Bibliotheca
Sacra 155 (Jan.-Mar. 1998) 324-37.
Copyright © 1998 by
Part 1 (of 2 parts):
Gehenna
in the Synoptics
Hans Scharen
Associate
Pastor,
According to a Newsweek report, belief in an afterlife is alive
and well in the
cans believe there is a heaven and think they have a
good chance of
getting there. Slightly over half the people
surveyed believe there
is a hell, but only 6 percent think "they
have a good or excellent
chance of getting there."1 This latter
observation appears to contra-
dict the contemporary
liberal Protestant theologians' view on the
subject of hell. The same Newsweek report quotes
the American
church historian Martin Marty, who observes,
"Hell disappeared.
And
no one noticed."2 Indeed, the article continues, "Today,
hell is
theology's H-word, a subject too trite for serious
scholarship."3
These
observations indicate that while the experts have all but jet-
tisoned the idea, over half the
lieves in the reality of hell,
though few anticipate a destiny there.4
Among evangelical theologians
discussion centers around a dif-
ferent issue. Here the
discussion is concerned not so much with the
1 Kenneth L. Woodward,
"Heaven: This Is the Season to Search for New Meaning in
Old Familiar Places," Newsweek, March 27, 1989, 53.
2 Ibid.,
54.
3 Ibid.,
54-55. The article also quotes Gordon Kaufman of
who "traces four centuries of decline in the
concepts of heaven and hell; what is left is
intellectually empty baggage. 'It
seems to me [Kaufman] we've gone through irre-
versible changes.... I don't
think there can be any future for heaven and hell."'
4 For a corroboration of
these statistics, see the poll on the subject of a belief in hell
in "Hell's Sober Comeback,"
statistical evidence of this report indicates that
this belief among the
tion increased rather than
decreased over the last few years.
324
Gehenna in the Synoptics 325
reality of the concept as with one of its
specific aspects, namely, its
duration. In a Christianity Today report several prominent
evangel-
icals voiced their opinions
on the everlasting destiny of the un-
saved.5 Some of these opinions
differ with the traditional conserva-
tive doctrine of hell
(everlasting conscious suffering in hell for all
those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their
personal Savior),
mainly because it is too awful a destiny to consider
or because it does
not harmonize with the idea of an all-loving,
merciful God. Some
hold to universalism (all will be saved eventually,
including the
devil),6 while others hold to annihilationism (eventual total extinc-
tion or annihilation of all
the unsaved).7 In view of these observa-
tions it seems appropriate to
look once again at the concept of hell.
The Background of Gehenna
One of the more striking differences
between the Old Testament
and the New Testament concerns the idea of
retribution in the after-
life. Relevant Old Testament texts point toward a
virtual absence of
postmortem retribution, yet in the New Testament,
especially the
Synoptic
Gospels, a fully developed theology of this concept is recog-
nized. The obvious
explanation for this difference is that this de-
velopment must have occurred
during the intertestamental period as
reflected in its literature. These works evidence
a transformation of
the Old Testament concept of Sheol
(the realm of the dead) to its
New Testament counterpart with its distinctives.
In the Old Testament, Sheol is viewed as a vast underworld ex-
panse beneath the surface of
the earth but not beyond Yahweh's
reach. Cosmologically opposite heaven, it is a place
of gloom and
darkness, of silence and oblivion where memories
have faded. In all
respects it is the opposite of the
overwhelming majority of texts in
'which they occur, "sheol" and its
semantic equivalents convey negative overtones
and are unquestion-
ably linked with the premature or evil death of the
wicked.8 Thus
the idea of judgment looms large in these contexts,
bringing into focus
5 "Universalism:
Will Everyone Be Saved?" Christianity
Today, March 20, 1987,
31-45.
6 Ibid.,
43-44. Neal Punt argues for "qualified" or "biblical
universalism," which
differs from universalism proper (in which all,
including the devil, will be saved) in
that he sees those lost "whom the Scripture
expressly declares will be finally lost."
