The History of Hell

There are many ancient ideas about the afterlife that inform the popular Heaven/Hell model we have today. For this snapshot, we will focus on the imagery surrounding Hell in the Bible.

The ancient Hebrews didn’t really have a clear stance on the afterlife. It was widely accepted that there was a general place for all of the dead called “Sheol” (other titles were “Abaddon” or “Shakhat”).

Psalm 30:3, 86:13, 139:8, Proverbs 15:11, Ecclesiastes 9:10, Hosea 13:14

The New Testament was written in Greek in the Hellenistic world (this refers to the ancient world conquered by Alexander the Great). The Greek concept of the soul became widespread. Before this, ancient Hebrews viewed the physical body as the essence of the person. Jesus often would allude to a place known as “Gehenna” (Gehinnom). This was a valley outside Jerusalem where pagan worshippers of the Ammonite god Molech would sacrifice children. Huge fires were a big part of these ceremonies. Later, after the return form Exile, this valley was turned into a garbage dump to prohibit sacrifices and bury the defiled grounds.

Matthew 10:28, 23:33, Mark 9:43

In Matthew 13:31-46, Jesus tells a parable about the separation of goats from sheep at the End of Time. Hospitality was of extreme importance in ancient Jewish culture. Jesus says that those who follow him (the shepherd) but are not hospitable will be punished by “the devil and his angels”. This form of teaching was common to Rabbis at the time. The heightened language gave the audience a sense of urgency to act and a larger cosmic frame to place morals into.

In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus tells a parable about a Rich man and Lazarus. At the end of the parable, Lazarus is carried to Abraham’s side and the Rich man is thrown into Hades. Note that the author, Luke, is Greek. Here, he borrows hellenistic imagery of the underworld to convey of Jesus’s parable. There is also much significance in the Valley of Gehenna being used by Jesus. Jerusalem was a city on a high elevation. The temple was in the highest point of the city where the faithful entered into God’s presence. The Valley was low and associated with idol worship, garbage, and darkness. This would be an image Jesus’s Jewish audience would have recognized while listening to him.

After the Resurrection of Jesus, persecution broke out against the Early Church. Many Church leaders believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime and bring the Day of Judgement on their persecutors. By the Council of Constantinople in 553 AD, doctrine surrounding the idea of hell was formalized. This was mostly in response to Origen of Alexandria’s earlier teachings about universal salvation. This dominant model for the Christian afterlife remained the dominant model in theological thought. This was the idea that the righteous are rewarded and the wicked are damned. In the 14th century, Dante Alighieri writes his epic poem “the Divine Comedy” where he travels to Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The imagery from this poem has inspired most modern depictions and ideas about hell and the afterlife.

MULTIPLE VIEWPOINTS

The history of our modern ideas of Hell is a long and controversial one. Naturally, there is disagreement on interpretation around what exactly Hell is. Here are a few of the main positions on Hell.

Eternal Concious Torment View

The traditional veiw that Hell is the final destiny of every person who does not receive salvation, where they will be punished for their sins.

Conditional Immortality

Those sent to Hell will not experience eternal conscious punishment, but instead will be extinguished after a period of "limited conscious punishment".

Annihilationism

The idea that a person cannot exist apart from God, so a rejection of salvation cancels out their existence after death.

Christian Universalism

All souls are reconciled to God and admitted to heaven, or ways are found at the time of death of drawing all souls to repentance so that no "hellish" suffering is experienced.