"The wages of sin is death" reinterpreted to be the wages of sin is an eternal life of torment for an immoral soul that is not subject to death.
INDEX AND CHAPTER ONE html -- INDEX AND ALL TEN CHAPTERS pdf
The word Hell in the King James Version is translated from four different words, three in the Greek New Testament [Gehenna, hades and Tartarus], and one in the Hebrew Old Testament [sheol].
Both sheol in the Old Testament, and hades in the New Testament mean grave, but are translated Hell in the King James Version, and Tartarus is translated Hell one time. Most other translations [American Standard Version, New American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, and others] translate only one word [Gehenna] into Hell, and only in the New Testament. Not four different words, which have different meanings. The word Hell is not in the Old Testament in any of the above translations or is not in most other translations. Although this valley is mentioned frequently in the Old Testament, not even the King James Version translated it "Hell" as they did in the New Testament. Gehenna was a well-known valley south of Jerusalem long before it was made into a dump. Josiah might have made this valley into a rubbish dump [2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chronicles 28:1-4]. This valley is in the Old Testament, called the valley of Hinnom, but is never translated Hell, even in the King James Version. In the time of Christ this valley was the city dump. Most newer translations, and most all Bible students, now admit sheol, hades, and Tartarus do not mean Hell; but some still believe Gehenna should be translated Hell, therefore, a detailed look at this valley and its use in both the Old and New Testament is necessary.
GEHENNA IS THE NAME OF A VALLEY SOUTH OF JERUSALEM. IT IS A REAL GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION, which was used in the time of Christ as the city dump of Jerusalem. In the fifties I did some work at the dump of a city about the size of Jerusalem in the time of Christ. The refuse would be put in large piles and set on fire. All day rains, even 4 inches in one hour, could not put it out. There would have been no way for the people of Jerusalem to quench it (put out). The remains of animals were put in pits to be covered and worms (Greek, Maggots-Young, Page 1074) would get into them, and even after we put many gallons of spray in a pit, you could see the remains moving from the working of the maggots. Back in the fifties and before, cities did not have landfills; but had garbage dumps where they would put the garbage in piles and burn them. Big city garbage dumps were always burning night and day, and the smoke could sometimes be seen for miles. They were the same as Gehenna was in the time of Jesus, and were literally used for the destruction of the unwanted city garbage. Brimstone (sulfur) was added to keep the garbage burning in Gehenna, and it was always burning night and day, and those near by could see the smoke always rising. On some of the four occasions Christ used Gehenna as a metaphor those He was speaking to might have been able to see the smoke of Gehenna in the background while He was speaking. The people of Jerusalem did not have a trash pickup as we do, and had to take their own trash to Gehenna, therefore, most of those Christ was speaking to would be very familiar with the never-ending fires and worms for many would have taken their trash to it. Albert Barnes in his commentary on Matthew 5:22 says, "The extreme loathsomeness of the place, and filth and putrefaction, the corruption of the atmosphere, and the lurid fires blazing by day and by night, made it one of the most appalling and terrific objects with which a Jew was ever acquainted." Alexander Campbell says, "In the time of our Savior, it [Gehenna] was the place to which all the filth, and the dead bodies of animals and criminals from the city of Jerusalem, were conveyed. Here worms were ever reveling on the carcasses of the dead, and fires were ever kept burning to consume the noxious matter and to purge the air from its pestilential stench...This appears to be the only term in the Scriptures which favors the notion of confining hell to a local habitation." "Five Discourses On Hell" 1848. In the time of Jesus, Gehenna was used as a place of destruction; but there was no torment in it. Those who heard Jesus would understand the use of Gehenna as a symbol of destruction, but would not have been able to look at Gehenna, their city dump, and understand how it could be used as a symbol of a place of torment for there was no torment in their city dump. When most who use the King James Version, read Hell they never understand that Christ was speaking of the city dump, for they cannot from the King James Version. It was mistranslated to make the readers understand Christ to be speaking of a place where God is forever tormenting immortal souls.
A PROPER NOUN IS THE NAME OF "A PARTICULAR PERSON, PLACE, OR THING." GEHENNA IS A PROPER NOUN, THE NAME OF A WELL-KNOWN PARTICULAR PLACE NEAR JERUSALEM. TO TRANSLATE IT INTO HELL, ANOTHER PROPER NOUN, THE NAME OF A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PARTICULAR PLACE, IS MORE THAN A BAD TRANSLATION. IT IS A DELIBERATE CHANGING. Bethlehem, Dead Sea, Gehenna, Rome, and Jericho are all proper nouns and should not be translated. Why is this the only name that is changed to another name? Proper nouns (names) are the same in most languages, and therefore, they are not translated; but Gehenna was changed, not translated, into Hell, another proper noun, the name of another particular place, just because the King James translators needed to. Hell is not a translation of Gehenna, in the same way that New York is not a translation of Jerusalem. Gehenna and Hell are two different proper names of two different places. From where did the King James translators get this name, and why did they want to deliberately mislead all who read their translation? This valley is used in the New Testament only when speaking to the Jews for it was not a locality that would be known to the Gentiles that did not live near Jerusalem. It was a local particular place and Gehenna would be a name known and used only to those who lived in or near Jerusalem. The names of the city dumps of most cities are not well known to any but those who live in or near that city, and those not from that city would not know or use it. Paul did not use it in any of his letters to those not at Jerusalem.
It was not translated into Hell in the Septuagint, a translation of the Old Testament form Hebrew to Greek that was used in the time of Christ. "Hell" is not a translation but a deliberate changing of one place for another completely different place. I believe it was deliberately changed to put "Hell" in the Bible. A place has been made up that is not in the Bible; and a name given to it that is not in the Bible. If this is not adding to, what would it take to add to the Bible? That Christ used the name of a valley, which was the city dump, is completely hid from the reader of the King James Version, whether intentional or not; and they are led to believe He spoke of a different place, which has been named "Hell." The teachings of Christ have been deliberately changed. It was a geographical location on this Earth. Not somewhere under the earth or out in space. IT WAS A REAL GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION THAT EXISTED IN THE TIME OF CHRIST WHERE THE FIRES WERE CONSTANTLY KEPT BURNING SINCE IT SERVED AS AN INCINERATOR FOR THE USELESS REFUSE OF THE CITY. CHRIST USED IT AS A SYMBOL [an illustration] OF DESTRUCTION [Like the burning of the useless chaff of Luke 3:17]. GEHENNA CANNOT BE TRANSLATED OR REINTERPRETED INTO HELL. To say Gehenna, as used by Christ, is Hell; is to say it has no reference to the Gehenna [the city dump] near Jerusalem.
