Читать книгу Biblical Concept of Hell - William Hyland - Страница 5

Introduction

Jesus: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you…Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

—John 14:27

When a believer ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ (in Christ Jesus) is asked, “What led you to become a Christian?”, the respondent to this simple question is apt to attribute his/her conversion to the internal work of the Holy Spirit. Even though this is biblically correct, it fails to inform the curious inquirer of the respondent’s physical, mental, and emotional states leading up to his/her epiphany’s occurrence. It often is helpful for the inquirer to learn what had allured the believer to commit the rest of his/her life to complying with, as well as conforming to, the statutes and commandments of an invisible deity. Personally speaking, this simple question is very penetrating for it goes to the core of my being; it addresses both my pre-conversion state of mind as well as my post-conversion internal “new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17), my “new self” (Ephesians 4:24), my new “heart of flesh”(Ezekiel 11:19). All believers, in one way or another, should be prepared to offer honest personal responses that address the various reasons for answering this simple inquiry.

Having attended a few vacation Bible schools in my preteen years, and thereby gaining a humanistic understanding of the Bible, I began to yearn for the “perfect peace” (Isaiah 26:3) which Psalm 23, particularly verses 2 and 3, portrays in broad-stroked pastoral glimpses of the freedom from sin, trouble, and fear Jesus has graciously promised to all who believe and strive to obey Him:

1 Freedom from need.

2 Pure, peaceful rest.

3 Freedom from sin’s corrupting power.

4 Comfort of the Lord’s security.

5 Loved by the Lord.

6 Perfect peace.

This Psalm coupled with Paul’s assurance in Romans 8:38–39 for years has epitomized my ideal goal and inspired me to dedicate my life to believing, trusting, and serving the Triune God of the Bible.

The purpose of this book, however, is to challenge a widely held notion among Christians about the post-life fate of nonbelievers: everlasting fiery torment in hell. I want to let the Scriptures inform us concerning to what one who rejects the Lord looks forward after dying, i.e., what is the essence of their hope for their future. The unrepentant sinner’s reticence to accept Christ’s gracious offer of forgiveness for, as well as freedom from, his/her sinning is based on this universal truth:

Paul: “…Our gospel is veiled…to those who are perishing [ἀπόλλυμι], in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving…” (2 Corinthians 4:3–4)

My cultural heritage had deemed certain words to be “taboo” for public utterance, “Damn!” and “Hell!” being two of them. Venturing through my childhood, though never once daring to say out loud these words, I unfortunately never learned why they were forbidden. In my late teens, and still an unbeliever, I worked two summers as a merchant marine aboard oil tankers and started to reject “Damn!” and “Hell!” as being socially vulgar and coarse as I do today, even as an adopted child of God. This stance has slowly piqued my curiosity enough to compel me to search the Scriptures for assurance that I have been, and still am, in no way offending the Lord with rare discretionary usage of these two words.

Now the traditional word of mouth description of “hell” many of us had pictured in our youth is the visualization of it being a confined space of imprisonment accentuated by roaring fires, showering brimstone, almost unbearable heat and scarcity of water. Definitely not a desirable destination for anyone, especially forever! Today, there’s a different description of hell; for instance, like that portrayed in the TV program Highway Thru Hell—the Coquihalla Highway in the upper Rocky Mountains of British Columbia during winters of subzero temperatures, black ice, and life-threatening situations both commercial truckers as well as their rescuers experience. And then there’s the classic folksy concept which portrays Saint Peter in heaven guarding its pearly gate entrance, next to which is the staircase for ineligible entrants that leads to a location below. Is there really any truth to these scenarios? If not, what is true about “hell”? I believe that any Christian evangelistic messages about “hell” must always be biblically verifiable out of respect both for man and for God. Sadly, though, such has not always been the case, and that is why I had undertaken a study of the Bible with “hell” as its focus. The outcome of my research has established the foundational nucleus of this book, with the unifying thread being an objective search for the existence and function of hell revealed in God’s Word.

My research began with the Westminster Confession of Faith, where in Chapter XXXII, section I, the Fathers wrote: “…And the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day.” As supporting references offered by the editor, these two stood out:

Jesus’s parable about a rich man who “in hades lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame’” (Luke 16:23–24).

“And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 6-7).

While hades is described as a dark, tormenting and temporal “place” for the wicked, I think these two citations were not that supportive inasmuch as Luke 16 is a parable and Jude concerns angels, not humans.

