What the Bible Teaches About Hell

Belief in Jesus Christ is required to avoid hell (John 3:16, 36). Hell, nor anyone that will be sent there for eternity, will prevail against the church (Matt. 16:18).

The people who are NOT genuine Christians will reach a final state of everlasting gloom as a result of the condemnation and wrath of Jesus Christ on the Last Day (Matt. 25:46).

The English word “hell” (or “sheol”) is used 54 times in the Bible. In the King James Version (KJV) Old Testament, it is consistently translated as hell. This is from the Hebrew word שְׁאוֹל, transliterated as sh’owl (pron. sheh-OL), which means Hades, the underworld, the grave, the pit, or the world of the dead.

In the New Testament, the English word hell is translated 12 times by the Greek word γέεννα, transliterated as geenna (pron. gheh’-en-nah). It is translated 9 times by the Greek word ᾅδης, transliterated hadés (pron. hah’-dace). And it is translated once as ταρταρόω, tartaroó (pron. tar-tar-OH-o). These words have the same meaning as before, but tartaroó specifically means TO CAST into hell.

A REAL PLACE

Some commentators don’t believe that there will be eternal punishment, and that there is no need for the existence of a place called hell. These Annihilationists believe that the wicked will be destroyed or annihilated instead of being punished eternally. In modern liberal theology, the word hell is thought of as symbolic and subjective, and the wicked person may experience this even while on Earth. However, these beliefs are contrary to the teachings of Holy Scripture (Is. 66:24; Mark 9:48; Ps. 9:17; Matt. 13:41, 42; 2 Pet. 2:4).

Scripture teaches several things about hell. The wicked will not be annihilated (Matt. 25:46; Luke 16:19-31), so they need a place for eternity. Concerning hell, the Bible refers to it as the “hell of fire” (Matt. 18:9), and it is referred to as “the eternal fire” in the previous verse. Sacred Scripture has also used the following terms to describe hell: the “prison” (1 Pet. 3:19), the “abyss” (Luke 8:31), a “furnace of fire” (Matt. 13:42), and a “lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14, 15). Clearly, Scripture states that hell is a definite place and is the destination for the wicked.

Hell is a real place (Mark 9:43). It is a place, “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Is. 66:24; Mark 9:48). Satan, the Antichrist, and the deceptive religious figure who forces people to worship the Antichrist will all spend eternity in hell (Rev. 19:20, 20:10).

God created it for Satan and the fallen angels (Matt. 25:41). It is a place of torment (Rev. 14:11) where the wicked sinners are punished (Matt. 5:22), and it is eternal (Mark 9:48).

PUNISHMENT

We have heard sermons and have been taught in Sunday school that hell is a place of the absence of God’s presence. But that is not true. God is Omnipresent. He is everywhere at once. This includes hell.

The wicked who are sent to hell by God experience Him from the negative side. The presence of God is described as being face-to-face with God. The wicked who are in hell will not see the face of God. They will NOT have the favor and the blessings of God. They will endure the condemnation and wrath of God.

Louis Berkhof discussed four aspects of the state in which the wicked exist in hell. Berkhof writes the following:

Positively, it may be said to consist in (a) a total absence of the favor of God; (b) an endless disturbance of life as a result of the complete dominion of sin; (c) positive pains and sufferings in body and soul; and (d) such subjective punishments as pangs of conscious, anguish, despair, weeping, and gnashing of teeth.[1]

The humans who go to hell will not see the glory and love of God but will experience the condemnation and wrath of God (Ps. 139:8; Prov. 15:11; Matt. 25:41; John 3:36; 2 Thess. 1:9; Rev. 14:10). The Bible teaches that they will experience the second death (Rev. 2:11, 20:6, 14, 21:8). The wicked will be judged and sent to hell where it is a place of darkness and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 5:29, 8:12, 13:42, 50, 23:33, 24:51; Mark 9:43, 45; Luke 12:5; 2 Pet. 2:4, 17; Jude 1:13.

