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Good Questions About the Death of Jesus that Make no Sense

By Jeremy Myers
11 Comments

Good Questions About the Death of Jesus that Make no Sense

A reader sent an email today with these questions:

  1. If Jesus died in the place of others, why does everyone else also die?
  2. If the penalty for sin is hell forever, and if Jesus paid the penalty for all the sins of the world, why is Jesus not the only one in hell forever?
  3. Did God punish Jesus by making him die and go to hell, or did God reward Jesus by raising him up from death and lifting him up to heaven?
  4. If Jesus died on a Friday afternoon and rose from the dead by the next Sunday morning, was the penalty for all the sins of the world less than two days dead?
  5. If God punished Jesus for all the sins of others by making him die on a cross, why are Judas Iscariot, Pontius Pilate, and Caiaphas not all heroes and saints for fulfilling the will of God?
  6. If people should rejoice at the suffering and death of Jesus, as if his pain were their gain, should they mourn his resurrection and ascension, as if his gain is their pain?
  7. If we live because Jesus died, do we die because Jesus rose to live again?
  8. If people go to heaven because Jesus went to hell, do people go to hell because Jesus went to heaven?
  9. Did the crucifixion of Jesus cancel the sins of others, or was it really the worst sin of all?
  10. Would God be just if He punished the innocent in place of the guilty?
  11. If Jesus paid the penalty for all the sins of others, and salvation in unconditional, is not everyone saved, no matter what he believes, says, or does?
  12. If the purpose of Jesus was to die, why did his story not end with his death?
  13. If good deeds make no difference, because no one can earn salvation, why did Jesus say so much about what persons should and should not do?
  14. How could the penalty for sins be paid hundreds of years before those sins were done?
  15. If Jesus, like a scapegoat, took away our sins when he died, did he bring back our sins when he came back from the dead?
  16. How could Jesus be a substitute to go in our places and also be a leader and example whom we should follow?
  17. If we do not follow Jesus, but he goes one way so that we can go another way, how do we expect to end up where he is?
  18. If Jesus were God, and God demanded that Jesus die to pay the penalty for the sins of everyone else, did God commit suicide?

As I read through these excellent questions about the death of Jesus, I realized that I couldn’t answer ANY of them because I didn’t accept the presuppositions that were within each question.

For example, with question #1, I do not believe Jesus died in the place of others. I do not believe in “substitutionary” atonement.

With question 2, I do not believe that the penalty for sin is hell forever.

With question 3, I do not believe that God punished Jesus by making him die and go to hell…

And so on throughout the list of questions….

This is the problem with the vast majority of theology today. We are asking wrong questions because we are beginning with wrong ideas about God, Jesus, sin, and hell.

All of the questions above disappear when we learn just a few things from Scripture. Like what?

  1. God does not require punishment for sin, or blood payment to forgive.
  2. God is infinitely gracious, forgiving, and loving.
  3. Jesus didn’t die to appease God or buy forgiveness from God.
  4. Hell isn’t what you think…

Start with those ideas, and the way you read and understand the Bible will forever be transformed. If you want help, here are three books to get you started:

  • (#AmazonAdLink) The Atonement of God
  • (#AmazonAdLink) Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
  • (#AmazonAdLink) What is Hell?

Enjoy!

God is Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: atonement, Bible and Theology Questions, Books I'm Writing, death of Jesus, hell

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The Battle Plan (Ephesians 6:11,13)

By Jeremy Myers
4 Comments

The Battle Plan (Ephesians 6:11,13)
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/684427809-redeeminggod-how-to-stand-up-in-spiritual-warfare-ephesians-611-13.mp3

Paul turns from the battle cry in Ephesians 6:10 to the battle plan in Ephesians 6:11, 13. We must not only prepare ourselves for battle by becoming strong, we must also protect ourselves in battle by having a plan.

The battle plan has three parts. We must put on the armor of God, stand our ground, and watch out for traps laid by the devil.

Let us consider each part of the plan.

Put on Your Armor (Ephesians 6:11a, 13a)

The first part of the battle plan is to put on the whole armor of God. Paul states this instruction twice in Ephesians 6:11, 13 when he writes, “Put on the whole armor of God” and “take up the whole armor of God.”

When Paul wrote these words, he was in prison in Rome and was likely chained to a Roman soldier twenty-four hours a day. Being chained to an armed guard was one of the ways the Roman military put protection and extra security around important prisoners like Paul. He had a first-hand opportunity to study and understand the importance of armor. Maybe he even talked to the soldiers about their armor.

This will be important to remember when Paul goes on to describe the armor in Ephesians 6:14-17. For now, Paul just instructs us to put on the whole armor of God.

Note that Paul doesn’t tell us that we are already wearing the armor. No, he tells us to take up and put on the armor. Though God has given His armor to us, we still need to take it up and put it on. These are commands. Christians are commanded to put on the armor. Obviously, armor sitting on the floor or stuffed the closet never did any soldier any good.

God has given His armor to each of us, by which we can protect ourselves from the enemy. But the armor does no good sitting in the closet. We must pick it up. We must put it on. We must wear it night and day until we feel naked and unprotected without it.

God has given us this wonderful gift to protect us from the enemy in this battle. Let us makes sure we use it. Take it the full armor of God and put it on.

As we discuss the various pieces of armor in future studies, we will discuss how to take it up and put it on.

Let us move on to the second part of the battle plan, which details our primary goal in this battle.

Stand Your Ground (Ephesians 6:11b, 13b, 14a)

Whenever we imagine a battlefield, we think of two opposing armies facing off against each other on the field of battle. Then, as the trumpets sound and the battle cry is shouted, the two armies charge across the field toward each other, where they meet in the middle with a clash of blood and steel. So in light of this, it would seem that Paul would tell us to “Charge!” into battle.

But he doesn’t. Instead, he tell us simply to “Stand.” In fact, Paul is so intent on making sure we know that all we are supposed to do is “Stand,” he repeats the instruction four times.

In the middle of Ephesians 6:11, he says, “… that you may be able stand …” Then in Ephesians 6:13, he writes “… that you maybe be able to withstand … and having done all, to stand.” Finally, at the beginning of Ephesians 6:14, he says, “Stand therefore …”

This is surprising, isn’t it? Most of us assume that the Christian life is all about doing things. Going places. Ministering. Serving. Teaching. Studying. Giving. Most Christians measure spiritual maturity by looking at spiritual activity. It even goes against what we sing. We like to sing the song, “Onward Christian Soldiers,” but Paul doesn’t say, “Onward!” He says, “Just stand there!”