Among
the latter "are those and only those, who in addition to their sin in
Adam, fi-
nally persist in refusing to
have God in their knowledge."
7 Ibid.,
40-41. Clark Pinnock argues for this position.
8 For a list of passages
in support of this observation see Desmond Alexander, "The
Old
Testament View of Life after Death," Themelios 11 (1986): 44.
326 Bibliotheca
Sacra / July—September 1992
the primary aspect of Sheol,
namely, its condition and power by
which it attempts to bring its victims within its
domain at Yah-
weh's bidding and under His
sovereign control. But the judgment
stops at the point of death. Once a person is
consigned to Sheol, the
Old
Testament is silent with regard to his or her fate, and retribu-
tion within Sheol is foreign to its pages. Only toward the end of its
literary period does one perceive the dawn of a
new era when the
idea of retribution after death was faintly hinted
at.9 This idea
forms a definite and integral part of intertestamerital literature.
The noncanonical
literature that tells of Judaism up to and in-
cluding New Testament times is
extensive, considerably larger than
the New Testament.10 It is traditionally
divided into five cate-
gories: the Apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea or
ran Scrolls, the writings of Philo of Alexandria,
and the writings of
Flavius
Josephus.11 In this literature, an indication is
given of how
through the interpretation, change, and creation
of new traditions
various groups and individuals wrestled and
sought to make sense of
the bewildering events and circumstances that
touched their lives.
These
theological responses represent the theoretical undergirdings
of the Jews during the turbulent times of the intertestamental period.
Recurrent themes within this
literary corpus are apocalyptic
speculations about (a) help from the
heavenly sphere in the struggle
9 Two such passages are
Daniel 12:2 and Isaiah 66:24. A generally held view that
Old
Testament Sheol is merely a neutral concept is
disputed by the more recent re-
search in this field. See Ruth Rosenberg, "The
Concept of Biblical Sheol within the
Context
of Ancient Near Eastern Beliefs" (PhD diss.,
Harvard University, 1981), 246-
51, esp. 251. Cf. Hans Scharer, "The Development of the Concept of Gehenna and Its
Use
in the Synoptics" (ThD
diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1991), 116-19, esp.
118-19,
where the author argues for a dichotomy in that a few texts imply
Sheol to be
the destination of all men (Ps. 89:48; Eccles.
9:10), whereas, in the majority of passages
in which the term occurs it is unquestionably
linked with the evil or premature death
of the wicked.
10 The period is usually
referred to as the "intertestamental
period," which in its
strict signification defines the time between the Old
and New Testaments, or the ap-
proximately "400 silent years" between the
Book of Malachi and the writings of the
New Testament. The literary evidence,
though, of this period encompasses a shorter
span of time, namely, from the late third century
B.C. to the early second century A.D.
11 See, for example,
George W. E. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature between the Bible
and the Mishnah: A Historical and
Literary Introduction
(
1981),
5-6. To this could be added some rabbinic material, though much of it, with its
elaborate descriptive details of Gehenna and its associated punishment dates later
than the first century A.D. and must be used with
caution. Anyone acquainted with
this literature is aware of the difficulties in
dating it. Regarding this latter point,
Philip
S. Alexander states that some of the dates assigned to early rabbinic texts are
highly questionable and are often reached on very
subjective grounds ("Rabbinic Ju-
daism and the New
Testament," Zeitschrift fur die Neutestamentliche
Wissenschaft
83
[1974]: 240). He points out that rabbinic literature is made up of school texts
con-
taining the deposit of a
tradition that grew up over several centuries, and as such is
extremely difficult to date. In many cases the
margin of error could be up to 200 years.
