Is Hell forever?

So is hell forever? Of course, yes, in a traditional Christian world view, however some are beginning to question if this is indeed true. So why you ask are people questioning this if scripture seems to make clear that hell is forever? Ok so now lets look at scripture.

Here is Revelation 20:11-15 (ESV)

¹¹ “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. ¹³ And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Here is Revelation 20:7-10 (ESV)

⁷ And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison ⁸ and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. ⁹ And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, ¹⁰ and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Here is Revelation 14:11

“And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

Here is Matthew 25:46

“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Here is Mark 9:48

“Where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’”

Some people dispute the eternal nature of hell by the Greek word behind eternity. “aiōnion” this word which is used for eternity in the Greek New Testament both in Matthew and Revelation to mean forever. However many contend that it really means and era or a time period and not necessarily forever or eternity. I am not a Greek expert and for frequent readers these are Hebrew language centered articles. also let me point out that “aionion” is also used in John 3:16 to mean eternal life, so let me point out that this point of view puts heaven as eternal in jeopardy as well. So now here the argument is laid out, does the Greek word in question mean that hell or perdition is a era or period of time and not forever?

John 3:16

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world,^[i] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

What do some common words for hell we see in the Bible mean first of all to give some context.

She’ol שְׁאוֹל, A Hebrew that word meant the grave or the abode of the dead and does not have to mean punishment but is like the Greek hades which was the realm of dead people.

Hades, this was a place in Greek mythology that was a place or abode of the dead ruled by the god Hades and his wife Persephone. This was not a place of torment in all cases. This was used for torment and perdition in the New Testament because the Greek language did not have another word for the afterlife at that time.

Gehinom גיהנום, this term is not in the Bible but became in more common use in the Talmudic era as a place of punishment. In most cases not eternal but in other cases it was eternal. The word come from Valley of Hinom גֵּיא בֶן־הִנֹּם. It comes from Gei Ben-Hinnom (Valley of the Son of Hinnom), a physical ravine south of Jerusalem. In biblical times, the valley was associated with dark practices, including pagan idol worship and child sacrifice. Over time, rabbinic tradition adopted the name as a metaphor for the spiritual cleanup of the soul. It was where it was believed that the pagans and even Israelites sacrificed their children to Moloch and is where punishment began to be associated with fire. In the Talmud Gehinom is associated with fire purifying a soul to be redeemed in most cases but in others Gehinom is forever.

Hell. When the Bible was translated into English the English language did not have a term for retribution in the after life. Those who in Germanic and Norse pagan folklore were not chosen by the witches of the Valkyrie’s to have been brave enough for Valhalla. The others went to helle a resting place of sleepy mediocrity. so hell was chosen as the word for eternal torment in the first English Bibles.

So then is hell forever, it sounds like from the broad definitions of the word aionion hell could be a period of time like the Talmudic Gehinom (although Gehinom can be forever in some circumstances) where a soul is purified for a period of time. Now lets look at the Tanakh the Old Testament and see what it says on the matter. Here is Daniel 12:2

וְרַבִּ֕ים מִיְּשֵׁנֵ֥י אַדְמַת־עָפָ֖ר יָקִ֑יצוּ אֵלֶּה לְחַיֵּ֣י עוֹלָ֔ם וְאֵ֥לֶּה לַֽחֲרָפ֖וֹת לְדִרְא֥וֹן עוֹלָֽם:

And many who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake these to eternal life and those to shame and dejection forever.

So the word used here to indicate forever or eternity is olam עוֹלָֽם and this also has varying meanings based on context but what does it mean in this context? So let us look at what the experts say on this matter.

People make the same argument on Daniel 12:2 that the word olam עולם also does not have to mean forever. Which it is true that olam has a broad meaning from: secret or hidden (the original meaning) to eternity, time period,  world, universe, cosmos, reality, realm. It still can mean forever though. So people argue this to means means a long time but not forever. I think it originally meant something hidden or beyond human comprehension. This excerpt from a Jewish article seems clear on the original of olam.

Here below is an excerpt from an article on the word olam by:

“The Hebrew word Olam (עוֹלָם, oh-LAHM) is one of the most profound words in the Bible. It means eternity, forever, everlasting, unending. Whenever Scripture speaks of God as “El Olam” (The Everlasting God), it is reminding us that He stands outside of time. He is not bound by beginnings or endings, by clocks or calendars. He is the God who was, who is, and who is to come.”

Now what some Jewish organizations say on the word olam?

Now the JPS (Jewish publication society) a very liberal organization in general gives this translation of Daniel 12:2

“Many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, others to reproaches, to everlasting abhorrence.”

The Jewish publication society is pretty liberal and they still think olam is forever.

Here is a translation from the much more conservative Chabad Lubavitch organization.

“And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awaken-these for eternal life, and those for disgrace, for eternal abhorrence.”

It seems like although the word olam can be broad and abstract, however every credible Hebrew scholar interprets olam in Daniel 12:2 as meaning forever. No credible known scholars think Daniel 12:2 is talking about epoch or an era. Additionally here the word olam is used again to mean forever in Sh’mot/Exodus 31:16

וְשָֽׁמְר֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל אֶת־הַשַּׁבָּ֑ת לַֽעֲשׂ֧וֹת אֶת־הַשַּׁבָּ֛ת לְדֹֽרֹתָ֖ם בְּרִ֥ית עוֹלָֽם:

“Thus shall the children of Israel observe the Sabbath, to make the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant.”

If we believe the whole Bible then if Daniel makes clear that retribution and reward are forever than that perspective informs the New Testament. It is a fact that aionion can have differing meaning based on context. It is clear that if the whole Bible is true and Daniel is clear on the matter then it should be obvious that aionion does mean forever in the New Testament. Also do not forget that if one believes aionion is not forever then that puts John 3:16 in doubt too. The opinion of this article is that hell and heaven are forever!