This indicates that while Christian activity might be helpful in other arenas, when it comes to spiritual warfare, the most we should do and the best we can do, is to do nothing but stand there.

So these are the battle orders. We are to stand our ground. Don’t give up. Don’t retreat. But also don’t try to advance. Just stand our ground.

Why does Paul do this?

Why does he tell us to do nothing but stand when it comes to spiritual warfare? Why can we walk in other areas of the Christian life, but only stand in spiritual battle?

The main reason is because this spiritual battle has already been won. We don’t have to march out to meet the enemy, because the enemy is already defeated. The enemy has already been vanquished. We are the conquerors.

In fact, we are more than conquerors (Rom 8:37). Jesus Christ defeated the enemy for us. He is the victor (1 Cor 15:57; 2 Cor 2:14) and so we don’t have to advance; we just have to stand on the ground that Jesus has already won.

Part of this is because we humans, on our own, could never defeat Satan. He is much stronger and powerful than any one of us. So thankfully, God has not called on us to march out and meet the enemy that is far superior to us. He has not called us to run out onto the battlefield. He has called us to do nothing but stand on the ground that Jesus has won for us.

Jesus Christ defeated Satan for us. He is the victor on this battlefield. And all we have to do is stand on the ground He has won (Col 2:15; 1 Cor 10:12).

Indeed, standing your ground was the single greatest key to the power and might of the Roman military. While the Roman Empire did conquer the world by sending its armies into other countries to do battle, the great strength of the Roman military was that once the armored Roman soldiers were on the field of battle, their primary goal was to do nothing but stand their ground.

They had various ways of doing this. For example, the Roman military historian Vegetius writes that the smallest Roman security force was a guard unit made up of 16 men. These 16 men were spaced evenly over 36 square yards, which means there was about one every six feet or so. The soldiers were trained to focus on one thing and one thing only: They must not let a single enemy soldier enter into their six-foot square section of the battle field. Each individual soldier was given a single command: Stand your ground. Do not let the enemy into your six-foot square area.

Now this is not very much ground to cover. If you were a soldier and you were told that all you had to do in any war was cover one little six-foot by six-foot section, that doesn’t seem too hard. And it wasn’t too hard. This was the part of the genius of the Roman military power. Vegetius tells us that when arranged in this way, and when each soldier understood that all he had to do was stand his ground, his little six-by-six foot section of ground, those 16 men could stand up against 500 attacking enemies!

It is helpful to think about spiritual warfare in a similar way. When we look at all that is wrong with the world, it can be overwhelming. There are so many problems. So many battles to be fought. There is so much sin, rebellion, and evil. How can one person do anything against all of that?

But you are not called to do anything against all of that! You are commanded to simply stand your ground. To keep standing when an enemy enters into your small area of the field. You don’t need to worry about what is happening on the other end of the battle field.

All you need to focus on is what is happening in your little six-foot square area. God does not expect you to fight the swarming hoards all by yourself. It is not you against the spiritual realm of darkness.

You have been given a little tiny bit of ground. Stand in it and defend it. That’s it. Do not let a single enemy enter into your space. That is the area God has entrusted to you, and He wants you to stand your ground.

What is your six-foot square area of land?

It is your own life and the people who are in it with you. Protecting your bit of ground requires you to watch what you see, what you say, and what you think.

We can make sure that the words that proceed out of our mouths are edifying and encouraging toward others.

We can speak with honesty and truthfulness.

We can avoid gossip that tears other people down.

We can be careful about what enters into our minds through the doorway of the eyes.

We can be careful what we watch and view.

We can take our thoughts captive so that we think on what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Php 4:8).

When we live in such ways, we are standing our ground that Jesus has won for us.

But standing our ground is not as easy as it sounds.

Standing our ground requires great vigilance. We must be alert and ready. For as the defeated enemies rush off with their tails between their legs, in shame and defeat, shrieking in humiliation, they still seek to wound and damage any of us that they can. We must be on our guard, because as they go to their destruction they would love to take a few of us out as they pass by.

That is why we need to be careful. If we try to advance, rather than stand our ground, it is almost certain we will walk into a trap of the devil. Standing our ground is the safest way to avoid the snares of Satan. This is the third and final part of the battle plan, to watch out for the traps of the devil.

Watch Out For Traps (Ephesians 6:11b, 13b)

The third and final element of our battle plan is to watch out for the traps of the devil. Paul calls these the wiles of the devil.

The Greek word for wiles is methodeia, which is where we get our English word “methods.” So the wiles of the devil are the methods he uses to injure, wound, and ensnare soldiers of Jesus Christ.

In fact, Satan is so good at what he does, that sometimes, according to 1 Corinthians 11:3, 14, he appears as an angel of light. This means that sometimes, when people think they are following light and truth, they are actually following darkness and deception. It is even possible that some people think they are worshiping God, but are in fact worshiping the devil.

Therefore, it is critically important to become aware of the wiles of the devil, so that we can easily see his schemes and avoid his traps.

We must understand when these attacks come, what types of attacks the devil will throw at us, where he seeks to target us most often, and the tactics he uses with these attacks.

Though Satan has millions of specific temptations, there are only three main types.

Three Types of Traps

In 1 John 2:15-17, the Apostle John says that there are three types of traps that we can encounter in our life as Christians. He calls them the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. So although there are a wide variety of specific temptations and traps that the devil can throw our way, each and every one will fall into one of these three categories.

For example, in Genesis 3:6, Satan uses these same three traps on Eve. She saw that the tree was good for food (the lust of the flesh), that it was pleasing to the eyes (that’s the lust of the eyes), and that it was desirable to make one wise (that’s the pride of life).

Similarly, when Satan tempted Jesus for forty days in the wilderness, the Gospel accounts tell us that he presented Jesus with three different temptations. Satan wanted Jesus to turn stone into bread (the lust of the flesh), then showed Him all the kingdoms of the world (the lust of the eyes), and tempted Jesus to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple in order to easily declare Himself as the Messiah and prove that God was working for Him (the pride of life) (See further resources here: https://redeeminggod.com/sermons/luke/luke_4_1-4/ https://redeeminggod.com/sermons/luke/luke_4_5-13/ and https://redeeminggod.com/genesis-3-intro/)

This is helpful to recognize for it means that after you’ve been a Christian for a day or two, there is no new temptation you will ever face that you have not faced before.

Oh yes, the specific details might be different, but all temptations will fall into one of these three categories. Therefore, when a temptation comes, rather than say, “Uh oh! I’ve never faced this specific temptation before!” you can instead confidently say, “Oh, I recognize this as a temptation that tugs on the lust of the flesh. I’ve faced similar temptations before and stood strong against them, so I can stand up under this temptation as well.”

