What Did the Jews and Early Christians Believe About Hell?

The orthodox view concerning human damnation of both the Jews in the Old Testament period and the Christians of the New Testament period was literal everlasting destruction. This is obvious because every person used of God to write the Holy Scriptures adhered to everlasting destruction. This was the commonly accepted position of believers in these eras (for detailed proof, go here). Thus the view of literal destruction is as old as the earliest Old Testament Scriptures.

Aside from the Bible itself, the doctrine of literal destruction can be traced back to biblical times. It can be found, for instance, in the writings of Justin Martyr (114-165 AD), who taught that human souls are mortal and that the ungodly will suffer only as long as God wills and then pass out of existence. Literal destruction can also be found in the Didache, a 2^nd Century Christian handbook, which speaks of “two ways”—the way of “life” and the way of “death”—plainly stating that the ungodly will ultimately perish. Even the great Rabbi Hillel, who passed away a few years before Jesus was born, taught that unrepentant sinners would be literally and eternally destroyed in Gehenna, though he did maintain that one extreme class of sinners would suffer “to ages of ages,” yet even this does not indicate perpetuity.

Another good example would be the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls who lived in Qumran by the Dead Sea and were believed to be Essenes. The Essenes were a sect of Jews that left Jerusalem because they believed the priests of the Temple were corrupted by Rome. They wanted to stay pure and keep Torah—God’s Law—pure, so they moved to the desolate Dead Sea area.

This is the group spoken of as the “Sons of Light” in historical writings. It has been suggested that John the Baptist lived and studied with them in preparation for his ministry and some believe that Jesus himself studied with them. Regardless, sometime between 200 BC and the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD the Qumran brotherhood wrote and transcribed many documents, including the Hebrew Scriptures. These documents were discovered in the mid-20^th Century and are presently referred to as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

It’s clear from these scrolls that the Qumranites adhered to everlasting destruction, not eternal torment:

“And all the ages of their generations they [the ungodly] shall spend in bitter weeping and harsh evils in the abysses of darkness until their destruction, without there being a remnant or survivor among them.”

1 QS 4:13-14

The Qumran brotherhood obviously believed that eternal damnation will consist of a time of suffering—described as “bitter weeping and harsh evils in the abysses of darkness”—that would end in utter destruction. The word “until” indicates that there will be a change—destruction would bring an end to the bitter weeping. To reinforce that “destruction” literally means destruction, the passage ends by making it clear that there would be no remnant or survivor of those damned to the “abysses of darkness” (i.e. the lake of fire). The only possible way there could be no remnant or survivor is if they all eventually ceased to exist; after all, people that live forever in torment would still be surviving.

Needless to say, this is serious blow to the doctrine of eternal roasting, as far as extra-biblical literature goes.

In light of the above information we could safely conclude that literal everlasting destruction was not only the biblical view at the time of Christ—which is all that really matters—but the orthodox “Jewish view” as well. By “orthodox” I mean historically established beliefs that are generally accepted as true (‘orthodox,’ by the way, literally means “correct view”). In other words, literal everlasting destruction was the conventional Jewish view of damnation. I add this in response to the outdated argument that Jesus endorsed never-ending torment because it was supposedly “the Jewish view” at the time of his earthly ministry. The evidence proves this theory false.

Of course, Jesus was never concerned about Jewish orthodoxy during his earthly ministry. As “the truth” (John 14:6), he didn’t care what doctrines were established or popular. In fact, he didn’t care that everlasting destruction was the orthodox Jewish view. He simply taught what the Word of truth taught (John 17:17 & Psalm 119:43,160). I’m talking about the Hebraic Scriptures, which clearly support literal destruction.

