From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hades in Christianity
Hades in Christianity
See also: Sheol and Hell in Christianity Sheol) in Psalm 16:10 is quoted in Acts 2:27 as "οὐκ
ἐγκαταλείψεις τὴν ψυχήν μου εἰς ᾅδου" (you will not
abandon my soul to Hades).
In the textus receptus version of the New Testament,
on which the English King James Version is based, the
word "ᾅδης" (Hades), appears 11 times;[2] but critical edi-
tions of the text of 1 Corinthians 15:55 have "θάνατος"
(death) in place of "ᾅδης".[3] While the King James Ver-
sion translated "ᾅδης" as "hell", except in this very verse
of 1 Corinthians, where it uses "grave". Modern transla-
tions, for which there are only 10 instances of the word
"ᾅδης" in the New Testament, generally transliterate the
word, as "Hades".
In all appearances but one, "ᾅδης" has little if any re-
lation to afterlife rewards or punishments. The one ex-
ception is Luke’s parable of Lazarus and the rich man, in
which the rich man finds himself, after death, in Hades,[4]
and "in anguish in this flame",[5] while in contrast the
angels take Lazarus to "the bosom of Abraham",[6] de-
scribed as a state of comfort.[7]
Death and Hades are repeatedly associated in the
Book of Revelation.[8] The word "Hades" appears in Jesus’
promise to Peter: "And I also say unto thee, that thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and
the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it",[9] and in
the warning to Capernaum: "And thou, Capernaum, shalt
thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt go down unto
Hades."[10]
Lazarus and the Rich Man (illumination from the Codex
Aureus of Echternach).
The word "Hades" in Christian
According to various Christian faiths, Hades is "the place
or state of departed spirits".[1]
usage in English
In English usage the word "Hades" first appears around
Hades in the Bible 1600, as a term used to explain the article in the Apostles’
Creed, "He descended into hell", where the place of wait-
ing (the place of "the spirits in prison" 1 Peter 3:19) into
Hades in the Old Testament which Jesus is there affirmed to have gone after the Cru-
In the Septuagint (the ancient translation of the Old Tes- cifixion needed to be distinguished from what had come
tament into Greek), the Greek term "ᾅδης" (Hades) is to be more usually called "hell", i.e. the place or state of
used to translate the Hebrew term "( "ׁשאולSheol) in, for those finally damned.[1]
example, Isaiah 38:18.[1] This use refers the term hades to This development whereby "hell" came to be used
the abode of the dead in general, rather than the abode to mean only the "hell of the damned" affected also the
of the wicked. Latin word "infernum" and the corresponding words in
Latin-derived languages, as in the name "Inferno" given
Hades in the Intertestamental Period to the first part of Dante’s Divina Commedia. Greek, on
the other hand, has kept the original meaning of "ᾅδης"
Hades in the New Testament (Hades) and uses the word "κόλασις" (kolasis – literally,
Thus too, in New Testament Greek, the Hebrew phrase "punishment"; cf. Matthew 25:46, which speaks of "ever-
"( "לא־תעזב נפׁשי לׁשאולyou will not abandon my soul to
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hades in Christianity
lasting kolasis") to refer to what nowadays is usually in two ways: either in the respect of good, and then it is
meant by "hell" in English. paradise; or in respect of evil, and thus as regards actual
sin it is hell, and as regards original sin it is the limbo of
Church teachings children. On the other hand, if it be in the state where it
is hindered from receiving its final reward, this is either
Main article: Intermediate state on account of a defect of the person, and thus we have
purgatory where souls are detained from receiving their
Eastern Orthodox reward at once on account of the sins they have commit-
The teaching of the Eastern Orthodox Church is that, "af- ted, or else it is on account of a defect of nature, and thus
ter the soul leaves the body, it journeys to the abode we have the limbo of the Fathers, where the Fathers were
of the dead (Hades). There are exceptions, such as the detained from obtaining glory on account of the guilt of
Theotokos, who was borne by the angels directly into human nature which could not yet be expiated."[13]
heaven. As for the rest, we must remain in this condition
of waiting. Because some have a prevision of the glory Lutheran and Anglican
to come and others foretaste their suffering, the state The views of Lutherans and Anglicans vary. Martin
of waiting is called "Particular Judgment". When Christ Luther considered Hades to be a place of sleep:
returns, the soul rejoins its risen body to be judged by "It is enough for us to know that souls do not leave their
Him in the Last judgment. The ’good and faithful servant’ bodies to be threatened by the torments and
will inherit eternal life, the unfaithful with the unbeliev- punishments of hell, but enter a prepared bedchamber in
er will spend eternity in hell. Their sins and their unbe- which they sleep in peace".[14]
lief will torture them as fire."[11]
The Assyrian Church of the East, Oriental Orthodoxy, Calvinists
the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Jean Calvin held that the intermediate state is conscious
Church, hold that a final Universal Judgment will be pro- and that the wicked suffer in hell.