Once you recognize that every temptation will fall into one of these three types, and you remember that you have withstood various temptations in all of these types before, it will give you more confidence and faith to withstand similar temptations in the future.

Three Targets for Traps

Along with three main types of temptations, there are also three main targets for these temptations. There are three areas that Satan is constantly trying to undermine and destroy. These three targets are the church, the family, and your own personal life.

1. The church

There is a wide variety of ways that Satan seeks to destroy and undermine the church, but the primary method is to confuse people about what the church actually is.

Many people have fallen to this temptation, and are quite confused about what the church is. Some equate the church with a building, while others think of it as an event. If people ask you where you go to church or when you go to church, they have fallen prey to this confusion. Also, some people think that only a certain denomination is the true church, and everyone else is false. This way of thinking creates division and strife.

So what is the church? What does Satan not want you to recognize about the church?

He does not want you to know that the church is made up of people. The church is people. It is not a building. It is not a place. It is not an event. It is not a denomination. You cannot “go” to church or “attend” church.

Instead, since you are the church, the church goes with you. The church exists regardless of whether or not there is a building. The church functions regardless of whether or not there is a Sunday morning “service” with four songs and a sermon.

Satan does not want the church to recognize what the church truly is, because as long as he can keep us deceived about the nature of the church, he can then lead us to argue about what type of building is best, and how long the Sunday service should be, and what type of music to play, and who gets to stand up front and preach, and all the other numerous types of issues that have split and divided the church for centuries.

But as soon as we recognize what the church truly is, the need for all of these arguments disappear, and we will start living as the church in our communities and towns, which is what Jesus has always wanted.

So don’t be deceived about the church. Learn what the church is and how the church follows Jesus so that you can be the church in your community (If you want to learn more about the church, see my “(#AmazonAdLink) Close Your Church for Good” series of books, starting with (#AmazonAdLink) Skeleton Church).

2. The Family

Satan’s second primary target is the family.

The family unit is God’s primary method of world evangelism and life transformation. The family is where people learn about love and relationships, and the importance of working together as a team. It is also through our human families that we learn about how to live within the family of God.

Therefore, the family unit is central to the church, central to the kingdom of God, and central to what God seeks to accomplish in this world.

Since the family is so important to God’s plan and purposes in this world, Satan does all he can to destroy the family. He tries to break up marriages, and get children to disobey their parents, and parents to neglect their children. This is why Paul spent so much space in Ephesians talking about marriage and family (cf. Ephesians 5:22–6:4).

3. Personal Life

The third primary target of Satan is your own personal life. Each Christian is under nearly constant attack from the devil. He tries to ruin our lives by tempting us to sin, encouraging us to be selfish, and leading us toward activities that can stunt our spiritual growth and make us physically sick.

One Tactic for the Traps

While Satan has three types of traps, and three primary targets for these traps, there is only one tactic he uses when he targets us with these traps.

It is this: he challenges what God has said.

He raises doubts in our minds about the truth of Scripture. He twists and perverts what the Bible says. He makes subtle changes to the Word of God. He adds to the Word of God, or subtracts from the Word of God. He rips verses out of context from the Word of God. He exaggerates the strictness of the boundaries in God’s Word. He denies the consequences of disobeying God’s Word. He distorts the supreme revelation of God in Jesus Christ to make us think that Jesus reveals the opposite of what He actually did reveal.

All of Satan’s temptations and traps revolve around misusing or abusing the revelation of God. The serpent tempted Eve in Genesis 3:1-5 by questioning and challenging the instructions of God regarding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness by challenging why Jesus came and what He was here to do (Matt 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). When tempting Jesus, Satan even quoted Bible verses to provide “biblical support” for what he was trying to get Jesus to do.

This shows that just because someone has a few Bible verses to support their beliefs or behavior, this does not mean they have properly understood or applied those Bible passages. Other than God Himself, Satan is probably the greatest Bible expert in existence. He knows how to quote and twist Scripture to support his temptations and provide cover for his traps.

Whenever you see someone being tempted in Scripture, it is because they are wondering if God’s Word can be trusted. This is how Satan tempted the Israelites in the wilderness, how he tempted the kings of Israel, how he tempted the apostles and the early church, and how he tempts you and me.

He not only invites us to believe wrong things or behave in wrong ways, he also loves to support and defend his temptations with fine-sounding arguments from Scripture, which, when carefully examined, prove to be nothing more than twisted perversions of Scripture. But these distortions of God’s Word are very effective in tricking Christians to follow the ways of Satan instead of the ways of God.

As we consider the Satanic traps, it is important to recognize that there are two secret powers that he claims to have, which in fact he does not.

Two Secret “Powers”

Satan is a great deceiver, and he likes to make himself appear more powerful than he really is. Toward this end, he has invented two secret powers for himself. He does not actually have these powers, but he uses them to his advantage, to trip people up and trap people in sin.

The first fake secret “power” is invisibility. Yes, Satan is invisible. That is, you cannot literally see him with your eyes.

But Satan likes to more invisible than that. He likes to make people think that he doesn’t really even exist at all. Modern minds love to explain Satan away. To say that he is thing of the past. A figment of imagination. A superstitious story to scare people into obedience. In our modern, scientific world, the “non-existence” of Satan is a popular wile of the devil.

One of the greatest lies of Satan is that Satan doesn’t exist.

Satan does exist. Satan is real.

The second secret “power” of Satan is his invincibility. This fake power is sort of the opposite of invisibility. If Satan cannot convince people that he doesn’t exist, he instead tries to convince them that he is so powerful, there is nothing we can do to stop him.

temptation of JesusWhen people recognize that Satan is real, Satan tries to get them to think that he is equal with God.

God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present. Satan is not any of these things, but he wants people to think that he is.

Satan wants people to think that he all-powerful, and can make us sick, cause us to get in car accidents, kill our loved ones, and send tragedies into our lives. He wants us to think that he is all-knowing, and can read our thoughts, predict the future, and know what is going on in every corner of the world. Satan wants us to think he is all-present, and is following us around during out days to personally tempt us.

But Satan can do none of these things.

Yet many Christians give Satan too much power, making him almost equal with God. Some Christians see Satan behind every corner, under ever wrong, and at the root of every bad thing that happens in life. They think that Satan haunts their dreams, tempts them to sin, makes them sick, stops their car from running, and creates every bad thing that happens in their life.

Satan loves to credit for all such things, because it makes him nearly invincible. Most of all, this all-consuming focus on the power and presence of Satan in every aspect of our life causes us to take our eyes off Jesus and put them on Satan instead. It is so sad when some churches spend more time talking about Satan and trying to cast out Satan than they do talking about Jesus Christ and encouraging people to follow Jesus.

