Rethinking Hell
- Serge Da Rosa
- Aug 12
- 15 min read
Updated: Sep 6
For generations, many Christians have lived under the shadow of a terrifying doctrine: the belief that God punishes people eternally in a place called “hell.” This idea has shaped evangelism, culture, theology, and personal faith. But what if this traditional view of hell is based not on the original intent of Scripture but on mistranslation, misunderstanding, and pagan influence?
In this chapter, we will examine the key terms translated as “hell” in many English Bibles and reveal how this modern doctrine departs from the heart of the gospel and the language of Jesus Himself. Our journey will take us through the words Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus, and expose how later tradition gave rise to the distorted concept we now call “hell.”
The Word “Hell” Isn’t in the Bible
English Bibles frequently use the word “hell”, but the original New Testament Greek never uses that word. Instead, there are three distinct Greek terms that often get translated into “hell”:
Gehenna (γέεννα)
Hades (ᾅδης)
Tartarus (ταρταρόω)
Each of these terms has a different meaning, context, and background. Lumping them all into one concept of postmortem punishment has caused deep theological confusion.
Gehenna — Prophetic Judgment, Not Eternal Torment
Gehenna is the Greek form of Gē Hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”), a ravine just south of Jerusalem. In Israel’s history, it became infamous as the site of child sacrifices to Molech by fire (Jer. 7:30–32; 2 Kings 23:10). The prophets condemned this valley, declaring it would be renamed the “Valley of Slaughter,” a symbol of judgment and defilement.
From then on, Gehenna was a prophetic image of national catastrophe. By the time of Jesus, it was a well-known metaphor for covenantal judgment on Israel, not a teaching about endless torment.
Gehenna in Second Temple Judaism
Between Malachi and the Gospels, Jewish writers employed “Gehenna” as an image of divine judgment, but with varied meanings. Some spoke of temporary shame, others of fiery destruction. What they did not do was present it as a universal doctrine of eternal conscious torment.
1 Enoch 27:2–3 — describes Gehenna as a cursed valley where actual bodies are judged.
2 Baruch 85:13 — portrays Gehenna as a place of disgrace, but not eternal torture.
Targums (Aramaic paraphrases of Scripture) — often replaced “Valley of Hinnom” with “Gehenna,” cementing it as shorthand for covenantal judgment on Israel.
By Jesus’ day, Gehenna evoked the imagery of national destruction and shame, never a Greek-style underworld of eternal flames.
Jesus’ Use of Gehenna
Outside James 3:6, Jesus is the only one in the New Testament who uses the word “Gehenna.” If it were the central truth of humanity’s eternal destiny, surely Paul, Peter, John, or the author of Hebrews would have emphasized it. Yet they never mention it.
Jesus’ use is consistently tied to warnings for His generation:
Matthew 5:22 — reckless anger makes one “liable to the fire of Gehenna.”
Matthew 10:28 — warns of both life (psyche) and body being destroyed in Gehenna.
Matthew 23:33 — warns the Pharisees: “How will you escape the sentence of Gehenna?”
Every instance points toward the looming national catastrophe that culminated in AD 70, not afterlife torment.
Fulfillment in AD 70
Jesus’ warnings about Gehenna climax in His Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24; Luke 21), where He says, “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” Within 40 years, Rome besieged Jerusalem, burned the temple, and slaughtered multitudes.
The historian Josephus records bodies being dumped in heaps into the surrounding valleys, including Hinnom. Gehenna became literally what Jesus warned: a fiery, corpse-filled valley of destruction.
Why Gehenna Is Not “Hell”
A Real Place — Gehenna was a valley outside Jerusalem, not an afterlife realm.
Prophetic Symbol — It pictured judgment on Israel, not humanity’s eternal fate.
First-Century Fulfillment — Jesus said “this generation,” and AD 70 fulfilled it.
Silence of the Apostles — No apostle ever warned Gentiles of Gehenna.
Lost in Translation — Later translators collapsed multiple words into “hell,” distorting Jesus’ message.