It should be pointed out that there were actually over seventy sects of Judaism at the time of Christ, including Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, Scribes, Herodians and Samaritans, all of which are mentioned in the New Testament. In light of this, the content of proper Jewish orthodoxy becomes somewhat debatable because these different groups stressed different beliefs as vital, just as different Christian sects do today. Each group had their own version of fundamental doctrines. As such, to suggest there was a single “Jewish view” is pointless. There was, however, a single scriptural view, and that is what Jesus Christ plainly preached.

The Views of the Sadducees and Pharisees on Human Damnation

Besides the Qumran brotherhood, the Sadducees also adhered to literal destruction, albeit a quite different version: They believed that when people died they would be literally dead forever, with no future resurrection for either the righteous or unrighteous.* This belief is known as universal extinction. They didn’t believe in angels or demons either (see Acts 23:8).

* The fact that the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection of the righteous unto eternal life explains their namesake—they were “sad, you see?”

Although the Sadducees were definitely wrong in denying both the resurrection and the existence of angelic beings, their adherence to universal extinction proves that there were whole groups of organized Jews who rejected the teachings of the immortal soul and eternal conscious torment, not to mention they supported literal everlasting destruction in some form.

It’s interesting to note that the very words the Sadducees used to describe their belief in universal extinction (“death,” “perish,” “destruction,” “destroy,” etc.) are the same words used in the Bible to describe the second death. Why should we assume these words have a completely different meaning today? You can read details here.

As for the Pharisees, a sect that emerged from obscurity after the Maccabean revolt in 164 BC, the Scriptures themselves don’t reveal anything about their official view of damnation, but it is contended that they advocated eternal torment because they believed in the immortality of the soul. It really doesn’t matter since nothing good is ever said about the Pharisees in the Bible. Jesus continually conflicted with this sect; he called them names, rebuked them, and spoke badly of them. See, for example, Matthew 5:20 & 23:13,15,25,28,33. In fact, Christ commanded his followers to “Leave them; they are blind guides” (Matthew 15:12-14) and plainly warned of their false teachings in Matthew 16:11-12. Jesus was talking about the Pharisees’ teachings in this particular passage, their doctrines, not their hypocrisy. The Lord no doubt agreed with the Pharisees on quite a few doctrinal issues, but eternal torment certainly wasn’t one of them.

The apostle Paul was formerly a radical Pharisee named Saul who zealously persecuted the early Church—imprisoning disciples, voicing murderous threats and approving of their executions (Acts 7:58, 8:1 & 9:1,13-14,21). But the Lord appeared to Saul and commanded him to leave this sect of blind guides. Years after his conversion and enlightenment, Paul referred to his pharisaic past as “rubbish,” “refuse” and “dung” (Philippians 3:4-8; see the KJV and Amplified renditions). By “rubbish” Paul was referring to all the hypocrisy, lifeless tradition and false teachings of the Pharisees, which would include the doctrine of eternal torment.

I point out these obvious biblical facts because there are some who argue that the Pharisees adhered to proper Jewish orthodoxy and that Christ doctrinally agreed with them on everything. Frankly, anyone who believes this doesn’t read his/her Bible. Jesus warned of the Pharisee’s false teachings, called them blind guides and commanded his hearers to leave them; seriously, what more proof do we need to understand that the Lord didn’t believe the Pharisees represented proper Hebrew theology?

This article was edited from chapter 7 of…

You can purchase HELL KNOW for a low price here (350 pages); or get the Kindle eBook for only $2.99!

The more affordable Condensed Version is available here for only $6.72 (153 pages); or get the eBook for just 99 cents. This version is good for people who aren’t interested in excessive details and just want the main scriptural facts. It makes a perfect gift to introduce people to the topic.

Death — Does it Mean “Separation” as Religionists Claim? (No)

Hell (Human Damnation) — Questions and Answers

Q&A on SHEOL / HADES, the Intermediate State of the Unsaved

RICH MAN & LAZARUS: Fantastical Parable or Literal Account?

The Believer’s “Intermediate State” (between Physical Death and Bodily resurrection)

Eternal Life: Questions & Answers