SPECIAL TOPIC: WHERE ARE THE DEAD?

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE DEAD, WHERE ARE THEY? (SHEOL/HADES, GEHENNA, TARTARUS)

Old Testament
1. All humans go to Sheol (there are no Semitic cognate roots and the etymology is uncertain, BDB 982, KB 1368), which was a way of referring to the place where the dead live or the grave, mostly in Wisdom Literature and Isaiah. In the OT it was a shadowy, conscious, but joyless existence (cf. Job 10:21-22; 38:17)
2. Sheol characterized
  1. a place of descent, Num. 16:30; Job 7:9; Ps. 88:3-4; Isa. 29:4; 57:9
  2. associated with God's judgment (fire), Deut. 32:22
  3. a prison with gates, Job 38:17; Ps. 9:13; 107:18; Job 2:6
  4. a land of no return, Job 7:9 (an Akkadian title for death)
  5. a land/realm of darkness, Job 10:21-22; 17:13; 18:18; Ps. 88:6; Lam. 3:6
  6. a place of silence, Ps. 28:1; 31:17; 94:17; 115:17; Isa. 47:5
  7. associated with punishment even before Judgment Day, Ps. 18:4-5
  8. associated with abaddon (destruction; see SPECIAL TOPIC: ABADDON. . .APOLLYON), in which God is also present, Job 26:6; Ps. 139:8; Amos 9:2
  9. associated with "the Pit" (grave), Ps.16:10; 88:3; Isa. 14:15; Ezek. 31:15-17
  10. wicked descend alive into Sheol, Num. 16:30,33; Job 7:9; Ps. 55:15
  11. personified often as an animal with a large mouth, Num. 16:30; Pro. 1:12; Isa. 5:14; Hab. 2:5
  12. people there called Repha'im (i.e., "spirits of the dead"), Job 26:5; Pro. 2:18; 21:16; 26:14 Isa. 14:9-11)
  13. however, YHWH is present even here, Job 26:6; Ps. 139:8; Pro. 15:11
New Testament
1. The Hebrew Sheol is translated in the Greek Septuagint as Hades (the unseen world)
2. Hades characterized (much like Sheol)
  1. refers to death, Matt. 16:18
  2. linked to death, Rev. 1:18; 6:8; 20:13-14
  3. often analogous to the place of permanent punishment (Gehenna), Matt. 11:23 OT quote); Luke 10:15; 16:23-24
  4. often analogous to the grave, Luke 16:23
3. Possibly divided (rabbis)
  1. righteous part called Paradise (really another name for heaven, cf. 2 Cor. 12:4; Rev. 2:7), Luke 23:43
  2. wicked part called Tartarus, a holding place far below Hades, 2 Peter 2:4, where it is a holding place for evil angels (cf. Genesis 6; I Enoch). It is associated with the "Abyss," Luke 8:31; Rom. 10:7; Rev. 9:1-2,11; 11:7; 17:18; 20:1,3
4. Gehenna
  1. Reflects the OT phrase, "the valley of the sons of Hinnom," (south of Jerusalem). It was the place where the Phoenician fire god, Molech (BDB 574, KB 591; see SPECIAL TOPIC: MOLECH), was worshiped by child sacrifice (cf. 2 Kgs. 16:3; 21:6; 2 Chr. 28:3; 33:6), which was forbidden in Lev. 18:21; 20:2-5.
  2. Jeremiah changed it from a place of pagan worship into a site of YHWH's judgment (cf. Jer. 7:32; 19:6-7). It became the place of fiery, eternal judgment in I Enoch 90:26-27 and Sib. 1:103.
  3. The Jews of Jesus' day were so appalled by their ancestors' participation in pagan worship by child sacrifice, that they turned this area into the garbage dump for Jerusalem. Much of Jesus' imagery for eschatological judgment came from this landfill (fire, smoke, worms, stench, cf. Mark 9:44,46). The term Gehenna is used only by Jesus (except once in James 3:6).
  4. Jesus' usage of Gehenna
    1. fire, Matt. 5:22; 18:9; Mark 9:43,48 (also 1 Enoch and 2 Baruch)
    2. permanent, Mark 9:48 (Matt. 25:41,46)
    3. place of destruction (both soul and body), Matt. 10:28
    4. paralleled to Sheol, Matt. 5:29-30; 18:9
    5. characterizes the wicked as "son of hell," Matt. 23:15
    6. result of judicial sentence, Matt. 23:33; Luke 12:5 (also Sibylline Oracles)
    7. the concept of Gehenna is parallel to the second death (cf. Rev. 2:11; 20:6,14) or the lake of fire (cf. Matt. 13:42,50; Rev. 19:20; 20:10,14-15; 21:8). It is possible the lake of fire becomes the permanent dwelling place of humans (from Sheol) and evil angels (from Tartarus, 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 1:6 or the abyss, cf. Luke 8:31; Rev. 9:1-11; 20:1,3).
