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:
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Jesus the Christ, along with those few in Jerusalem who were raised at His death, as recorded by Matthew.
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Those who belong to Jesus the Christ (the believers) at His Second Coming.
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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.