What did Jesus say about hell?
The clearest and most detailed warnings about hell in the Bible do not come from angry prophets or later preachers — they come from Jesus Himself, the same One who came to tell us of God's love. That raises the questions this page follows: what exactly did He call it, who is in danger, how long does it last, and why did He speak of it at all?
The Warner Is the Saviour
The most severe language in Scripture on this subject falls from the lips of the One who came to save.
J. T. MawsonIt is out of the lips of the Son of God, who came from heaven to tell us of God's great love, that the most solemn warnings about hell have come. He said to His followers, "In My Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you." If there had been no heaven to win, He would have told us; and if there had been no hell to shun, would He not have told us? ... I am not giving you my opinions on so solemn a subject. I would not do that, for my opinions would be worth no more than yours. I am giving you the words of the Son of God, and His words are truth.
The distribution of the word itself makes the same point. Writers note how rarely anyone but Jesus uses it.
A. J. PollockTwelve times in the New Testament we have the word for hell, Gehenna. Eleven times out of the twelve the word falls from the lips of the Son of God.
Not a Rubbish Dump Outside Jerusalem
Some argue that "Gehenna" only meant the burning refuse valley near Jerusalem, and so Jesus was talking about a local fire. Commentators answer that His own usage carries the word far past that valley.
J. N. DarbyIt is a place into which God's judgment casts the unrepentant and rebellious wicked, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. Human figures of fire and worms may be used, but the force of it is plain enough — it is the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, where God casts in judgment those who are righteously rejected, where there is no forgiveness... Hades is not Gehenna, and Gehenna in the New Testament is never used for the Valley of Hinnom.
The Most Solemn Discourse He Ever Gave
In Mark 9 Jesus tells His followers it is better to lose a hand, a foot or an eye than to keep it and be thrown into unquenchable fire — words spoken not to enemies but to His own disciples.
William KellyThe Lord moves on from this to the most solemn warning that He ever gave in any recorded discourse of His. No other passage sets eternal destruction more clearly before us anywhere in the Gospels. Here, above all, we hear ringing continually in our ears the awful lament over lost souls: "where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched."
Body and Soul, Not Extinction
Jesus said men can kill the body but not the soul, and that God is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. That word "destroy" has been read as annihilation; commentators point to how the same Greek word is used elsewhere.
F. B. HoleThe Lord added, "fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell," and here He changed the word and used another, which means "to mar or ruin, as regards the purpose for which a thing exists." It is the word used for perish in John 3:16... It is also used in Matthew 27:20, where we read of the leaders persuading the crowd "to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus." A very clear proof this, that destruction does not mean annihilation.
Torment Before the Final Judgment
In the account of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus describes a man conscious and suffering immediately after death — in Hades, which writers distinguish from the final Gehenna.
William KellyHere we have clear proof that, even before the judgment, the wicked man is in torment. Figures are no doubt used, but they are founded on what would be most understandable to us. It is through the body that we feel the world. From this the Lord takes His figures so as to be understood by those He is speaking to, presenting in His own wisdom the case of the unseen world.
How Long It Lasts
Jesus placed eternal punishment and eternal life side by side in one sentence, using a single Greek word for both.
A. J. PollockIt is used interchangeably for eternal life and eternal punishment: "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matt. 25:46). If the argument runs that eternal punishment does not mean eternal in the plain English sense of the word, then it follows that eternal life is not eternal either. But this would prove too much.
Warned So That We Might Escape
The purpose of the warning is not despair but rescue.
W. T. P. WolstonGod knows what is coming, and He has told us, my friends, exactly what it is, so that we may be warned and escape it. But more, He has told us of something that has come, and what is that? Salvation! A Saviour! A day of judgment and a day of wrath is coming, but a Saviour has come, and you may have that Saviour.
Summary
- Source — The severest warnings about hell come from Jesus, not from His critics; eleven of the twelve New Testament uses of "Gehenna" are His own words.
- Place — He used a real valley as a picture, but pointed beyond it to a place of judgment where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
- Person — What God can destroy there is soul and body; "destroy" is used elsewhere of things ruined, not erased.
- Duration — One word covers both destinies in Matthew 25:46; weaken it for punishment and you weaken it for eternal life.
- Purpose — He told us what is coming so that we would escape it — the same lips that warned of judgment announced a Saviour who has already come.