The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Heaven, Yes - Hell, No

Nahum
In case anyone is ready to say that “…the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.” (1:2) means that God will send them to Hellfire, let me say again that nowhere has He yet said such a thing, and as I have pointed out many times, all these cursings and outpourings of wrath exhibit themselves in the real world. It is vital to read and understand what God is saying, not what you may think He is saying because you are reading through a theological filter. Perhaps you have heard or read the dictum that “Text out of context is pretext.” Well, this is not different – we must compare any text with its context, and with God’s message as a whole. If we think of Hell in terms of a theory, it is not being supported so far by the data (the Text), as I pointed out at the end of every OT book so far. To gather the whole counsel of God, we must keep up our textual gleaning.

In 3:18 we see a mention of Assyria’s nobles dwelling [resting] in the dust, which I read as the dust of death. This would be Sheol or the grave again, the realm of the dead, a place in the real world. Any supernatural reality is unproven, except the Spirit of Life having returned to God who gave it.

Hell is not to be found in the book of Nahum.

Habakkuk
Many believe God’s judgment to be the separation of the righteous from the wicked – one to Heaven and one to Hell. Yet, here is something for them to think on: “…we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.” (1:12) The parallels between judgment and correction here suggest a very different outworking of God’s dealings with men.

In passing, we come across the verse which sparked a revolution in the mind of Martin Luther, and spread to much of the world: “…but the just shall live by his faith.” (2:4) We will yet see more amazing texts.

In the next verse is the last instance of “hell” in the OT, and as ever, it is footnoted as “Sheol.” It speaks of a man who “enlargeth his desire as hell,” simply a way of referring to the way death or the grave devours all living in apparently unending numbers, much as Abner asked in II Samuel 2:26, “Shall the sword devour for ever?” God tells us that it will not.

Fire in 2:13: “…the people shall labor in the very fire…” but this does not refer to people in the fires of Hell, but to them working to acquire things which are simply ephemeral – things which fire may take, our personal wood, hay, and stubble. The next verse is a poetic vision of our future: “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

Hell is not to be found in the book of Habakkuk.

Zephaniah
Ho-hum, the book begins with the usual threats of destruction against Judah, Phoenicia, Assyria, Moab, Ammon, etc. In 3:8 we read of what looks like the end of the world: “…all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.” Those who think this is a fire of destruction cannot explain what comes next: “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” (verse 9) God goes on to say, “In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings wherein thou hast transgressed against me…they shall trust in the name of the Lord….The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity…and none shall make them afraid…thou shalt not see evil any more.” (verses 11-15) No, this cannot be a fire of destruction, but a fire of refining and cleansing.

Hell cannot be found in the book of Zephaniah.

Haggai
This whole book, short as it is, is concerned with the beginning of the rebuilding of the Temple, after some of Judah had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon. It has nothing relevant to our thesis, therefore…

…Hell is not to be found in the book of Haggai.

Zechariah
In Chapter 3, Satan (footnoted “The Adversary” in my KJV) makes one of his few appearances – he’s a minor figure really. In 3:2 Jerusalem is described as a “brand plucked out of the fire,” and that is not a Hell reference, just a figure of speech. If you take a burning brand out of the fire, you can quench it and save it from being totally burned up. Given what God and His prophets have said about Jerusalem and its fate, we know that 3:2 refers to the city being ruined by the Babylonians and rebuilt under the authority of the Persians – things all happening in the real world. Anyway, it is not easy to think of a whole city in Hell.

There is fire again in 11:1-2, but the context is in the real world – Lebanon and Bashan, not Hell.
Chapter 12, verse 1 gives us yet another look at how God made the universe: “…the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.” As elsewhere, there is no mention of Him having made Hell. There is fire in verse 6, but the context is the real world – Judah and Jerusalem.

There are lots of hints dropped in this book about Jesus of Nazareth, such as 13:6 – “And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” Contrary to church dogma, Dante, Milton, and Baxter, Jesus is just not going to send His friends to Hell, even if it does exist, and we have yet to find evidence for that. Just imagine Jesus in a Westboro Baptist picket line, carrying a sign reading “My friends in Hell” – sounds a bit absurd, yes?

Hell is just not to be found in the book of Zechariah.

Malachi
We have more hints of Jesus here, as in 3:2-3 – “…he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s sope: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver…” We see this process as involving people, and only compared to gold and silver, which do need fire for refinement. The soap hints that He cleanses us, not just the sons of Levi, but maybe all mankind.

Now, at the very end of the OT, I run into a snag, in Chapter 4. It begins, “…the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up…it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Then there is verse 3, “And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this…” What are we to make of this? Is it speaking of Hell, of the 70 AD siege of Jerusalem, of nuclear war, or of the Lake of Fire? I honestly don’t know, but it seems to indicate a coming time of judgment. Eventually, we will know, and for now, the chapter gives us no hint if this happens in the real here-and-now world or not.

Hell, then, cannot be concluded from the book of Malachi.

Further, given all the above, neither Hell, nor the concept of it can be supported by the whole or any part of the Old Testament. It is just not there! Those who want to latch onto unproven and unprovable passages (as regards my Thesis), such as Malachi’s Chapter 4, are just grasping at straws, I think. I have seen some passages that give me pause, but as a whole, the No Hell thesis fits the text and the textual evidence much better than the Hell thesis.

The Gospel According to Matthew

First of all, let’s see what this term “gospel” means. In the dry dictionary sense, it refers to various accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus the Christ. Most of us are aware that it means “good news,” from the Greek word “euangelion.” “Angel” and “evangel” come from the same root word.

With that understood, how can “gospel” in any way, in any sense involve the possibility of eternal, conscious, torment in everlasting fire? That is NOT good news, reader, and if this Hell really exists, and many or most of humanity is going to such a place, then the message/evangel/gospel is Bad News for most of us. Moving into the New Testament as we are, my sub-thesis is that the Gospel IS good news, and therefore Hell cannot exist. Let us go forward like good Bereans, then, and see if these things are true…or not.

The first thing of interest that we see is Jesus’ name (1:21) – my KJV footnotes His name as meaning literally, “Savior,” and the same verse adds “…he shall save his people from their sins.” Note here that it is sins Jesus will save His people from – not Hell. Just as I stated that the Gospel and Hell cannot both be true, Jesus as the Savior of the World, and Hell, cannot both be true. Jesus saves the whole world, or He does not. A hint is given in this verse because of what is not said – is there no mention of Him saving His people from Hell because there was/is no need to say so? Because there was/is no Hell to save them from? As I said about the creation, silence here is quite a lapse if Hell actually exists.

Now along comes John the Baptist, and then the Pharisees and Sadducees. He tells them, “Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.” (3:7-8) He must have been thinking back to Chapter 24 of Jeremiah – the very good and very bad figs. Well, figs grow on trees, and he tells them “…the ax is laid unto the root of the trees…every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” (3:10) Does this represent Hell? Read on: “…he [Jesus] shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (3:11-12)

I submit to you that this is the same fire, and certainly not Hellfire, because Jesus baptizes with it, and baptism is part of the Good News, is it not? We know by now that God’s fire is for cleansing and purifying, so if the proverbial trees are cut down and cast into the fire, it means that the unrepentant have their wood, hay, and stubble burned away – the dross of sin and wickedness - leaving the gold, silver, and precious stones, even if a small amount. Looking ahead to I Corinthians 3:15, we know that, “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” This can not possibly be more clear: even if you go through the fire, you are saved, and this should put paid to any fire = Hell arguments.

Let’s not move on quite yet, for there is more in verse 12, which says that Jesus will baptize you (you, me, everybody) with the Holy Spirit and with fire. My take on this threshing-floor exercise is that it applies to all, and that the kernel of wheat is us, both the grain and the chaff. They are present together as part of the same seed head. Threshing the wheat involves beating the grain to separate the grain from the chaff, and winnowing to blow the chaff away, either with a fan or using the wind. Thus the chaff, standing in for our wood, hay, stubble - our carnal natures, is separated and burned. Now if you want to think the fire was Hellfire because it was unquenchable, there is really no need or justification for thinking the fire was any different from any other fire which burns until there is nothing more to burn, thus unquenchable. The wheat, being a symbol of our spiritual riches, is gathered into a barn representing the Kingdom of God. I used to think that the wheat was one class of people and the chaff another, but the clue is in the detail that they are together until the threshing. We are both wheat and chaff until our carnal natures are cleansed away. We will return to this theme again.

Chapter 4 and along comes the tempter/devil after Jesus has fasted 40 days. He tempts Jesus four times, and Hell is not mentioned. Just as in the book of Job, he is operating on the earth, and no other place or domain is evident.

In 5:19 Jesus describes who will be called least and greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and in that we see no hint or threat of Hell at all, just as we did not see it in the Law as given to Moses. In the following verse He goes on to say that one’s righteousness must be of a high order to enter this same kingdom, but do not think that heaven is closed to the unrighteous forever – remember that we have already seen that the wicked and such suffer loss, but are saved as through fire. That is how this writer puts it together.

