A word behind the word
Gehenna, Hades, and Sheol: the Words for Hell
The KJV translates three different biblical words as hell: the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades and Gehenna. They are not simply interchangeable, and distinguishing them carefully, without sensationalism, clears up much confusion about what the Bible says.
“And 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.”Matthew 10:28
What the word actually means
What the word actually means. Sheol is the Hebrew word for the realm of the dead, the grave or underworld where the dead were pictured as going. The KJV renders it hell, grave, and pit in different places; in Genesis 37:35 Jacob expects to go down into the grave, which is Sheol, and Psalm 16:10 says, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, again Sheol. Hades is the Greek counterpart, the realm of the dead, used for example in the story of the rich man in Luke 16:23, where he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and quoted from Psalm 16 in Acts 2:27, where his soul was not left in hell. Gehenna is different in kind: it comes from the Valley of Hinnom, a real ravine outside Jerusalem associated in the Old Testament with idolatrous child sacrifice, as in 2 Chronicles 33:6. Jesus uses Gehenna as a vivid image of final judgment, warning in Matthew 5:22 and elsewhere of the danger of hell fire, and in Mark 9:43 of the fire that never shall be quenched. So the three words are not identical: Sheol and Hades name the realm of the dead in general, while Gehenna is Jesus' picture of the fate of the finally condemned.
The myth to clear up
The myth to clear up. The popular error is to blur all three into a single, fully developed picture of hell and to read every detail of later medieval imagery back into each word. In fact the KJV word hell translates distinct terms with distinct emphases, and Sheol in particular often means simply the grave or the state of the dead, not a place of fiery torment; the righteous Jacob expected to go there. Sober teaching distinguishes Sheol and Hades as the realm of the dead from Gehenna as Jesus' image of final judgment. At the same time, the opposite error is to explain hell away entirely, as though Jesus never warned of judgment. He did, plainly and often, using the Gehenna image. The sober correction: read each word in its context, do not flatten three words into one lurid scene, and neither exaggerate nor erase the real warnings Jesus gave.
How the word opens onto Christ
How the word opens onto Christ. The New Testament's hope in the face of death and judgment rests entirely on Jesus. Where Sheol and Hades held all the dead, Christ is the one who conquered them: in Revelation 1:18 he says, I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death, holding authority over Hades itself. Peter preaches in Acts 2:27 and 31 that Christ's soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption, for God raised him. So Jesus entered death's realm and broke its hold. And regarding Gehenna, the judgment Jesus warned of so soberly is the very thing he came to save us from; John 3:17 says God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. The one who warned most clearly about final judgment is the same one who bore judgment on the cross so that all who trust him need not face it.
Questions people ask
Are Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna all the same as hell?
The KJV renders all three as hell in places, but they differ. Sheol and Hades name the realm of the dead in general, while Gehenna, from the Valley of Hinnom, is Jesus' image of final judgment.
Does Sheol always mean a place of torment?
No. Sheol often means simply the grave or the state of the dead, and even the righteous were said to go there, as when Jacob expected to go down to Sheol in Genesis 37:35. It is not always a place of fiery punishment.