The Jews might have made the valley of Gehenna a dump because of their hatred of its misuse in Old Testament times, but the figures or symbols used by Christ [fire and maggots] came from its use in New Testament times, not its use in Old Testament times. THEY ARE SYMBOLS OF DESTRUCTION, NOT OF TORMENT. IN THE TIME OF CHRIST THERE WAS NO TORMENT, AND NO IDOL WORSHIPPED IN GEHENNA [the city dump]. HE WAS NOT ALLUDING TO IDOL WORSHIP OR TORMENT BUT TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THOSE WHO REJECTED HIM. Worms [maggots] do not eat living being, but dead ones, NOT TO TORMENT THEM, BUT TO CONSUME [eat up for food]. As long as there was something to burn or eat, the maggots would never die out, and the fire would not go out; but be consuming, not tormenting what was being cast in. In the time of Christ it was a place used to dispose of useless things, not to torment them. Many misuse this to show that living being will be tormented forever, and make God be doing the tormenting. LIVING VICTIMS WAS NOT PRESERVED ALIVE AND TORMENTED IN GEHENNA, BUT FIRE OR WORMS DEVOURED DEAD VICTIMS. TO MAKE IT A PLACE OF ETERNAL TORMENT IS WITHOUT ANY BASIS WHATSOEVER.
Gehenna and the Lake of Fire are often thought to be the same metaphor by many. Gehenna is a place of destruction, and the lake of fire is a place where no life as we know it could exist; they are two different symbolic pictures [Revelation 20:14]. Neither one is a symbol of an eternal life of torment. Both picture the total destruction of whatever was thrown into them.
"UNQUENCHABLE FIRE" AND "THEIR WORM DIES NOT" AS THEY ARE USED IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS: UTTER DESTRUCTION.
John the Baptist used "Unquenchable fire" on one occasion. He says Christ "will gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will BURN UP with unquenchable fire" [Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17]. Will this unquenchable fire forever torment the chaff, which has been burned up? Adam Clarke says, "He will burn up the chaff that is, the disobedient and rebellious Jews, with unquenchable fire that cannot be extinguished by man." When firefighter cannot put out a burning building, they say it is an unquenchable fire. It will go out when there is nothing more to burn. An unquenchable fire is one that man cannot put out, but not one that will burn forever. Ask any fireman what an unquenchable fire is.
And on one occasion by Christ of the burning of trash in the city dump in Mark 9:43-48 where He repeats it a second time (verses 46 and 48) in the American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, New International Version. "Unquenchable fire" is repeated five times in verses 43, 44, 45, 46 and 48 in the King James Version in Mark 9:43-48. BOTH the chaff and trash are utterly destroyed by burning to get rid of something unwanted. The chaff or the trash was not tormented. Like Gehenna, unquenchable fire is not used in the rest of the New Testament. Never used by Paul, Peter, John, etc.
Christ used the "worm that dies not" only on one occasion [Mark 9:44-48; Repeated three times in verses 44, 46 and 48 in the King James Version but only in verse 48 in the American Standard Version]. He used both the maggots and the fire of Gehenna as a symbol of total destruction, not to show that God will forever torment most of mankind. If this is not figurative language, will there be immortal maggots in Hell? Can earthly maggots eat an immortal soul in "Hell?" Even most who believes in "Hell" make the maggots figurative, not real maggots in Hell, but make the "fire" be literal fire.
If Gehenna's "unquenchable fire" and "their worm dies not" are a description of the endless punishment of the wicked in "Hell," the silence of the New Testament writers would be unexplainable. (1) Acts, a history of the preaching and church for about thirty years does not mention Gehenna, unquenchable fire, or immortal maggots. (2) In none of Paul's fourteen letters, he never mentioned any of them. (3) Peter, John, James, and Jude are also as silent as Paul. (4) Neither can they be found in the Book of Revelation.
[1] The one time Christ used "unquenchable fire" in Mark 9:48, He was quoting from Isaiah 66:24. TO UNDERSTAND HIS WORDS, IT MUST BE UNDERSTOOD HOW THE OLD TESTAMENT USED THEM. THIS WAS A WELL-KNOWN EXPRESSION AND WOULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY THOSE HEARING CHRIST, just as much of Revelation is to be understood by the way the same symbols are used in the Old Testament. "And the strong man will become tinder, his work also a spark, thus, they shall both burn together, and there will be none to quench them" [Isaiah 1: 31]. Jeremiah warned Jerusalem of the consequence of their sins, "Then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched" [Jeremiah 17:27]. His warning was fulfilled in 2 Chronicles 36:19-21. Jerusalem was destroyed with an "unquenchable fire." It consumed all, and was not quenched unto it went out when there was nothing more to consume; then the unquenchable fire went out. Jerusalem is not burning today. An unquenchable fire is not an eternal fire, but one that cannot be put out unto there is nothing to burn. Those who believe in Hell change "unquenchable" into "eternal" then move the unquenchable fire that destroyed Jerusalem from Jerusalem on this earth and put this "eternal fire" in their "Hell" which they say is not on this earth. First, they must change the fire and second; they must move it from Jerusalem to "Hell." Isaiah says, " For behold, the Lord will come in fire and His chariots like the whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with the flames of fire. For the Lord will execute judgment by fire and by His sword on all flesh, and those slain by the Lord will be many...Then they shall go forth and look on the corpses [dead bodies in American Standard Version] of the men who have transgressed against me. For their [the corpses] worm shall not die, and their [the corpses] fire shall not be quenched; and they [the corpses] shall be an abhorrence to all mankind" [Isaiah 66:15-24]. The worms consumed the corpses, and the fires were not quenched, unto there was no more flesh to consume or burn. IT WAS CORPSES, DEAD BODIES WHICH WERE ON THE EARTH, NOT IMMORTAL SOULS IN HELL THAT WERE BEING CONSUMED BY THE UNQUENCHABLE FIRE AND UNDYING MAGGOTS AND SCREAMING IN ANGUISH AND PAIN. THOSE PEOPLE BACK IN THE TIME OF ISAIAH DID NOT LOOK FROM HEAVEN DOWN INTO HELL AND SEE LIVING SOULS BEING EATEN BY MAGGOTS. IT WAS THE LIVING PEOPLE ON THIS EARTH IN THE TIME OF ISAIAH THAT SAW REAL DEAD BODIES ON THIS EARTH BEING EATEN AND BURNED, NOT IMMORTAL SOULS IN HEAVEN THAT "SHALL GO FORTH AND LOOK ON THE CORPSES" AND SEE THE DEAD BODIES THAT ARE ON THIS EARTH AS WORMS AND FIRE CONSUMING THEM. HOW CAN FIRE OR WORMS ETERNALLY TORMENT A DEAD BODY? It is the fire that is unquenchable and the maggots that do not die, not the corpses that were being burnt up or eaten, there is nothing said about them being alive and in torment. There is not even a hint that the corpses were aware of anything. For this to prove the soul is immortal they would have to be viewing disembodied immortal souls that had been "slain by the Lord" [Isaiah 66:16] but were still living, not viewing dead bodies that were on this earth. It was living people viewing dead bodies that had been "slain by the Lord," not living people on this earth looking into Hell and seeing an immaterial, invisible part of a living person being tormented in Hell. WITHOUT DOUBT, THIS WAS A JUDGMENT AND PUNISHMENT ON THIS EARTH THAT HAS ENDED, NOT A PUNISHMENT IN HELL THAT WILL NEVER END. (1) The Lord will SLAY the ungodly ones; it says nothing about the Lord TORMENTING them. (2) The witness sees the RESULT OF THIS DESTRUCTION (slaying). They see the CORPSES, DEAD BODIES being consumed by fire and maggots, not a living immaterial, invisible part of a person. (3) They do not see them in pain and anguish, not in endless tortured for the corpses they see are dead.