On the other hand, Jesus amplifies the message of the Law, explaining that not just killing is a matter for judgment, but so are hurtful attitudes and/or words – a very high standard indeed, of righteousness! Now in verse 22, we see “hell fire” for the first time. Now, we are in the Greek-based NT, so it is not footnoted as “Sheol,” but as “gehenna.” This is not Hell, for Jesus is merely saying that bad actions cross over from the area of safe moral action into unsafe areas, where being executed and having your dead body burned with other refuse in Gehenna, a physical place in the real word, was possible. Theo-illogical sleight-of-hand has been at work here. To illustrate this point, Jesus describes three real-world situations in verses 23-26, none of which involve Hell. Moving on to verses 27-30, Jesus speaks of cutting off an eye or a hand, rather than having your whole body cast into hell. Well, that’s Gehenna again, and what I said above applies here as well. Better to cast off the part and live in the safe moral area than to keep the part and veer off into sin and dangerous moral territory, to be executed and have your body (body only, note!) burned in the city dump with other refuse, for that is exactly what Jesus was talking about, IMHO.

Winding up Chapter 5, Jesus tells us, “Love your enemies…bless them…do good to them…pray for them…” (5:43-48) This does not make a lot of sense if Hell is to be the destiny of the evil, the unjust, the wicked. Is it just possible that Jesus told us this because He plans to remake such people as good, just, upright? Did He not say, “Behold, I make all things new.”? Yes, He did, in 21:5 of the Revelation, and that would surely include all men.

In 6:14-15 and 7:1-2, we run into the idea of forgive and be forgiven by God, or fail to forgive and God will fail to forgive you. Conversely, judge not and be not judged, or judge and be judged by the same standard. I suppose these are often cited, but Hell is not mentioned, and it works equally well for the fire-forever crowd and for those preaching eventual reconciliation. We know by now that God is not angry forever, so will He withhold His forgiveness forever? Will His judgment against us stand forever? My guess, based on what we have seen so far, is that He will not, but these verses can go either way.

At 7:12 we encounter the Golden Rule, and what a wonderful rule it is! But have you ever wondered if God follows it? Jesus says, “…this [the Golden Rule] is the law and the prophets.” If that Law is in fact a transcript of the mind of God, and I think it is, then the Law’s silence on the subject of eternal torment in fire speaks volumes. Is the God of the Bible One who relegates any to Hell for any reason? We know two things by now, at least: God creates good and evil to exercise His purposes in the here-and-now. God gives us broad hints of eventual salvation and blessings for all. On Hell, He is silent.

Moving on, we quickly come up against the broad and narrow ways, in 7:13-14. The narrow way leads to life and the broad way leads to “destruction.” Does this have anything to do with entering the Kingdom, or Hell? Note that everything Jesus has said so far in the Sermon on the Mount concerns how His hearers should live in the world. I see this in the same light as the cutting off of an eye or hand in order to live without sin in the world, and not end up in Gehenna, burned with the trash, in the real world. Is there more to this, an eternal application? Yes, certainly, and I suppose it is time for me to tackle a big stumbling block. Many people hold to the idea that your fate is sealed at death, but I cannot find that concept in my Bible. People who follow natal astrology believe that everything about you is set by the positions of various heavenly bodies at the moment of your birth. I noted many years ago that the daily horoscope in your newspaper is distributed by the same syndicate as are the comic strips – a big clue. There are even better reasons to think that natal astrology is bunk. Does death sealing your eternal fate really make any more sense? Let’s look ahead and take a quick look behind the veil. We know that those not making the grade at the White Throne Judgment are cast into the Lake of Fire, and we know that it is the second death. Remember that Death and Hell (footnoted “Hades”) are also cast in. That’s a bit confusing, but it is not the end of the story. In fact, we see a time much further from us than the filling of the Lake of Fire, in I Corinthians 15:25-26, “For he [Jesus] must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” I ask you a fair question reader: How can anyone still be dead and/or in Hell after that? Further, verse 28 states that all these things happen so “…that God may be all in all.” Again, how can anyone still be dead and/or in Hell if God is going to become All in all? We will return to these passages later.

Fire again in 6:19 – “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” Yes, this might be, and probably often is, used as a picture of Hell. However, earlier in His sermon, Jesus spoke of the lilies which grow today and tomorrow are fuel for the oven. He said nothing bad about the lilies, and if we are going to pick up every instance of “thrown into the fire” to refer to Hell, then we must settle on a capricious God who sends the innocent lilies as well as the bad-fruit trees into Hell. I think I’d rather see them as real-world illustrations.

After His tree comments, Jesus speaks of those He never knew, who He commands to depart, apparently not allowed to enter the Kingdom. Our brief peek behind the veil, just two paragraphs ago, applies here. These people are not yet worthy of the Kingdom, or to be in the presence of Jesus, so they will depart for more refining, cleansing, and repentance – it makes at least as much sense as them being whisked off to Hell, and the passage does not say they will be.

In 8:12, Jesus remarks on those “…cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” This seems to be worked into Hell thinking, but it is just a loss of status for those cast out. Picture a Sabbath dinner, the sun having set on Friday night, and some are kicked out of the house into the dark outside, just like the unfortunate wedding guest of Matthew 22:13.

An odd thing here is to notice something mentioned only four times in the OT: devils, demons. The devils in charge of the two men of Chapter 8 know who Jesus is, and what their fate is (torment), but we don’t have a clue as to what they are exactly or where they come from. Given their association with Hell, we will see what we can gather from the New Testament.

Another item we will keep an eye on is the assertion that Jesus said more about Hell than anything else. Well, it sounds absurd on the face of it, and it might fly with people who do not read their Bibles. However, see 9:35 – “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching…preaching the gospel [good news] of the kingdom, and healing…” Verse 36 goes on to say, “…he was moved with compassion on them…” so it’s not easy to picture a compassionate Jesus, Who later sends many of them to Hell. No, Hell is not mentioned here, nor any dire warnings. Stay tuned.

Jesus tells us in 10:26, “…there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.” Then comes verse 28, a puzzle – “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” “Hell” is footnoted here as “Gehenna,” and I can only figure this out by seeing it as a comment on those killed here who will later be resurrected to life, becoming living souls again. Then, there are those who are executed for crimes, have their dead bodies burned in Gehenna (real world again), and are later cast into the Lake of Fire for their shortcomings. But that is just my own interpretation.

In 11:23, we have “hell” again, and it refers to a whole city, Capernaum, being “brought down to hell.” Now “hell” in this case is footnoted by a new word, the Greek “hades.” Let’s check this out. Hades was the name of the Greek god of the underworld, and also of the underworld itself, The Hebrews called the realm of the dead “sheol,” and when the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek as the Septuagint, “sheol” was rendered as “hades.” A form of this word, “aides,” means exactly what “sheol” means: the unseen – that is to say, the realm of the dead, the grave, the pit. It is the best equivalent in the Greek language, but there was a price to pay. The Hebrews had the correct take on the state of the dead, but after the good news began to go out to the gentiles/nations, many Greeks began to be converted. It was inevitable that they would bring in, at least subconsciously, their old, pagan biases. After the permanent schism between the old Hebrew religion and Christianity, about 150 AD, I’m sure religious thinking became more Greek. Later, Latin speakers, who were well accustomed to re-alignments between religions, such as merging their gods with Greek gods, brought a whole new spirit of syncretism to Christianity. By about 500 AD, a lot of pagan temples, holidays, and beliefs had been grafted into the religious tradition handed down from the time of Acts, but that is far beyond the scope of this essay. This half-pagan Christianity reached the Saxons, both on the Continent and in Britain, and their Hel became Hell in time. You see, the Saxon, Germanic, and Norse Hel was their goddess of the underworld. This underworld was called “Helheim,” meaning “the House of Hel.” Interestingly, the roots of the word “Hel” hark back to the original meanings of Sheol and Hades – covered and hidden. [Source: Orel, Vladimir. 2003. A Handbook of Germanic Etymology. p. 156, 168.] The true Britons, now pushed into such corners as Wales, had a more pure version of Christianity, as it had arrived in Britain in the first century – but that is another story. Since the Saxons had Hel, goddess and realm, and the Greeks had Hades, god and realm, I suspect the Saxons had long contact with the Greeks before they moved north and west – again, that is another story. That, reader, is my take on how “hell” got into the English language, and some of my historical information may not be accurate, but the very similarity of “hel” and “hell” should send the serious Bible student on a word-study quest. It should also give pause to anyone who subscribes to the doctrine of Hell, as the very name of this Saxon underworld exposes the pagan roots of Hell for all to see.

By the way, my researches on “hades” took me to my Oxford English Dictionary, a reference dictionary if there ever was one, and it stated that the word “hades” did not enter the English language until about 1600 AD, having to do with some theological controversy.

Jesus, in 12:26, speaks of Satan’s kingdom, but where and what would that be? Remember that when Jesus was tempted, Satan offered Him all the kingdoms of the world, “…All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Were all these kingdoms really Satan’s to give? It’s a sobering thought. In 12:29, Jesus speaks of the “strong man’s house,” and again, it is the domain of Satan. Jesus speaks of binding Satan and plundering his house, but Hell is not mentioned as Satan’s kingdom or his house. What is mentioned in the Bible is the Earth, where Satan goes to and fro, and walks up and down, as we read in Job 1:7. Elsewhere, in the Gospel of John, Jesus calls him the “prince of this world.”

Now we come to a tough one – the Unforgivable Sin. Jesus identifies it as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, something so serious that it will not be forgiven, “neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” (12:32) In case you might think this act is a fast track to Hell, look at the footnote, for “world” is footnoted as “age.” Since the next age to come, the 1,000 year Millennial Kingdom, is undoubtedly not the last (see I Corinthians 15:23-28), this sin may well be forgiven in time – a long time.