Gehenna in the Synoptics 327
against God's enemies, (b) the hope and
expectation for a human
helper, that is, a messiah, in this struggle, and (c)
speculations about
God's
justice in a world that seemed full of injustice.12 However, the
reader looks in vain for an orderly arrangement of
these concepts
that would allow him to see a logical, consistent
development of
them. Instead he is confronted with a disarray of
thought that is
impulsive and often contradictory, yet true to
life, in that it repre-
sents the outpourings of
impassioned writers who vent their feelings
of anger and ecstasy through their writings. This
is particularly true
in relation to eschatological predictions about
the enemies of God's
people and their ultimate fate. Regarding the final
state of the
wicked during early intertestamental
Judaism, Glasson states, "As
for the final fate of the wicked, there is no
consistent teaching."13 In
view of this, how is one to tackle the problem of
showing the signifi-
cant changes that occurred during this period in
Jewish beliefs con-
cerning the underworld, namely,
Sheol (= Hades)?14
The answer to this question lies in
a method of presentation that
pays attention to the recognizable stages of
conceptual changes about
the underworld. These can be treated in three
groups: the continua-
tion of the
"traditional" Old Testament view of Sheol; Sheol as an
intermediate state; and Sheol, Gehenna, and Tartarus as places of
final punishment. To summarize briefly, the findings
in relation to
this latter group indicate Gehenna,
Tartarus, and Sheol to be
places
of final punishment, with Tartarus
being reserved for the place of
punishment for rebel angels.15 In some
places the descriptive details
of Sheol are similar to
those of Gehenna, in which case these con-
12 See Bruce M. Metzger, An Introduction to the Apocrypha (
versity Press, 1957), 155-56,
for this point on the Apocrypha. Cf. James H.
Charlesworth,
"Introduction," in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James H.
Charlesworth (Garden City, NY:
Doubleday, 1983), 1:xxix-xxxiv, where he notes that
frequently found theological concerns in the Pseudepigrapha are sin, evil, and the
problem of theodicy; transcendence of God; messianism; resurrection and paradise.
13 T. Francis Glasson,
"Apocalyptic Ideas of Judaism Contemporary with Our Lord,"
that "no two writers give quite the same
picture" (Life beyond Death in the
Beliefs of
Mankind [
14 That these changes were
significant is easily recognized by the fact that in the Ju-
daism of the first century
A.D., including the New Testament, the Old Testament con-
cept of Sheol
has all but disappeared and given way to the specific concepts of Hades,
Gehenna, and Tartarus.
Metzger states, "The doctrine which underwent perhaps the
greatest development during the intertestamental period was that which pertains to
the after-life" (An Introduction to the Apocrypha, 156). He further notes that the
in-
tervening stages of the growth of
this doctrine with its many ramifications are re-
flected particularly in the
Wisdom of Solomon and 2 Maccabees in the Apocrypha,
and the Psalms of Solomon and 1 Enoch in the Pseudepigrapha.
15 See Scharen,
“The Development of the Concept of Gehenna and Its
Use in the Syn-
optics,” 160-74, for support of and a fuller discussion
of these findings.
328 Bibliotheca Sacra / July–September 1992
cepts coalesce. Gehenna is clearly identified as a place of punish-
ment for the wicked.
However, apart from its identification as a
place of judgment for the wicked and the frequent
mention of fire,
darkness, and dread, inconsistencies regarding
its location and vari-
ous descriptive details are
common. Earlier accounts locate it on
earth and identify it with the literal
Jerusalem.17 Others locate it in heaven in juxtaposition to
the place of delight and reward for the righteous,
one of their de-
lights being the spectacle of punishment of the wicked
in Gehenna.
This valley acquired an evil
reputation because of the idola-
trous practice of child
sacrifices offered to Moloch there during the
days of Ahaz and Manasseh,
two of the most notorious kings to ever
lead
21:6).
Later, during the reign of Josiah, this faithful king had the
valley desecrated in order to prevent a reccurrence of this abom-
inable practice (2 Kings
23:10). Still later the Prophet Jeremiah an-
nounced that this valley would
become a place of God's future judg-
ment, where the Lord would
recompense the kings of
people of
would no longer be called the "
"
sketch and the negative characteristics associated
with this valley,
as well as its designation as a site for a future
judgment for the ene-
16 The term "Gehenna" appears abruptly in the apocalyptic
literature of Judaism of
the second century B.C. Bible encyclopedias and
dictionaries relate its origin to "the
ley of the Son of Hinnom," "the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom," or simply as "the Val-
ley of Hinnom."