[2] "Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, mine anger and my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, upon man and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched" [Jeremiah 7:20].
[3] Ezekiel also speaks of the destruction of Judah using the imagery of a forest burning. "And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, son of man, set your face toward the south, and drop your word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest to the field in the South; and say to the forest of the South, Hear the word of Jehovah: Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall consume every green tree in you, and it shall devour ever green tree in you, and ever dry tree; the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burnt thereby. And all flesh shall see that I, Jehovah, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched" [Ezekiel 20:47-48].
[4] Isaiah describes the desolation of Edom, "For my sword has drunk its fill in heaven; behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment...For Jehovah has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land there of shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; and the smoke thereof shall go up forever; from generation to generation it shall lay waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever. But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it; and the owl and the raven shall dwell therein" [Isaiah 34:6-15]. If this fire that "shall not be quenched night nor day" is the Hell that is taught today, how is it that "none shall pass through it forever and ever"? Is their no one that shall be in Hell but pelican, porcupine, owl, and ravens? This is clearly an earthly judgment on Edom that has long passed, not an unquenchable fire in Hell after the judgment day.
[5] For more examples of God's judgments in this world being spoken of as an unquenchable fire see Isaiah 1:31; Jeremiah 17:27; 21:12; Amos 5:6; 2 Kings 22:26-17; 2 Chronicles 34:24-25.
THESE PASSAGES SHOW THAT THE WRITERS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT USED "UNQUENCHABLE FIRE" AS A FIGURE OF A JUDGMENT BY WAR AND FAMINE ON WICKED NATIONS. When Jesus was speaking of the fire and worms of Gehenna, he was giving a description of the finality of the destruction of Israel who rejected Him, which His audience would understand. Those hearing Christ would understand how unquenchable fire and undying worms were used in the Old Testament and therefore would understand His use of them. They would have known that Gehenna He was speaking of was a foul place of destruction where worthless things were disposed of, and would have known He was saying the destruction He was speaking of would be like the destruction of the garbage in Gehenna, like the destruction of Jerusalem by unquenchable fire and maggots in the Old Testament. They knew they were being threatened with complete destruction just as the trash in the city dump. Jerusalem was destroyed and burnt, and historian's say in AD 70 many dead bodies were burned and many were left unburied for the maggots. "And the strong man will become tinder, his work also a spark, thus, they shall both burn together, and there will be none to quench them" [Isaiah 1:31].
Summary: The worm that dies not, and the unquenchable fire, as used in the Old Testament and by Christ, proves UTTER DESTRUCTION, not everlasting torment. GEHENNA IS BELIEVED BY THOSE WHO TEACH EVERLASTING TORMENT TO BE THEIR STRONG HOLD, BUT THE SYMBOLS OF MAGGOTS EATING DEAD BODIES ON THIS EARTH, AND FIRE CONSUMING UNWANTED TRASH ["dead bodies" Isaiah 66:24] ARE SYMBOLS OF DESTRUCTION, NOT SYMBOLS OF TORMENT. MANY THINK THIS IS THE STRONGEST PROOF OF EVERLASTING TORMENT IN THE BIBLE, BUT IT IS THE OTHER WAY AROUND. IT IS A STRONG PROOF THAT THE LOST WILL BE EVERLASTING DESTROYED. IT DOES NOT PROVE THAT A SADISTIC GOD WILL FOREVER TORMENT ANYONE.
Gehenna was first mentioned in Joshua 15:8; 18:16, although it was never called "Gehenna" in the Old Testament. Ahaz "burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire" [2 Chronicles 28:3; 2 Kings 16:3]. Manasseh also burnt his children in the fire in this valley [2 Chronicles 33:6].
Jeremiah 7:31-32 Children of Judah burned their sons and daughters in the fire in this valley, and Jehovah said, "And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind. It shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to bury. And the dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away." [Note: Those who teach "Hell fire" are saying to God, "O yes it came into Your mind. You have said You are going to burn most of Your children in a fire much hotter than they burnt their children in"].
Jeremiah 19:1-15 "Thus says the Lord, Go and buy a potter's earthenware jar, and take some to the elders of the people and some of the senior priests. Then go out to the valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate; and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold I am about to bring a calamity upon this place, at which the ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. Because they have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded nor spoke of, nor did it enter My mind; therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter. And I shall make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I shall cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I shall give over their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beast of the earth. I shall also make this city a desolation and an object of hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of the disasters. And I shall make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another's flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them. Then you are to break the jar in the sight of the men who accompany you and say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Just so shall I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter's vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place for burial. This is how I shall treat this place and its inhabitants, declares the Lord so as to make this city like Topheth. And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the houses on whose rooftops they burned sacrifices to all the heavenly host and poured out libations to other gods. Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord has sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord's house and said to all the people; thus says the Lord of host, the God of Israel, Behold, I am about to bring on this city and all its towns the entire calamity that I have declared against it, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to heed My words." Jeremiah used the valley of Gehenna to warn Israel of their destruction as a nation. Christ also used the valley of Gehenna to warn Israel of their destruction as a nation.
Many believe the 185,000 Assyrians [Isaiah 37:36] were killed by the angel of the Lord in this valley when they were laying siege to Jerusalem. They were killed near Jerusalem and it could have been in this valley, but I can find no sure proof that it was. See Isaiah 30:31-33.
Josiah "defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech" [2 Kings 23:10]. This may be when it became the trash dump that it is in the New Testament.
It is also mentioned in Nehemiah 11:30; Jeremiah 19:2. Because of their worshiping other gods in it, God made it a place of destruction and death, not torment. Topheth [Gehenna in the New Testament] literally means a place of burning, and a place of death, "The valley of slaughter" [Jeremiah 7:31].
EVERY REFERENCE TO GEHENNA IN THE OLD TESTAMENT WAS TO A PLACE ON THIS EARTH. NOT ONE OF THEM SAYS ANYTHING ABOUT ETERNAL TORMENT AFTER THE JUDGMENT. It is admitted by all that Gehenna in the Old Testament was not a place of eternal torment, and it was not changed to "Hell" in any Old Testament passage, not even in the King James Version which is sometimes called "Hell's Bible."
