Apostles never preached hell?

[Truthseeker]

Anyone ever notice apostles never preached hell in acts or epistles?

[Michael The Disciple]

Paul mentioned Hades one time showing that Christians would be there until the resurrection. See verse 55. I have inserted the Greek word that belongs there.

50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55O death, where is thy sting? O HADES , where is thy victory? 56The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because people dont understand the nature of eternal judgment they wind up missing the abundance of times its actually there.

[Acts 2:38 man]

Hades is the generic place of the dead before the resurrection of Jesus. Gehenna is Hell (fire) as we commonly know it. Nonetheless, not an easy answer and yes, I have preached on and often pondered over the lack of eternal punishment in the Apostles' messages. We see it in Jude and Peter, albeit referring to angels and souls from the past before Christ came to earth.

[Esaias]

The apostles Matthew and John recorded our Lord's teachings on hell and eternal judgement. Luke did as well. Mark also.

Paul taught about the everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord the rebellious will suffer. John "the Revelator" clearly taught the final destruction of the wicked.

To say it is absent from the NT or greatly lacking is clearly false.

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by Esaias

The apostles Matthew and John recorded our Lord's teachings on hell and eternal judgement. Luke did as well. Mark also.

Paul taught about the everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord the rebellious will suffer. John "the Revelator" clearly taught the final destruction of the wicked.

To say it is absent from the NT or greatly lacking is clearly false.

Agreed. I said:

Because people dont understand the nature of eternal judgment they wind up missing the abundance of times its actually there.

[Truthseeker]

Originally Posted by Esaias

The apostles Matthew and John recorded our Lord's teachings on hell and eternal judgement. Luke did as well. Mark also.

Paul taught about the everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord the rebellious will suffer. John "the Revelator" clearly taught the final destruction of the wicked.

To say it is absent from the NT or greatly lacking is clearly false.

They quoted what Jesus said but never preached it themselves.


How do people get everlasting destruction means a burning fire pit?

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

They quoted what Jesus said but never preached it themselves.


How do people get everlasting destruction means a burning fire pit?

One might start here.

1For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Malachi 4:1

Yeshua brought that over in his teaching.

41The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Matt 13:41-42

Its the same thing. It will burn up the chaff.

Same here.

11I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 12Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Matt 3:11-12

The chaff is burned up.

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

They quoted what Jesus said but never preached it themselves.


How do people get everlasting destruction means a burning fire pit?

You dont know they never preached it. The purpose of the Gospels is to showcase the teaching of Christ. They are evangelistic writings designed to evangelise the lost. Hell is pretty prominent in them. To say "they wrote what Jesus said but didnt preach it" shows a misunderstanding of the purpose of the Gospels.

Besides Paul affirmed that he taught "the whole counsel of God" which of necessity includes the final judgement.

It seems ridiculous to me to suggest the final judgement and punishment of the wicked are not apostolic doctrines taught in the new testament.

As for everlasting destruction meaning a burning fire, not sure what that means. The bible (old and new) uses fire as the metaphor for God's destruction of the wicked. John saw a lake of fire. Daniel saw a river of fire. Jesus spoke of a burning garbage dump. Isaiah spoke of everlasting burnings. Seems pretty clear.

[Acts 2:38 man]

Well answered. But I think the original question was why don't we see in in the recorded sermons in Acts or the Epistles hell mentioned in detail like in the teaching of Jesus? I think the question possibly comes from a person who has heard a lot of sermons on hell (I may be mistaken) or simply noticed the lack of clear and/or steady references to it after the Gospels.

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by Acts 2:38 man

Well answered. But I think the original question was why don't we see in in the recorded sermons in Acts or the Epistles hell mentioned in detail like in the teaching of Jesus? I think the question possibly comes from a person who has heard a lot of sermons on hell (I may be mistaken) or simply noticed the lack of clear and/or steady references to it after the Gospels.

Because people are looking to find that when one dies they go to Hell where they will be tormented in flames for hundreds of trillions of years every day and thats just the beginning. They dont find it in the epistles because it is not the doctrine of eternal punishment.

The true teaching of eternal judgment is missed.

Paul mentions it several times in short order to the Romans.

22But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:22-23

And here:

12Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Romans 8:13

And in the most famous verse in the Bible.

16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Does anyone catch it? The doctrine of eternal judgment?

Now let me make it clearer for those who dont.

28And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matt 10:28

Did anyone catch that? That in Gehenna fire BOTH SOUL AND BODY WILL BE DESTROYED?

Now go back and look at the previous 3 verses posted and hopefully it will start making sense.

What is the basis for the doctrine of eternal punishment in the OT?

4Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Ezekiel 18:4

There it is! THE SOUL THAT SINS SHALL DIE!

This is in all the Apostles writings. The Gehenna fire that the wicked are cast into at the judgment will DESTROY their souls. They may be there for a long time first but the ultimate end of the wicked is their being destroyed.