Hell In The New Testament
Hell in The New Testament At this point it should be noted that the Old Testament “Sheol” (Hell) and the New Testament “Hades” (Hell) are the same place. It was located in the center of the earth and had two compartments; one was Paradise for the saved, and the other was Torment for the lost. This will be qualified later in the book. Read Luke 16:22-26. Here we find in Hades, a great gulf separated Torment for the lost and Paradise for the saved. Paradise is also known as “Abraham’s Bosom.”
Let me illustrate the importance of recognizing the two compartments of Sheol, as translated “Hell” in the Old Testament. In Psalms 139:1-24, David is praising God for his attributes of omniscience and omnipresence. Notice Psalms 139:7-8, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in HELL (Heb. “sheol”), behold, thou art there.” The word "heaven" here is in the plural (Heb. “shamayim”). The “im” is the plural and should read “If I ascend up into the heavens.” That is past the first heaven (our atmosphere), past the second heaven, (the planets), and on to the Third Heaven. David is attesting to the fact that there is nowhere anyone can go to get away from the presence of God. Even if we should go past the planets, God is there.
Now we will go the other direction from the surface of the Earth, even to the center of the Earth where Sheol (Hell) is located, God is there. This is the basic point David is making; no one can escape the presence of God.
Now the statement David made that we are interested in, is this, “If I make my bed in Hell ("sheol")...” I have heard some say that David was lost and if he died then, his bed would be in Hell (Torment). I know I may be “splitting a hair”; but, this is why it is so important to understand that Sheol (English "Hell") had two compartments, Torment and Paradise. David here was a saved man, a "man after God’s own heart;" and, if he was thinking deeper than the basic facts, he would have been thinking of making his bed in the Paradise side of Sheol, not the Torment side of Sheol (Hell).
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In the New Testament the word "Hell" appears some 23 times and is translated from three Greek words. The three Greek words are "Hades," "Geenna," and “Tartaroo”. Each one denotes a different or, separate, place of punishment. When the translators came to these three words in the Greek (all are referring to a place of torment), they used our one English word "Hell" which is the equivalent. It is equivalent as far as Torment is concerned; but, not as far as their location is concerned. This will be illustrated in Diagram One. The three Greek words translated as "Hell" and where they appear in the Bible are as follows:
"Hades" translated “Hell” appears 10 times in the New Testament in the following places: Matthew 11:23; Matthew 16:18; Luke 10:15; Luke 16:23; Acts 2:27; Acts 2:31; Revelation 1:18; Revelation 6:8; Revelation 20:13-14. The Greek word "Geenna" is translated “Hell” 12 times in the New Testament in the following places: Matthew 5:22; Matthew 5:29-30; Matthew 10:28; Matthew 18:9; Matthew 23:15; Matthew 23:33; Mark 9:43; Mark 9:45; Mark 9:47; Luke 12:5; and James 3:6. Of these 12 times, it is spoken of 11 times by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels, and once by James 3:6. The Greek word “Tartaroo” appears only once in the whole New Testament and is translated “Hell” in 2 Peter 2:4. This is a separate place where the most wicked angels are kept and reserved unto judgment. They will be brought out of Tartaroo and cast into the Lake of Fire, where they will remain in torment forever.
"Hades" is translated once as "grave" in 1 Corinthians 15:55 and is a mistranslation. With this basic information, we are now ready for Diagram One.