The Real Meaning
Gehenna was a prophetic symbol fulfilled in history. Jesus warned His contemporaries: cling to the old covenant system, and you will share in its fiery downfall.
It was never about God tormenting souls forever. It was about the end of an age, the death of a covenant system, and the birth of a new creation.
Gehenna is not about where people go when they die. It is about what happened when the old covenant world itself died.
Hades — The Grave, Not a Fiery Pit
Hades (ᾅδης) is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Sheol (שְׁאוֹל), which simply means “the place of the dead” or “the grave.” In the Old Testament, Sheol is a neutral term: everyone, righteous and wicked alike, were described as going there (Gen. 37:35; Job 3:13–19; Ps. 89:48). It carried no connotation of eternal fire or torment, it was simply the unseen realm of the dead.
When the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek (the Septuagint), Sheol was rendered as Hades. This is the word the New Testament writers inherited, and they used it in continuity with the Old Testament, not in the sense of Greek mythology.
Hades in the New Testament
Hades appears only a handful of times, and its meaning remains consistent:
Luke 16:23 — In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man is said to be in Hades. This is not a literal geography of the afterlife but a parable about reversal and covenantal faithfulness, using familiar imagery to first-century Jews.
Acts 2:27, 31 — Peter, quoting Psalm 16, says Jesus was not abandoned to Hades, showing that even the Messiah entered the realm of the dead but was raised.
Revelation 6:8 — Death and Hades are paired together, both personified as forces that claim the dead.
Revelation 20:13–14 — Hades gives up the dead at the final judgment, then is itself thrown into the lake of fire. This means Hades was temporary, not eternal.
Not a Place of Eternal Torment
Unlike the later doctrine of “hell,” Hades is never described as a fiery pit of endless punishment. In fact:
Temporary Holding Place — Both righteous and unrighteous were said to go there until resurrection.
No Flames Attached — With the sole exception of the parable in Luke 16 (which uses imagery, not literal geography), Hades is never connected to fire.
Destined for Destruction — Revelation 20:14 explicitly says Hades will be abolished in the lake of fire — showing it cannot itself be the lake of fire.
Contrast With Greek Mythology
In Greek culture, Hades was the underworld ruled by the god Hades, often depicted as a shadowy realm with different compartments (Elysium for the good, Tartarus for the wicked). While Jewish writers sometimes borrowed the term, they stripped it of mythological baggage. In the New Testament, Hades = Sheol = the grave, not the Greek underworld.
How Hades Became “Hell”
As with Gehenna, translation played a huge role in creating confusion:
Septuagint — translated Sheol as Hades consistently.
Latin Vulgate — rendered both Hades and Gehenna as infernus (“lower regions”), which blurred the categories.
English Bibles — Tyndale, and later the King James Version, translated Hades as “hell” in several passages. This collapsed the distinction between the grave (Sheol/Hades) and covenantal judgment (Gehenna).
This mistranslation cemented the belief that Hades itself was a place of eternal fiery punishment, even though the biblical text says otherwise.
The Final Fate of Hades
The most decisive verse is Revelation 20:14:
“Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”
If Hades itself is destroyed, it cannot be eternal torment. Its role is temporary, tied to the old creation order of death. In the new creation, there is no more Hades, no more grave, and no more separation of the dead from life (Rev. 21:4).
The Real Meaning
Hades is not hell. It is the biblical way of speaking about the grave; the temporary holding place of the dead before resurrection. It is neutral, not fiery; temporary, not eternal. And in the end, even Hades itself was destroyed, swallowed up in the victory of Christ.
Tartarus — The Deep Abyss for Rebellious Angels
Tartarus (ταρταρόω) appears only once in the New Testament, in 2 Peter 2:4:
“For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into Tartarus and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment…”
The word comes from Greek mythology, where Tartarus was the lowest pit of the underworld, even beneath Hades, a prison for rebellious gods and Titans. Peter borrows this familiar term to make a point his readers would understand, but he uses it metaphorically.
Not for Humans
In the New Testament, Tartarus is only applied to angels who sinned, not to human beings. Peter ties it to the rebellious “sons of God” mentioned in Genesis 6 (echoed in 1 Enoch), who were judged for leaving their proper place.
