The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Gravity of Ascribing False Teachings to Christ
I. Josephus Illuminates Dives-Lazarus Story
Most fortunately for our investigation, Josephus left on record a “Discourse to the Greeks Concerning Hades,” 1 which illuminates Jesus’ Dives and Lazarus story. Not only does it parallel Christ’s narration, showing that it was based on a current Jewish belief, but it amplifies and explains the contemporary concepts and expressions of the Jews, frankly drawn from Platonism. CFF1 252.1
But it does more. It reveals at the same time how Christian advocates of Immortal-Soulism and Eternal Torment have, in their ardor, gone beyond the specifications of the parable, and read into it present eternal suffering for the wicked in the unquenchable fires of Gehenna, and this prior to the judgment—neither of which is justified by the original record. An epitome of Josephus’ “Discourse on Hades,” as currently held in the first century A.D., is here given rather fully because of its importance to our analysis. But first let us note the pertinency, relevancy, and admissibility of Josephus’ testimony. CFF1 252.2
1. REPRESENTATIVE CHARACTER OF JOSEPHUS’ DEPICTION
Flavius Josephus (d. c. A.D. 100), celebrated Jewish priest and historian, was a Pharisee. 2 He was not only highly trained in Jewish law but recorded the contemporary Jewish teachings, sayings, and traditions of the times. In fact, his writings constitute the most comprehensive Jewish history of the century. He was an enthusiastic admirer of Rome and its institutions, and basked in the sunshine of the favor of the emperors Vespasian and Titus, becoming adviser to Vespasian and serving as interpreter to Titus during the siege of Jerusalem, in A.D. 70—which act aroused the antipathy of the Jews. But this did not alter his competence as a witness. CFF1 252.3
Picture 1: Noah Preaching to Antedelluvians:
Sin and Sacrilege in Antediluvian Days, Multiplicd Until God Had to Destroy a Polluted Race and Start Man Afresh With a New Opportunity. That Is the Grace of God.
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Picture 2: After the Flood:
God’s Covenant Was Given That the Earth Would Never Be Destroyed Again Until the Final Deluge of Fire for the Destruction of All Obdurate Sinners.
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Josephus received Roman citizenship, together with a pension, and adopted the name Flavius, after that of the imperial family. Thenceforth he devoted himself solely to writing. His works were highly esteemed by the Church Fathers, especially Jerome. And he was ever loyal to the Jewish customs and religion, as then held—particularly that of the Pharisees, in whom we are most interested. His works are still the most comprehensive source of information on the times and the beliefs and teachings of the Jews in the period of Christ and the apostles. Such is his competence and credibility as a firsthand witness. CFF1 254.1
2. MULTIPLE FEATURES OF HADES DESCRIBED
Josephus explains that Hades is considered to be a “subterraneous region,” where the “souls of righteous and unrighteous” are alike “detained,” and wherein there is “perpetual darkness.” It is a “place” for the “custody of souls,” where “angel” guardians distribute “temporary punishment.” In an adjacent but separate section is a “lake of unquenchable fire”—but into which, Josephus explicitly adds, “we suppose no one hath hitherto been cast.” That is significant, and should be remembered. CFF1 254.2
It is prepared for a “day afore-determined by God,” “in which one righteous sentence shall deservedly be passed upon all men.” The “unjust” and “disobedient” will then, and only then, be assigned to “everlasting punishment,” while the “just” will obtain an “incorruptible and never-fading kingdom.” Both groups are “confined in Hades, but not in the same place.” CFF1 254.3
3. “JUST” GUIDED BY “ANGELS” TO “BOSOM OF ABRAHAM.”
There is but “one descent into this” subterraneous region, “at whose gate ... stands an archangel with an host” of angels. All who pass that way are “conducted down by the angels appointed over souls.” “The just are guided to the right hand,” which is a “region of light,” with a “prospect of good things” to come. There is for them no toil, heat, or cold. They ever look upon the “countenance of the fathers and of the just.” Here they wait for “eternal new life in heaven.” And now comes the climactic sentence—“This place we call The bosom of Abraham.” That is unmistakable identification, and must be remembered. CFF1 254.4
4. “UNJUST” DRAGGED TO “NEIGHBORHOOD” OF HELL
Turning next to the “unjust,” Josephus says that they are “dragged by force to the left hand by the angels allotted for punishment.” He refers to such souls as “prisoners driven by violence.” The angels “reproach” them, “threaten” them, and “thrust them still downward.” In fact, they are dragged “into the neighborhood of hell itself [Gehenna],” “hard by it,” where they “continually hear the noise of it,” and where they are near “the hot vapour itself.” They have a “near view of this spectacle, as of a terrible and exceeding great prospect of fire,” and are in “fearful expectation of a future judgment,” and are “in effect punished thereby,” in a preliminary way. CFF1 255.1
5. IMPASSABLE GULF SEPARATES THE TWO GROUPS
But that is not all. They “see the place of the fathers and the just,” which sight in itself is a punishment. And here is the second telltale parallel—“a chaos deep and large is fixed” between the two groups, so that neither can “pass over” to the other side. That is the next major point to be remembered. And this, Josephus declares, is Hades, wherein the souls of all men are confined until a proper season, which God hath determined. Then He will “make a resurrection of all men from the dead,” “raising again those very bodies,” which the Greeks erroneously think are “dissolved” forever, and will not be resurrected. CFF1 255.2
Then, declaring that “according to the doctrine of Plato” (who is thus frankly named), the Greeks believe that the “soul is created” and “made immortal by God,” Josephus asserts that God is also able to make “immortal” the “body” He has “raised” to life. So, he continues, the Jews believe that the “body will be raised again,” and although it is “dissolved, it is not perished.” Again, “to every body shall be its own soul restored.” CFF1 255.3
Picture 3: Terror of the Wicked at Christ’s Coming:
The Terror of the Wicked Will Parallel the Joy of the Redeemed as Our Lord Appears in th Clouds of Heaven at His Second Advent.