According to the Nicene Creed, after dying, Jesus “was buried,” which is similar to saying fell asleep in sheol/hades.’ But both The Scots Confession, chapter 10 and the Apostles’ Creed assert that Jesus after His crucifixion, death, and burial “descended into hell.” As biblical support, 1 Peter 3:18–20 is provided:

“…Christ…having been put to death in the flesh, ζῳοποιηθεὶς δὲ πνεύματι (but made alive by [dative case expressing instrumentality] the Spirit); in which also He went and made proclamation πνεύμασιν (to the spirits) in prison, who once were disobedient…”

To Jesus, through Peter, hell apparently was a prison for spirits who had been disobedient in the days of Noah, who I assume are the bonded angels of Jude 6. Regardless of whether Jesus had preached to angels or spirits in sheol/hades, it is certain He had not proclaimed to dead humans.

So in order to learn what is the nonbeliever’s post-life status and destination, I immersed myself in God’s Word, focusing on post-life fiery torment. My findings are such that I will offer them from six different perspectives linked together in series by an evolving graphic scheme of a created human soul’s post-life sojourn that represents every believing or unbelieving human being.

Notes for Reader:

1 This work presupposes the Scriptures’ inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility:Balaam: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent” (Numbers 23:19).Samuel: “…The Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind” (1 Samuel 15:29).Jesus: “…The Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35).All Scripture is inspired by God {cf. Romans 15:4} (2 Timothy 3:16)…God…cannot lie… (Titus 1:2)…It is impossible for God to lie… (Hebrews 6:18)

2 The hermeneutic tool called “now-but-not-yet” at times needs to be considered when interpreting a series of events:Jesus: “If you had known in this day (the ‘not yet’), even you, the things which make for peace! But now (the ‘now but’) they have been hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:42).Jesus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming (the “not-yet”) and now is (the “now-but”), when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live” (John 5:25).Peter to the people at the portico of Solomon: “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence (the “now-but”) of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until (the “not-yet”) the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.” (Acts 3:19–21)The human mind’s linear thought-process can be challenged in determining chronological order, particularly when there are no verb tenses—no past, no future, just “the present:”…Yahweh “said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession…” (Psalm 2:7–8)The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet. The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, ‘Rule in the midst of Your enemies.’” (Psalm 110:1–2)Daniel: “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13–14)Christians believe that Jesus Christ, having arisen, now sits at His Father’s right hand and enjoys His inheritance, but from the “now-but-not-yet” perspective, not all of His enemies are yet incorporated in His “footstool” nor have any of the heirs of his kingdom yet arisen. This hermeneutical tool affords great insight to 2 Corinthians 5:8: “prefer to be absent from the body (the “now-but”) and to be home with the Lord (the “not-yet”.)”

3 I have not read any articles, commentaries, books or other publications dealing with any biblical concept of hell and thus am not qualified to critique any of them. This writing is solely based on my own reading, researching, and study of the Old and New Testaments.

