Thoughts for the Candid

THOUGHTS ON Matthew 10:28 AND Luke 12:4, 5

“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. TFC 5.1

“And I say unto you My friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him.” Luke 12:4, 5. TFC 5.2

1. These texts are the record, by different writers, of the same language of the Saviour. The first one is often quoted by those who teach the immortality of the soul and its conscious existence in death. In Matthew’s version of the Saviour’s words, the soul is indeed made very prominent; but in that of Luke, it is not mentioned. Yet the language of the one version is the same substance as that of the other. TFC 5.3

2. Thus, while Matthew represents the Saviour as saying, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul,” Luke expresses the idea thus: “Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more they can do.” And Matthew adds, “Fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Luke gives the same warning, thus: “Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell.” TFC 5.4

3. Thus it is seen that our Lord recognizes the fact plainly expressed elsewhere, that there are two deaths. The first death, which is the common lot of mankind, is thus spoken of by Paul: “It is appointed unto men once to die.” Hebrews 9:27. The second death is the portion only of the wicked. “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” Revelation 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8. The Saviour bids us not to fear those who can inflict only the first of these deaths; but He warns us to fear Him who alone is able to kill with the second death. TFC 5.5

4. The place in which the terrible punishment here set forth is inflicted, is called hell. This word is found in the English Testament twenty-three times. But in the Greek Testament there are three different words, hades, gehenna and tartarus, signifying different places, all rendered by the one English word, “hell.” Thus, hades is used eleven times in the original, and is rendered “hell” ten times and “grave” once. The following are the places of its occurrence, the italicized word in each case being the translation of hades: TFC 5.6

Matthew 11:23. Shalt be brought down to hell. TFC 6.1

16:18. The gates of hell shall not prevail. TFC 6.2

Luke 10:15. Shalt be thrust down to hell. TFC 6.3

16:23. In hell he lift up his eyes. TFC 6.4

Acts 2:27. Wilt not leave my soul in hell. TFC 6.5

2:31. His soul was not left in hell. TFC 6.6

1 Corinthians 15:55. O grave, where is thy victory? TFC 6.7

Revelation 1:18. Have the keys of hell and of death. TFC 6.8

6:8. Was death, and hell followed. TFC 6.9

20:13. Death and hell delivered up the dead. TFC 6.10

20:14. Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. TFC 6.11

Gehenna is found in the following places: TFC 6.12

Matthew 5:22. Shall be in danger of hell fire. TFC 6.13

5:29. Whole body should be cast into hell. TFC 6.14

5:30. Whole body should be cast into hell. TFC 6.15

10:28. Destroy both soul and body in hell. TFC 6.16

18:9. Having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. TFC 6.17

23:15. More the child of hell than yourselves. TFC 6.18

23:33. How can ye escape the damnation of hell. TFC 6.19

Mark 9:43. Having two hands to go into hell. TFC 6.20

9:45. Having two feet to be cast into hell. TFC 6.21

9:47. Having two eyes to be cast into hell. TFC 6.22

Luke 12:5. Hath power to cast into hell TFC 6.23

James 3:6. It is set on fire of hell. TFC 6.24

Tartarus is used only in the following text: “God spared no the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell.” 2 Peter 2:4. TFC 6.25

Thus hades is seen to be the place of the dead, whether righteous or wicked; the place into which they are introduced by death, and from which they are delivered by the resurrection. Those who are in hades are said to be dead. Revelation 20:13. Once, in the English Testament, hades is rendered “grave.” 1 Corinthians 15:55. Gehenna, on the contrary, is the place where the wicked are to be cast alive with all their members, and to be destroyed soul and body. It is the lake of fire in which the wicked dead are to be punished after their resurrection. Revelation 20:13-15. Tartarus is the place into which the evil angels were cast after their rebellion. These three places, therefore, though rendered by the one English word “hell,” are not to be confounded with one another. TFC 6.26

5. It is claimed that the Saviour, in giving the warning recorded in Matthew 10:28 and Luke 12:4, 5, taught the continued existence of the soul in death. But it is worthy of notice that in each of these texts He utters no warning concerning the punishment of the soul in hades, the place or state of the dead. His warning relates to that which shall be inflicted upon “soul and body” together in gehenna. TFC 7.1

6. That He should speak nothing of the punishment of the soul in its disembodied state in hades, if such punishment really takes place, is very remarkable; for here, more than anywhere else in the Bible, is there evidence of the continued existence of the soul while the body is under the power of death. Yet while expressly stating the terrible fate of the lost, and that, too, in such connection as would especially call out the fact, if it were a fact, that the souls of the wicked exist in a place of dreadful suffering, between death and the resurrection, the Saviour says not one word concerning the sufferings of the soul in its disembodied state, but confines His warning to that which shall be inflicted upon “both soul and body in hell,” that is, in gehenna, thus showing that the retribution against which He warns us comes after the resurrection, and not before. TFC 7.2

7. Our Lord means to point out precisely the danger to which the ungodly are exposed. When, therefore, He says “Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into gehenna,” He means to teach that God will cast the wicked into gehenna. And when Matthew, expressing the same warning in different words, makes the Saviour say, “Fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in gehenna,” the fact set forth is that such will be the fate of the lost. TFC 7.3

8. “Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into gehenna.” As the wicked are to be cast into gehenna alive, and in possession of all their bodily members (see the list of passages in this tract where gehenna is used), it follows that He who can thus cast them there, after they have once been killed, is God alone; for to do this, He must raise them from the dead. The resurrection to damnation must precede the damnation of gehenna. Compare John 5:28, 29 with Matthew 23:33. TFC 8.1