Parallel to the parable of the wheat and chaff, Jesus tells His disciples the parable of the wheat and tares, in 13:24-30. The wheat and chaff are together until the threshing, but the wheat and tares are not even the same species. In this parable the non-wheat stands for the wicked, for Jesus goes on to explain the meaning of the parable to His disciples in 13:37-43. He states that “…the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the Devil…” Note that these tares are harvested first, bound, and cast into the fire. Hell? I think not, unless you insist on overlaying the Hell doctrine on everything in sight. No, the great consuming, purifying fire at the end of this grand story the Bible tells is the Lake of Fire, burning to ashes or the Second Death. Happily, we know by now that this second death is not the end, for the last enemy to be overcome is Death itself. It is axiomatic that this overcoming of death must involve the release of the dead from the Lake of Fire, just as the sea gave up its dead at the first resurrection. Yes, it’s just that simple.

The Gospel of Matthew, continued:

Jesus concludes His talk at 13:48-50, speaking of fishermen keeping the good fish from their nets and casting away the bad fish. Further, “the angels shall…sever the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Again, an unnamed furnace of fire is not Hell, and the wailing and gnashing do not make it so, either. Even so, we see that the judgments of God are severe at the end of this world age. There will be wailing and gnashing, but these last only until the second death takes the wailers and gnashers in the Lake of Fire, and that death, like any death is a state of sheol/non-existence.

Jesus quoted Isaiah 29:13, in Matthew 15:9 – “…in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Given what we have thus far, I think I can state with some confidence that the doctrine of Hell falls into this category. Why? We see the doctrine of Hell taught, preached, and codified in most churches (not all), yet we cannot find it yet in the Bible, even the KJV. That being so, we must state that the doctrine of Hell is a commandment of men, and therefore to subscribe to the doctrine of Hell is to worship Him in vain. Don’t get mad at me – I’m just running with what He said. Jesus says it can be so. We see it in 17:12, concerning the doctrines of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Answering Peter about the small stone of Peter and the large stone upon which He would build His church, Jesus states, “…the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (16:18) The word rendered as “hell” is “hades” again, already dealt with at length, so I do not think I am too far out of line to say that Jesus was looking forward to the deaths of all the Christian martyrs over the centuries, and still dying for their Lord today. Now if sheol/hades has gates, figuratively speaking, this indicates the entry to death, and Jesus knew that for all those who have died for their faith in Christ, estimated at about seventy million, His church still thrives. With over two billion adherents, it is the most numerous religion in the world. However, most churches incorporate the Hell doctrine in their creeds or foundational documents, so Hell is made a part of that “large stone” upon which Christ’s Church is built. It is a mixed metaphor at best, and at worst, it is the house Jesus spoke of, built mostly on the Rock, but also partly built over the gap of the Hell we have yet to find in the Bible. Because of that gap in the foundation of the house, when the rain, floods, and winds come “and beat upon that house,” it will be in danger of falling.

In the next verse (19), Jesus grants Peter, or will grant Peter, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, telling him of binding and/or loosing on earth and in heaven. I confess I don’t know the full meaning of this grant, and perhaps it simply meant that the disciples’ works were going to have eternal results, but I note that Hell had no part in Jesus’ grant.

A lot is made of Jesus’ statement, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (16:26) Here, we just need to go back to the creation of Adam in Genesis. Body + Spirit = Soul, that is to say, a living, breathing, thinking person. The “soul” is not some ineffable thing we have inside us which is coveted by both God and the Devil. Jesus is merely asking rhetorically - what is of more value to a man than his life? To lose your own soul is not to be sent to Hell, but to simply die, as I have pointed out many times.

Jesus says that He “…shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” (16:27) Some will read into this that Jesus will give good rewards to those with good works and punishment to those with bad works. Compare with I Corinthians 3:14-15 – “If any man’s work abide [endures] which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” I had quoted verse 15 before, but adding verse 14 completes the picture. Paul implies that all are saved, but some are saved “as by fire,” and whether that is the Lake of Fire is yet to be seen, but it probably is.

Jesus condemns those who entice to sin, saying, “…it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea…Woe unto the world…woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” (18:6-7) No reason is given to assume the woes lie anywhere else than in the real world. He then returns to the theme of cutting off a hand, foot, or eye in order to “enter into life” instead of being cast into “everlasting fire” (18:8) or “hell fire.” (18:9) The “everlasting fire” is footnoted “gehenna,” thus death and burning in the garbage dump, and by association and parallelism, “everlasting fire” must mean the same. Anyway, no one enters life, the afterlife in the Kingdom, minus a hand, a foot, or an eye – that would be absurd. It must mean, in my humble opinion, simply getting on with your earthly life. As I said before, Jesus is simply saying it is better to live without a body part which leads you to sin, crime, prison, execution, and having your body burned in the dump instead of being given a decent burial.

In 18:11-14, Jesus states that His mission is to save that which was lost, and relates the parable of the shepherd, 99 kept sheep, and 1 stray sheep. He says that the shepherd is happier with the 1 than with the 99, and don’t you think that Jesus has a whole lot better chance of finding that lost sheep than the average shepherd? Of course He does, and “…it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” Little ones – that’s you and me, brother, and is our puny human will going to prevail against the Wills of Jesus and His Father? I think not. Theology has a term for it: Irresistible Grace. Combine that with God’s will for none of us to perish, and it means Eternal Security to me. How about you?

Chapter 18 concludes with the parable of the king who was settling accounts with his servants. This reminds me of the splinter in another’s eye versus the beam in your own, and the small forgiveness you need to extend to others to merit the great forgiveness from God. In the parable, the evil, non-forgiving servant is sent to the king’s torturers, and “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” (18:35) Some read Hell into that, even though it is not mentioned, but I think it is more important to remember the principle mentioned by Matthew, Mark, and Luke: With what measure you use, your own reward will be measured – at least that is how I understand it. What Jesus says above reminds me of something I heard on the radio not too long ago: To refuse to forgive is to burn a bridge, not behind you, but one which you yourself must cross.

At 19:23-24, Jesus makes His famous rich-man-camel-needle’s-eye comment, but note that the direction is always up, not down: Earth to the Kingdom of Heaven/God (as difficult as that may be), never Earth to Hell. When His disciples ask in the next verse, “Who then can be saved?,” Jesus answers, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” This is a moment in the story of the Bible when one just might get to thinking, the rich can be saved, so anybody can be saved, so everybody can be saved? Is such a thing possible? Jesus hints that it is, but He cautions in verse 30, “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” He goes on to illustrate with the parable of the man who paid all his help the same, no matter how many or how few hours they had worked, and finishes with, “…for many be called, but few chosen.” (20:16) The topic continues, as Jesus speaks to the priests and elders in 21:31. He tells them that not only are the elders and priests, who are in a high position in this world, going to enter the Kingdom after the tax-collectors and harlots, but He fails to indicate any destination besides the Kingdom of Heaven. Is it too much to believe that your worst outcome is merely a late entry to the Kingdom?

Winding up this theme, Jesus relates the parable of the wedding in 22:1-14. The invited guests prove unworthy, so the King’s servants “…gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good…” Is this a picture of all men in Heaven, both those who were bad and good on Earth? One man was there for whatever reason without proper garments – he was bound and cast into outer darkness. This is just a bum’s rush out the door, a precipitous loss of status, but this outer darkness will only be identified with Hell by those already subscribing to Hell. I see it as an illustration of what Jesus said elsewhere, that those who have little will have what little they have taken away.

In contrast to all the pagan religions with their gods of the dead, Jesus affirms in 22:32 that His Father is not a god of the dead, but the God of the living. Never is Satan given parity with God, by being named or considered a god of the dead, the damned, or of the underworld. As I mentioned many pages ago, we have Heaven and Earth, a hierarchy, not a dualistic struggle between Heaven and Hell with the Earth and its humans as a prey between them. God has stated clearly that He owns this Earth, and as its creator, He should. As He says in Psalm 50:12, “…the world is mine, and the fullness thereof.” We have seen how Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of this same Earth, yet we must remember that Satan obtained his title to it by fraud in the Garden of Eden. His fraud will be overturned and his rule brought to an end. In this sense, yes, the Earth and us are a prize, but it is a temporary situation, not the grand, eternal standoff depicted in medieval art, and only slightly downplayed by the modern church.

“Hell” shows again, in Chapter 23. First in verse 15, footnoted as “gehenna,” as we have seen, a place in the real world. Second, in verse 33, not footnoted, but other sources indicate that it too, should be rendered as “gehenna.” Jesus is hurling insults, truth to be sure, but offensive to those He directed it to. He is saying that some deserve, not a decent burial, but to be burned in the city dump with other criminals. No Hell does not need to be inserted here, but was anyway by translators who could have translated more honestly. In this regard, I must quote Jesus in 24:4, “Take heed that no man deceive you.”

Jesus, in answering His disciples about the end of the world, and that word in 24:3 should have been “age,” not “world,” says “…he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” A few verses later, He tells us what kind of salvation: “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved…” (24:22) God’s salvation extends then to both the dead and the living.

