Jesus is the Messiah, Immanuel, and Christ, counselor, teacher, and rabbi. God is Almighty, Father, El Shaddai and so much more! Satan is the devil and the evil one. Is Hades the same as hell? Are these places the same as the Lake of Fire? If not, what is the difference between them?
Hell on Earth?
“‘Hell’ comes from ‘hel,’ the abode of the dead and the underworld of Norse mythology.” This is not the word Jesus used in the New Testament (Old Testament writers refer to Sheol).
Jesus employs the Greek “Geenna,” the name of “a valley west and South of Jerusalem;” a location “so-called from the cries of the little children who were thrown into the fiery arms of Moloch,” according to certain horrible rituals.
Gehenna was a real place, where the bodies of criminals and animals were also burned: no wonder Gehenna is synonymous with hellfire.
This valley of death must have appeared and smelled like some portion of the Underworld, which had burst up into the earthly realm as a kind of reminder to the Jews of the fate, which awaited the unfaithful.
For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains (Deuteronomy 32:22).
Hades: Biblical and Mythical
Sometimes the name given to “hell” in the New Testament is “Hades” such as in Luke 16:23 where Jesus is telling the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.
The rich man in Hades “was in torment.” Peter declared that the Lord “will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One see corruption” (Acts 2:27). Does he mean Hades a person, or a place?
In Greek mythology, Hades is not a place but a person; the Greek god of the Underworld, which “encompassed the whole afterlife, containing both heaven and hell, where the righteous could be lavished upon, and the unworthy punished.”
Hades’ name came to represent the person and the place, and the word also became a synonym for “hell.” Hades is “the present dwelling place of all the departed” or “the infernal regions, a dark [...] and dismal place.”
In Revelation 20, however, Hades was thrown into the Lake of Fire alongside death, suggesting that even in biblical reference, Hades was both a person and a place.
The Lake of Fire
These terms are further complicated by a third name, which might refer to somewhere entirely different or could be another synonym for eternal death: the Lake of Fire. “Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14).
This is the location into which unbelievers will ultimately be cast. Depending on whose commentary one reads, unbelievers might first spend time in Hades or with Hades “until they are resurrected to face the Great White Throne of Judgment of Revelation 20. From there they will be cast permanently into the eternal lake of fire.”
But other writers, such as Denny Burk indicate that hell is where unbelievers suffer “eternal, conscious torment” and “involves final separation from God’s mercy and from God’s people, the unending experience of divine judgment, and just retribution for sin.” In other words, the Lake of Fire and hell could be the same location under two different names.
Hell and Hades in Popular Culture
Today, “hell” has come to represent an experience in this life, a “living hell” in which one experiences intense mental, emotional, or physical suffering. In times of anguish, one might feel as though death would be a mercy, while life is a cruel torment.
Hades is frequently used as a softer synonym for hell and is not typically imbued with the associations above; nor is it automatically associated with biblical hell.
One might instantly remember the mythological amusement of a Disney movie such as Hercules, which gives the impression that Hades is a place of torment, but one which the clever person can be freed from.
Frequently, non-believers get the impression that hell is a party place, where bad people go to have a good time. The very notion of hell is unpopular even among some Christian theologians.
Some preachers speak as though it is a misinterpretation of Scripture, or that God was referring to something figurative, not a literal lake of fire.
Many individuals suggest that hell is a construct devised to frighten children into behaving better, but Hades is not referenced in this way. Hades is a bit of mythological fun to those who ignore the Bible.
Levels of Torment?
Certain scriptures indicate that there are levels of hell or Hades. Albert N. Martin and Fred Zaspel explained that everyone who goes to hell will suffer terribly because, as Jesus says in Matthew 8:12, this is “a place of ‘weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth’” (Matthew 8:12). The suffering will be eternal. Yet, “for some that suffering that will be worse than for others.”
For example, Martin and Zaspel refer to Matthew 10:15 where Jesus says of a town in which the gospel is rejected, “Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.”
They take the reader to Matthew 11 and a comparison Jesus made between the suffering in hell of one city versus another.
In Hebrews 10:29, the writer warns, “How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” Again, comparison infers difference.
Some scholars suggest that Hades, being the place of the dead, might be a resting place before one is called home to be with Jesus or relegated to eternal suffering. Hell could be that final place, or it could be The Lake of Fire; or maybe these are one and the same; the deepest pit of torment.
A Common Perspective
With so many references and such volumes of writing on the subject, we can determine the gravity of this topic. There is really a place where the unbelieving dead will go to be separated from the love of God; a place outside of the human imagination to properly grasp.
God has given people suggestive glimpses while the full picture of hell remains shrouded in mystery.
As George Sinclair put it, “Whether literal or a metaphor, the lake of fire is a terrible doom — so flee to Christ and amend your life!” The point made by many writers has been this: the nature of hell or Hades, or differences between them, is a moot point; believe and be saved.
Do not risk going to a place by any of the names above by rejecting the Risen Savior. Choose the saving grace of Christ and find out only what eternity in heaven is like.
For further reading:
Does the Bible Say There Are Levels of Hell?
What Is Hell? A Biblical Guide of its Existence
Was Hell Created Because Satan Fell?
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