Transliteration of the last of these Hebrew forms, Mno.hi-xyGa, led to
gai<enna in the Septuagint or ge<ena in the New Testament,
where it is anglicized as
the familiar "Gehenna."
17 The traditional
explanation that a burning rubbish heap in the
south of
Rabbi David Kimhi's
commentary on Psalm 27:13 (ca. A.D. 1200). He maintained that
in this loathsome valley fires were kept burning
perpetually to consume the filth and
cadavers thrown into it. However, Strack and Billerbeck state that
there is neither
archeological nor literary evidence
in support of this claim, in either the earlier in-
tertestamental or the later rabbinic
sources (Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck,
Kommentar zum Neuen
Testament aus Talmud and Midrasch, 5 vols. [
1922-56],
4:2:1030). Also a more recent author holds a similar view (Lloyd R. Bailey,
"Gehenna: The Topography of Hell," Biblical Archeologist 49 [1986]: 189.
18 Another name for this
valley was "Tophet," a term used by Isaiah
when he de-
scribed the forthcoming destruction of the
Assyrians by fire in the valley near
princes and king (Isa.
30:31-33; 31:9). The same valley is probably in view in Isaiah
66:24,
which speaks of a climactic slaughter of the wicked in the future in such close
proximity to the south of
nessed by the righteous of
that city. They would be witnesses to the judgment of God's
enemies, whose "worm shall not die"
and whose "fire shall not be quenched."
Gehenna in the Synoptics 329
mies of God, lent themselves
as an ideal literal basis for the meta-
phorical expression of an
eschatological place of judgment and final
abode for the wicked.19
Apart from these differing
descriptive details, the concept of
Gehenna underwent significant changes with
regard to its domain. It
was first conceived as a place of final punishment,
later as an inter-
mediate place, and finally as a purgatory, the
latest stage of devel-
opment being confined to
rabbinic literature. In its earliest mention it
is reserved for apostate Jews only but is
gradually expanded to in-
clude all the wicked, Jews
and Gentiles alike. The existence in Ge-
henna is depicted predominantly as for one's whole
being (body and
soul) rather than merely the soul.20 All
these ideas about Gehenna
exist side by side in this literature.
This brief survey of the background
of views on Gehenna demon-
strates the advance the intertestamental literature, specifically
apocalyptic eschatology, makes on the traditional
Old Testament
theology of Sheol. The
latter makes no distinction between the
wicked and the righteous, and the idea of postmortem
retribution is
absent apart from a few faint hints. However, within
apocalyptic
eschatology the different fates of the wicked and
righteous become
increasingly emphasized and their
respective dwelling places be-
come more absolutely differentiated. Within this development,
the
sudden appearance of Gehenna
and its inseparable connection with
the destiny of the wicked take on a prominent role.
Gehenna
in the New Testament
The lack of precision in the use of
terms relating to the neth-
erworid in intertestamental
Judaism makes it difficult to define them
exactly in the New Testament. Strawson notes, "It must be admitted
at the outset that we are considering one of the
most intractable prob-
19 The difficulty for the
exegete of the literature of the intertestamental
period
consists in distinguishing between the literal
and figurative (metaphorical) uses of
the term, in view of the fact that these writers
lacked consistency and often blurred or
telescoped eschatological events. Thus it is
difficult to determine whether a certain
writer viewed Gehenna as the
valley south of
with a renewed earth, or as an otherworldly entity,
that is, the final eschatological
place or state of the wicked.
