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In previous articles, I have discussed the Hebrew and Greek words which are sometimes
translated hell in English. But what about the worm that never dies, the weeping and
gnashing of teeth, the unquenchable fire? Don't these expressions describe the eternal
conditions in hell?
I've read the warnings about not trying to interpret the New Testament through the Old
Testament. But the same teachers who say this will also insist that we don't take sections
of scripture out of context to try to prove some obscure doctrine. Reading scripture in
context doesn't just mean reading a few verses before and after. It implies that we
examine the time, place, occasion, and other factors present when the passage was
spoken or written.
When Jesus spoke to the Jews, he sometimes used expressions with rather ominous
references to fire, worms, weeping, destruction, and the like. These expressions are
figures of speech which did indeed hold meaning to His listeners. The context (his
speaking to the Jews) demands that we ask the question what did these expressions
mean to his audience? Had they ever heard such expressions before? Below are some
examples of these hellfire expressions which appear in both the New Testament and the
Old Testament.
Worm that does not die, fire is not quenched
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of
God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where "their worm does
not die, and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:4748)
And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me;
their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all
mankind. (Is. 66:24)
Weeping and gnashing of teeth
But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 8:12)
The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out
your hair and put on sackcloth. (Is. 22:12)
Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep
day and night for the slain of my people. (Jer. 9:1)
I weep for you, as Jazer weeps, O vines of Sibmah. Your branches spread as far as the
sea; they reached as far as the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen on your ripened
fruit and grapes. (Jer. 48:32)
The wicked man will see and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the
longings of the wicked will come to nothing. (Ps. 112:10)
Thrown into the fire
The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit
will be cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matt. 3:10)
Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will
spread from there to the whole house of Israel. (Ez. 5:4)
There are many other examples I could list. All of these figures of speech (except maybe
for the gnashing of teeth) are exclusively used to describe national judgment and
destruction. They were never used to depict any kind of punishment after death.
Certainly Jesus had the right to use these expressions while giving them an entirely
different meaning. But neither He, nor the New Testament writers inform us that these
expressions now describe the conditions in hell, rather than warning of the coming
destruction of Israel. Less than forty years are Jesus was crucified, the Temple was
destroyed and thousands of Jews were brutally slaughtered.
Not only did Jesus use these expressions familiar to the Jews, but also the warnings of
John the Baptist, and the frightening scenes of judgment depicted by the Apostle John in
the Book of Revelation use language similar to that of Old Testament descriptions of
national judgment and destruction.
The question is do we have any basis whatsoever to dogmatically assert that these
expressions familiar to the Jews, suddenly were describing the conditions in hell rather
than warning the Jews of a judgment that was about to take place on earth?
If context is everything, then the context of these hellfire expressions insist that Jesus
and the writers of the New Testament used these hellfire expressions exactly the way the
Jews would have understood them. So the next time someone says that there are worms
in hell constantly tormenting human souls, you can tell them that this expression comes
from Isaiah 66:24, where the worms were feeding on dead bodies, not living souls.
For a more complete study of this topic I recommend the following article:
Jesus' Teaching on Hell, Samuel G. Dawson
http://gospelthemes.com/hell.htm