In 24:51, an evil servant is cut in two and classed with the hypocrites, with weeping and gnashing of teeth, but Hell is not mentioned. So also for the foolish virgins of 25:11-12 who are simply left outside. Again, the servant of the one talent was cast into outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth, but Hell is not mentioned (25:30). We keep running up against this phrase, and I think it does not mean Hell, because it is darkness, and Hell is supposed to be a fiery place. Fire involves some light. Put it in the context of the place and time – if you were thrown out the door into the darkness outside, you were alone, possibly cold, and facing fending for yourself, at least until morning. You were cut off from the pleasant food, drink, and company inside, and little wonder if you wept or gnashed your teeth! Hell is just not needed as an explanation for these turns of phrase.

In 25:32-46, Jesus separates “sheep” people from “goat” people. The right-hand sheep are promised “life eternal,” and the left-hand goats are given “everlasting punishment.” In particular, Jesus says, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” (25:41) Now, the Hell-roaring crowd will think they have me. Nope. First, let’s look at what fire is prepared. It is most certainly NOT the classic Hell of Dante, Milton, and Baxter, as Satan presides over that, at least in their theological fantasies, and he is most certainly not in charge here. Sometimes we must look ahead, and this is one of those times. We find a fire prepared, or at least, the devil is cast into it – the Lake of Fire, as we see in the Revelation, 20:10. Now that we know the fire is God’s fire, the reader should recall that His fire is redemptive in nature, cleansing and purifying, not destroying and punishing. It burns up the chaff, the tares, the wood, hay, and stubble; what it leaves is gold, silver, the precious things which endure fire. The goat people will suffer loss, as we read earlier, but they will be saved, but as through fire. The last point may be the most difficult: how long will they be in the fire? Forever? That would make no sense – why purify and cleanse them with fire forever? That would just get back to punishment and destruction. Do you see how the time factor is so important to the Hell theory? Now the KJV uses terms like “eternal,” “everlasting,” “for ever,” and the like. The YLT uses the term “age-during,” a clumsy term, and it refers to a long span of time, but not an infinite one.

So, we must stop here and look at a few Greek and Hebrew words. My own research finds only two times in the New Testament where “eternal” comes from an equivalent Greek word – “aidios.” No, it’s not “goodbye” in Spanish. The fact is that in the ancient world, concepts like “eternal,” “zero” and “infinity” were slow to develop. The ancient Egyptians expressed eternity as “millions of years,” which gives us the feel, but that is not really eternity, as millions of years still have an end and a beginning. The Greek word all-too-often mistranslated as “eternity” is “aion,” which was transliterated into the Latin “aeon,” and that came down to us as the English “aeon” and “eon.” In the Hebrew, we find the same meaning in “olam,” mistranslated in the Old Testament, also too often, as “eternity.” In the early sense that Homer used, “aion” meant a lifetime. Today, “eon” is often used to refer to forever, everlasting and eternal, but in the Biblical sense we should keep in mind that it is best used to mean any long but finite period of time. To put it in perspective, if we are speaking of God, Who is uncreated, we can speak of eternity. If the subject is the created cosmos, then we must speak of aeons or eons, as the cosmos has a beginning, and is therefore, not eternal.

Back to Matthew 25:32-46, we should now know that Jesus is sending His right-hand sheep, not to “life eternal,” but to the life of the aeon, or “aeonian life.” In the same way, His left-hand goats are sent, not to eternal punishment, but to an aeon or eon (beginning and end, remember) of punishment, chastisement, correction, and purification. Having dealt now with the eternal part of eternal torture (aka, Hell), the torture part must wait until we reach the Lake of Fire in the Revelation. Stay tuned.

Having worked through the Gospel of Matthew the Publican, this writer cannot find any support for Hell or eternal torture In it.

The Gospel of Mark

There is really nothing to comment on until 3:21-29, where we see Jesus’ friends saying that He was “beside himself,” and the scribes going further, using the name “Beelzebub.” We have not seen this name since II Kings, chapter 1, and it is the name of a god of the Philistine city of Ekron. I don’t care to comment on the name itself, except to say that the speakers of it were violating God’s command to not speak the name of any pagan god. Jesus must have known this, but He had deeper things to say. Let’s skip over the binding Satan part and see what pertains to us, sinners that we are. Jesus says this, “All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies…” What, ALL sins? Yup, that’s what He said – keep in mind what was said to Joseph in Matthew 1:21, “…he shall save his people from their sins.”

There is ONE exception – Jesus warns, “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.” This is generally known as The Unforgivable Sin, and verse 30 pins it down: “Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.” Those who spoke against Jesus were saying what they should have known was the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) was either madness or some kind of demonic power which they put a pagan god’s name to. Either saying is a horrible slap against God, but I think the latter is worse. Let’s look at what the YLT has to say, as I think it renders verses 28-30 far better than the KJV: “Verily I say to you, that all the sins shall be forgiven to the sons of men, and evil speakings with which they might speak evil, but whoever may speak evil in regard to the Holy Spirit hath not forgiveness – to the age, but is in danger of age-during judgment…” We see that “Ghost” is now corrected to “Spirit,” “never forgiveness” is rendered as “not forgiveness,” and best of all, “eternal damnation” is correctly translated as “age-during judgment.” This reconciles the whole narrative, and even this sin of sins is forgiven, just as Jesus said it would be, only after some seriously bad judgment lasting an age/eon.

By the way, look back at what I wrote on Matthew, chapter 12:32 – the text reads, “it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” “World” here is footnoted as “age,” and the YLT has “age” in the text. Could this be the same word translated as “eternal” in other contexts, to suit some theological bias? Let’s look it up…OK, I found an online interlinear version of the verse, and the Greek word for “world” or “age” is “aioni,” a form of our familiar “aion,” translated as “eternal” in so many places - translational sleight-of-hand again, except where the use of “eternal” would be ridiculous.

At 4:22 Jesus tells His hearers, “For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.” One such thing is the present truth about Heaven and Hell.

In Chapter 5, we see again the story of the man with a legion of demons. Note that they beg Jesus to not send them out of the country, but into local pigs. Isn’t it odd that they do not ask to be sent home to Hell? No, just like Satan, they seem bound to the Earth. No Hell here…

There’s an interesting occurrence in Chapter 8, where Peter says, “Thou art the Christ,” and shortly after that he rebukes Jesus over Him telling of His coming suffering. Rebuking Jesus?! No wonder Jesus told him to “Get thee behind me, Satan…” Now, reader, I have already pointed out that Satan and the demons seem to be bound to the Earth. Further, I can find no evidence that the demons operate under the authority of Satan, in the sense of them being Satan’s demons. Given that, it is a side issue to me, but I will mention here that “Satan” in this passage is Strong’s #4567, transliterated as “Satanas,” and defined as “the adversary.” Jesus, then, was calling out Peter as an adversary, but we must wonder - is Satan a trick of language, or a real person? I honestly don’t know, but given what I’ve seen offered in evidence, I have my doubts. My readers can decide for themselves…

Following on from calling Peter His adversary, Jesus discourses in verses 34-38 His famous saying about gaining the whole world but losing your soul. A more severe judgment is implied for those who will not follow Jesus, but note that Hell is not mentioned, even though many interpret it so. I hope that my readers are people who possess the ability to see what they are looking at, for not everyone does. Today is no different from the days of Jesus, or the days of Isaiah – just take a look at Mark 4:12.

Chapter 9 begins with a bit of a mystery, for Jesus has called together “…the people unto him with his disciples also…” (8:34), and He says some of them will live to see “…the kingdom of God come with power.” This may not mean they will survive to the present time and see the Second Coming. Look to Luke 17:20-21, where Jesus says the Kingdom can not be observed in its arrival, for it is within (footnoted, “among”) you. I think we should look to the day of Pentecost for the arrival of the Kingdom with power, but that is just my opinion.

A second mystery soon follows, in the Transfiguration. Jesus is seen with Moses and Elias, and how did that happen? It is either a vision, or both men were brought up, resurrected, from the dead for the event. This writer cannot find solid ground, and since Jesus is the firstfruit from the dead, I will go with it being a vision. Anyway, the whole thing is off-topic, so let’s move on.

At this point in Mark we have already seen Jesus tell twice of His suffering, death, and rising again. See 8:31 and 9:31. I know that many say He descended into Hell during the three days between His death and His rising again, but there is no mention of that here. Jesus was only in a tomb, under the earth, in the grave, in the pit. As usual, Hell is interpolated, inserted by interpretation. Let us see clearly what the Bible says and does not say, and not add what is not there. Remember what God said in Deuteronony 4:2 and the Revelation 22:18.

Later in Chapter 9, Jesus repeats His advice about hands, feet, and eyes. Again, it’s all about Gehenna, and my comments about the equivalent passage in Matthew still stand. The only thing I care to add is in verse 47, “…it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.” The “hell fire” is, of course, gehenna, a place in the real world at that time. Now, ask yourself – is the Kingdom of God a mythical place in the sky, the realm of harps and clouds with Saint Peter at the gate, a place found nowhere in the Bible, or is it the operative Kingdom Jesus spoke of, a place that was within/among the crowds He spoke to? I have noted that Jesus never described this Kingdom in any direct way, but He did describe how it happened, how it operated. Today, as then, it would be a real thing (not a place) in the real world, but not something anyone could put a finger on, just as Jesus said it did not come by observation.