Satan would rather have people fear him than fear God. Satan would rather have people focus on him than focus on Jesus Christ. Satan likes people to think he is more powerful than he really is. But he is just a faker, an imitator, and a liar, as we will see in the next lesson.

So those are some of the tricks and traps of the devil that we must watch out for when we are standing our ground on the field of battle. Standing your ground is not an easy task, but it is easier when we realize that Christ has already won the battle for us, and though the entire world caves in on top of us, all we have to do is stand.

Do you want to learn about spiritual warfare and how to put on the full armor of God? If you want to defeat sin and gain victory in your life over temptation so you can better follow Jesus, take my course on the Armor of God as it is explained in Ephesians 6:10-20. This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: accuser, armor of God, Books I'm Writing, Ephesians 6:10-20, Ephesians 6:11, Ephesians 6:13, One Verse Podcast, satan, sin, spiritual armor, spiritual warfare, temptation, wiles

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The Battle Cry (Ephesians 6:10)

By Jeremy Myers
2 Comments

The Battle Cry (Ephesians 6:10)
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/680248913-redeeminggod-the-battle-cry-ephesians-610.mp3

Living the Christian life is one of the hardest things you will ever attempt to do. Of course, this is only true if you really attempt to live as a Christian. Far too many Christians think that it is enough to slap a fish bumper sticker on their car, wear Christian t-shirts, and attend a weekly worship service at the church building on the corner.

Truly living the Christian life does not consist of such things, and those who live the Christian life in such insignificant ways will face little resistance or trouble.

But the Christian who truly steps out to follow Jesus into the dark and hellish places of earth will experience great difficulties, trials, and roadblocks in life. Such Christians will be called to love those they would rather hate, to forgive those who deserve nothing but death, to be patient with those who are rude and condescending, and to serve those who are the least enjoyable to be around.

They will face great temptations in their personal life, will struggle with their marriage and with raising their children in their home life, and they will be challenged in their honesty and integrity at their work life. It is easy to sail through the Christian life if you are not actually living it, but there is nothing more difficult than truly attempting to follow Jesus wherever He leads.

Sometimes we are tempted to think it should be the opposite. Should not Jesus make our paths straight and our roads smooth if we are truly seeking to follow Him? Should not Jesus overcome the obstacles, quickly answer the prayers, and swiftly meet the needs of those who are seeking to serve Him best? One would think so, but the Christian life does not actually work that way.

Have you ever wondered why?

The answer is spiritual warfare.

Due to spiritual warfare, Christian families, marriages, and children are under attack. The church is under attack. Even the Bible is under attack.

It is spiritual warfare when an unexpected bill arrives in the mail right after you decide to give more of your money to help the poor and homeless.

It is spiritual warfare when you have a difficult time at work on the day you were going to take your wife out on a date.

It is spiritual warfare when your kids misbehave one hour before family game night.

It is spiritual warfare when we receive a critically important email five minutes before we were going to read the Bible.

Therefore, since Christians who seek to follow Jesus into this world will face the resistance and struggles of spiritual warfare, it is imperative for Christians to know what is involved in spiritual warfare and how we can prepare ourselves to stand in the midst of this struggle.

We must train ourselves to be strong and powerful soldiers of Jesus Christ in this ongoing battle. Ephesians 6:10-20 is the best passage from Scripture to provide such training.

The Battle Cry of Ephesians 6:10

The text begins with a rallying cry or a call to arms. When an army sees their foe across the battlefield, they often shout a battle cry to get the blood pumping and the adrenaline rushing.

When Gideon led his 300 men to face the Midianites, they surrounded the camp and then, all at once, broke the pots which hid their torches, blew a blast from their trumpets, and then shouted the rallying cry of “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” (Judg 7:20).

Ephesians 6:10 contains the battle cry for spiritual warfare. Paul wants to spur us on toward victory, and so he says, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”

It would not be wrong to put an explanation point after this opening statement.

Now, although this is a battle cry for all Christian soldiers, it’s not just something to get the blood pumping. It is full of richness and depth of meaning.

This battle cry is not just meant to spur us on in the heat of battle, but also to prepare us for the battle.

Ephesians 6:10 is a battle cry to prepare us for battle and power up for battle.

Prepare for Battle (Ephesians 6:10a)

The opening words of Ephesians 6:10 are a call to prepare for battle.

Paul begins by directing these instructions to his brethren. It seems like a small, insignificant word in the context of this passage, but it is not. The concept of “brothers” is essential in any warfare context.

By using the term here, Paul is associating himself with those to whom he writes. He is saying, “I am not your general ordering you around in this war. Rather, we are a band of brothers in this battle. We are fellow soldiers in this war. We fight side by side. We watch each other’s backs. We protect each other and defend each other. We go to the wall with each other.”

This is essential to understand and even more important to practice. When you see another brother or sister in Christ who is facing problems, you need to come alongside them and help them. See what you can do to serve and support them.

In any battle, the heroic soldiers are those who stay and help the wounded get off the battlefield. Yes, some heroes are made by charging without fear into a barrage of bullets, but the real heroes are those who rescue and deliver the hurt and wounded from the field of battle.

The movie “Hacksaw Ridge” is a true story about Private Desmond Doss. He was drafted into the army for World War II, but since he was a pacifist, he refused to carry a gun or shoot others. However, he wanted to serve his country and do his part. He ended up earning the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving 75 fellow soldiers in the Battle of Okinawa, all without firing a single shot.

As Christians, we are in this battle together, which means we must help those around us who get injured and damaged in the fight. We must come around them and give them the encouragement and support that they need. We must protect and provide them. We must carry out our wounded and tend to the injured.

Furthermore, the concept of “brothers” reminds us that we are not fighting this war alone. We are not The Lone Ranger in this battle. We are not a one-man fighting machine like Rambo.

Instead, we are facing the enemy with friends and brothers on all sides of us. That is what Paul means by using those encouraging words, my brethren.

Now, having stated that he is giving his final instructions for this battle, and having shown that we are not going to face the battle alone, Paul gives the battle cry. And the battle cry is all about the strength and power we have in Jesus Christ.

Power Up for Battle (Ephesians 6:10b)

Many people are afraid of facing the forces of darkness in spiritual battle because they think they are not strong enough. They worry that they do not have enough power.

And guess what? They are right. You are not strong enough. You do not have enough power to face the forces arrayed against you. It is foolish to think otherwise.

