"Hell" SERIES: Gehenna: the Burning Place

"Gehenna is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Hinnom, the name of a valley near Jerusalem, that was used as a dump, where the refuse, including animal carcasses and dead bodies, were consumed in a fire constantly kept going (See Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon.) Hence, Gehenna is the only one of the words translated "hell" in the Bible that actually does contain the concept of fire or burning.

Let’s look at the twelve instances in the King James Version New Testament where Gehenna is translated as “Hell”:

Matt. 5:22 states, “anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” This is clearly referring to a burning place.

Mat. 5:29-30 (Mat. 18:9 is another instance, and Mark 9:43 and 45 and 47 are parallel passages) states, “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”
It is interesting that this passage speaks of people being case bodily into Hell, not as disembodied spirits.

Mat. 10:28 (Luke 12:5 is parallel) states, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
This clearly states that the soul can be killed in the burning place. It is not immortal.

Luke 12:5 is clearer from an Adventist prospective, in that “soul” is not used:
“But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.”

In other words, “don’t fear the first death, from which you can be
resurrected, fear being cast into Hell, which is the second death.”

Mat. 23:15 states, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”
“Child of Hell” is figurative language, obviously.

Mat. 23:33 states, “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?”

James 3:6 is using figurative language: “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”

--Now in connection with the twelve times Gehenna is used two facts stand out:
1. The “body” as well as the soul is said to be “cast into hell.” Twice is the phrase used, "the whole body." (See Matt. 5:29-30; 10:28.) Note that the wicked are here said to be "cast into" the fire, as

though to describe the act of hurling an object into the flames. 

Note, further, the interesting fact, which is surely more than a mere coincidence in words, that the very same word "cast" (even in the original Greek) is repeatedly used in the various Gehenna texts. In no less than six of these texts we read, "Cast into hell [Gehenna]."

2. In not one of the twelve instances does the text tell when the wicked will be “cast into Hell.” For the time when this happens, we must consult passages such as Rev. 20:11-15, which we discussed above, and Mat. 25:31-41.

--From all the foregoing we reach the conclusion that the Bible does not support the idea that the wicked go into the flames of hell at death, but rather that the day when the impenitent objects of God's wrath are "cast into Gehenna" is still in the future."
F.D. Nichol