Henry Thayer: "Gehenna, the name of a valley on the S. and E. of Jerusalem...The Jews so abolished the place after these horrible sacrifices had been abolished by king Josiah (2 k.xxiii, 10) that they cast into it not only all manner of refuses, but even the dead bodies of animals and unburied criminals who had been executed. And since fires were always needed to consume the dead bodies, that the air might not become tainted by the putrefaction, it came to pass that the place was called (Gehenna)." "A Greek-English Lexicon Of the New Testament" Page 111. He also says in "Theology" "Our inquiry shows that it is employed in the Old Testament in its literal or geographical sense only, as the name of the valley lying on the south of Jerusalem-that the Septuagint proves it retained this meaning as late as B. C. 150-that it is not found at all in the Apocrypha; neither of Philo, nor in Josephus, whose writings cover the very times of the Savior and the New Testament, thus leaving us without a single example of contemporary usage to determine its meaning at this period-that from A. D. 150-159, we find in two Greek authors, Justin and Clement of Alexandria, the first resident in Italy and the last in Egypt that Gehenna began to be used to designate a place of punishment after death, but not endless punishment since Clement was a believer in universal restoration-that the first time we find Gehenna used in this sense in any Jewish writing is near the beginning of the third century, in the Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel, two hundred years too late to be of any service in the argument-and lastly, that the New Testament usage shows that while it had not wholly lost its literal sense, it was also employed in the time of Christ as a symbol of moral corruption and wickedness; BUT MORE ESPECIALLY AS A FIGURE OF THE TERRIBLE JUDGMENTS OF GOD ON THE REBELLIOUS AND SINFUL NATION OF THE JEWS" Henry Thayer, "Theology."
Canon Farrar: "In the Old Testament it is merely the pleasant valley of Hinnom (GeHinnom), subsequently desecrated by idolatry, and especially by Moloch worship, and defiled by Josiah on this account. (See 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:10; Jer 7:31; 19:10-14; Isa. 30:33; Tophet). Used according to Jewish tradition, as the common sewage of the city, the corpses of the worst criminals were flung into it unburied, and fires were lit to purify the contaminated air. It then became a word which secondarily implied (1) the severest judgment which a Jewish court could pass upon a criminal-the casting forth of his unburied corpse amid the fire and worms of this polluted valley; and (2) a punishment-which to the Jews a body never meant an end-less punishment beyond the grave. WHATEVER MAY BE THE MEANING OF THE ENTIRE PASSAGES IN WHICH THE WORD OCCURS, 'HELL' MUST BE A COMPLETE MISTRANSLATION, SINCE IT ATTRIBUTES TO THE TERM USED BY CHRIST A SENSE ENTIRELY DIFFERENTLY FROM THAT IN WHICH IT WAS UNDERSTOOD BY OUR LORD'S HEARERS, AND THEREFORE, ENTIRELY DIFFERENT FROM THE SENSE IN WHICH HE COULD HAVE USED IT." From the preface to "Eternal Hope."
"Gehenna, the Greek word translated hell in the common version, occurs twelve times. It is the Grecian mode of spelling the Hebrew words, which are translated, 'The Valley of Hinnom.' This valley was also called Tophet, a detestation, an abomination. Into this place were cast all kinds of filth, with the carcasses of beasts and unburied bodies of criminals, who had been executed. Continual fires were kept to consume these. Sennacherib's army of 185,000 men was slain there in one night. Here, children were burnt to death in sacrifice to Moloch. GEHENNA, THEN, AS OCCURRING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, SYMBOLIZES DEATH AND UTTER DESTRUCTION, BUT IN NO PLACE SYMBOLIZES A PLACE OF ETERNAL TORMENT." From the Emphatic Diaglot
George Lemasters says Gehenna is said to have been a receptacle of bones, bodies of beasts and criminals, and all unclean things. Page 265, Florida College Annual Lectures, 1975.
Ron Halbrook says Gehenna became a common refuse dump for the dead bodies of criminals, animal carcasses, and other kind of filth. Page 123, Florida College Annual Lectures 1986.
WHATEVER WAS CAST INTO GEHENNA [the city dump], IF IT WERE TRASH, OR THE BODIES OF CRIMINALS WERE CAST INTO THE TRASH DUMP TO BE DESTROYED, NOT TORMENTED. Trash or dead bodies cannot be tormented. Whatever was cast into Gehenna was soon consumed. God is a consuming fire [Hebrews 12:29].
Gehenna was used on four occasions by Christ, and was used one time by James, the brother of the Lord [James 3:6]. The name Gehenna is in the four gospels eleven times but as the four gospels repeat the same discourses, Jesus did not really use it more than six or seven times and these were all used in only four occasions
Both Christ and James used the name of the city dump [Gehenna]. Neither the English nor a Greek word for "Hell" did not exist then. Even in Old English, Hell did not have the meaning it has today. The name Gehenna is in the four gospels eleven times, but as the four gospels repeat the same discourses, Jesus did not really use it more than six or seven times and these were all used on only four occasions.
Gehenna is used 3 times in Matthew 5. Christ is teaching His disciples, who at that time were under the Law.
THE FIVE "YOU HAVE HEARD" Five things the disciples had heard that the Law said.
[1] THE FIRST "YOU HAVE HEARD" Matthew 5:21-26 "You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the Supreme Court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell [Greek-Gehenna of fire]" New American Standard Bible. Gehenna, the city dump of Jerusalem was always burning, day and night, 24/7.
The three crimes that were judged by the courts: All three have to do with the way they felt toward their brother. "Murder shall be liable to the court: but I say to you everyone who is,"
Still a part of the first "you have heard" is this lesson on how to avoid the courts.
[2] THE SECOND "YOU HAVE HEARD" that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery'" Matthew 5:27-30 "And if your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not your whole body be cast into hell [Greek - Gehenna]. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not your whole body go into hell [Greek - Gehenna]."
Christ is teaching them that if there is a danger that they may look on a woman to lust after her, if their eye causes them to stumble, cut it out and cast it away. If taken literal this would have been unlawful by the Old Testament Law they were under. The lesson to them was that they were to remove anything from their lives, which would cause them to be judged unworthy to be buried, and their bodies to be cast into Gehenna. Under the Law adultery was death and could therefore cause their bodies to be cast to the fire and maggots in Gehenna [Leviticus 20:10-16]. The lesson to them and to us is that if something in our life that would cause us to be lost, even if it is as dear to us as our eye or hand, it needs to be cut off unless the whole body be destroyed, the removal of anything in our life that would cause us to be destroyed by God as worthless trash which was destroyed in Gehenna. Christ was saying to them anything in their life, adultery or any other sin that would cause them to perish needed to be removed. THOSE THAT USE THIS TO PROVE HELL DO NOT BELIEVE THAT TO "CUT OFF" ANY PART OF THE BODY OF A LIVING PERSON WILL KEEP THAT PERSON OUT OF HELL AFTER DEATH. TO MANY, THE HAND AND THE EYE ARE A LITERAL HAND OR EYE, BUT "THE WHOLE BODY" IS NOT A "BODY" AT ALL BUT A FORMLESS, NO SUBSTANCE, INVISIBLE PART OF A PERSON THAT HAS NO BODY.