Those whose judgment sends them to hell will receive different degrees of punishment too, but the Bible does not give us the specific details of how this will occur—only that it will happen (Matt. 10:15, 11:22, 24; Luke 12:47, 48; Heb. 10:29; Rev. 20:12, 13).  As Dr. Charles Hodge has written,

As there are to be degrees in the glory and the blessedness of heaven, as our Lord teaches us in the parable of the ten talents, so there will be differences as to degree in the sufferings of the lost: some will be beaten with few stripes, some with many.[2]

DURATION

The majority report in Christianity is that after death, the body is buried in some way, and the soul or spirit consciously exists forever. It also believes that those who are not Christians at death remain unreconciled to God forever. However, only God knows for sure.

The Bible does, in fact, teach that the wicked will be punished forever. The perfect justice of God demands this. The Apostles and Jesus Christ did not try to contradict this.

Judgment to hell is the condemnation of created beings by Jesus on the Last Day forever (Matt. 25:41, 46; Mark 9:43; Rev. 20:10). The punishment will be eternal in nature (Is. 66:24; Dan. 12:2; Matt. 18:8, 25:46; Mark 9:43; 2 Thess. 1:9; Jude 7, 13; Rev. 14:11, 20:10).

The Greek words often translated into English as “eternal” and “everlasting” are sometimes used to denote an extended time period; however, the context here does not necessarily imply that. In fact, these terms mean exactly what they are translated as, not something else.

The wicked should have feared the triune God because He has the power to kill both the body and the soul (Matt. 10:28). They will experience the second death and will be sent to hell (Ps. 9:17, 145:20; Dan. 12:2; Matt. 8:12, 13:41, 42, 20:50, 25:41; John 3:18; 2 Thess. 1:9; 2 Pet. 2:4; Rev. 20:14, 15, 21:8). The wicked will be condemned by Jesus on Judgment Day, after the first death, and will be sent to hell for eternity and experience the second death (Heb. 9:27).

CONCLUSION

Certain things are true about Christians. To be in the Kingdom of God, a person must completely believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ and be baptized (Mark 16:16). If they do, they will be a genuine member of the church and the body of Christ. At a person’s death, if they are not a Christian, they will receive the condemnation and wrath of Jesus Christ on Judgment Day, and they will be sentenced to hell forever.

Hell is a real place where Satan, the Antichrist, the beast, and all the wicked creatures who are not Christians will spend eternity. God created it for Satan and the fallen angels, and it will be used for eternity to punish the wicked who are at odds with God. The wicked creatures will not be annihilated. They will spend eternity in hell, suffering punishment by God.

“Love never ends” (1 Cor. 13:8) for the Christian. But for the inhabitants of hell, they will not see God’s love. For that matter, they will not see God’s goodness, mercy, kindness, patience, or His glorified presence. These are only a few of the blessings they will miss out on. They will only experience God’s perfect justice, condemnation, and wrath forever in hell.

Christians must be aware of several teachings from Scripture regarding hell. Jesus will condemn the wicked to hell on Judgment Day. The Bible teaches that hell is a real place and God has created it as a location and punishment for the wicked creatures. They will go through the second death there (Matt. 10:28). The second death is eternal, cannot be resurrected from, and represents the separation from the grace, glory, light, love, and goodness of God. It also tells us that hell is a dark place where they will not see God face-to-face as the glorified saints will (1 John 3:2) and will exist forever with the weeping and gnashing of teeth. We are NOT told in sacred Scripture what kind of punishment will be meted out by God, but the Bible does tell us that the degrees of punishment will be different. God has revealed to us in His word what He wants us to know about hell. In actuality, only God knows everything about hell.

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[1] Berkhof, Louis, Systematic Theology, combined ed., (The Banner of Truth Trust, 2021), p. 772.

[2] Hodge, Charles, A., Systematic Theology, vol. III, Hendrickson (2016), p. 868.