nounced on all human beings when soul and body are re-
united in the resurrection of the dead. They also believe Mortalist denominations
that the fate of those in the abode of the dead differs,
even while awaiting resurrection: "The souls of the right- The Church of England has a variety of views on the
eous are in light and rest, with a foretaste of eternal hap- death state. Some, such as N. T. Wright have proposed
piness; but the souls of the wicked are in a state the re- a view of the grave which considers Hades to be a place
verse of this."[12] where the dead sleep. Other denominations which are
mortalist include early Unitarians, Christadelphians,
Roman Catholic Seventh-day Adventists[15] and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Th-
ese churches also believe that Christ too was dead, un-
The Latin word infernus or "infernum" (underworld) in- conscious and "asleep" during his three days in the
dicated the abode of the dead and so was used as the grave.
equivalent of the Greek word "ᾅδης" (hades). It appears
in both the documents quoted above, and pointed more Jehovah’s Witnesses
obviously than the Greek word to an existence beneath
the earth. Later, the transliteration "hades" of the Greek Like their predecessor Charles Taze Russell[16] modern
word ceased to be used in Latin and "infernum" became Jehovah’s Witnesses hold that, until the resurrection, the
the normal way of expressing the idea of Hades. Though dead "sleep"[17] and that the dead are conscious of noth-
"infernus" is usually translated into English as "hell", it ing.[18]
did not have the narrow sense that the English word has
now acquired. It continued to have the generic meaning Views of some early third-cen-
of "abode of the dead". For the modern narrow sense the
term "infernum damnatorum" (hell of the damned) was tury writers
used, as in question 69, article 7 of the Supplement of Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225), making an exception only for
the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas, which distin- the martyrs, argued that the souls of the dead go down
guishes five states or abodes of the dead: paradise, hell of beneath the earth, and will go up to the sky (heaven) only
the damned, limbo of children, purgatory, and limbo of at the end of the world: "You must suppose Hades to be
the Fathers: "The soul separated from the body is in the a subterranean region, and keep at arm’s length those
state of receiving good or evil for its merits; so that after who are too proud to believe that the souls of the faith-
death it is either in the state of receiving its final reward, ful deserve a place in the lower regions … How, indeed,
or in the state of being hindered from receiving it. If it is shall the soul mount up to heaven, where Christ is al-
in the state of receiving its final retribution, this happens ready sitting at the Father’s right hand, when as yet the
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hades in Christianity
archangel’s trumpet has not been heard by the command [11] Michael Azkoul What Are the Differences Between
of God, when as yet those whom the coming of the Lord Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism?
is to find on the earth, have not been caught up into the [12] The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic,
air to meet Him at His coming, in company with the dead Eastern Church, 372
in Christ, who shall be the first to arise? … The sole key to [13] Question 69. Matters concerning the resurrection,
unlock Paradise is your own life’s blood.".[19] and first of the place where souls are after death
The variously titled fragment "Against Plato" or "De [14] Weimarer Ausgabe 43, 360,21-23 (to Genesis
Universo", attributed to Hippolytus of Rome (c. 170 – c. 25,7-10): also Exegetica opera latina Vol 5-6 1833
236), has the following: "And this is the passage regard- p120; "Sufficit igitur nobis haec cognitio, non
ing demons. But now we must speak of Hades, in which egredi animas ex corporibus in periculum
the souls both of the righteous and the unrighteous are cruciatum et paenarum inferni, sed esse eis
detained. Hades is a place in the created system, rude, paratum cubiculum, in quo dormiant in pace."