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6. ETERNAL TORMENT FOR WICKED AFTER JUDGMENT
So, Josephus concludes, after just “judgment” at the “judgment-seat,” the righteous will have an “everlasting fruition.” But the wicked will then be allotted to “eternal punishment”—“unquenchable fire, and that without end, and a certain fiery worm, never dying.” But that, according to Josephus, is still future, not present. The fire and the worm will not destroy the body, and the worm will continue its erosion with “never-ceasing grief.” “Sleep” will not afford relief. And “death will not free them from their punishment”—which ideas again bear the earmark of Platonism. “Nor will the interceding prayers of their kindred profit them.” CFF1 256.1
That, in careful epitome, is the portrayal of Hades, by Josephus. The startling similarity to circumstances in the parable of Dives and Lazarus is inescapable. Missing details are here supplied. Hazy points are here clarified. Jesus was clearly using a then—common tradition of the Jews to press home a moral lesson in a related field. And this Jewish concept of Hades was frankly derived from Platonism, through Apocryphal writers, but climaxing with Philo. CFF1 256.2
7. DEFLECTING INROADS IN INTER-TESTAMENTAL PERIOD
Several pertinent points should here be noted. This period was critical. It was the Jewish transition hour. PHILO JUDAEUS (d. c. A.D. 47), of Alexandria, had lived in the generation just prior to Josephus. Under Philo the inroads of Greek Platonism reached their peak in deflecting the faith of a large segment of the Jews from the primal Mosaic teachings on Conditional Immortality and its inseparable corollary, the ultimate destruction of the wicked. CFF1 257.1
Over a period of some two hundred years prior to Christ, tangent positions had been developing under the impact of Platonic philosophy. Thus the concept that Hades contained two chambers appeared in 4 Ezra 4:41, along with the idea that the righteous inhabit one chamber (Wisdom of Solomon 3:1), while the wicked are accursed, scourged, and tormented in the other (1 Enoch 22:9-13). The Midrash (on Ruth 1:1, Proem) likewise assigns one chamber to the righteous, with the other to the wicked. The Talmud (Erubin 19) also tells of the torment of the wicked. CFF1 257.2
The visibility of one company to the other, in the respective chambers, is similarly in the Midrash (on Ecclesiastes 7:14). And the wicked see the angels guard the righteous (4 Ezra 7:86). Both the Talmud (Kethuboth 104) and 4 Ezra 7:85-87, 91, 95, tell of the welcoming of the righteous by companies of ministering angels. And 4 Maccabees 13:17 mentions the righteous as welcomed in Hades by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And finally, the righteous, as part of their reward, are privileged to sit “in Abraham’s lap” (Talmud Kiddushin 72). That is the third major point that should be borne in mind. CFF1 257.3
In his Antiquities, Josephus also gives this terse added testimony: CFF1 257.4
“They [the Pharisees] also believe that souls have an immortal vigour in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again.” 3
It is therefore obvious that the principal points in the parable of Dives and Lazarus were based upon current Jewish folklore, which had infiltrated from Platonic philosophy. Christ met them on their own familiar ground and drew a fundamental moral lesson therefrom, capitalizing upon their preconceived opinions. CFF1 258.1
8. ADVOCATES INJECT UNWARRANTED ADDITIONS
But the construction placed upon the parable of Dives and Lazarus by many modern proponents of Immortal-Soulism, who invoke the sanction of this parable by reading into it what is neither there in the original narrative in Luke nor sanctioned by Josephus’ definitive elucidations, is both regrettable and unethical. CFF1 258.2
Please note the following in Josephus’ discourse: First of all, Hades, in the section for wicked souls, here under discussion, is not Gehenna (which is defined as the “lake of fire”), but is only near Gehenna, or in the “neighborhood of hell.” Second, according to Josephus, no one had yet been cast into the lake of fire. That is important and decisive. Third, any contemporary “punishment” is but “temporary,” as the wicked may feel the breath of the “hot vapour.” It is not eternal envelopment in the fires of Hell, as often pictured. Fourth, at the appointed time there will be a resurrection of the body, which will then be made immortal. CFF1 258.3
In that feature the Jews differed from the Greek Platonists, as well as on the concept of transmigration. And fifth, according to Josephus’ elucidation, the eternal punishing and the visitation of unquenchable fire will come only after the future judgment and its just sentences—which he declares had not yet taken place. CFF1 258.4
That is a vastly different picture from the eisegetical portrayal of those who build present Eternal Torment for the immortally damned on this passage. Such are the regrettable lengths resorted to in an attempt to find Biblical support for an alien, pagan philosophy. CFF1 258.5