ApostateAbe

The most illustrative passage of hell is contained in the story of the rich man and Lazarus, found in Luke 16:19-31.

19 "Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20 "And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22 "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 "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.' 25 "But Abraham said, `Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 `And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.' 27 "And he said, `Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house-- 28 for I have five brothers--in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' 29 "But Abraham said, `They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' 30 "But he said, `No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!' 31 "But he said to him, `If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.' "

The word "Hades" is used, and it is a place of eternal (or age-during) painful fiery torment for the wicked, not unlike the traditional conservative conception of hell. It was so painful for the rich man that he begged for a drop of water to cool his tongue.

And it is not unlike the afterlife promises for the wicked described by Jesus in other parts of the Bible, such as Matthew 13:42.

41 "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

It is a punishment for the wicked being fully conscious, who are able to feel pain, weep and gnash their teeth.

angelo

Didn't Jesus go to hell while he was dead for the three days ?
I seem to have read that somewhere.

spamandham

I can certainly see how the modern concept of hell could come from such passages, but I guess the real question is, did early Christians believe that such a place was real, or was it simply figurative language?

Amaleq13

IIRC, there is early evidence for this belief in Christian writings but there is nothing explicit in the Bible. If scholars are correct who think that Paul had Psalm 16:8-11 in mind for the scriptural basis of 1 Cor 15:4, I believe this is as close as you get.

Dogfish

I believe it's a line in the Apostle's Creed:

"He was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into Hell, on the third day, he rose again, according to the scriptures..."

robto

The intertestamental books, like 1 Enoch and the Community Rule (from the Dead Sea Scrolls) show that something like hell was creeping into Judaism even before Jesus came on the scene, so we can't ascribe the invention of hell to him.

It seems pretty clear that these concepts came from Greek religion/philosophy and Zoroastrianism. The latter, particularly, has a dualism of light/dark = good/evil = God(Ahura Mazda)/Ahriman that is very closely paralleled in the Community Rule and in Christian writings like Barnabas.

WishboneDawn

My understanding is that one use of Hades in one place does not imply that the use of Hades or Hell (as in the Apostles creed) in the next place has the same meaning. I'd generally thought as the Hell in the creed for instance to mean something closer to Sheol rathen than fire and brimstone.

These are beginner questions, I know.

ApostateAbe

That would be Matthew 12:40 and Ephesians 4:9. The phrase used was "heart of the earth" or "lower parts of the earth," which could mean any of the hells, or maybe just the tomb. Matthew 12:40 is probably an interpolation, not original to Jesus.

ApostateAbe

Early Christians probably believed it to be literal. If there is no good reason to believe that it was figurative (we don't know that Jesus ever explicitly said that hell was figurative), and the religious leader would have interest in it being perceived as literal (the fear), then I would err on the side of literal.

ApostateAbe

Yes, I don't know if Jesus invented it or merely adapted it into his own teachings. That is a good point.