20 Cf. H. C. C. Cavallin, Life after
Death: Paul's Argument for the Resurrection of
the Dead in I Cor 15, Coniectanea
Biblica, New Testament Series 7:1 (
1974), 212. His conclusion regarding the
anthropology reflected in the works of in-
tertestamental Judaism is that
"no common view on the relationship between the body
and soul has been found in these texts.... In the
same writings, and even the same pas-
sages, concepts and symbols from widely differing
anthropologies are used in order to
express the hope of personal survival of
death." However, there is one common de-
nominator among these variously expressed
anthropologies, namely, "the conviction
that the personality survives death in that which
constitutes the personal identity."
330 Bibliotheca Sacra / July—September 1992
lems of New Testament study,
in trying to determine what Jesus him-
self said about hell, and how his words are now to
be interpreted."21
The word ge<enna occurs 12 times in the New Testament with 11
of the occurrences in the Synoptic Gospels (all
spoken by Jesus) and
with one reference being James 3:6. The 11
references may be seen in
three groups: (a) warnings addressed to the disciples
concerning
stumbling blocks (Matt. 5:29-30; 18:8-9; Mark
9:43-48); (b) warnings
addressed to the disciples in relation to their
personal destiny
(Matt.
5:22; 10:28; Luke 12:4-5); and (c) condemnation of the scribes
and Pharisees (Matt. 23:15, 33). The first group of
verses is discussed
in this article, and the other two categories will
be discussed in an
article in the next issue.
Warnings about Stumbling Blocks
In several passages Jesus gave
extraordinarily severe warnings
to His disciples about the need to fulfill certain
conditions, namely,
suffering loss of a valued member of one's body in
order to gain life
(zwh>n) to avoid being cast bodily into Gehenna (Matt 5:29-30; 18:8-9;
Mark
9:43-48). Neither textual nor form-critical considerations are
able to question seriously the authenticity of these
sayings.22 The
slight variations among them may be because they were
repeated on
more than one occasion.23 Thus the
question of which Gospel was
written first24 does not seriously
affect the present discussion.
The larger framework of Matthew
5:29-30 is the Sermon on the
Mount
(Matt. 5-7), whose unifying theme is the kingdom of
heaven
(=
21
William
Strawson, Jesus
and the Future Life: A Study in the Synoptic Gospels
(Philadelphia: Westminster, 1959), 143.
22 No variant readings are
indicated in the Matthean passages, whereas the Marcan
pericope contains several
variants, though not to the extent that the reading is called
into question. The United Bible Society Greek New
Testament III is accepted, includ-
ing the omission of Mark
9:44 and 46. These are lacking in important early witnesses
and may well be explained as a gloss by copyists
who attempted to further qualify
ytev av
after verses 43 and 45 on the basis of verse 48. See Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual
Commentary on the Greek
New Testament: A Companion Volume to the UBS Greek
New Testament, 3d ed., corrected (New
York: United Bible Society [UBS], 1975), 102.
23 Cf. Donald A. Carson,
"Matthew," in The Expositor's Bible Commentary (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), 8:151, for a similar
view.
24 For a defense of Marcan priority, see Christopher M. Tuckett,
The Revival of the
Griesbach Hypothesis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983).
For a defense
of the priority of the Gospel of Matthew, see
William R. Farmer, The Synoptic Prob-
lem: A Critical Analysis (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1976).
25 Carson,
"Matthew," 8:127-28. In
rests not so much on the frequency of occurrence of
this expression, but on its occurrence
at certain strategic points. "It envelopes
the Beatitudes (5:3, 10) and appears in 5:17-
20,
which details the relation between the OT and the kingdom, a subject that leads
Gehenna in the Synoptics 331
kingdom life through its ethical guidelines.