a locality beneath the earth, in which the light of the [15] Fundamental Belief # 26 of the Seventh-day
world does not shine; and as the sun does not shine in Adventist Church states "The wages of sin is death.
this locality, there must necessarily be perpetual dark- But God, who alone is immortal, will grant eternal
ness there. This locality has been destined to be as it were life to His redeemed. Until that day death is an
a guard-house for souls, at which the angels are stationed unconscious state for all people. When Christ, who
as guards, distributing according to each one’s deeds the is our life, appears, the resurrected righteous and
temporary punishments for characters.And in this local- the living righteous will be glorified and caught up
ity there is a certain place set apart by itself, a lake of un- to meet their Lord. The second resurrection, the
quenchable fire, into which we suppose no one has ever resurrection of the unrighteous, will take place a
yet been cast; for it is prepared against the day deter- thousand years later. (Rom. 6:23; 1 Tim. 6:15, 16;
mined by God, in which one sentence of righteous judg- Eccl. 9:5, 6; Ps. 146:3, 4; John 11:11-14; Col. 3:4; 1
ment shall be justly applied to all. And the unrighteous, Cor. 15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:13-17; John 5:28, 29; Rev.
and those who believed not God, who have honoured as 20:1-10.)" >Fundamental Belief # 26 of the Seventh-
God the vain works of the hands of men, idols fashioned, day Adventist Church
shall be sentenced to this endless punishment. But the [16] Russell-White Debate: A Public Discussion p41 "Let
righteous shall obtain the incorruptible and un-fading us have a word from Job on this subject of man’s
kingdom, who indeed are at present detained in Hades, condition and death as sleep. Job says, "So nun
but not in the same place with the unrighteous." lieth down, ... It would have been destruction to us,
In his study, "Hades of Hippolytus or Tartarus of Ter- dear friends; our death would have made us as
tullian? The Authorship of the Fragment De Universo", C. much dead as the brute beast."
E. Hill argues that the depiction of the intermediate state [17] The Watchtower Vol. 124 Watch Tower Bible and
of the righteous expounded in this text is radically op- Tract Society of Pennsylvania - 2003 "(John 11:11)
posed to that found in the authentic works of Hippolytus From a human standpoint, Lazarus was dead, but to
and must have been written by Tertullian.[20] Jehovah and Jesus, Lazarus was sleeping. Under
Jesus’ Kingdom rule, there will be "a resurrection
References of both the righteous and the unrighteous." (Acts
24:15)"
[1] ^ Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford [18] "The dead are conscious of nothing." Beliefs —
University Press 2005 ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3): Death and sin
Hades [19] A Treatise on the Soul, chapter 55
[2] Blue Letter Bible. "Dictionary and Word Search for [20] Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Jun., 1989), pp.
hadēs (Strong’s 86)" 105-126
[3] Greek New Testament; cf. The International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. II:1314-1315.
[1915.
External links
[4] Luke 16:23 • The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia:
[5] Luke 16:25 Hades
[6] Luke 16:22 • The afterlife: Bible references & beliefs of Americans
[7] Luke 16:25-31 • The Truth About Death - Comprehensive site
[8] Revelation 1:18, 6:8, Rev-nb 20:13–14 covering death in Christian beliefs.
[9] Matthew 16:18
[10] Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hades_in_Christianity&oldid=470107706"
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hades in Christianity
Categories:
• Christian eschatology
• Afterlife
• Greek underworld
• Hellenism and Christianity
• Christian belief and doctrine
• Hell
• Christian terms
This page was last modified on 7 January 2012 at 17:22. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of
the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Contact us
Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
4