Biblical Answer

What Does the Bible Say About Hell?

The Bible has a lot to say about hell, and it's essential to understand what it teaches about this subject. The Old Testament Scriptures and a few statements in the New Testament can be misconstrued as to appear to teach hell as a place of torment, but this is not the case. In fact, the Bible hell is mankind's common grave (Let God Be True, 92). This means that hell is not a place of punishment, but rather a place where the dead rest.

The character of hell can be comprehensively stated today as a place of eternal separation from God, in opposition to the current notion that hell does not exist or that it will be empty at the last. This is in harmony with human reason and according to the teachings of divine revelation. The Bible teaches us to love God and our neighbor above everything else (Matt. 22:37, 39), and hell is a consequence of human decisions and actions that reject God.

The Bible uses various metaphors to describe hell, such as a lake of fire and brimstone (Rev. 20:10), a prison (Luke 20:35), and a pit (perhaps deep, but narrow) (I Tim. 6:17). The grammar of the Greek New Testament teaches unquestionably the doctrine of hell and eternal punishment, and it is essential to understand that hell is not a place of punishment for finite sins, but rather the just penalty for a sin of infinite consequence, namely the rejection of God Himself. The Bible teaches that hell is a place of eternal separation from God, and it is a consequence of human decisions and actions that reject God.