What is hell?
The English word "hell" actually translates four distinct terms in Scripture, and grasping this is the key to understanding the subject. The clearest treatment comes from A.J. Pollock in his careful study of the original languages.
Sheol and Hades — The Condition of Disembodied Souls
The first thing to establish is that "hell" in the Old Testament (sheol in Hebrew) does not mean the grave. A.J. Pollock lays this out methodically:
Two words are largely translated grave in the Old Testament. 1. Qeber = grave, sepulchre, i.e., a locality. 2. Sheol = the state of disembodied souls, i.e., a condition.
Qeber is always rightly translated grave, or burying place. Sheol is never rightly translated grave.
The proof is extensive. Qeber (the grave) occurs in the plural, has geographical locations, relates to the body, and can be dug or owned. Sheol has none of these features — because it is not a place but a condition:
The burial of five hundred bodies in a cemetery means many graves. The entrance of five hundred disembodied souls into eternity means only one condition.
Sheol is always connected with the soul, never the body:
"Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [sheol]" (Ps. 16:10). "Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell [sheol]" (Ps. 86:13).
And it is connected with conscious pain and sorrow:
"For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell [sheol]" (Deut. 32:22). "The sorrows of hell [sheol] compassed me about" (2 Sam. 22:6). "The pains of hell [sheol] gat hold upon me" (Ps. 116:3).
The New Testament confirms the equivalence of sheol and hades (Greek) by quoting Psalm 16:10 in Acts 2:27 — substituting hades for sheol. Pollock adds that the Septuagint translators (280 B.C.) rendered sheol as hades in 61 out of 65 occurrences, and never once as "grave."
Hades is the intermediate state — affecting both saint and sinner. For the believer it means being "absent from the body, and present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8). For the unbeliever, the Lord Himself reveals it as a state of conscious torment:
"The rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell [hades] he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and sees Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame" (Luke 16:22-24).
Pollock observes:
Just as plainly as Scripture tells us hades is for the believer a state of bliss, so does the Lord tell us that hades is for the unbeliever a condition of torment. Can we believe the one statement and refuse the other?
Gehenna — The Place of Eternal Punishment
A different and more terrible word appears in the New Testament: gehenna. Morrish's Bible Dictionary defines it:
γέεννα, Gehenna, the Greek equivalent for two Hebrew words, signifying 'valley of Hinnom.' It was the place near Jerusalem where the Jews made their children pass through fire to heathen gods, and which was afterwards defiled. 2 Kings 23:10. A continual fire made it a fit emblem of the place of eternal punishment.
Pollock draws out the sharp contrast between hades and gehenna — they are both translated "hell" in English but mean very different things:
Hades is a condition... Gehenna is a place. "Whole body … CAST INTO hell" (Matt. 5:29). It is never said that the body is cast into hades.
Hades is temporary. "Death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:14). Gehenna is eternal. "Two hands to go into hell [gehenna], into the fire that never shall be quenched" (Mark 9:43).
Hades affects only the soul; gehenna affects both body and soul: "Fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [gehenna]" (Matt. 10:28).
The analogy is striking:
Hades is like the condition of the prisoner awaiting the assizes. Gehenna is like the prison in which he is cast on judgment being passed.
Pollock also notes a remarkable fact about who uses this word:
It is not a little remarkable that every time hell [gehenna] is spoken of, save once (see James 3:6), it is from the lips of the Son of God Himself.
Tartarus — The Prison of Fallen Angels
A fourth term appears just once. Morrish notes:
ταρταρόω, 'to cast into Tartarus,' a term used by heathen writers for the 'deepest abyss of the infernal regions,' a place of extreme darkness. 2 Peter 2:4.
This is the place where the angels who sinned are held in chains of darkness, awaiting judgment.
The Lake of Fire — The Final Doom
The final term is the lake of fire, appearing in Revelation. Morrish writes:
Whatever figurative meaning there may be in the use of any of the above words, it is plain and certain from scripture that there is a place of everlasting punishment. It is awfully described as the LAKE OF FIRE, 'the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone.' Rev. 19:20; Rev. 20:10, 15; Rev. 21:8. It was prepared for the devil and his angels, but into it the wicked also will be cast.
Pollock explains how the lake of fire relates to hades:
"And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death" (Rev. 20:14).
He unpacks this: the wicked dead are raised, their souls (which had been in hades) reunited with their bodies, and as resurrected individuals they are cast into the lake of fire — which "clearly answers to gehenna." This takes place after the present heaven and earth have passed away:
This outlook is not now in time, but in ETERNITY, and for ETERNITY.
Is the Punishment Eternal?
Pollock addresses this directly, refuting both Universalism and Annihilationism with a single verse:
One verse of Scripture destroys the theories of both the Universalist and Annihilationist. "He that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36). "Shall not see life," destroys the Universalists' theory… "The wrath of God abides on him," destroys the Annihilationists' theory. The unbeliever must exist for the wrath to abide upon.
F.W. Grant in his extensive work Facts and Theories as to a Future State argues along the same lines, demonstrating from Scripture that man possesses spirit from "the Father of spirits" and that conscious existence continues beyond death — refuting the doctrine of "conditional immortality."
In summary: Scripture reveals four realities behind the single English word "hell." Sheol/Hades is the intermediate condition of disembodied souls — bliss for the believer, torment for the unbeliever. Gehenna is the eternal place of punishment for body and soul, spoken of almost exclusively by the Lord Jesus Himself. Tartarus is the prison of fallen angels. And the lake of fire is the final, eternal destination of the devil, his angels, and all the impenitent — "the second death" — where "they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Rev. 20:10).