The loss of a hand or eye is contrasted with the whole body [of which the hand was a part] being cast into Gehenna; not the loss of a hand being contrasted with the soul [of which the hand was NOT a part] being cast into Hell. The "eye" and the "right hand" are a part of the "whole body." No one can cut off the hand of a soul which they say has no substance and Christ does not change from parts of the earthly body to something that most who believe in "it" says "it" has no body. No one that I know of who believes "Hell" is an eternal place of torment believes the human body or any part of it will be eternally tormented in that eternal place. In the same sentence, did Christ change from a literal physical hand to a "soul"? IF THE "WHOLE BODY" IS A FORMLESS NO SUBSTANCE SOUL, THEN THE "HAND," WHICH WAS CUT OFF THIS BODY IS A PART OF THE "WHOLE BODY," AND WOULD ALSO BE A FORMLESS NO SUBSTANCE SOMETHING THAT WE COULD NOT CUT OFF AND IF WE COULD, THEN THE CUT OFF HAND OF AN IMMORTAL SOUL WOULD BE AS IMMORTAL AS THE REST OF THE NO SUBSTANCE FORMLESS SOUL. IN TODAY'S THEOLOGY NO ONE BELIEVES YOU CAN CUT OFF THE HAND OF A SPIRIT SO THAT THE REST OF THE SPIRIT WILL NOT GO TO HELL. The "whole body" is not a spirit that will go to Hell [Gehenna], but it may not go to Hell if the hand of the soul or spirit had been cut off. It is the hand that is a part of this earthly body that is to be cut off that the whole earthly body would not be cast into a real earthy valley. Today this has been changed to an invisible immortal hand that cannot die, but it is to be cut off an immortal soul that cannot die because if it is not cut off the soul that cannot die will be cast into a place of torment that is not on this earth. I have never heard anyone say what he or she thinks will happen to the cut off immortal hand that cannot die. No one that I know of believes the "soul" shall "enter into life," which he or she says is Heaven, with a cut off hand of that soul in Hell. The "soul" in Heaven but it's "hand" in Hell! They don't believe that a disfigurement of the body, whether it is a self inflicted disfigurement or any other disfigurement, will be passed onto the immaterial, invisible part of a person in Heaven. Neither do they believe any person has the power to cut of any part of his soul. Most that believe in "Hell" make this cutting off the hand be figurative language meaning to remove anything from our lives that will cause us to sin, but they want to make just one word in the sentence be literal. They must first mistranslate "Gehenna" into "Hell" and then make just this one word out of context and be literal. Gehenna must be changed to Hell and made literal, but the cutting off the hand not be literal.
"Destroy" must be made to mean, "preserve." God's word says He will destroy the soul, but many change this and make it say God will preserve the soul forever. There seems to be no end to the changes they are willing to make. "Destroy the body and soul" must be changed to "preserve the soul but destroy the body."
A dead body part or a whole dead body being cast into the city dump [Gehenna] to be destroyed by fire or worms is not a picture of a living immortal soul being tormented forever. There is no suggestion of eternal torment in this. THERE IS NOTHING, NOT ONE WORD ABOUT AN IMMORTAL SOUL OR AN IMMORTAL SPIRIT IN THIS PASSAGE. It was their "whole body" that would be cast into Gehenna, not just an immaterial, invisible part of a person that will be cast into "Hell." Nothing is said about an immaterial part of a person in Matthew 5:22, 29 or 30. "Soul" is not in Matthew 5. IT IS NOT PREACHED TODAY THAT THE BODY WILL BE CAST INTO GEHENNA BUT THAT THE "SOUL" WILL BE CAST INTO "HELL." THIS PASSAGE IS ONE OF THE MOST USED PASSAGE TO PROVE A PERSON HAS IN IMMATERIAL PART THAT WILL BE IN AN ETERNAL PLACE OF TORMENT, BUT NEITHER THE IMMATERIAL PART OF A PERSON OR THE PLACE OF TORMENT IS IN IT. EVERYTHING THAT CHRIST SAID IS CHANGED AND THAT BY THOSE THAT SAY THEY DO NOT CHANGE THE BIBLE.
[3] The third "You have heard" "You shall not forswear yourself" [Matthew 5:33].
[4] The fourth "You have heard" An eye for an eye [Matthew 5:38].
[5] The fifth "You have heard" Love your neighbor [Matthew 5:43].
All five of the "you have heard" are about things in the Old Testament Law, not about things in the life after the judgment.
"FEAR HIM, WHO AFTER HE HAS KILLED HAS POWER TO CAST INTO GEHENNA" Luke 12:4-5. GOD IS ABLE TO DESTROY BOTH SOUL AND BODY IN GEHENNA Matthew 10:28. This was spoken to the twelve apostles when they were sent forth to preach "The kingdom of heaven is at hand" [Matthew 10:1-28]. He was persecuted, and they would be, but they were to "Fear them not." "But I will warn you whom you shall fear: fear him, who AFTER HE HAS KILLED has power to cast into Gehenna" [Luke 12:4-5]. "AFTER HE HAS KILLED" must be changed to "ALIVE BUT SEPARATED FROM GOD" to fit today's teaching for an immortal soul cannot be killed and this passage must be made to teach an immortal soul that cannot be killed is alive and tormented in "Hell." After all, they cannot have God killing an immortal soul before He cast it into "Hell" could they?
Man can destroy the life we now have, but God alone is able to destroy [Apollumi] both soul [life-psukee] and body in Gehenna "AFTER HE HAS KILLED." To prove Hell, many have this earthly body tormented in Hell after the Judgment Day. If both the body and soul are destroyed in Gehenna proves an immortal "immaterial, invisible part of man" [W. E. Vine] that cannot die will be tormented in Hell, then it also proves the earthy body will be tormented in Hell. IF THE "IMMATERIAL, INVISIBLE PART OF MAN" CANNOT DIE BECAUSE IT IS IMMORTAL FROM BIRTH, GOD COULD DO NO MORE THAN A MAN. HE COULD ONLY DESTROY [KILL] THE BODY, BUT NOT THE IMMORTAL "IMMATERIAL, INVISIBLE PART OF MAN" THAT CANNOT DIE AND CANNOT BE DESTROYED. Was Jesus telling the twelve apostles not to fear God? He is if the soul [psukee] is immortal from birth and cannot be killed. Does it mean what it says, or does "destroy," mean to "torment forever," as today's theology interprets and demands? If it were as is taught today that destroy means torment, and Gehenna means Hell, then they have God tormenting both this body of flesh and the "soul" in Hell forever, which is more than they want it to say, but when they change Gehenna to "Hell," this passage teaches something that even those who make the change do not believe. Will this earthly body be in "Hell" and be immortal? If it is to be tormented forever in "Hell," then the earthly body is as immortal as the soul is. When a person has killed the body, he can do no more. At the worse, a person can only take a few years of life from you, but there will be a resurrection and God can take an eternity of life from you.
