Hades: As Used in Scripture [Brochure]

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There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

The Question:

Would you infer that in Luke 16 you get two compartments in Hades—a great gulf fixed between, so that there is no passing between the two in the spirit-world, the occupants of the one in comfort and happiness, and the occupants of the other in suffering and misery? Also, in 2 Corinthians 5 it says that “to be absent from the body” is to be “present with the Lord.” If the spirit is in hades, what does this mean? In 2 Corinthians 5:17, we read “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” (or “there is a new creation”). Would it be Scriptural to say that it is the new man, that which we receive at new birth, that is present with the Lord?

The Answer:

To get a right idea of Hades, you must look at in as in relation to Death. Hades is not a place, but a condition. Death is not a place, but a condition. Hades is the condition of the soul without the body. Death is the condition of the body without the soul. Having died, the condition of the soul of the unbeliever is one of suffering and misery; whereas the condition of the soul of the believer is one of comfort and happiness. “The great gulf fixed” is a symbolical expression signifying the eternal separation between the happy believer and the hopeless unbeliever—the latter having no hope of any relief or second chance.

If you apply the test of Hades being a condition and not a place, you will find that it is the Scriptural thought. One striking instance is found in Revelation 20:14. “And Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.” This means that all the dead bodies being raised and the disembodied souls being reunited to the resurrected bodies, the individuals, who in their former state represented the conditions of Death and Hades, will be cast into the lake of fire. If Hades were a place, then we should have the incongruous idea of a condition (Death) and a place (Hades) cast into a place (the lake of fire). But, keeping in mind that Hades is a condition and a counterpart of Death, all is simple and plain.

What we have said really answers the second part of the question also. Our questioner can see the difficulty that believing Hades to be a place puts him in. Hades being a condition, that of the soul without the body, the soul of the believer is happily present with the Lord. The condition is one thing, the place is another. The condition is a disembodied soul, the place is “with the Lord.” Don’t mix up condition and place. Keeping these thoughts clear in your mind will solve your difficulties in understanding these things.

It is true that “new creation” only obtains before God, but that is linked up with us as individuals, who have been saved by the grace of God Himself.

A. J. Pollock

The preceding article was lightly edited. See also: Hades and Eternal Punishment by A. J. Pollock, BTP #6502.

To the Reader:

The story at the beginning of this paper is one which Jesus told, and it is uniquely different from most of Jesus’s stories (usually called “parables”) in that He names one of the characters. This suggests that the story is a true one— more than a mere parable. If you had been one of the characters in this story, where in the story would you fit? Jesus also said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24