The Scripture Doctrine of a Future Life

THE Greek word gehenna, translated hell in the New Testament, always refers to the place of punishment of the wicked. It never means the grave. The following is its complete use:—

Matt. 5:22, shall be cast into hell fire., 29, whole body should be cast into hell. 30, whole body should be cast into hell. 10:28, to destroy both soul and body in hell. 18:9, two eyes to be cast into hell fire. 23:15, more the child of hell than yourselves. 33, can ye escape the damnation of hell?

Mark 9:43, having two hands to be cast into hell. 45, having two feet to be cast into hell. 47, having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Luke 1:5, hath power to cast into hell.

James 3:6, is set on fire of hell.

The reader will readily see that every passage refers to the place of punishment, or hell, properly so called.

Greenfield, in his Greek Lexicon, thus plainly gives its origin and meaning: "Gehenna, pr. the valley of Hinnom south of Jerusalem, once celebrated for the horrid worship of Moloch, and afterwards polluted with every species of filth, as well as the carcasses of animals, and dead bodies of malefactors; to consume which, in order to avert the pestilence which such a mass of corruption would occasion, constant fires were kept burning."

Mr. Ellis, a Hebrew and Greek scholar, says, "Gehenna is not a Greek word. It does not occur in any classical author. It is merely the Grecian mode of spelling the Hebrew words which are translated the valley of Hinnom.'"

The phrase, the valley of Hinnom, occurs in the Old Testament ten times, as follows: Josh. 15:8; 18:16; 2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6; Jer. 7:31, 32; 19:2, 6; 32:35.

The word gehenna, as used in the Greek, occurs in the New Testament twelve times, as already given. It is always translated hell. As Greenfield says, the apostate Jews once celebrated the worship of Moloch in the valley of Hinnom. When they put away their idolatry, in order to show their contempt of Moloch and of his worship, they made that place a depository for all the filth and refuse of the city. Carcasses of beasts and malefactors were thrown there. Constant fires were kept burning, into which these carcasses were cast. But sometimes a carcass or some part of one was left out of the fire to be devoured by the worms. There were, therefore, two agents of destruction in the case,—the fire and the worms. It was a most repulsive picture of utter destruction. Jesus used this as an illustration to the Jews of how God would finally destroy the wicked. They will be cast into fire, and be consumed, the same as in the valley before them. Thus it became a very forcible illustration of the utter destruction of the wicked.

In Jeremiah the Lord himself names it the valley of slaughter. "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place." Jer. 7:32.

The prophet Isaiah in referring to the same thing tells us that the carcasses of men shall be cast into the fire and eaten by the worms. "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhoring unto all flesh." Isa. 66:24.

Thus the reader will see that there is not the remotest reference to unending torment in the use of the word gehenna or hell.

But does it not say that the fire shall not be quenched, neither shall the worm die? Yes, and this is very true. To quench a fire is to extinguish it before the material on which it is feeding is destroyed. A house is on fire; but by the application of water the fire is quenched, and the house is preserved. But suppose the fire is so far under way that it cannot he quenched. That is an unquenchable fire. It burns up the house entirely, and then it goes out of itself. You could not say that it was quenched. The Lord burned Jerusalem with unquenchable fire. He says, "I will kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." Jer. 17:27. But is Jerusalem burning now? No, the fire went out eighteen hundred years ago; yet the city was burned with unquenchable fire; unquenchable from the fact that the inhabitants could not quench it, and save the city. Just so the wicked will be cast into a fire which they can by no means extinguish. Hence the conclusion that they must certainly be burned up, and utterly perish.

And so with regard to the worm. The simple meaning evidently is that these elements of destruction will not fail, but will continue to prey upon the carcasses of the wicked until they are entirely consumed. All this will be literally fulfilled when God shall burn up the wicked in the fire which purifies the earth.

TARTAROO.

This word occurs only once in the Bible, and is in that case applied to the fallen angels. "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." 2 Peter 2:4.

This requires but a short notice. Mr. Parkhurst in his Greek Lexicon says, "Tartarus, in its proper physical sense, is the condensed, solid, and immovable darkness which surrounds the material universe." Probably it refers to those etherial regions surrounding this fallen planet, which Satan as the "prince of the power of the air" is said to inhabit.

The parallel text in Jude says, "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude 6.

From this it appears to be a place of darkness somewhere in the etherial regions. It has no reference to a lake of fire or to the final place of punishment, either of men or devils. It will be noticed that although the devils were in this place already in the days of Christ, yet they were not in torment then, for they said to Jesus, "Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" Matt. 8:29. This is sufficient to show that tartaroo is not the place of torment. As it has no reference to the punishment of men, we leave it here.