You're listening to Tim Bulkeley's 5 minute Bible
Is hell an important christian doctrine
the issue became a sharp one for a friend of mine recently
as he explained on Facebook
one of the elders in his church is complaining that he doesn't preach
hellfire and damnation enough
but is hell an important Christian doctrine
Sure, you can find it in the Bible
But, let me suggest to you that we
submit the doctrine of hell to the test
just imagine for a moment that two strangers turn up at your door
and they try to teach you a new doctrine you've never heard before
are these characters Christian?
How will you know? The easiest way is to look at the doctrine they are propounding and
see if it's expressed clearly and prominently in Scripture
are there more than one place one place
in Scripture where this doctrine is quite clearly taught
anything less and they're
either a weird sect
or they're missing the point
avoiding the clear message of scripture and going after something else
So, let's put
the doctrine of hell
to this test
Is it clearly and prominently
taught in Scripture?
the first question to ask is: where we really find hell in the Bible
it's a bit complicated there are several words that
could be translated hell
at least in the beginning of this series I'm going to focus on the word
Gehenna
in Greek, which is often translated as "hell"
the word doesn't occur in the Old Testament in the Septuagint translation
but it does occur in 4 Esdras
4 Esdras didn't make it at the apocryphal
Let alone into the Bible
it's part of the Pseudigrapha
Christian and Jewish writings that some Jews and Christians find useful
it does however occur in the New Testament seven times in four different chapters
in Matthew
three times in one chapter in Mark
once in Luke
no times in John, so in the gospels as a whole
6 out of the 89 chapters mention hell
There are two other mentions in the New Testament
And altogether
8 out of the total 260 chapters of the New Testament testament mention hell
it's not an auspicious start because that's just three percent
so it's clearly not a major theme
like God's love, Jesus' death, his resurrection
or things like that
but let's look closer
in part one
unlimited Jesus' teaching in Matthew
Matthew chapter five is the key
in this chapter Jesus is proclaiming
that he fulfills
the law
but he takes it and
fills it up to the full, to the brim, to overflowing
and makes it perfect
in that context he says
'if you say, "you fool"
you'll be liable to the hell of fire
if your right eye causes you to sin tear it out and throw it away; it's better for
you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell
So, let's think about the these
in the context of that chapter
is Jesus language in these verses, literal language
or is it hyperbole?
Is it language which is chosen because it's powerful and carries punch
but to make another point?
Because that's the question, is hell
the point of Jesus teaching here?
Or is Jesus teaching us something else?
Is hell incidental
While you are answering that question, I'll move on to chapter 10
talking about those who are going to malign his household
"So, have no fear of them for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered
nothing is secrets that will not become known
what I say to you in the dark, tell in the light
what you hear whispered
proclaimed from the house tops
do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul
rather fear him who could destroy both soul and body in hell
Are not 2 sparrows sold for a penny?
yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father
and even the hairs on your head are counted
So, do not be afraid
you are of more value than many sparrows
you see what's going on
you see Jesus' point here
don't be afraid of human beings
be afraid, if you're going to,
of God
the one who can destroy both soul and body
if he chooses
but who loves you
Jesus' point
isn't hell. Jesus point is the gospel
Jesus' point is that God's love
should give us the courage to stand up against any human adversary
so what about Matthew 23?
Woe to you you scribes in Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land
to make a single convert
and you make a new convert twice as much of child of hell as yourselves
You snakes, you brood of vipers
how can you escape being sentenced to hell?
Sounds clear enough doesn't it?
But again, is this literal language?
Does Jesus
mean what he says, on surface of what he says?
No, the very notion of a 'child of hell'
is not the literal language, from the start
nor is 'brood of vipers' come to that
something else is going on
so what is Jesus' point in Matthew 23?
read the chapter and decide for yourselves
but I don't reckon that Jesus is
speaking in this chapter to convince us that hell exists and that we are
to be frightened of it
So, we've looked at Matthew's gospel
in the next podcast in this series we'll go on a look at the rest of the
New Testament
bye for now
God bless