups of the world, are culpable and eternally damned without hearing the gospel, is beyond the scope of this article. But suffice it to say that we should not be so quick to determine them to be forever lost. This especially in light of Matthew chapter 25 and Romans chapter 2.

[2] See my article: LIE: God is a vast impersonal force.

[3] There is one other instance that has been translated hell, the Greek word Tartarus, used in 2 Peter 2:4. In Greek mythology, Tartarus was a “place of punishment under the earth, to which, for example, the Titans were sent.”

[4] See for example 2 Chronicles 28:3 and Jeremiah 7:31.

[5] Butler, Joshua Ryan, The Skeletons in God’s Closet, W Publishing Group, 2014, pg 8

[6] Ibid, pg 16.

[7] Ibid, pg 11.

[8] Matthew 12:36: “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.”

[9] Ellul, Jacques, The Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation, Seabury Press, 1977, pg 184.

[10] Ibid, pg 184.

[11] I Corinthians 4:3

[1] Captured from https://www.patheos.com/blogs/richardmurray/2019/07/four-reasons-the-early-church-did-not-believe-hell-lasts-forever/ on 13 Dec 2022.

[2] Ibid.

[12] See my article: LIE: I don’t need God.