But thankfully, you do not have to depend and rely upon your own strength and power in this fight. With his battle cry in the second half of Ephesians 6:10, Paul shouts, “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!”

In Ephesians 4–6, Paul instructs Christians to perform certain duties and responsibilities. But he only did this after revealing the riches and blessings that we have in Jesus Christ which will help us do what He asks. God does not ask us to do anything without first providing us with the resources we need to do it.

This is why, at the very beginning of this section on spiritual warfare, before Paul tells us what to do in this battle, Paul points out that God has provided to us the strength and power we need to stand firm against the attacks of the enemy. The power we need for spiritual battle is not ours, but God’s. The strength and resources of God are at our disposal for the battle before us.

This theme of power and strength from God was also mentioned near the beginning of the previous two sections in Ephesians. At the beginning of Ephesians 1–3 which deal with our riches in Christ, Paul writes that the exceeding greatness of God’s power has been given to us who believe (1:19). Near the beginning of Ephesians 4–6, which lay out our responsibilities as Christians, Paul writes again about our power (3:7) and prays that those to whom he writes will know and experience the great power of the Spirit in their lives (3:20).

Paul was not the only Biblical author to speak of such power. Almost every New Testament book speaks about the power that Christians have been given through the Holy Spirit living in their lives. Since this is so … since every Christian has this infinite supply of power available to us, why do so many Christians live in such a defeated state? Why do so many Christians appear to be so powerless? Why is it that we don’t feel it, or experience it, or see its effects in our lives? If we have all this power, why do so few of us seem to see any evidence of it in our lives?

The reason is that although we are plugged into the power of God, there are things in our life that restrict its flow. Picture your life as a spiritual fuse box.

No matter how much power is available, the fuse box only lets a certain amount of power through. If too much power tries to get through, or if there is a power surge, the fuses break.

This is how it is in our lives. We have an infinite source of power available to us in God, but our lives are cold and full of darkness because we have a tiny little ten amp fuse in the middle. No matter how much power you pump into that fuse box, only ten amps are going to get through. If you try to draw too much power, the fuse blows, and you end up with no power getting through.

But thankfully, you can get a bigger fuse. You can get a bigger circuit breaker. You can draw more power. This is what Paul is talking about in this battle cry when he says be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. So how do we get a bigger fuse? How do we allow more of God’s power to flow into our lives?

The answer to this question is to remember that we are soldiers of Jesus Christ in a battle for God’s creation. And just as any soldier in any war can gain strength, so also, we can gain strength in this war.

How? Through training and exercise.

If you have believed in Jesus for eternal life, you are plugged in to the infinite power of God, but until you go through Christian boot camp to learn the skills necessary to fight in Christian warfare, and develop the discipline and strength necessary to stand your ground against the enemy, you will never be able to access more than a tiny trickle of the power that God wants you to use. Until you go through this training, you will never be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

When Paul was writing this letter to the Ephesians, he was familiar with the solders of the Roman military. The Roman soldiers had extremely rigorous training. About 1700 years ago, as the Roman Empire began to lose strength and influence, a man named Vegitius believed that the waning power of the Roman Empire was due to the waning power of the Roman Military. So he wrote a book titled The Military Institutes of the Romans in which he sought to return the Roman military to their former glory and strength by reminding them about how the soldiers used to train for war. He wrote:

Victory in war does not depend entirely upon numbers or mere courage; only skill and discipline will insure it. We find that the Romans owed … the conquest of the world to no other cause than continual military training, exact observation of discipline in their camps and unwearied cultivation of the other arts of war.

What sort of training and discipline and cultivation?

After taking their oath of service, they were branded or marked with the letters SPQR, which was a Latin acronym showing that the soldier belonged to the “Senate and People of Rome.”

If you saw the movie “Gladiator” you remember that Maximus, played by Russel Crowe, has the letters SPQR branded onto his shoulder, and later tried to scrape this brand off so that nobody knew he had been a Roman solider. It was the mark of the Roman military. Remember that as Christians, we have been sealed with a mark of ownership as well (Eph 1:13).

Upon receiving this seal of ownership, the soldiers began their training. Strenuous exercises helped the Romans be more disciplined, physically fit, and healthy than any other army of their time.

They trained in any weather, and their training consisted of three categories—physical, weapons, and field service. The most important of the three was the physical training. What good is knowing how to use a weapon, if you quickly became tired when using it? The physical training consisted mainly of marching. You think, “Marching? That’s not very physical.” Well, their marching was slightly slower than running.

Their first goal—while wearing 66 pounds of armor—was to march 20 miles in 5 hours. When they were able to do this without great difficulty, they increased their march to 24 miles in 5 hours. You begin to realize how astounding this is when you learn that the average finishing time for Marathon runners is 4.5 hours. And a Marathon is 26.2 miles. But these Roman soldiers sought to run 24 miles in 5 hours while wearing 66 pounds of armor. It sounds nearly impossible, but that was their goal.

Other forms of physical training included the long jump and the high jump, running, carrying heavy packs, swimming, and vaulting onto a horse. All of this (except for the swimming) was also performed in full armor.

The weapons training consisted of teaching them how to use swords, shields, and javelins. Sometimes they would have mock battles to help in their training. The field service training was created to help familiarize the soldier with the battlefield conditions.

First, they would perform a military march in full armor and with 17 days’ worth of food in backpacks. These marches were often performed in perfect military formation. At the end of the march, they set up camp. Each soldier dug a ditch of specified width and depth, and then built a small stone wall around it.

Another aspect of the soldier’s training involved his diet. Special attention was paid to the diet in order to keep the soldiers healthy and active. I won’t get into what a healthy diet looked like for them, for it hasn’t changed much in 2000 years. The soldiers were also trained in the areas of sanitation and personal hygiene. Again, much of what they practiced sounds surprisingly modern.

Now, at the end of all this training and exercise, imagine the sort of might and strength that resided within the average Roman soldier. And then when you put them all together as a single fighting force, as a band of brothers, there was no greater military force on earth at that time.

The soldiers might have joined the military as overweight and undisciplined weaklings, but by the end of their training, they had gained great strength, power, and might.

Imagine for a moment what would have happened to the Roman army—or any army for that matter—if it had neglected this training and discipline. Imagine that the Roman soldiers joined the army, received their SPQR brand, and then were allowed to just sit around, drink, sleep, play games, and do whatever they wanted. Imagine the commanding officer telling these new recruits, “Welcome to the military! You’ve got your brand, so you’re good to go. We’ll call you when the battle starts.”

If that was how the Roman military had trained, there never would have been any such thing as the Roman Empire. Such soldiers would all get killed in their very first battle. They would be decimated.