In Chapter 10 we read of the rich man who wanted to find eternal (age-long) life, but left sadly when told he had to give his riches to the poor to enter the Kingdom. Again, this was not a pie-in-the-sky thing, but something operating in the world then, and now. Was he going to Hell? No, for Jesus states that it is hard and difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom, but He sums up the matter by saying, “…with God all things are possible.” (verse 27)

In Chapter 11 Jesus answers the Sadducees, and makes no Heaven/Hell distinction for those who are resurrected. Further, He states that God is the God of the living, not a God of the dead. I’m confused – don’t people have to be dead to be in Hell? On the other hand, don’t people have to be alive to experience and endure conscious torment in Hell? The fire-forever crowd has a problem here, but that’s not my circus, not my monkey.

Now it’s high time we took a look at that damn word, “damnation.” It is found eleven times in the Bible, all of them in the New Testament. In 12:40, Jesus states that certain rascals will receive greater damnation. It’s a loaded word, as in “damned to Hell,” and it has a load of negativity. Formal definition: condemnation to eternal punishment in Hell. A little research quickly finds it should read “judgment” or “condemnation.” I say, away with damnation!

That’s all I have to say about the Gospel of Mark, where I could not find any proof of Hell.

The Gospel According to John
“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:3). We commented on this way back on page 5, but it bears repeating – if the Creator did not create it, no one else did. Given that God has not claimed anywhere in His Word to have made Hell, we should accept only what He does claim: Heaven and Earth. Religion teaches, and men believe, that Hell exists, but is that really any different than casting spells and conjuring to make something happen? Yes, I am serious. Elijah and the prophets of NOPE competed in prayer (I Kings 18), and we can see how all that the pagans did came to nothing. Elijah had such faith that he even had his altar, wood and sacrifice soaked with water, but the real God sent fire to consume it all. This is what pleases God, not spiritual strongholds about things that do not exist. The endless assertions of endless churchmen do not make Hell exist, any more than the millions of sincere Christians, who subscribe to a creed or statement of faith. These things lack the power to make anything real. Believe in Hell if you must, but know - that doesn’t make it so.

Darkness yet again, in 1:5 – “…the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John is being poetical here, but it would not be wise to think of darkness as a thing. John is correct, darkness does not comprehend - simply because it is where light has yet to shine.

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (1:29). Now if the Hell theory were correct, John the Baptist might have said something very different, such as the Lamb saving us from Hell, but he failed to say so, and maybe he didn’t need to.

We meet Nicodemus (note the Greek name) in Chapter 3. Confronted with the idea of being born again, or born from above, he wonders out loud if a man can come out of the womb a second time. Now, Jesus had a perfect opportunity here to expound on reincarnation – IF it was true, but He did not take the bait. So what does this have to do with our Question? Well, it’s about what Paul speaks of in II Corinthians 10:3-5. He speaks of pulling down strongholds of belief, casting down imaginations/arguments and everything exalting itself against the knowledge of God. He speaks of bringing every thought into captivity and obedience to Christ. Now, having looked through the Bible together as we have, if the reader is still with me, we know that the knowledge of God does not include Hell. It does not include reincarnation either, but most Christians will let that go by, no problem, for it is not a spiritual stronghold in their minds. Sadly, we have much difficulty (notice “cult” inside the word “difficulty”) letting go of ideas we hold dear. The mental phenomena called “cognitive dissonance” begins when we consider a change in basic beliefs, and our minds are painfully pulled in both, or several, directions at once. Most people run for shelter then, almost always the shelter of their dear, old spiritual stronghold. Only a few will follow the Truth wherever it leads, and we know that Nicodemus did help Joseph bury the body of Jesus, so it’s no stretch to think that he came to believe what Jesus was teaching him.

Before we leave Nicodemus, look at what Jesus was teaching him in 3:12-21. Jesus mentions Earthly and Heavenly things, but fails to mention Hellish things. He mentions ascending up and down from Heaven, but not down and up from Hell. In the famous John 3:16, John states that God’s gift of Jesus to the world was so “…that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Hell is not given here as the alternative to everlasting life, but perishing, which is simple death, a time spent in the grave, in sheol. Jesus also speaks of saving the world, versus condemnation, and He defines that condemnation as men hating the Light, and loving darkness, because their deeds were evil. He could have offered Hell as the condemnation, but did not, and we see this over and over - just as He failed to expound on reincarnation, He misses one opportunity after another to put a foundation under Hell. You should consider this lapse if you believe that Jesus always spoke the truth.

John the Baptist, in 3:36, says, “…he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” I’m sure this is ammunition for the damnationists, but we already know from the Old Testament prophets (as Micah 7:18) that God will not always be angry, but will eventually show mercy.

In Chapter 5, Jesus lectures His Jewish opponents: “He that heareth…and believeth…shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death [not Hell] unto life…the dead [in sheol] shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live…all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, [grave, not Hell] and come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” (5:24-29). Note that “damnation” in verse 29 is CCR footnoted as “condemnation,” and “condemnation” in verse 24 is CCR footnoted as “judgment.” A bit of research shines a light on this – it should be “judgment” in every case, but I’m guessing “judgment” was too mild a word. I’m calling this just another case of theo-illogical sleigh-of-hand, where loaded words are used for effect. In this case, I think it’s to prop up Hell, and a condemning, damnationist God Who sends sinners there.

At 6:39, Jesus responds to His would-be followers, “…this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” So what’s included in “all”? John the Baptist told us in 3:35 – “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.” All things! That’s everyone, living and dead, the world, even the entire cosmos! Some verses later, Jesus says, “…no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.” (6:65). So – since His Father gave Him all things, and since He will lose nothing, then it stands to reason that God will give unto every man to come unto Jesus at some point in time. A victorious gospel indeed!

In 8:24, Jesus answers His Jewish opponents, saying, “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” Here, Jesus misses another opportunity to threaten with Hell, but He only mentions death, which we know is the only wage of sin. If it were not so, Jesus would have told us. Many believe that to die in your sins is to go straight to Hell, but if Jesus has been given all, and will lose nothing, then the gift of eternal life must be the eventual outcome of God’s judgments, however severe they are after death and resurrection. It can be no other way, for anyone spending eternity in conscious torment is certainly lost, but Jesus stated that He would lose nothing. I’ll go with Jesus on that, and He says more in 8:34-35, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant [CCR footnote: slave] of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the Son abideth ever.” Jesus is referring back to the Law of the Jubilee. At the start of the Jubilee year, every man who had sold himself, or his family, into slavery since the last Jubilee, had his debts cancelled and went free to go back to his ancestral lands. Jesus is teaching that to sin is to become a slave to sin, but also that those in bondage to sin will become free of sin at a time set by God. Yes, the Jubilee principle, of which the freeing of slaves was a type and shadow, excludes Hell, for they cannot both exist.

A few paragraphs ago we looked at the words damnation, condemnation, and judgment, and at how judgment should have stood in place of the other two. In 9:39, Jesus explains that judgment, but not as we might have expected: “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” Sight for the blind…and blindness for those who can see, or think they see? He might as well have said that He was going to turn the world upside down, and maybe that was His intent. Then he goes on, in verse 41: “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” This clarifies – those with limited faculties, or who have never seen or heard of God, Jesus or the Good News, are excused, while those given more have fewer excuses. Did He not say that to whom more is given, more is expected? Take a look back at Luke 12:48, and also John 12:47 – “…I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” If you might think that this salvation has anything to do with Hell, no, see Matthew 1:21 again: “…he shall save his people from their sins.” As ever, Hell does not enter into the matter.

Jesus has yet more mind-blowing things to say. On being threatened with stoning, He asks His accusers, in 10:34, “Is it not written in your law, I SAID, YE ARE GODS?” This refers back to Psalm 82:6 – “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” Now look ahead at I John 3:2 – “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” [emphasis added] That’s hard to get your mind around, but there it is!

Jesus tells Martha, just before He raises her brother, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” (11:25-26). Well, what about those who don’t believe in Him? Will they believe eventually, be lost, or go to Hell?? The final answer is yet to come.

Now in 12:31-32, we hear Jesus announce His victory: “…now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” Once again, if the devil is indeed the prince of this world, we see that this world is where he is operating, not Hell. Also note that Jesus makes no exception to who will be drawn to Him – it is all men. Hell is just not an issue here – if you can avoid using the overlay of Hell, you will realize that the plain text simply does not support it.

A truly useful tool to gauge the sayings of Jesus comes along at 14:2 – “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” [emphasis added] Ask yourself if Jesus, anywhere in the Gospels, makes a plain, straightforward statement about the reality of Hell. I can’t find one, and if it were not so, He would have told us, right?

Another possible proof text shows up in Chapter 15 – “I am the true vine…Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away…If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” (verses 1-6). We know that God’s fire is for cleansing and purifying, so we suspect that these metaphorical branches are in the fire (not Hell) to have their dross, chaff, wood, hay and stubble burned away. The damnationist crowd will say my argument is weak at this point, and they are correct, but just note that Jesus does not speak of the final destiny of the branches which God cuts off – they are neither burned to ashes, nor burned forever, nor saved in the end. This text could be used for any camp, those who say the wicked are burned forever, those who say the wicked are burned to ashes and dead forever after, and those who see the eventual rehabilitation of the wicked. This one text does not resolve the issue, so we must look at all relevant texts and weigh the evidence.

A new word appears at 17:12, “perdition,” CCR footnoted as “destruction.” Speaking of those who God had given to Him, Jesus says, “…none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.” I assume He was speaking of Judas Iscariot, but we will keep an eye out for this word, for it is part of the vocabulary of Hell, along with words like “condemnation,” “damnation,” and the like.