Jude 6 parallels this:
“The angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling, He has kept in eternal chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.”
Notice: both Peter and Jude describe Tartarus/abyss as a temporary holding place until judgment, not an eternal fiery torture chamber.
Distinct from Gehenna and Hades
Gehenna — judgment on Israel, a literal valley outside Jerusalem.
Hades — the grave, the realm of the dead.
Tartarus — a special abyss for rebellious spiritual beings.
Mixing these three terms into the single English word “hell” creates deep confusion and distorts the biblical message.
Jewish and Early Christian Background
1 Enoch 21:7–10 describes rebellious angels confined in a dark abyss until the day of judgment. Peter’s audience, familiar with Jewish apocalyptic writings, would immediately connect Tartarus with that imagery.
The term emphasizes God’s justice on cosmic rebellion, not eternal torment of people.
Why Tartarus Is Not “Hell”
Mentioned Only Once — It’s not a major biblical theme.
Applies to Angels, Not People — Humans are never said to be sent there.
Temporary, Not Eternal — The angels are “kept until judgment,” meaning this is a holding place, not the final destiny.
Borrowed Metaphor — Peter uses a Greek mythological term to describe the Jewish concept of the abyss, not to endorse Greek cosmology.
The Real Meaning
Tartarus is not “hell.” It is a metaphor for a deep, dark abyss where rebellious angels were restrained until the final judgment. It has nothing to do with Gehenna, nothing to do with human destiny, and nothing to do with the fiery “hell” that later tradition invented.
The Real Message of Jesus
Jesus wasn’t obsessed with punishing people after they die. He was focused on:
Announcing the arrival of the Kingdom of God
Calling Israel to repentance and covenant faithfulness
Warning of impending historical judgment on Jerusalem (not threats of afterlife torment)
His warnings about Gehenna were urgent, real-time prophetic calls not theological threats for future generations.
The Details of Eternal Punishment
Let’s take a closer look at a verse that’s often used to defend the doctrine of eternal conscious torment. Matthew 25:46 says,
“And these shall go away into punishment age-during, but the righteous into life age-during.”
At first glance, this sounds like a straightforward contrast—some go to eternal punishment, others to eternal life. But once you dig into the original Greek, the whole narrative begins to shift.
The phrase in question is κόλασιν αἰώνιον (kolasin aiōnion).
Let’s start with aiōnion. It comes from the word aiōn, which means an age, a cycle, or a specific period of time. It doesn’t carry the idea of “never-ending” the way we tend to think of the word “eternal.” The Greeks did have a word for endlessness, aidios, but that’s not the word Jesus used here. Aiōnion simply means “of the age,” or “pertaining to an age,” especially the one that was coming.
Even in classical Greek and Jewish writings like the Septuagint, aiōn and aiōnios are typically used to describe long but finite spans of time, or things associated with the characteristics of a specific age, not something infinite by default.
Now let’s look at the second word—kolasis. This one is even more telling.
Kolasis comes from the verb kolazō, which means to prune, discipline, or correct. It’s actually a gardening term, a word you’d use when trimming a tree to help it grow and bear fruit. Kolasis isn't speaking about retribution; it’s speaking about restoration.
The Greek language had another word for vengeance—timōria, which was vengeance to appease. The word used in this verse wasn't timōria but kolasis, which was a correction to bring someone to a healthy place.
That changes everything.
This actually aligns with the broader narrative of Scripture, a story that has always pointed to restoration, not eternal separation:
“He shall restore all things.” (Acts 3:21)
“As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:22)
“Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess allegiance.” (Phil. 2:10–11)
“All flesh shall come and worship before Me.” (Isa. 66:23)
“God shall be all in all.” (1 Cor. 15:28)
This is the resounding heart of the gospel, God’s victory is restorative, not retributive.
So let’s recap:
Aiōnion = of the age to come
Kolasis = corrective pruning
Kolasin aiōnion = correction that belongs to the age to come
When we let the Greek speak for itself...
When we let Christ be the lens...