4 רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים / πνεῦμα θεοῦ / ἅγιος πνεῦμαJesus Christ, the “begotten” Son of God (Psalm 2:7) and is referred to as the “Son of Man” (Daniel 7:13; Matthew 8:20) as well as “the second man.” (1 Corinthians 15:47) The words “begotten” and “Son” have been divinely appointed to facilitate man’s ability to comprehend the mysterious, eternal relationship and function between the First and Second Persons of the Triune God. They are figurative in that they are the Father’s way of explaining His Son’s origin in order to bridge the gap between infinity and absoluteness and man’s inability to comprehend and visualize spiritual reality.The grass withers, the flower fades, when the רוּחַ (breath) of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:7–8).Both רוּחַ and πνεῦμα, its counterpart in the Septuagint (LXX) as well as the New Testament, are varied and diverse in meaning: spirit, breath, and wind. God’s רוּחַ is the Third Person of the Godhead, Who proceeds from either the Father (Matthew 10:20; Romans 8:10-11; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22; Ephesians 3:14–16) or His Son (Romans 8:9; Galatians 4:6; Philippians 1:19; 1 Peter 1:11.) The function of His Breath is to source {cf. Romans 15:19; 1 Corinthians 3:16; Galatians 5:22; Colossians 3:16}, convey {cf. Matthew 4:4,10:20; John 16:7–8; 1 Corinthians 2:10,13; 1 John 5:7} and execute {cf. Zechariah 4:6; Romans 8:11} all that God desires.Then the Lord God formed man…and breathed into his nostrils the breath [נְשָׁמָה] of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)Job: “In (the Lord’s) hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath [ רוּחַ ] of all mankind.” (Job 12:10)Job: “For as long as…the breath [ רוּחַ ] of God is in my nostrils” (Job 27:3).Elihu: “If (God) should determine to do so, if He should gather to Himself His breath [רוּחַ] and His anger [נְשָׁמָה], all flesh would perish together and man would return to dust.” (Job 34:14–15)Now 2 Timothy 3:16 affirms that “all Scripture is inspired by God…” with ‘inspiration’ being a God-breathed activity: His breath fills a person with the motivation and ability to do something creative for His glory. Anthropomorphically speaking, whenever God “speaks” or “says,” His speech is caused, borne, sourced, and delivered by His breath:…Yahweh’s word came to me saying… (Jeremiah 1:5)The early English translations for God’s רוּח and πνεῦμα had been “Ghost”, but it then evolved to Spirit. But “God is spirit” (John 4:24) in effect identifies His רוּחַ / πνεῦμα as a spirit as well, which to me masks the appropriate understanding of the Godhead’s Third Person. The use of רוּחַ in the Old Testament conveys “wind,” “animating force,” “feeling” or “breath.” Jesus’s words to His disciples as they set out to minister to the lost sheep of Israel gives a special insight into the Third Person’s functional identity: “For it is not you who speak but the πνεῦμα of your Father who speaks in you” (Matthew 10:20). πνεῦμα is the Koine Greek equivalent of רוּחַ and both convey “breath” 2.4 percent in the New Testament and 9.4 percent in the Old Testament [my published statistics]. An interesting example of this particular employment is Luke 8:55:“καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτῆς, καὶ ἀνέστη παραχρῆμα.” (And her πνεῦμα returned and she rose up immediately.)Jesus, with Peter, John, and James {cf. Mark 5:37} entered the house with the “dead” (vv. 49 and 53) daughter’s parents, and verse 51 infers that these six people were alone in the presence of the “dead” girl. The parents (and others; v. 49) already knew/understood/perceived (οἶδα, v. 53) she was dead, but Jesus declared the girl “has not died, but is asleep.” Now from the practical perspective, when declaring a person to be dead, what enables the declarer, particularly a physician like Luke, to assert that fact? Since she was declared asleep (v. 52) by the Lord, would there still not be visible, physical, and/or audible traces of her breathing to those around her? Yes, there would be, but they weren’t mentioned. The absence of such traces indicates the disappearance of life. Also, what had disappeared (the opposite of ἐπιστρέφω in verse 55) from her? Her πνεῦμα, which traditionally has been translated as “spirit.” The human “spirit” evidences each individual’s emotions and unique character and becomes severely affected by the process of dying; the eclipse of one’s “spirit” is a feature of that process but not the cause of life’s cessation. This is well exemplified by interpreting Matthew 27:50 and John 19:30 in light of Mark 15:37 and Luke 23:46. Without life, there is no breath, the final vestige of living. Commencement of death is indicated by the disappearance of breath. Therefore, it is “breath” that disappeared from and then returned to the dead daughter; her revival was totally dependent on her breath’s return.Now when Jesus declared:οὐ γὰρ ἀπέθανεν…ἀλλὰ καθεύδει (Matthew 9:24)οὐκ ἀπέθανεν ἀλλὰ καθεύδει (Mark 5:39)οὐ γὰρ ἀπέθανεν ἀλλὰ καθεύδει (Luke 8:52)He was declaring that the daughter has not died but is asleep. But if she was asleep, would not her breathing be visible and audible? The others present, having observed no evidence of any life signs, considered her physically dead (ἀποθνῄσκω). Jesus was not disagreeing with their assessment inasmuch as the clause following His conjunction ἀλλὰ was not presented by Him as contradictory to the one prior to it; instead, He preferred καθεύδω (to sleep, fall asleep), which was in keeping with the Old Testament’s metaphoric rendition of the girl’s afterlife status {cf. Chapter 2}, just as Paul did: Jesus “died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep (καθεύδωμεν), we may live together with Him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:10). Those “asleep” [οἱ νεκροὶ], include those who looked forward to the coming of their Messiah (Psalm 2:2) but had fallen asleep before God’s Son had become incarnated:Jesus: “An hour is coming and now is, when οἱ νεκροὶ (the dead) will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” (John 5:25)Human breath sources and conveys words, the process of which is identified as individual speech. I am convinced that Yahweh’s רוּחַ is the conveyor of His words in the same way our breath is employed when we speak. He is His Holy Breath, Whom I identify as the Person functioning as the Father’s specifically located presence (as opposed to His omnipresence) and executing agent:“Thou dost send forth Thy רוּחַ, they are created…” (Psalm 104:30)Yahweh: “…I will be with your mouth and (Aaron’s) mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do.” (Exodus 4:15)This is why I maintain רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים is God’s Breath, not His Spirit; all of “God is spirit (John 4:24);” each Person is a spirit, not just Their third Person.

5 All verses translated in English are sourced in the New American Standard Bible and LXX refers to the Septuagint.