I can find nothing else in the Gospel of John the Apostle bearing on our Question, nor any evidence or proof texts for Hell.

A Look Back at the Good News
I kept seeing, as I studied Gospel after Gospel, Jesus’ statements concerning why He was there in that time and place. I decided to collect them all, and see what they add up to.

Matthew 5:17 – “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”

Matthew 9:13 – “…I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Matthew 10:34-35 – “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. FOR I AM COME TO SET A MAN AT VARIANCE AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND THE DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND THE DAUGHTER IN LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER IN LAW.”

Matthew 15:24 – “…I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Matthew 18:11 – “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.”

Matthew 20:28 – “…the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Mark 1:38 – “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.”

Mark 2:17 – “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Luke 4:18-19 – “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE HATH ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR; HE HATH SENT ME TO HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED, TO PREACH DELIVERANCE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERING OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET AT LIBERTY THEM THAT ARE BRUISED, TO PREACH THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

Luke 4:43 – “I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.”

Luke 5:31-32 – “They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Luke 9:56 – “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”

Luke 12:49 – “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?”

Luke 12:51 – “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division.”

Luke 19:10 – “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Luke 24:26 – “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?”

Luke 24:46-47 – “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

John 3:14-17 – “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

John 4:34 – “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”

John 5:30 – “…I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”

John 5:43 – “I am come in my Father’s name…”

John 6:38-40 – “For I came down form heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

John 6:48,51 – “I am that bread of life…if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

John 7:28-29 – “…I am not come of myself…for I am from him, and he hath sent me.”

John 9:39 – “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.”

John 10:10 – “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

John 12:27 – “Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.”

John 12:46 – “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”

John 15:22 – “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.”

John 18:37 – “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.”

Jesus’ stated purposes for being in the there-and-then do not seem to support, or have anything to do with, Hell. Salvation, not damnation or even judgment, seems to be His overriding purpose.

The Acts of the Apostles
Hell first shows up in Peter’s speech on the day of Pentecost, as he quotes Psalm 16 in Acts 2:27 – “…THOU WILT NOT LEAVE MY SOUL IN HELL…”. Not surprisingly, “Hell” is CCR footnoted here as “hades” - we know it as the Greek equivalent of “sheol,” and have covered that previously. Peter goes on, in verse 31, to say that what David wrote in his Psalm applied to Jesus, that He was not left in hell/hades/the grave, and His body did not “see corruption,” or decay. OK, we’re good with that.

Chapter 5 presents us with the sad tale of Ananias and Sapphira, who died, not for holding back money, but for lying about it. Further, they are carried out and buried, but nothing further is said – as ever, it is just simple death. If they are going to Hell for one lie, then hope dims for all of us. However, remember that they followed the same God we do, Who kills and makes alive!

We meet up with Saul of Tarsus at the end of Chapter 7, and in Chapter 9 he is converted. He had been putting the followers of Jesus into prison, and we don’t know today how many of them were put to death. Man’s conception of justice might be to relegate Saul to Hell, but God had, and has, a higher kind of justice. God turned Saul to Paul, and from an enemy to a disciple, even an apostle - Hell was not mentioned or involved. Truly, His ways are higher than our ways!

Reading along in Chapter 13, we come to something looking like predestination, “…and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” (verse 48). A person might easily be led to think some here got eternal life and some did not, and thus missed out and received an eternity in Hell. An eternity in conscious torment is sort of a life, right? But you’re supposed to be dead in Hell – it does get confusing, doesn’t it? Anyway, I looked the verse up in an interlinear version, and the Greek word translated as “eternal” is our familiar “aionion,” so what is really being said here is that those who believed will get life in the age to come, having enjoyed the first resurrection, and those not believing, missing out. They will be resurrected later, even if they get tossed into the Lake of Fire, but I’m getting ahead of myself - again.

In Chapter 14 we once again read the formula “…the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein.” (verse 15). Hell is not added by the Apostles to heaven and earth, just the sea and what it contains. I know of no one who has postulated that Hell is in the sea – it would make no sense.

The following chapters have little of interest to our Question, mostly being, like the books of the Maccabees, a record of going here-or-there and doing this-or-that. There is, however, this one gem from Paul as he was saying goodbye to the Ephesian elders for the last time: “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” (Ephesians 20:27). If he had spoken of Hell as part of “all the counsel,” then Luke did not record it – once again, we do not see or hear of Hell set forth, just silence. Looking ahead to the letters of Paul, we see the same silence, Paul never mentioning Hell in them. This is a double witness to the whole counsel of God, without Hell.

Proof of Hell was very lacking in Acts, for all the doings, locations and speeches.

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans
The word “hell” is not in this epistle, so we have that out of the way from the first.

In Romans 6:7, we come up against this, – “For he that is dead is freed from sin.” Paul follows this up at the end of the chapter with “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (verse 23). Now if you remember what I said earlier about the Jubilee, you know that if we think of sin as our master, and Paul does mention us becoming slaves to sin, then at the start of the Jubilee, we go free, back to our inheritance. Paul is telling us the same, that death is our Jubilee, setting us totally free from our master, sin. It begins to look like a natural progression: bondage to sin, then death, release from sin, God’s gift, and eternal life. Hell is not mentioned here at all! Ah! Do you see what this means? It means, if we are to believe Paul, that the common opinion among Christians that upon death, we are sent to Heaven or Hell, may just be totally false. No, Paul is telling us that though we sin now and die later, God intervenes with the GIFT of freedom from sin, and with that freedom, eternal/age-long life as well. Our part is simply to believe it, accept it, and have faith in His promise.

By the end of Chapter 8, in verses 38 & 39, Paul is ready to declare, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He does not even mention Hell as a factor. Rolling verse 35 into verse 37, “Nay, in all these things (tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword) we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Note that Hell does not make the list of things which might separate us from the love of Christ!

Paul says rhetorically in 10:6-7, “…WHO SHALL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, WHO SHALL DESCEND INTO THE DEEP? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)”. “Deep” here is CCR footnoted as “abyss,” a word seen only a few times in the New Testament. It is the same abyss the demons feared Jesus would send them to, and begged to be sent into pigs instead. Digging deeper (so to speak), I find that Paul paraphrased his source, Deuteronomy 30:12-14 very loosely. Given what we can read about the abyss, especially in the Revelation, I have difficulty thinking of Jesus being there, and it is certainly not directly comparable to Hell. Anyway, in verse 9, Paul adds that God raised Jesus from the dead, with the abyss not mentioned.

At 10:20, Paul quotes Isaiah, but I’ll just go back and quote the prophet directly (65:1-2): “I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name. I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good…”. The latter group would be twelve-tribed Israel, and the former would be the pagan nations of the world. Yet Paul says in 11:1-2, “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid…God hath not cast away his people…”. We see here that there is hope for both groups in the Plan of God.

Continuing the thought, Paul goes on in Chapter 11, verses 12, 15, 23, 26, 29, & 32: “Now if the fall of them [Israel] be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles [nations]; how much more their fullness?..For if the casting away of them [Israel] be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them [Israel] be, but life from the dead?..And they [Israel] also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again…And so all Israel shall be saved…For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance [CCR footnoted “irrevocable”]…For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.” The Israel Paul spoke of was not just the Kingdom of Judah, a Roman province at that time, for the Jews of Paul’s day were just a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of Israel. Most of those who descend from Israel, from ALL those tribes, have no knowledge of their descent. In Paul’s day, as in ours, Israel represents a LOT of people, but their identity is outside our scope. Paul’s conclusion is in verse 16: “For if the firstfruit [Jesus] be holy, the lump [us] is also holy: and if the root [Jesus] be holy, so are the branches [us].” Jesus said Himself, as recorded in John 15:5 – “I am the vine, ye are the branches…”. Vines have roots, do they not? So, truly, as Paul says in verse 32, God will surely have mercy on us ALL!

At 14:11, Paul quotes Isaiah 14:23 (a little loosely) – “For it is written, AS I LIVE, SAITH THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL CONFESS TO GOD.” Pardon me, but if anyone is in Hell, why would they bend the knee or confess to God? Conversely, if anyone bends the knee and confesses to God, what would they be doing in Hell?

There is no Hell here, and nothing more of interest to our Question, but many riches nevertheless. Paul gives us a suitable conclusion: “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” (Romans 13:12).

The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians
Again, the word “hell” is not to be seen here, and “hades” is only found as a CCR footnote to 15:55, where it is rendered “grave” in the text. This may be a short section…

Paul brings up fire in Chapter 3: “Now if any man build upon this foundation [Jesus Christ] gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble…it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide (CCR footnoted as “endures”) which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by [CCR footnoted as “through”] fire.” (verses 12-15). Can this really be any clearer? We are not burned, but saved, at least so it seems to me what Paul is saying. It is our works that are burned, or will be burned – the wood, hay, and stubble. What do these represent? Paul says, in verse 11, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Given this foundation, then, men build on it things which endure, or things which do not. The term “no man” is “all men” in reverse – no one, believer or not, can avoid the foundation of Jesus Christ. The things built on His foundation would not be material, but surely they are the Fruits of the Spirit, of which He spoke. Paul enumerates them in Galatians 5:22 as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. These are the gold, silver and precious stones, which will endure the fire. In 5:19-20, Paul lists the wood, hay and stubble: “…Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like…”. These do get burned up, these Tares. Can you begin to see that those who have built on the foundation of Jesus Christ (again, that’s everybody) are not burned up, but only their bad works? Even those failing to produce good Spiritual Fruit, but only chaff, will be saved – they will, however, lack rewards.