God has the power to kill, or the power to torment (if He was that kind of a God, a fiendish and sadistic God); but we must look to the Bible to know what He will do and not look to theology. A man can only take this life from you, then can do no more, and most of the twelve Christ was speaking to were killed by men who could do no more, but there will be a resurrection of all they kill. God can DESTROY this life, and then DESTROY the resurrected life after the judgment. There is a second death for those not in Christ.
Apollumi is used 95 times in the New Testament. In the King James Version it is life and things that is destroyed (apollumi) 94 times; Matthew 10:28 is the only time it is the soul that is destroyed (apollumi). The other 94 times it is body that is destroyed (the end of life of the body) or things that are destroyed in the King James Version. It is translated destroy, perish, lose, lost, and die. Matthew 10:28 is the only time it is used of the soul and it says God is able to kill [apollumi] the soul just as the body is killed in the other passages. Those who believe the soul cannot die must deny the plain statement made by Christ.
Men did kill the bodies of many disciples Christ give this warning to them, but this has no effect on their or their ultimate existence. Death is but a brief sleep, which will be as if it were only a moment from death unto the resurrection. [Deuteronomy 31:16; 2 Samuel 7:12; 1 Kings 1:21; Job 7:21; 14:12; Psalms 13:31 Jeremiah 51:39, 57; 1 Kings 2:10; 11:21, 43; 14:20, 31; 15:8, 24; 16:6, 28; 22:40, 50; 2 Kings 8:24; 10:35; 13:9, 13; 14:16, 22, 29; 15:7, 22, 38; 16:20; 20:21; 21:18; 24:6; 2 Chronicles 9:31; 12:16; 14:1; 16:13; 21:1; 26:2, 23; 27:9; 28:27; 32:33; 33:20; Job 3:13; Isaiah 26:19; Matthew 9:24; 25:5; 27:52; Mark 5:39; Luke 8:52; John 11:11-14; Acts 7:60; 13:36; 1 Corinthians 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15; 5:10; 2 Peter 3:4]. There will be a resurrection, and in the ultimate eternal sense, man cannot kill the soul-life [psukee]. God can destroy and make our memory to perish [Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6; Ecclesiastes 9:4-6; Psalms 31:12; 88:5; Isaiah 26:14; Ecclesiastes 9:10; Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:5; Romans 6:23]. If death does not indicate unconsciousness, then the analogy of sleep, which is used throughout the Bible, is meaningless for the dead are not asleep. It is more than just meaningless, being asleep when they are awake in Heaven or Hell would be an outright lie that is repeated frequently.
The second death is never called a sleep because there will be no waking up or resurrection from it.
Many believe that THIS DESTROYING BY GOD IS AFTER THE RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT, but just do not agree on if destroy means destroy or if destroy mean an everlasting life with punishment. IT IS CLEARLY SAID THAT THE DESTROYING IN THIS PASSAGE IS IN GEHENNA. However, if the destroying were after the judgment, even then it would not prove no one could be destroyed. "Fear him who is able to destroy" if it is as many believe it to be, at death, or as others believe it is after the judgment, this passage clearly says God is able to destroy the psukee [life-soul]. I know many who have a gun but there is no point to fear someone because he has a gun and could kill you if you know he never will. There would be no point to fear God because he has the power and could destroy you, but you know he never will. Jesus is not just making an idle threat. GOD IS TO BE FEARED BECAUSE HE WILL DESTROY. The fear is not of the fact that He can, but on the fact that He will destroy, on the certainty that He will destroy. IF THERE IS AN "IMMATERIAL, INVISIBLE PART OF MAN" THAT IS IMMORTAL AND CAN NEVER DIE, THEN GOD CANNOT KILL IT AND CHRIST IS SAYING DO NOT FEAR GOD FOR HE CANNOT KILL THE IMMATERIAL, INVISIBLE PART OF A PERSON, BUT THOSE THAT BELIEVE THE "SOUL" IS IMMORTAL DO NOT BELIEVE THIS IS THE MESSAGE CHRIST WAS GIVING. If a person kills us, God will raise us at the judgment. Those whom God destroys are lost, destroyed forever with no hope of a resurrection to life. God is able to destroy both body and soul is changed to: God is able to preserve both body and soul. Without this change, there would be no way to put "Hell" in this passage, and without it there would be no way to put the "soul" in "Hell" without also putting the body in "Hell"; but most important, without changing this passage, there would be no way to keep the soul that many say, "cannot be destroyed" from being destroyed.
EITHER WAY:
If the words "immortal soul" were substituted for "soul" and "life," it would be absurd. "But are not able to kill the immortal soul [life-psukee]: but fear him who is able to destroy both immortal soul [life-psukee] and body in Hell [Gehenna]...He that finds his immortal soul [life-psukee] shall lose his immortal soul [life-psukee]; and he that loses his immortal soul for my sake shall find his immortal soul " [Matthew 10:28-39]. In using this to prove that a person has an immortal soul, which cannot be destroyed, they prove that it can be. If psukee were an immortal soul, then God would be able to destroy this immortal soul. THERE IS NO STRONGER WAY IN WHICH TO SAY GOD CAN AND WILL DESTROY IT. He is to be feared by those of the world because He will. There would be no reason to fear Him if He could not, or if He will not destroy the psukee [soul or life]. I FIND IT STRANGE THAT ONE OF THE MOST USED PASSAGES TO PROVE THERE IS AN "IMMATERIAL, INVISIBLE PART OF MAN" THAT CANNOT BE DESTROYED SAYS GOD CAN DESTROY IT; BUT, NO STRANGER THEN THE USE OF DEATH TO MEAN AN ETERNAL LIFE OF TORMENT WITH GOD DOING THE TORMENTING. By saying black is white you can prove anything.
The point some are trying to make from God being "able to destroy" is that there is life after death, an immortal soul that cannot be destroyed, which this does not prove. At the resurrection there will be life that GOD CAN DESTROY, not that there is an immortal soul that God cannot destroy. IT SAYS NOTHING ABOUT AN "IMMATERIAL, INVISIBLE PART OF MAN" THAT IS ALIVE BEFORE THE RESURRECTION THAT CANNOT BE DESTROYED. It does not say there will be any life from death unto the resurrection. That there will be a resurrection is taught through out the New Testament, but if all are alive when Christ comes, there cannot be a resurrection of those that are not dead. GOD CAN DESTROY THE LIFE NOW IS AND THE LIFE THAT WILL BE AFTER THE RESURRECTION. He is to be feared by the lost because He will destroy the life they will have after the resurrection.
PROVES MORE THAN THEY WANT Matthew 10:28 proves more than they want it to prove. More than they believe, for they do not believe this earthly body will be tormented in "Hell" or that the "immaterial, invisible part of man" will be destroyed. But, to prove their Hell, they make destroy be just a loss of well being, but still alive and being tormented in Hell. If the immaterial, invisible part of a person is not destroyed, but just lost its well-being, then the earthly body is not destroyed, but has just lost its well being. The same thing happens to both the body and the immaterial, invisible part of a person, therefore, if destroy means one is tormented, not destroyed, then it means the earthly body will be tormented in Hell just as the soul will.