    8. it was not designed for humans, but for Satan and his angels, Matt. 25:41
5. It is possible, because of the overlap of Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna that
  1. originally all humans went to Sheol/Hades
  2. their experience there (good/bad) is exacerbated after Judgment Day, but the place of the wicked remains the same (this is why the KJV translated hades (grave) as gehenna (hell)
  3. the only NT text to mention torment before Judgment is the parable of Luke 16:19-31 (Lazarus and the Rich Man). Sheol is also described as a place of punishment now (cf. Deut. 32:22; Ps. 18:1-5). However, one cannot establish a doctrine on a parable.
Intermediate state between death and resurrection
1. The NT does not teach the "immortality of the soul apart from the body" which is one of several ancient Greek views of the after life, which asserts that
  1. human souls exist before their physical life
  2. human souls are eternal before and after physical death
  3. often the physical body is seen as a prison and death as release back to pre-existent state (i.e., Greek thought)
2. The NT hints at a disembodied state between death and resurrection
  1. Jesus speaks of a division between body and soul, Matt. 10:28 (see SPECIAL TOPIC: BODY AND SPIRIT)
  2. Abraham may already have a body, Mark 12:26-27; Luke 16:23
  3. Moses and Elijah have a physical body at the transfiguration, Matthew 17
  4. Paul asserts that at the Second Coming dead believers with Christ will get their new bodies first, 1 Thess. 4:13-18
  5. Paul asserts that believers get their new spiritual bodies on Resurrection Day, 1 Cor. 15:23,52
  6. Paul asserts that believers do not go to Hades, but at death are with Jesus, 2 Cor. 5:6,8; Phil. 1:23. Jesus overcame death and takes the righteous to heaven with Him, 1 Pet. 3:18-22.
  7. For a brief discussion of the disembodied state see Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 2^nd ed., pp. 545, 1181-1190
Heaven (see SPECIAL TOPIC: HEAVEN)
1. This term is used in three senses in the Bible.
  1. the atmosphere above the earth, Gen. 1:1,8; Isa. 42:5; 45:18
  2. the starry heavens, Gen. 1:14; Deut. 10:14; Ps. 148:4; Heb. 4:14; 7:26
  3. the place of God's throne, Deut. 10:14; 1 Kgs. 8:27; Ps. 148:4; Eph. 4:10; Heb. 9:24 (third heaven, 2 Cor. 12:2; see SPECIAL TOPIC: THE HEAVENS AND THE THIRD HEAVEN)
2. The Bible does not reveal much about the afterlife, probably because fallen humans have no way or capacity to understand (cf. 1 Cor. 2:9).
3. Heaven is both a place (cf. John 14:2-3) and a person (cf. 2 Cor. 5:6,8). Heaven may be a restored Garden of Eden (Genesis 1-2; Revelation 21-22; see SPECIAL TOPIC: GARDEN OF EDEN). The earth will be cleansed and restored (cf. Acts 3:21; Rom. 8:21; 2 Pet. 3:10). The image of God (Gen. 1:26-27) is restored by believers' faith relationship with Christ. Now the intimate fellowship of the Garden of Eden is possible again.
  
  Heaven as a huge, cubed city of Rev. 21:9-27 is imagery and not literal. 1 Corinthians 15 describes the difference between the physical body and the spiritual body as a seed to the mature plant. Again, 1 Cor. 2:9 (a quote from Isa. 64:4 and 65:17) is a great promise and hope! I know that when we see Him we will be like Him (cf. 1 John 3:2).
Helpful resources
1. William Hendriksen, The Bible On the Life Hereafter
2. Maurice Rawlings, Beyond Death's Door
3. Hard Sayings of the Bible, pp. 105, 426, 489, 493, 626, 637, 686, 723, 768
4. several good videos on YouTube on the views of Hell which developed in the early church
  1. Edward Fudge, The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of Hell
  2. Edward Fudge, Rethinking Hell
  3. Edward Fudge, Conditional Immortality
  4. Edward Fudge, Proof Texts for Eternal Punishment
  5. Steve Gregg, Hell ‒ Three Christian Views
  6. Steve Gregg, Discussion on Hell

These videos have been very interesting to me. I still hold the traditional view, but I can certainly see the biblical texts that have generated the other views.