In Chapter 5, Paul instructs the church at Corinth, “To deliver such an one [heinous sinner] unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh…”. Is that to send him to Hell? No: “…that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (verse 5). Hell is not mentioned here, and I see no reason to think the recommended action takes place on any other place than the Earth, which is the only place we have seen Satan operating in, besides brief appearances in Heaven (see Job).

We see the fruits of the Spirit again in Chapter 6, along with loss: “Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (verses 9-10). Paul does not state that such people go to Hell. Given what we covered in Chapter 3, I insist that these types suffer the loss of their wood, hay, stubble, chaff and tares, and with that, the reward of inheritance in the kingdom. Think of any kingdom in this world – does every resident have the right to inherit? No, only those of the family of the king have that right. Now, those who become Sons and Daughters of God by adoption, also become members of the family of the King. They have the right to inherit in the Kingdom of God, but this other group (at best) will be the commoners of that Kingdom – but this is my own interpretation.

When Paul says, in 7:9, that “…it is better to marry than to burn.” remember that “burn” is CCR footnoted as “burn with passion,” not burn in Hell There are no points for Hell here.

I am not much into so-called proof texts, but we have this in Chapter 15: “…since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. [Not, “All who are in Christ shall be made alive.”] But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God…he [Christ] must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (verses 21-26). It seems Paul is outlining three resurrections:

  1. Jesus the Christ, along with those few in Jerusalem who were raised at His death, as recorded by Matthew.

  2. Those who belong to Jesus the Christ (the believers) at His Second Coming.

  3. All the rest of humanity, after Jesus the Christ has overcome all enemies (put under His feet), including death.

Interestingly, the Law given to Moses connects three harvests with three feasts – barley with Passover, wheat with Pentecost, and grapes with Tabernacles. I won’t go into this in detail, but note that barley is easy to thresh, wheat requires more work, but is gathered into the barn (unlike tares), and grapes must be stomped and pressed. Think of what the Revelation says about God’s wrath and the winepress - it will be far better to be in one of the first two resurrections!

Lastly, the last resurrection takes place after Death is destroyed. Looking ahead, for all these things connect, the Revelation tells us that at some point in time, Death and Hell (CCR footnoted as “Hades,” so it could/should be grave/sheol) are thrown into the Lake of Fire. We now know from I Corinthians 15:26 that Death is destroyed, so I’m thinking the destruction takes place when Death is thrown into the Lake of Fire. What this means is that afterward, no one can still be dead and/or in Hell, right? It also means that the Lake of Fire cannot be Hell, and that the doctrine of an eternal Hell cannot possibly be true if Death is to be destroyed. There, proved.

Moving on just a bit, be aware that the passage above speaks of a time far ahead of anything in the Revelation, the “end,” when Jesus “…shall have put down all rule and all authority and power…then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him…that God may be all in all.” (verses 24 & 28). As I asked above, if God is to become All in all, and the verses just quoted say so, then how can ANYONE still be dead and/or in Hell at that time? No, it is simply not possible, but I still have a few nails to pound into Hell’s coffin…

As Paul winds up Chapter 15, he taunts death and the grave: “…the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality…Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (verses 52-55). This is for believers, the second resurrection, and we see it as following the Law of the Jubilee – the trumpet sounds and all go free to their inheritance (Leviticus 25:8-13). Those in the third resurrection will not inherit, or it seems so to me.

Well, it was not a short section, but one that really begins to lay the Hell theory to rest. In this epistle, I have noticed that “judgment” is often replaced with the more loaded and intimidating “condemnation” and “damnation.” Be aware of such tricks, still operating by way of bad translation in an epistle where Hell cannot be found.

The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians
Hell and Hades are not mentioned in this epistle either. We find little of interest until Chapter 10: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God…” (verses 4-5). Now if we think of Hades and Hell as theories, with all their baggage, both emotional and intellectual, it becomes easier to view them as strongholds. I believe an unbiased look at the evidence (the Biblical text) proves that this stronghold’s props and foundations are rather shaky. Further, we can see the works of Dante, Milton and Baxter for what they are: literature, fictions, imaginations - not the Word of God. Even with the first two being epic poetry, they are still just works of human imagination – impressive as literature, but not founts of Truth - at least, not when they address Hell. Given what we have seen, the Hell doctrine should be viewed as a sort of theological graffiti.

There is no Hell, then, in II Corinthians, but ah, a short section this time.

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians
Hell is quickly in trouble, for Paul says, “…though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed [anathema].” (1:8). Have we seen that Hell, as preached today, was a part of Old Testament belief? Have we seen that any of the Gospels set forth any Hell doctrine? Have we seen Hell promoted in any epistle? No, we have not. We must assume, then, that Paul is not thinking of Hell as part of “that which we have preached unto you.” On the other hand, since Paul never preached Hell, it just might be one of those other gospels. Good news? No, Hell would not have been good news then, and still isn’t today.

In 5:14, Paul reminds his readers of what Jesus had said before: “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Surely, a God Who instructs us so follows the same principle – does He love us enough to refrain sending anyone to Hell? Given what we have so far, we an answer YES! We know this because He loved us enough to send His Son, Jesus the Christ. For His part, Jesus asked God to forgive those who crucified Him, when He could have asked His Father to punish them, and I won’t say by sending them to Hell, for it seems not to exist. Can you really think of a worse crime in the eyes of God than to murder His Son? No, I can’t either…so the rest must be forgiven as well. It just makes sense, in a short epistle where Hell cannot be found.

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians
Early on, Paul mentions this, in 1:10: “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he [Jesus] might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him.” Now, the fullness of times may be far, far in the future, but that is up to God. What I want the reader to notice is “gather together in one ALL things in Christ” [emphasis added]. Paul makes no exception for anyone – it is all things in heaven and on earth. No one is relegated to Hell, no, all are gathered in Christ, the same Christ Who asked His Father to forgive the worst kind of sinners. “ALL things gathered together” is another fail for the Hell Theory. Some may, and probably will, argue that “all” doesn’t really mean ALL. On the other hand, I’d rather be simple and take God at His Word.

Paul speaks of Jesus in Chapter 4: “…WHEN HE ASCENDED UP ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE…(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?..)” (verses 8-9). Now there is no reason to think that this captivity is Hell, for unless you assume it, it is not there in the text – our common slavery to sin fills the bill quite nicely, thank you. In the same way, the phrase “the lower parts of the earth,” is fulfilled by the tomb in which Jesus’ body spent three days and nights – there is no need to assume He went to Hell unless you already assume Hell exists. What Paul says in verse 14 is very telling: “…we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” I have pointed out a number of times where the text of this Book has been altered in translation, by sleight, by trickery, by cunning craftiness:

A neutral “judgment” was replaced by the more fearsome words “condemnation” and “damnation.”

To reinforce that, “age” was replaced by “world,” to veil God’s plan for heaven and earth over long ages. With “world” in place, it was easy for the church to serve as gatekeeper to the next “world.”

Pagan words such as “Hades” and “Hell” were brought in, again confusing the Truth about man’s fate after death.

God’s Name was diminished to “LORD,” while pagan gods got their unearned due.

I’m sure there are things I’ve missed, but as Jesus said, we need to be as wise as serpents, and not be taken in by such trickery.

In 5:5, Paul reminds the readers of his epistle that, “…no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolator, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” A lot of people who already have Hell as a construct on the foundation of Christ, assume that these nasty folks go to Hell. As we have shown over and over, Hell is uncreated, unthreatened, unstressed, unpreached, unmentioned and unproven in the pages of this Book. I believe the Bible is a Reference Standard of Truth, and the Hell Theory just does not make the cut. This means that the doctrine of Hell is just one more load of wood, hay and stubble to be burned off. The doctrine’s followers will suffer loss, but be saved as through fire as the Bible says. The damnationists may even be raised in the resurrection of the just. The miserable company of verse 5 will come before a stricter judgment, including loss of inheritance, but Hell will not be a part of it. Read 5:5 again – it does NOT say the listed folks go to Hell – that is an overlay, an assumption. Do you not think here of what Jesus said about the splinter and the beam? We should not think to judge the 5:5 crowd, for our judgment may come back on us if we think they are to sent to Hell…not that we will, either, but still, let us not be present-day Jonahs.

Neither Hell nor Hades are to be found in Ephesians.

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Philippians
“Perdition” shows up in 1:28, but there is no reason to think it has anything to do with Hell. It seems to refer to the adversaries of the Good News, and their expectation that the followers of Jesus will be

In 2:10, Paul tells us, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.” There is no reason to think he is referring to Hell here, but only to those in the grave, who will bow the knee after being resurrected, just like those now alive “in earth.” Further, if these things should be, at some point in the future, they will be, and Hell (even if it exits) will not prevent it.

At 3:14, Paul refers to a prize: “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” What is this prize? Backtrack to verse 11: “If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” To be in the resurrection of the believers – a worthy goal! However, notice that unlike the modern “fire insurance” preachers who stress Hell-avoidance, Paul has no concern for any possibility of ending up in such a place.