Yet, far too often, this is exactly how Christian train for spiritual battle. People believe in Jesus for eternal life, they receive the seal of the Holy Spirit, and then we thank them for joining our group, and tell them they can just sit around and relax until they are called up for battle.

No discipline is needed. No training. No exercise.

Then we wonder why so few Christian have any power in their life. We wonder why so many Christians are decimated by sin and temptation.

We shouldn’t wonder at such failures. We should instead take these new soldiers of Jesus Christ, and train them. We must show them how to become spiritually fit. Show them how to use their weapons. Show them how to defend themselves. Show them what a spiritual battle looks and feels like. Show them what good spiritual food tastes like. Show them how to remain spiritually healthy.

Every Christian solider will be a weakling until they endure this rigorous training. Without proper preparation and discipline, every Christian solider will be useless in spiritual warfare. As Paul says, we must become strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.

This is not physical strength Paul has in mind, but spiritual. He wants us to exercise and work out spiritually. But just as with physical body building, spiritual strength training does not happen naturally. You do not become physically strong by sitting in a couch watching TV, and you do not become spiritually strong by sitting in a pew watching a Bible teacher. You will only become strong by getting up and engaging in strenuous spiritual activity.

And what does this look like? How can you work out spiritually? Paul will go into more detail on this in the following verses, especially when he begins to lay out the pieces of spiritual armor that God has provided to us.

By knowing what this spiritual armor is, and how to wear it, we will be gaining the strength, power, and might of God in Jesus Christ. So wearing the spiritual armor is one key to gaining spiritual strength, and later chapters of this book will go into great detail about the armor.

But putting on the armor is not the same thing as exercising with it on. Remember, the Roman soldiers exercised and marched while wearing their armor. So how can we exercise as Christians? How can we work out?

Paul has already explain how throughout his letter to the Ephesians. We must know what we have been given as Christians, and then we must use these gifts from God to love and serve others. Each of us has responsibilities from God, and as we discover what tasks and assignments God has given to each of us, we must start practicing them.

Just as in the Roman military, not every soldier was an expert swordsman, and not every soldier was a perfect shot with a bow. In fact, some soldiers might have been better at cooking or logistics, and so might not have seen much combat at all. But all the parts work together as a whole when each part performs the task it has been assigned.

In the spiritual world, this is related to spiritual gifts (see my (#AmazonAdLink) book and course on the Spiritual Gifts to learn more).

Each Christians has been given special responsibilities and assignments by Jesus. As each person learns to fulfill the assignments they have been given by Jesus, the whole body works together as each part does it share, for the benefit and blessing of us all (Eph 4:11-16).

If you are a teacher, teach! If you are a servant, serve! If you are a leader, lead! If you are a giver, give! As you practice and train with the skills and gifts you have been given, you will be working out and exercising as a soldier of Jesus Christ, becoming an effective soldier in His army.

Do you want to learn about spiritual warfare and how to put on the full armor of God? If you want to defeat sin and gain victory in your life over temptation so you can better follow Jesus, take my course on the Armor of God as it is explained in Ephesians 6:10-20. This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, z Bible & Theology Topics: armor of God, Books I'm Writing, Ephesians 6:10, Ephesians 6:10-20, One Verse Podcast, sin, spiritual warfare, temptation

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Does Isaiah 33:10-16 teach about hell?

By Jeremy Myers
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Does Isaiah 33:10-16 teach about hell?
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/611461368-redeeminggod-156-does-isaiah-3310-16-teach-about-hell.mp3

(#AmazonAdLink) What is hell bookMy book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Hell? is now available (#AmazonAdLink) on Amazon. I am doing a series of podcast studies that focus on some of the content from the book. The studies look at the eight key terms that are often equated with hell, and about a dozen key passages that are thought to teach about hell.

If you want to learn the truth about hell and what the Bible actually teaches about hell, make sure you get a copy of my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Hell?

Also, if you are part of my discipleship group, there will be an online course about hell as well.

In this article, we will be looking at a key passage from the Old Testament about the symbolism of fire in the Bible. By understanding how the Bible refers to fire, we can understand what the Bible means when it talks about burning in hell, or the fires of judgment.

The key text we want to study is Isaiah 33:10-16.

Scores of passages from the Hebrew prophets could be considered which provide insight into what a Jewish person thought when they heard someone teach about everlasting fire.

Isaiah 33:10-16 is representative of many of these prophetic texts, and provides perfect insight into what the Bible means when it refers to fire that comes upon people who disobey God.

Isaiah 33:10-16 and Burning in Fire. Is this hell?

Here is some of what Isaiah 33:10-16 says,

You shall conceive chaff, You shall bring forth stubble; Your breath, as fire, shall devour you. And the people shall be like the burnings of lime; Like thorns cut up they shall be burned in the fire. … The sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: “Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” (Isa 33:11-12, 14).

There are three key insights to note from this text which help guide our understanding of all the others.

1. It is Not People who are Burned, but what People Produce

First, Isaiah writes that the people of Zion will “conceive” chaff and “bring forth” stubble.

Isaiah 33:10-16Isaiah uses terms of conception and childbirth to speak of the works that these sinners produce. It is not their lives that are chaff, stubble, and thorns, but what they produce with their lives.

Of course, when your entire life’s work is destroyed, it may seem as if your life is destroyed as well. Indeed, when other prophetic passages (and later New Testament texts) talk about the destruction that comes upon people for their worthless way of living, it sometimes refers to the people themselves being destroyed, rather than the work of their hands.

This is how it feels when, at the end of your life, you discover that everything you have worked for has amounted to nothing.

This is not to say that many prophetic passages (including those in the New Testament) do not have the death and destruction of actual human lives in view. Many of them do, as we shall see. But in each case, the passages are always referring to physical death and temporal destruction rather than to everlasting death or eternal physical torture in flames of fire.

Some of the physical death and destruction during this life does indeed happen with literal flames when war comes upon a nation or its cities, and in such wars, many human beings do die. But once again, it is physical death that is in view, not eternal death in an everlasting place of torment.

2. The word “Everlasting” can refer to an event of limited duration with everlasting effects

But some point to Isaiah 33:14 as evidence that everlasting burning in the pit of hell is indeed what Isaiah has in view. This is the second important point to note from this text. While the term “everlasting” can indeed refer to a period of time that never ends, it can also refer to an event of limited duration which has effects that never end.

This second explanation provides the proper understanding for Isaiah 33:14.

In this text, people who are alive are saying that the works of their lives have been destroyed, and nobody in the future will know or hear of them.