When we let love lead the way...
We’ll see the gospel for what it really is:
Good news.
Restorative. Relentless. Redemptive love.
The Invention of “Hell” as Eternal Torment
The traditional doctrine of hell as a place of eternal conscious torment did not come from Jesus or the apostles. It developed over time, influenced by:
Greek philosophy (Plato’s view of the immortal soul and eternal punishment)
Dante’s Inferno (14th-century poetic fiction, not theology)
Medieval Catholic tradition, which used fear of hell to control and convert.
The doctrine of eternal conscious torment wasn’t the mainstream belief of the early Church. For the first 300 years, the dominant view among church fathers was one of restorative correction and reconciliation.
This doctrine took root in the writings of men like Tertullian, who wrote about sinners suffering in hell, and Augustine, who institutionalized this doctrine in the Latin West.
When the King James Bible translated all three terms — Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus — as “hell,” it collapsed three different ideas into one horrifying image.
Through all of this came doctrinal distortion.
What Does It Mean to Perish?
One of the most well-known verses in all of Scripture is often the most misunderstood:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”— John 3:16
For centuries, this verse has been used to support the idea that those who don’t “believe” in Jesus will suffer eternal conscious torment in hell. But that’s not what the text actually says and it’s certainly not what the word perish means in the original language.
The Word “Perish” Isn’t What You Think
The Greek word used here is apollymi (ἀπόλλυμι). It means to lose something, or to come to ruin, not to suffer endlessly. It’s used elsewhere in Scripture in ways that make this clear:
“The wineskins will be ruined (apollymi)” — Matthew 9:17
“The lost sheep” — Luke 15:4 (apollymi)
“The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” — Luke 19:10
In other words, to perish is to miss out on what you were created for. It’s not the beginning of eternal torture, it’s the tragedy of lost identity and missed life.
Belief Is an Awakening, Not a Condition
In John’s Gospel, belief isn’t about mentally agreeing to a doctrinal formula. It’s about trust, about opening your eyes to what has always been true in Christ.
Belief doesn’t manufacture salvation. It awakens you to it.
Jesus came into a world trapped in blindness, stuck in systems of accusation and death, lost in the darkness of religion and separation. His mission wasn’t to bring judgment but to shine a light bright enough for us to see what we had forgotten: that we are loved, included, and invited into full participation with divine life.
Those who believe step into that life.
Those who don’t remain lost in what is already perishing.
Perishing Isn’t Punishment—It’s Staying in the Dark
To “perish” in this context doesn’t mean God inflicts destruction. It means remaining in what’s already falling apart.
Jesus didn’t come to threaten the world with destruction. He came to rescue it from destruction that was already in motion.
He came to a covenant people who had been under the weight of the law for 1,500 years. He offered them a new and better covenant, not built on sacrifice, shame, and exclusion, but on grace, union, and life.
Those who rejected that invitation weren’t being punished by God. They were choosing to stay bound to what could never give life.
The Tragedy of Unbelief
In the first-century context, unbelief often referred to those who rejected Jesus as the fulfillment of the covenant. They clung to the law, resisted the message of grace, and opposed God's Kingdom.
To perish, then, was to miss the moment.
To miss the new creation dawning right in front of them.
To remain in a system that was already passing away.
It wasn't about where they would go when they die. It was about refusing to let go of the old system that was perishing.
The Invitation Still Stands
The point of John 3:16 isn’t fear, it’s love.
God loved the world. God gave Himself to it. And that love is an invitation to see, to trust, to awaken.
Not so you can avoid hell.
But so you can stop perishing, right now.
The Lake of Fire: Burning Away the Old
Few symbols in Scripture have been more misunderstood than the lake of fire. Traditional interpretations often paint it as an eternal torture chamber, where disembodied souls are consciously tormented without end. But when we take a closer look at the language, context, and covenantal framework of Revelation, a very different picture emerges: not of unending punishment, but of complete and final purification.
What Is the Lake of Fire?