Chapter 3 ends with an answer to those who limit God, Father and/or Son, by ideas such as Hell being final (no exit), or that we place ourselves there, and close the proverbial door behind us. Paul speaks of God’s power to Glorify our carnal bodies, “…according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” (verse 21). So, Jesus is able to subdue ALL things, but will He? Yes, look at II Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” There you have it – Jesus is able and Jesus is willing. What can we add to that? Salvation is looking like a done deal, even if the process of salvation is not finished yet.

So, given ABLE and WILLING, we can say with Paul, “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” (4:4).

Another Pauline letter closes without Hades or Hell, but with much said of joy and love.

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians
The first chapter of Matthew stated that the Messiah would be named Jesus (CCR footnoted as literally meaning “Savior”) for He would save His people from their sins, with saving them from Hell not mentioned. Years later, Paul in this letter, says the same, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins…” (1:14). Again, Hell is not mentioned, so that must not be part of Jesus’ mission or purpose. Let’s get down to it – if Hell does not exist, saving people from it is a fool’s errand. Jesus was and is no fool, so if He did not pursue saving us from Hell, failed to teach His disciples to save us from Hell, and we see His disciples following the same pattern, then concluding that there is no Hell is just intelligent and rational. Now if Hell does exist, and God both doesn’t care who goes there, and has failed to tell us about it, we’re going to have a problem with the idea that God and Jesus are good, loving and truthful. It is very difficult to make a case for God and Jesus being bad, hateful liars. Do you know many Christians who would be willing to say it? Would it be sacrilege or blasphemy? Both? I don’t know, but it would not fly in any church I know of. The conclusion must be then, that Hell does not exist in a Cosmos created by a God Who said, “Let us reason together…” (Isaiah 1:18).

The idea of 1:14 is expanded on in verses 19 and 20: “For it pleased the Father…having made peace through the blood of his [Jesus’] cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.” Do you see that “all things” here means everything in the created Cosmos? Yes, it would cover everything in Genesis 1 and 2, neither of which mention Hell.

Paul winds up Chapter 1 with, “…warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” (verse 28). So, what happens to those not presentable as perfect? It’s a fair question, and many would answer that they go to Hell, but what about “every man in his own order”? Let’s not forget too quickly what Paul told us in I Corinthians 15 about the End, and how Death would be the last enemy to be conquered. If a time comes when death is no more, those who are dead MUST be resurrected, and if God is then to be All in all, these not-presentable-as-perfect folks must have had their dross, chaff, wood, hay, and stubble dealt with, cleansed, or burnt off. However it is done, they MUST be presentable at this point, and that means they cannot be in Hell.

I see mention of spiritual treasures in this epistle, but not of Hell.

The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians
Now we stressed in our comments about the last epistle that Jesus was and is saving us from our sins. Here, in 1:10, Paul says more: “…Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” He echoes John the Baptist who asked some (who had come to him) who had warned them to flee from the coming wrath (Luke 3:7). This wrath could be the soon-coming siege of Jerusalem, or it could be end-times events. It was not declared to be Hell, unless Paul was using code-words, and being the plain-speaking man that he was, I doubt that.

At the end of Chapter 4, Paul gives his readers a quick glimpse of the Second Coming. Heaven gets a mention, and the Earth is implied, but Hell is absent - since only the believers are mentioned, we would expect that. In the beginning of Chapter 5, Paul says, “…the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them…” (verses 2-3). Remember that Hell is not mentioned here, and unless told otherwise, we should assume destruction is something happening in the real, literal world.

We cannot find Hades or Hell in this epistle.

The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians
We may be in trouble here in 1:8-9 – “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power…”. However, I have three points to make:

  1. Hell is not mentioned here - a consistent lack in all of Paul’s epistles.

  2. We have established, at least I hope I have in the minds of my readers, that the fire of God is for cleansing, for purification, and ultimately for salvation. Remember my comments on Colossians.

  3. Then there is “everlasting.” I looked it up, as I do many texts, in an interlinear version on the www. Yup, the Greek is our now-familiar “aionion.” The verse should read, then, “age-long destruction.” This means, as I keep stressing, that the unbelievers will have their dross burned away, will suffer loss, and fail to inherit - yet they will be saved in the End.

In Chapter 2, Paul speaks of the appearance of the “son of perdition,” with a connection to Satan, and a “falling away.” In verse 7, he mentions the “mystery of iniquity” which is in his day, already at work. He then states God’s response: “…for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (verse 11). In the centuries after these times, the purity and simplicity of the Good News was diluted and polluted by layer after layer of theology, tradition and accommodation to pagan ways. Pagans were brought in, in name only, but not really made fit for the Kingdom. The Doctrine of Hell was only a part of the problem, but it may be the part repelling more unbelievers in the present age than any other. That is why I write.

That is everything of interest to our Question in this epistle in which neither Hades nor Hell can be found.

The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy
Early on, Paul advises Timothy, “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling” (1:4-6). This text makes me wonder if I am ministering questions – I’d rather be doing charity/love out of a pure heart, but if I can resolve this Hell question in a way that glorifies God, I can edify even so, and not be just a vain jangler.

In 1:15, Paul reminds us: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Yes, sinners, as He said Himself. Remember the parables of the Shepherd who left the 99 sheep to find 1 straying sheep. Recall the parable of the feast, where the Master of the house ordered His servants to compel random people on the road to come into His feast. Jesus made His disciples Fishers of Men, and these men fished not with spears or hook and line, but with nets. Nets take fish in bulk, and are not at all choosy. Are these facts compatible with the Hell theory which leaves a large part of mankind permanently in the lurch?

Winding up the first chapter, Paul mentions two men, “whom I have delivered unto Satan.” (verse 20). Once again, we see Satan in operation on the Earth, in this literal world we live in. Paul’s purpose: “…that they may learn not to blaspheme.” Whatever happened to these two men, they must not have died and had their souls dragged off to Hell, as many would assume here.

Now in 2:4-6, we have a text which should be able, on its own, to bring the Hell Theory crashing down: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all…”. So God will have all men saved? “Will have” is CCR footnoted “desires to,” so we have willing, but how about able? Willing and able were covered just a few pages ago, at the end of the coverage of Paul’s Epistle to the Phillipians. Further, are God’s sovereignty and His omnipotence not doctrines in most churches? Yes, they are, and we also know that God has used His Powers over and over to overthrow the puny wills and actions of men. How about Noah’s flood? How about the destruction of Sodom and several other cities? How about the killing of all those Canaanites? I really wish I could stop the mouths of some of those theologians who babble on about how God would not violate the wills of men, but regretfully lets them enter Hell. Rubbish!

OK, we’ve got willing and able, but notice as well, that God is willing (and able!) to save all men, and that Jesus is a ransom for all men, in perfect accord with His Father, and with what we have read thus far. As I said, this should resolve the whole question, but let’s move on, keeping in mind that what we read must agree with what we have already read.

Chapter 4, verse 1, says, “…that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to…doctrines of devils.” Well, the doctrine of Hell is just chock full of devils, isn’t it? Then verse 10 expands on 2:4-6: “…we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe.” Of course, He is the savior of believers, but note carefully – of all men as well. How is the Hell Theory to stand when this epistle has already stated three times that all men are saved? Paul concludes the thought: “These things command and teach.” (verse 11). I’m trying to do just that.

The last thing I want to comment on is 6:13 – “…God, who quickeneth [CCR footnoted “gives life to”] all things…”. This is God’s Way – to create, to make life, to maintain life, to restore life. In the Cosmos of such a God, death is only a temporary aberration, not a permanent destination.

As ever, there is no Hell here.

The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy
“For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him…if we deny him, he also will deny us.” (2:11-12). What does this mean? It goes well for the believer, but for the unbeliever, denying Jesus places him in the not-presentable-as-perfect group, to be raised from the dead only later, missing out on the first resurrection, suffering loss and probably the Lake of Fire.

Paul advises us, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2:15). It is not sufficient to sit under the preaching of any man, especially in these days where ministers are typically trained in seminaries, and trained by professors who pursue ideas which the average member of their denomination might think quite odd. I found this out myself when my father and I took a night course on the Old Testament at the local Baptist seminary. My father disagreed with the professor so much that he dropped out. I tell you, Christian, there is just no substitute for your own reverent study of the Word, using some helps such as a good concordance, as accurate a Bible translation as you can possibly find, and internet helps with the Hebrew and Greek. A good knowledge of both sacred and secular history is a benefit too. There are things in the Word which leave us wondering, but the basic message is the same, from one end to the other. Study then, but do not be one who is “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth…Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” (3:7 & 5). The basics are easy to understand and spiritually discerned, so that children and fools understand, but the learned do not – such is the mystery of God’s doings in this age.

When he wrote this letter, Paul was in chains, in prison, and awaiting his death. He seems cheerful, but warns Timothy that, “…the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (4:3-4). The sound doctrine he mentions would be what we have read in the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles. None of them establish Hell. What lust would turn Christians to the fiction and fable of Hell? I think it is the all-too-human lust to have vengeance on our personal enemies, and to separate ourselves (in our own minds) from those sinners over there. Remember that one’s enemy is also a child of the same God Who told us to forgive them, and even to minister to them.

That is my take on II Timothy, an epistle where, once again, Hades and Hell cannot be found.

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Titus
Hades and Hell are not mentioned in this epistle. I only care to quote this: “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” (1:2). It is just as Jesus told His disciples, that if things were not so, He would have told them. It is just as Paul writes, never bringing up the subject of Hell. Blessed hope! Eternal security!