They are afraid because they have lived hypocritical lives, and see that all they have lived and worked for will be consumed by fire, and will have no lasting value, significance, or remembrance for all eternity.

The fire that consumes these people and the works of their hands did indeed go out. It came upon them in 586 BC (when King Nebuchadnezzar invaded and destroyed Judah, along with Jerusalem and the temple) and has long since burned out.

destruction of Jerusalem 586 BC

But none of their work remains. It burned to ashes long ago and has forever been forgotten.

Note that even though Zion was destroyed with “everlasting fire,” the nation, its capitol city Jerusalem, the temple, and even the people of Zion rose again from the ashes.

In 538 BC, the Persian ruler, King Cyrus, allowed the Hebrew people to return to their land where they eventually rebuilt the city and the temple.

Though the everlasting fire prophesied by Isaiah destroyed many of the people and the works of their hands, this was not the end of the Hebrew people themselves, or their influence upon this world. They rebuilt and regained much of their former glory.

Furthermore, of the people who died in 586 BC, nothing is said by Isaiah or anyone else regarding their eternal state or destiny. It is only the work of their lives which was burned away into nothingness.

In fact, it is possible that many of them are already with God, and will spend eternity with Him.

hypocriteWe see evidence of this in the fact that Isaiah calls them “hypocrites.” A hypocrite is someone who acts in ways that are contrary to their stated identity. As such, anybody can be a hypocrite. Jesus often called some of His followers hypocrites (Matt 15:7; Luke 13:15), and Paul once referred to Peter and Barnabas as hypocrites (Gal 2:11-13).

Obviously, if someone is a hypocrite, this does not automatically mean they are truly part of the family of God, but it also does not necessarily mean that they will spend eternity in hell. It just means that they claim one thing about themselves but behave in ways that are opposite.

This was true of the people in Isaiah’s day, and many of these hypocrites will spend eternity with God.

3. The Fire is not from God, but from the People themselves

The third and final thing to note from Isaiah 33:10-16 is that the fire comes from the people themselves.

Isaiah writes, “Your breath, as fire, shall devour you” (Isaiah 33:11).

While numerous passages in Scripture indicate that the fires of judgment comes from God, a look behind the curtain reveals that the fires of judgment that come upon human beings for their sinful ways are always self-inflicted.

Sin bears its own punishment; rebellion carries within it the flames of ruin.

Actions have consequences, and when we live in ways that are contrary to the will of God, these actions lead to destruction and devastation.

This is why God warns us against sin in the first place. God warns us against sin, not because He is a killjoy and wants to ruin our fun with arbitrary laws, but because He knows how best to live this life and get the most out of it.

He also knows what happens when we do not live this life as He intends and seeks to warn us against such ways of living.

sin hurtsWhen we sin, we hurt others and we hurt ourselves. And since God loves all of us, He does not want to see us get hurt, which is why He warns us about sin. Yet we often sin anyway, and so destruction comes.

This is what Isaiah is teaching.

The people were warned by the prophets, including Isaiah himself, about their sinful and hypocritical ways. But they continued to sin, and so the fire of judgment that comes upon them is a fire they lit themselves.

And while it is not always words that spark the flame, words are often the culprit, as Isaiah indicates. He says it is their “breath” that is the fire, which is a way of referring to the words that they speak.

Indeed, near the end of Isaiah’s life, King Hezekiah said some foolish words to the ambassadors from Babylon. He boasted to them about the treasures of the temple and showed them the riches that were within it.

As a result, Isaiah told Hezekiah that because he had said and done these things, Babylon would come against the city and destroy it (2 Kings 20:12-19), which is exactly what happened (2 Kings 24:1-16).

Eventually, the entire city, with the temple, was burned with fire, and its inhabitants were carted off into captivity (2 Kings 25:1-21).

what is hell

Conclusion

So Isaiah 33:10-16 is a guiding paradigm for helping us understand all the passages in Scripture about fire.

As we will see, just like Isaiah 33:10-16, none of the passages which teach about the destruction of people in fire are referring to the everlasting torment of people in flames where they scream and burn for all eternity.

Instead, such texts refer to the worthless work of human hands that gets burned away by destructive forces in this world. All the work of their hands is turned to ash.

lime ashWhen lime is burned in a fire or thorns are put to flame, nothing is left but a fine, white powder which blows away with the first puff of wind.

So it will be for everything that some people have worked for in this life. As we keep this paradigm in mind, many of the New Testament passages which speak of fire make much more sense.

what is hellDo you have more questions about hell? Are you afraid of going to hell? Do want to know what the Bible teaches about hell? Take my course "What is Hell?" to learn the truth about hell and how to avoid hell. This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming Books, Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: Books I'm Writing, burning, chaff, fire, Isaiah 33:10-16, One Verse Podcast, what is hell

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What is Gehenna? Is it hell?

By Jeremy Myers
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What is Gehenna? Is it hell?
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/589165440-redeeminggod-150-what-is-gehenna-is-it-hell.mp3

(#AmazonAdLink) What is hell bookMy book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Hell? is now available (#AmazonAdLink) on Amazon. I am doing a series of podcast studies that focus on some of the content from the book. The studies look at the eight key terms that are often equated with hell, and about a dozen key passages that are thought to teach about hell.

If you want to learn the truth about hell and what the Bible actually teaches about hell, make sure you get a copy of my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Hell?

Also, if you are part of my discipleship group, there will be an online course about hell as well.

They key phrase we are looking at in this study is the word gehenna.

Does Gehenna refer to everlasting torment in hell?

gehennaThe word gehenna is a Greek transliteration from the Hebrew “Valley of Hinnom” (or Ge-Hinnom) which was a deep gorge to the southwest of Jerusalem. It was also called the Valley of Tophet.

The valley has a sordid history. It was a place of idolatry, injustice, and spiritual infidelity. It was here that child sacrifices to Molech were performed in the days of Ahaz and Manasseh (2 Kings 16:3; 21:6; 23:10).

Furthermore, when 185,000 Assyrian soldiers died during their siege in the days of King Hezekiah, the bodies were piled in the valley of Hinnom and set on fire (Isa 30:31-33; 37:36). Jeremiah built on this history and said that if the Israelites did not turn and follow God, something similar would happen to them (Jer 7:30-34; 19:2-13). And indeed, after the slaughter of the Israelite people by the Roman military in 69-70 AD, this is what occurred.

But it was not just the history of prophecies of this valley which made it a place of horror. In the days of Jesus, the valley was used as the city dump.

The valley of Gehenna was not only filled with garbage, refuse, and sewage, but also with dead bodies that people were trying to dispose of (due to crime, sickness, poverty, or shame).

