PAUL AND HELL:
DOESN’T GO TOGETHER WELL!
PAUL AND HELL:
DOESN’T GO TOGETHER WELL!
JAN LILLEBY
Got to say it out loud: There is NO HELL…like, eternal burning and tormenting conscious punishment for the unbelievers!
And in particular, we CANNOT FIND HELL in the Grace Gospel teachings of Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.
THE FALSE TEACHING OF A PUNISHMENT IN HELL
Is there really a literal and existing ‘Hell’ including eternal torment in fire for all unbelievers, eventually for all falsehoods portraying as ‘Christians’ even if they are not such ones?
My answer to this is a loud NO!
We cannot find a shred of evidence of such a punishment for unbelievers.
Clip from internet, as follows,
THE BIBLE HELL
Does the Bible teach the idea commonly held among Christians concerning Hell? Does the Hell of the Bible denote a place of torment, or a condition of suffering without end, to begin at death? What is the Hell of the Bible? Manifestly the only way to arrive at the correct answer is to trace the words translated Hell from the beginning to the end of the Bible, and by their connections ascertain exactly what the divine Word teaches on this important subject.
It seems incredible that a wise and benevolent God should have created or permitted any kind of an endless hell in his universe. Has he done so? Do the Scripture teachings concerning Hell stain the character of God and clothe human destiny with an impenetrable pall of darkness, by revealing a state or place of endless torment? Or do they explain its existence, and relieve God's character, and dispel all the darkness of misbelief, by teaching that it exists as a means to a good end?
It is our belief that the Bible Hell is not the heathen, nor the "orthodox" hell, but is one that is doomed to pass away when its purpose shall have been accomplished, in the reformation of those for whose welfare a good God ordained it.
THE ENGLISH WORD HELL
The English word Hell grew into its present meaning. Horne Tooke says that hell, heel, hill, hole, whole, hall, hull, halt and hold are all from the same root,
"Hell, any place, or some place covered over. Heel, that part of the foot which is covered by the leg. Hill, any heap of earth, or stone, etc., by which the plain or level surface of the earth is covered. Hale, i.e., healed or whole. Whole, the same as hale, i.e., covered. It was formerly written whole, without the w, as a wound or sore is healed, or whole, that is, covered over by the skin, which manner of expression will not seem extraordinary if we consider our use of the word recover. Hall, a covered building, where persons assemble, or where goods are protected from the weather. Hull, of a nut, etc. That by which a nut is covered. Hole, some place covered over. 'You shall seek for holes to hide your heads in.' Holt, holed, hol'd holt. A rising ground or knoll covered with trees. Hold, as the hold of a ship, in which things are covered, or the covered part of a ship."
The word was first applied to the grave by our German and English ancestors, and as superstition came to regard the grave as an entrance to a world of torment, Hell at length became the word used to denote an imaginary realm of fiery woe.
Dr. Adam Clarke says: "The word Hell, used in the common translation, conveys now an improper meaning of the original word; because Hell is only used to signify the place of the damned. But as the word Hell comes from the Anglo-Saxon helan, to cover, or hide, henee the tiling or slating of a house is called, in some parts of England (particularly Cornwall), heling, to this day, and the corers of books (in Lancashire), by the same name, so the literal import of the original word hades was formerly well expressed by it."
FOUR WORDS TRANSLATED HELL
In the Bible four words are translated Hell: the Hebrew word Sheol, in the original Old testament; its equivalent, the Greek word Hadees, in the Septuagint; and in the New Testament, Hadees, Gehenna and Tartarus. (End of clip from Internet).
PAUL’S TEACHING TO THE CHURCH HAS NO HELL
Ephesians and Colossians are the only Scriptures in which the Grace Gospel is revealed to the world. Paul was the only apostle to the Gentiles, and he was made a ‘prisoner of Christ, for us Gentiles’ – Eph. 3:1-3. Israel was no longer the nation/people of God, for they had refused the Kingdom Gospel preached by Paul to them when in Rome, Acts 28:25-28.