The phrase “lake of fire” appears exclusively in the final chapters of Revelation:
Revelation 19:20 – The beast and false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:10 – The devil is cast into the lake of fire “to be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Revelation 20:14 – “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”
Revelation 21:8 – The lake of fire is identified as “the second death” for the cowardly, unbelieving, and others.
Key Contextual Observations
The Lake of Fire Is Symbolic
Revelation is not a literal picture for the afterlife. It's an apocalyptic vision full of signs, symbols, and metaphors meant to unveil hidden realities.
The lake of fire is not a literal place, it’s a picture of judgment against entire systems, mindsets, and identities that stood in opposition to the Kingdom of God.
Just as the “beast” and “false prophet” aren’t literal monsters, the lake of fire isn’t a literal furnace. It's a symbol of divine transition of old things being decisively ended.
It’s About the Second Death—Not Eternal Torture
Revelation 20:14 defines the lake of fire simply and clearly:
“The lake of fire is the second death.”
If death and Hades are thrown into it, it can’t represent unending life in agony. It's called death, not eternal dying. What dies here? Not souls in the modern sense but the entire realm of the old covenant world.
This is not about punishing people forever, it’s about the end of a dying age: the law, the accusation, the separation, the decay.
This “death of death” is the dismantling of the old world that could never produce true life.
What Gets Thrown Into the Lake?
Let’s look at the cast of characters:
The Beast – Symbolic of oppressive empire (Rome or the broader religious-political alliance)
The False Prophet – Religious deception that upheld the old system
The Devil – The satanic system of accusation and adversarial legalism
Death and Hades – The realm of mortality and the places of holding
The Unbelieving – Those who clung to law and rejected the Kingdom’s arrival in Christ
These are symbolic representations of covenantal systems that opposed the inbreaking of the New Creation.
This is not hellfire for sinners. This is the divine dismantling of what no longer belongs.
Covenant Fulfillment: Fire as Purification, Not Punishment
Throughout Scripture, fire is rarely about torture, but about transformation:
Purification – “He is like a refiner’s fire…” (Malachi 3:2–3)
Judgment – “Each one’s work will be revealed by fire…” (1 Corinthians 3:13–15)
Transition – Fire often signals the end of one era and the beginning of another
The lake of fire represents the consuming judgment of God upon the old covenant system and everything aligned with it—law, accusation, empire, deception, and death itself.
It is not a divine dungeon. It’s a holy fire that clears the way for the New Creation to flourish.
Revelation Is Not About Postmortem Torment
It’s about cosmic renovation.
It’s about God putting an end to the old to reveal the new.
It’s about the law giving way to grace, accusation giving way to righteousness, death giving way to life.
The lake of fire isn’t something to fear, it’s something to celebrate.
It is the final act of God’s covenantal faithfulness, consuming everything that kept humanity bound, and making room for the fullness of union and newness in Christ.
Let the fire burn because everything that remains will be rooted in love, wholeness, and life.
Recovering the Gospel from Fear
The message of Jesus was always redemptive, restorative, and rooted in love and not in fear of hellfire.
By understanding what Scripture actually says, and what it doesn’t, we dismantle the false narrative of a God who tortures people eternally. Instead, we see a God revealed in Christ, who takes away the sin of the world, brings life and immortality to light, and invites all into the fullness of His Kingdom.
About the Author
Serge Da Rosa is co-founder of Urban Eden Community, a ministry dedicated to helping people discover their God-given identity and walk in the freedom of the new creation. Alongside his wife, Kristy, Serge facilitates weekly gatherings in Tulsa, Oklahoma that center around authentic connection, growth, and kingdom expression outside the walls of traditional religious systems.
Serge’s passion is to see people awakened to their union with God. Through weekly community gatherings, work in addiction recovery, community events, writing, teaching, and the Kings And Priests Podcast, he speaks into themes of identity, grace, purpose, kingdom and governance with clarity, depth, and hope.
Whether through a conversation, a gathering, or a written word, Serge’s message remains the same: You are in perfect union with God, empowered with God's Kingdom.
To learn more, connect with Serge, or support the mission, visit www.UrbanEdenCmty.com
Email us: urbanedencmty@gmail.com
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