City officials occasionally sought to get rid of the garbage and also cover the stench by igniting the refuse on fire. But since there was so much garbage, and since more was added every day, the fire never really died. It burned day and night, seemingly forever and ever.

Even in places where there was no open flame, the piles of refuse would still smolder for weeks on end, sending constant billows of smoke and ashes into the air.

Yet not everything in Gehenna burned. As is the nature of flames, they go where they will, sometimes leaving entire sections untouched. In these areas, worms and maggots went to work on the refuse and corpses that were left behind.

Furthermore, as is the nature of all city dumps throughout the world (even to this day), the sick and poor often scavenged through the garbage looking for things to eat or sell. Some of these were undoubtedly lepers in various states of disease and decay who might have lived in the rock tombs on the lower end of the valley.

Imagine Going into Gehenna…

With all this in mind, imagine what it would be like to “take out the garbage” on a typical Jerusalem morning.

gehennaAs you haul your cart of trash down the hill into the valley, you first become aware of the smoke that rises continually from the dump. It is acrid and oily from the burning trash and causes your eyes to smart.

But soon, not even the smoke can cover the stench that rises from rotting food and corpses on a hot Middle-Eastern day. The smell is so bad, you struggle not to vomit and retch.

But the smoke in your eyes and the smell in your nostrils are not the worst of it. As you descend down into the pit, it becomes harder to see. The sun turns blood red due to the smoke and there is a constant gloomy haze that surrounds you.

But this is a blessing in disguise, for what you do see is difficult to forget. On your left there is a mangled corpse. It is missing some limbs and is half-burned from the fire. The remaining half is crawling with maggots and buzzing with flies.

You avert your eyes, only to see a ragged leper stumbling through the smoke while eating a moldy piece of fruit he has pulled from the trash. He is missing his nose and an arm and appears to be a walking corpse.

Horrified, you decide you have traveled far enough into the pit. You dump your trash as quickly as possible before retreating back up the slope toward Jerusalem.

As the smoke recedes and the sun brightens above you, you peer back over your shoulder at where you left your trash, only to see half a dozen walking corpses shuffling toward your pile of garbage as fast as their mangled feet will carry them. They are eager to be among the first to dig through what you have left behind, hoping to find a bit of food or clothing that will get them through another day.

You shudder and pick up your pace to leave the nightmare valley behind and return to the land of the living.

gehenna valley of hinnom

Gehenna in the Days of Jesus

In the days of Jesus, this is what came to mind when someone used the word “Gehenna.” The term conveyed “a sense of total horror and disgust. … Gehenna was a place of undying worm and irresistible fire, an abhorrent place where crawling maggots and smoldering heat raced each other to consume the putrefying fare served them each day” (Fudge, (#AmazonAdLink) The Fire That Consumes, 161-162).

Therefore, since Gehenna was a literal place outside the walls of Jerusalem, the word should not be translated in our Bibles.

We do not translate “Jerusalem” as “City of Peace,” “Bethel” as “City of God,” or “Gilgal” as “circle,” even though that is what those place names mean. So also, we should not translate Gehenna as “hell” or any other word.

gehenna is not hellIt should be left as it is, thereby alerting the reader to the fact that the text is referring to the valley called Gehenna outside the gates of Jerusalem. Translating it as “the Valley of Hinnom” would also be fine.

But even if we leave gehenna as “Gehenna,” we are still faced with the question as to whether Jesus had something more in mind than the physical and literal Valley of Hinnom when He taught about gehenna.

In other words, when Jesus spoke about gehenna, was He only speaking about the Valley of Hinnom, or was He using the imagery, history, and inherent horror of this valley to teach His listeners about the experience of some people in the afterlife?

The Symbolism of Gehenna

When the various texts are considered (cf. Matt 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:8-9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43-47; Luke 12:5; Jas 3:6), the answer becomes obvious. Jesus (and James, who is the only other person in the New Testament to speak about gehenna), is indeed using the Valley of Hinnom in a symbolic way, but not to teach about what happens to some people in the afterlife, but rather to teach about what can happen to some people in this life.

People who are sent to the Valley of Hinnom (usually because of crime or leprosy) lose their friends and family, and face a life filled with horror, decay, and destruction.

The warnings about gehenna are given by Jesus so that we do not destroy our health, life, family, friendships, and reputation in this life. God does not want us to live in the Valley of Death, but to instead enjoy everything God has given to us. In his book, Surprised by Hope, N. T. Wright says this about gehenna:

When Jesus was warning his hearers about Gehenna he was not, as a general rule, telling them that unless they repented in this life they would burn in the next one. As with God’s kingdom, so with its opposite: it is on earth that things matter, not somewhere else.

His message to His contemporaries was stark, and (as we would say today) political. Unless they turned back from their hopeless and rebellious dreams of establishing God’s kingdom in their own terms, not least through armed revolt against Rome, then the Roman juggernaut would do what large, greedy and ruthless empires have always done to smaller countries (not least in the Middle East) whose resources they covet or whose strategic location they are anxious to guard.

Rome would turn Jerusalem into a hideous, stinking extension of its own smoldering rubbish heap. When Jesus said “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish,” that is the primary meaning He had in mind (Wright, (#AmazonAdLink) Surprised by Hope, 176).

Gehenna is NOT hell

Therefore, a word that is commonly translated as “hell” in the New Testament, gehenna does not in fact refer to a place of burning torture or torment in the afterlife.

Instead, the word gehenna refers to a literal place outside the walls of Jerusalem.

gehenna valley of hinnom hellJesus uses the history and imagery of this place to warn His disciples about what can befall them in this life if they do not follow His teaching and take steps (sometimes drastic) to protect themselves and their loved ones from the devastation of sin.

When Jesus speaks about gehenna, He is not warning about hell in the next life, but a hellish existence in this life. We will see more about this in future studies when we look at the actual New Testament texts in which the word gehenna is used.

But for now, we have a few more New Testament words to look at which are often thought to be references to hell. We will look at the word hades next …

But whatever hell might be, it is not an eternal garbage dump where God sends some humans to rot and burn for eternity. The word gehenna in the Bible teaches nothing of the sort. It was a literal valley outside of Jerusalem that symbolized the death and destruction that can come into people’s life NOW, if they refuse to follow the ways and teachings of Jesus. The symbol of gehenna tells us nothing the afterlife.

what is hellDo you have more questions about hell? Are you afraid of going to hell? Do want to know what the Bible teaches about hell? Take my course "What is Hell?" to learn the truth about hell and how to avoid hell. This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: Books I'm Writing, eternal conscious torment, gehenna, hell, what is hell

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