Ten years later, on September 10, 70 CE, Rome crushed the nation and sent the Jews into the greatest dispersion ever seen in history. The nation is still not the nation of God on earth. They are still out, and the Church dispensation is still IN. But it is soon to be concluded, I can give you that.
So, dear believers in Christ, where in Paul’s only two epistles, with doctrine of faith for the Church, can we find any teaching of an existing HELL for unbelievers?
Answer: We can’t.
Paul teaches us all things relevant to this present Church dispensation. He goes through all known topics and elements of Biblical truth for us. He lay it out for us, of a super-heavenly salvation (Greek: Epiouranos) – a salvation up in the heavens-up-above-the-heavens, where now Christ is seated at His Father’s right hand in glory.
Colossians 3:1-4 tells us to have our minds/hearts set on the things in heaven and NOT on things here on earth. And when Christ is revealed, we shall be revealed with Him in glory (in heaven).
Regarding Hell and an eventual gruesome horrific punishment in eternal fire for those who will not believe on Jesus Christ: If this was a real doctrine of Biblical truth, why is it that we cannot find one single word of it with Paul?
He points us to heaven, and that is fine, but what of the ones NOT going to heaven?
It is my definitive impression that if this Hell-doctrine was true and Biblical, then Paul would have laid it out for us to comprehend and to be aware of such danger!
But it is nowhere to be found.
Such a grave topic and scaring perspectives of eternity for unbelievers, would indeed demand that Paul had to teach about it. He would have to tell it out loud and with a warning shout!
But no, he did not.
His teaching on what happens to the unbeliever, is that they will lose salvation, and remains dead…receiving no resurrection from the dead. They will be gone into nothingness, into a non-existent status. As if they never were born. No torment, no hell-fire and things like that. They are described in the Bible: the dead knows nothing. Ecc. 9:5.
Had Hell been real, then we can be one hundred percent sure of that Paul would have written about this to us ignorant Gentiles, we – who never passed over the Red Sea as on dry ground, or watched the Pillar of Fire in the camp entrance at Sinai in the night, or the Pillar of Smoke in daytime. Like the Hebrews led by Moses and Aaron. Or experienced miracles like having ones clothing and sandals made as new each morning, during 40 years in the dessert. Or having food supply delivered super-naturally in the same place and time.
When Paul gave hints of how future goes for an unbeliever he wrote, Col. 1:21-23, NASB,
“21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach -
23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.”
He wrote of ‘going lost’ – only AFTER he first had pointed to our great and marvelous salvation! “…if indeed you CONTINUE IN THE FAITH firmly established and steadfast, AND NOT MOVED AWAY FROM THE HOPE OF THE GOSPEL.”
Here he could have inserted the ‘Hell doctrine’ to tell of the seriousness of eventually moving away from the faith! But since there is no such doctrine for us, Paul tells nothing of Hell whatsoever. Paul and Hell does not go together well!
Likewise, as with Eph. 5:5, NASB,
“For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
Paul wrote that no regular immoral or impure (this impure means homosexuals, same reference as in Rom. 1:18-32, - verse 24 in particular, regarding reprobates), or greedy money lovers (they are idolaters) will come to heaven. They are lost for salvation indeed. And still: No word from Paul that such ones will be tormented in a burning Hell!
CONCLUSION:
Hell, and hell fire torment in all eternity for unbelievers, does not exist in any parts of the Holy Bible, the Word of God.
And regarding the Church dispensation, that of the Mystery body, the ‘one new man’ – there is not even any singular word mentioned which could remind us of such a punishment for unbelievers.
But in Christianity of our time, the Hell-teaching is found everywhere; except with us Acts-28 believers I must remark. We hold to Paul as our apostle, and the actual apostle used by God to establish the Church dispensation. Peter had nothing to do with this revelation. He preached only to Israel, as did the eleven.
Hell-preaching is total heresy; hell as such, does not exist.
Check out my separate article on Epistle of Jude….explaining that the word ‘hell’ is coming from the Greek word Gehenna, or the Hebrew Hinnom. The dung heap outside Jerusalem which was a constantly burning waste dump!
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