The word "destroy" is from apollumi. Christ is speaking of a soul [life-psukee] whose destruction is expressed by the same Greek word, apollumi, as is the destruction of the body. Whatever you believe the "soul" to be, it is shown to be as destructible as the body is. WHAT GOD CREATED, GOD CAN DESTROY. Matthew 10:28 does not say a person has an inter "immaterial, invisible part" that God cannot destroy, It SAYS GOD CAN DESTROY BOTH THE BODY AND THE PSUKEE [life].
The advocate's of an immortal soul say, "destroy" [apollumi] means, "torment." If this is true, "torment" should be used in place of "destroy" in all places. Try it. The same is true when apollumi is made to mean "a loss of well-being."
"Destroy both body and soul [psukee]" Just as certain as the garbage of Jerusalem was consumed by the fire, God will destroy, consume both body and soul [living creature]. When Jesus says that God can destroy the body and soul in Gehenna, it is the whole being of man, not just his "well-being." THERE IS NO GROUND FOR THE TRADITIONAL VIEW OF AN IMMORTAL SOUL THAT CANNOT BE DESTROYED IN THIS PASSAGE OR ANY OTHER PASSAGE, BUT THERE IS GROUND FOR THE WHOLE OF MAN, BODY AND SOUL [life-psukee], BEING DESTROYED IN THIS AND MANY OTHER PASSAGES.
"Not able to kill the soul [life]," and "destroy both soul and body in Gehenna," are the same thing. JESUS USED BOTH KILL AND DESTROY, BUT SAID NOTHING ABOUT TORMENT. Theology must be used to make destroy mean torment for if the words kill and destroy means kill and destroy, there will be no living "souls" to be tormented in Hell, therefore, no Hell.
FROM THE SAME LESSON TO HIS DISCIPLES (God is able to destroy). Lose his life [Greek soul-psukee] must be made to mean an everlasting life of torment [Matthew 10:39].
When save and lose in Matthew 10:39 are applied to soul as it is used in today's theology, it makes nonsense.
Life and death and finding and losing life are the same thing. Death and losing life are not everlasting life separated from God. (1) "He that finds his life shall lose it," by some kind of magic charm is turns into eternal life in Hell. "Shall lose it (his life)" is made to mean an ETERNAL LIFE of torment in Hell. How could anyone know this? What dictionary is being used? (2) "He that loses his life for my sake shall find it." Losing the life of the body - being put to death for believing in Christ, also by some kind of magic is turned into eternal life for an "immaterial, invisible part of man" at death before the resurrection. Their magic makes the resurrection useless for they say eternal life is given to all at birth and none can lose it, therefore, Christ cannot give us life. He can only give a reward for being good and can only punish for being bad. TO MAKE PSUKEE BE IN "IMMATERIAL INVISIBLE, IMMORTAL PART OF MAN" THAT CANNOT DIE MAKES IT BE NONSENSE. No doctrine of the Bible is more plain than the loss of life in this passage is the lost of existence, not eternal life with torment for the sinner, and that saving or finding life is to find eternal life at the resurrection.
This was a different discourse than Matthew 5:29-30 above, but He was teaching the same thing. See the notes on the first occasion above. Matthew 18:9 "And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from you: it is good for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the hell [Greek-Gehenna] of fire." Mark 9:43, 45, 47 "And if your hand cause you to stumble, cut it off: it is good for you to enter into life maimed, rather then having your two hands to go into hell [Greek-Gehenna], into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot cause you to stumble, cut it off; it is good for you to enter into life halt, rather then having your two feet to be cast into hell [Greek-Gehenna]. And if your eye cause you to stumble, cast it out; it is good for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell [Greek-Gehenna] where their worm dies not, the fire is not quenched" "Where their worm dies not, the fire is not quenched" is in Mark 9:44, 46, and 48 in some translations. The foot note in the American Standard Version says, "Verses 44 and 46 (which are identical with verse. 48) are omitted by the best ancient authorities." "Where their worm dies not, the fire is not quenched" is a direct quotation from Isaiah 66:23-24 where it is speaking of dead bodies on this earth being burn with fire and eaten by worms. Gehenna, a place on this earth, has been changed to "Hell" a place not on this earth; and no one can give a Bible passage that tells of a place called "Hell."
Gehenna is used two times in a sermon to the Scribes and Pharisees warning them of God's rejection of Israel. In Matthew 23 and 24 Christ speaks of the destruction of Israel. "All these things shall come upon this generation" [Matthew 23:36]. The context of these two uses of Gehenna are clearly an in time judgment of Israel, not of anything that will be after the judgment at the coming of Christ. THEY HAVE NO REFERENCE TO "HELL." The "damnation of Hell" as it is preached today did not come on that "generation," but the judgment and destruction of Israel did. "Damnation" is from krisis which means judgment, not damnation as it is mistranslated in the King James Version, the "judgment of Gehenna," not the "damnation of Hell."
ISRAEL THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN Matthew 21:33-46: Before looking at this use of Gehenna it may help understand it to first look at the parable of the wicked husbandman that comes just before it and is a part of the same sermon spoken to the Scribes and Pharisees. "When; therefore, the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto these husbandman? They say unto him, HE WILL MISERABLY DESTROY THESE MISERABLE MEN, AND WILL LET OUT THE VINEYARD UNTO OTHER HUSBANDMEN, who will render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus said unto them, did you never read in the scriptures, the stone, which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner; this was from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes? THEREFORE SAY I UNTO YOU, THE KINGDOM OF GOD SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU, AND SHALL BE GIVEN TO A NATION BRINGING FORTH THE FRUITS THEREOF." Many parables deal with the rejection of Christ by Israel and its destruction. See chapter 8, part 1 and part 2.
[1] SON OF GEHENNA: Matthew 23:15 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, you make him twofold more a son of hell [Greek-Gehenna] then yourselves." In speaking to the Pharisees, Christ said, "For you are like unto whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead man's bones, and of all uncleanness" [Matthew 23:27]. They made their proselytes "twofold more a son of Gehenna than your selves" [Matthew 23:15]. A place cannot give birth to a person. No one, not even those who believe in Hell, believe Hell is literally the father or mother of anyone. To call a person a son of a place is not to say that place is his mother, but is to say a part of his character is similar to the place. Gehenna was a place of filth and uncleanness. To use the metaphors "son of Gehenna" is to say they were unclean like the filthy city dump. To be a "son of Gehenna" means to be like Gehenna and the things in it: to be filthy and contemptible. The proselytes were made twofold more unclean then the Pharisees. Because Gehenna does not literally have sons, this is a figure of speech not intended to be taken literally nether in this life or after death. James and John are called "sons of thunder" [Mark 3:17]. Thunder did not give birth to them, but a part of their character is similar to thunder. "And if a son of peace be there" [Luke 10:6]. "Son of exhortation" [Acts 4:36]. "Sons of disobedience" [Ephesians 2:2]. "The son of destruction" [2 Thessalonians 2:3]. "The child of anything in Hebrew phraseology expressed the idea of special property which one has in the thing specified, as, for instance, children of disobedience [Eph. ii. 2]". J. W. McGarvey, Matthew 8:11, The Fourfold Gospel, Standard Publishing Company, 1914. This metaphor is not taken from the destruction by the fire and maggots in Gehenna; but it is a metaphor taken from the filth and uncleanness of Gehenna. Although this passage is repeatedly used to prove eternal torment after death, there is nothing about any torment in it, not in this lifetime or after death.
