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.
