The preachers quoted here describe hell as the fullest expression of God's wrath against sin, the absence of God and the presence of evil, and a place of eternal suffering for the wicked dead. They speak of it as both a condition and a place.
The English word translates several terms. Hades is the realm of the dead.1 Gehenna, named from the valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, is the word Jesus used for final punishment.2 Revelation speaks of "the lake of fire", which it calls the second death (Revelation 20:14). Most of what the New Testament says on the subject comes from Jesus himself.
His descriptions are severe. He speaks of "everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels", and concludes, "these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal" (Matthew 25:41, 46). He speaks of "outer darkness" and of the fire that is not quenched (Matthew 8:12; Mark 9:43-48). Paul speaks of "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord" (2 Thessalonians 1:9).
Scripture presents hell as God's just judgment on sin, given "to every man according to his deeds" (Romans 2:5-6). It will not be the same for all: Jesus said it would be more tolerable in the judgment for some than for others, and spoke of many stripes and few (Matthew 11:22; Luke 12:47-48).
The historic teaching of the church is that the punishment is conscious and unending. Augustine wrote, "if the soul live in eternal punishments, by which also those unclean spirits shall be tormented, that is rather eternal death than eternal life."3 Some evangelicals, among them John Stott, have held instead that the lost are finally destroyed and cease to be.
Scripture is equally clear that God does not delight in it. "As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live" (Ezekiel 33:11). He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
The doctrine is always preached in the New Testament as a reason to turn to Christ, who bore judgment so that others need not. "He that believeth on him is not condemned" (John 3:18).
- Strong's Greek 86, háidēs: "properly, unseen, i.e. "Hades" or the place (state) of departed souls".
- Strong's Greek 1067, géenna: "valley of (the son of) Hinnom; ge-henna (or Ge-Hinnom), a valley of Jerusalem, used (figuratively) as a name...".
- St. Augustine, City Of God, "Chapter 12.--That When Once the Vanity of the Gods of the Nations Has...".
In their own words
Each line below is quoted exactly from a sermon on this site. Follow the link to hear or read it where it was said.
Hell is the fullest expression of God's wrath against sin and unrighteousness.
David Wilkerson
in Hell - Part 1
Listen at 9:31
Hell is the absence of God and the presence of evil.
Carter Conlon
in Testimony Time in Hell
Listen at 9:56
Hell is an abode for the wicked dead and hell is a place of eternal suffering.
E.A. Johnston
in A Tour of Hell
Listen at 6:19
Hell is described as a place of unspeakable torment.
Scott Ardavanis
in A Sermon From Hell
Listen at 23:06
Hell is therefore both a condition of retribution and a place in which the retribution occurs in both these aspects.
Don Perkins
in The Reality of Hell
Listen at 8:55
Where they differ
Preachers describe hell from two sides: as God's wrath against sin, and as the end of a person's own settled choice against God.
Hell is just a freely chosen identity based on something else besides God going on forever.
Tim Keller
in Hell: Isn't the God of Christianity an Angry Judge?
Listen at 16:25
What Scripture says
- Matthew 25:46 everlasting punishment, and life eternal
- Mark 9:43-48 the fire that is not quenched
- 2 Thessalonians 1:9 everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
- Ezekiel 33:11 God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked
- John 3:18 he that believes on him is not condemned
How this page is made: the quotes are taken word for word from sermons on SermonIndex and checked against them by program before the page is published. The transcripts of audio and video sermons are machine-made, so follow the link to hear the words as they were spoken. The answer above the quotes is an overview with its sources listed; it is not a statement of doctrine by SermonIndex.