In the same address to the scribes and Pharisees Christ gives two more examples of their uncleanness.
[2] JUDGMENT OF GEHENNA: Matthew 23:33-36 "Fill you up then the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how shall you escape the judgment of hell [Greek-Gehenna]? Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall you kill and crucify; and some of them shall you scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you slew between the sanctuary and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation." Christ had just told the scribes and Pharisees they made their proselytes more a "son of Gehenna" [unclean] than themselves. Now He calls them "offspring [sons of] vipers," and "all these things (all the righteous blood from Abel to Zechariah) shall come upon this generation."
The Scribes and Pharisees knew the law, but did not keep it. Outwardly they were as beautiful as white sepulchers, but inwardly were full of dead man's bones. They would not escape the judgment to come. "Verily I say unto you, all these things SHALL COME UPON THIS GENERATION" [Matthew 23:36]. Matthew 24 is a discourse to His disciples about the destruction of Israel of which He had spoken of to the Pharisees in the chapter before. That generation would not escape the judgment of Gehenna. It came in A. D. 70 when some historians say Gehenna was filled with the dead bodies of Jews from the destruction of Jerusalem [See Jeremiah 19]. For notes on this use of "The judgment of Gehenna" see chapter eight, part one, Israel's destruction. Josephus said six hundred thousand dead bodies of the Jews were carried out of Jerusalem and lift unburied.
"Condemnation," "damnation," and "damned" of the King James Version
THE RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION
[krisis] (KJV), JUDGMENT [krisis] (ASV). "The resurrection of
judgment (krisis)" [John 5:29] says nothing about an eternal life of
torment in Hell after the judgment although this passage is
continually used to prove eternal torment. The verdict of the
judgment, if it be death, eternal life with torment, or what ever it
maybe, the verdict of the judgment is not in this passage. In an
attempt to put Hell in the Bible, the translators of the King James
Version changed the judgment and made it be the verdict of the
judgment and made the verdict be what they needed it to be.
If "krisis" means "damnation" then we are
all in trouble for "It is appointed unto men once to die, and after
this comes damnation
judgment (krisis)" [Hebrews 9:27]. When it is applied only to the
lost the King James translators translated "krisis" condemnation, but
when it is applied to all [Hebrews 9:27] they translated "krisis"
judgment. Just one more example of how they were willing to
mistranslate to put their "Hell" into the Bible. The American
Standard Version and most others do not translate "krisis" into
condemnation or damnation. TWO WORDS
HAD TO BE CHANGED IN MATTHEW 23:33 TO PUT TODAY'S HELL IN THE BIBLE.
"JUDGMENT" HAD TO BE CHANGED TO "DAMNATION" AND "GEHENNA" HAD TO BE
CHANGED TO "HELL."
Summary: JUST AS EVERY REFERENCE TO GEHENNA IN THE OLD TESTAMENT IS TO A PLACE ON THIS EARTH, TO THE VALLEY SOUTH OF JERUSALEM AND IS NEVER TRANSLATED "HELL." EVERY REFERENCE TO GEHENNA BY CHRIST IS ALSO TO THE SAME PLACE ON THIS EARTH. IN THE FOUR OCCASIONS THAT GEHENNA IS USED, NOT IN A ONE IS GEHENNA SAID TO BE ETERNAL OR EVERLASTING, NOT ONCE IS THERE ANY TORMENT OF LIVING PERSONS IN IT, AND NOT ONCE IS IT USED IN CONNECTION WITH THE RESURRECTION, BUT TODAY PREACHERS MOST ALWAYS ADD EVERLASTING AND SAY IT WILL NEVER END. HOW DO THEY KNOW THIS? NONE OF THE APOSTLES EVER PREACH ANYTHING ABOUT GEHENNA. IF IT WERE A PLACE OF TORMENT WHERE GOD SHALL TORMENT ALL THE LOST, WHY DID THEY NEVER SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT? THEY USED DEATH, DESTROY, DESTROYED, PERISH, DIE, AND END; BUT NEVER "HELL."
SET ON FIRE BY GEHENNA James 3:6 "And the tongue is a fire; the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell [Greek-Gehenna]." James used the same proper noun [the name of a particular place] that Christ used, but he used it in a different way. The tongue is a fire and is set on fire by Gehenna-the filthy, contemptible garbage dump. Most who are given to gossip look for some filthy rotten garbage on someone, and then cannot wait to tell it. James did not use Gehenna to teach the Jews about what was going to happen them if they rejected Christ. To say "The tongue is set on fire by the place of eternal torment after the judgment," which is what many teach, makes no sense. This metaphor is not taken from the destruction by the fire and maggots in Gehenna; but it is a metaphor taken from the filth and uncleanness of Gehenna. There is nothing about torment or destruction in it, and nothing about after death. The tongue is a fire now in this lifetime. To make Hell be a literal place not of this earth that sets on fire a literal tongue of a living person on this earth would somehow make that person's tongue be in contact with a place that is not on this earth. Gehenna is a place of corruption, which was figuratively applied to a vile tongue.
Young's Literal Bible (1891) Author of "Young's Analytical Concordance To The Bible"
Wesley's New Testament (1755) Founder of Methodist Church. The original by Wesley, not the updated editions.
Weymouth New Testament (1903)
The New American Bible (1991) (Catholic)
Phillips New Testament (1952)
The Christian Bible (1991)
World English Bible
Plus many other translations that do not have "Hell" in them.
TRANSLATIONS ARE GETTING AWAY FROM HELL. The King James Version and the New King James Version ARE THE ONLY TWO OF THE MAJOR TRANSLATIONS THAT HAVE HELL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. ALL OTHERS HAVE ABANDONED IT AS A BAD TRANSLATION. Hell is rapidly vanishing from the Bible. It has vanished from the Old Testament in most "conservative" translations. Moses or Abraham did not know about it. It has all but vanished from the New Testament in the "conservative" translations, and has vanished altogether in many. Even in the 31 times Hell is in the King James Version, in 12 of these, the New King James Version changed "Hell" in the King James Version to "Sheol" (from 31 times to 19 times). Were the translators trying to ease away but were afraid to go to far?
THE VANISHING HELL. WHY IS THE NUMBER OF TIMES HELL IS USED DECREASING? TRANSLATORS CANNOT AGREE ON HOW MANY TIMES TO MISTRANSLATE IT.
Number of times Hell is used in - - - - - The Bible | The O.T. | The N. T.
ONE EXAMPLE OF THE VANISHING HELL Psalms 116:3.