Mere external adher-
ence to the Law demanded by
the Old Testament and amplified by
the religious leaders of His day, whose teaching is
reflected primar-
ily in contemporary (with
Jesus) rabbinics, was not sufficient for be-
longing to this kingdom. This point is aptly
demonstrated in the
beatitudes and the repeated saying, "You have
heard that it was
said . . . , but I say unto you. . . . " These indicate a departure and con-
trast from the teaching of
the Old Testament, the contrast involving
not so much contradiction as transcendence,26
as indicated by Jesus'
statement that He did not come to abolish
"the law and the
prophets" but to fulfill (plhro<w), in the sense of
bringing or revealing
its full, definitive meaning in His Person and work
as the Messiah.27
The immediate context of Matthew
5:29-30 is the pericope deal-
ing with the Lord's
teaching on the two closely related subjects of
adultery and divorce (vv. 27-32), with verses 29
and 30 pointing to
the radical sacrifice demanded for the purpose of
avoiding occasions
to commit sin or create stumbling blocks. The pericope begins with
the above mentioned "You have heard ... but I
say to you . . . " (vv.
27-28),
indicating Jesus' transcendence of the Mosaic injunction
against adultery (Exod.
20:14; Deut. 5:18) and divorce (Deut. 24:1-
4).28
Many commentators note the connection between Jesus' saying
about the "eye" in verse 29 and His mention
in verse 28 of the lustful
gaze involving the eye when adultery is committed.29
In Matthew
to another literary envelope around the body of
the sermon (5:17; 7:12). It returns at
the heart of the Lord's prayer (6:10), climaxes the
section on kingdom perspectives
(6:33),
and is presented as what finally must be entered (7:21-23)."
26 The viability of
transcendence is well within the lexical boundaries of the parti-
cle de<, since unlike the
particle a]lla<, it does not always
indicate a strong antithesis or
contrast in Matthew (W. D. Davies and Dale C.
Allison, A Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on the Gospel
according to Saint Matthew, 3 vols., International Critical
Commentary
[
27 For a helpful overview
of the issues related to the numerous interpretations of
plhro<w, see Davies and Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the
Gospel
according to Saint Matthew, 482-87, esp., 485-86, and Carson,
"Matthew," 141-45.
28
Jesus'
saying on divorce in Matthew 5:31-32 is a summary of the procedure outlined
in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. The transcendence of Jesus'
teaching on the subject is plain, in
that He focused on the original, divine intent of
marriage. For a full discussion of Je-
sus' teaching on divorce,
including the various possible interpretations, see William
A.
Heth and Gordon J. Wenham, Jesus and Divorce (Nashville: Nelson, 1984).
29
The
citation of the sixth commandment, as well as the meaning of moixeu<w, indi-
cates that gunh< in verse 28 refers to a
married woman, rather than just any woman
(Ulrich
Luz, Das Evangelium nach Mattaus, Evangelischer Katholischer Kommentar
Neues Testament I/1 [
does not open the door to the possibility of lusting
after unmarried women, since this
would be committing adultery against one's own wife.
Furthermore this would deafly
involve a violation of the intent of Jesus'
saying, which was to encourage sexual
purity.
332 Bibliotheca Sacra / July–September 1992
18:8-9
and Mark 9:43-47 the sayings are reversed and occur within
the context of being a stumbling block to one of
the least of those who
believe and its dreadful consequences.
The basic intent of Matthew 5:28 is clear. Without negating the
Mosaic
injunction against the physical act of committing adultery,
Jesus
went beyond that to the very heart of the matter, pronouncing
any man guilty of having already committed adultery
in his heart
when looking at a woman with a view to lust (e]piqume<w) after her.30
Jesus,
then, judged intention as deed, tracing evil deeds to their ori-
gin, namely, an individual's thought or inner life.31
Verses 29 and 30 record Jesus'
serious view of the breaking of the
marital bond and show that Jesus called for a
radical commitment to
obedience.32 These Matthean verses are in the grammatical form of
first-class conditions beginning with ei] and thus assume the reality
of the protasis.33 Lusting is no mere hypothetical matter, it is
a real-
ity; and since all sin,
including sexual sin, begins with the imagina-
tion, it must be dealt with
radically. So if one's eye causes him to
sin, he should tear it out and throw it from him. A
similar radical
treatment is required of the hand; it also is to
be cut off and thrown
away.34 The sayings are
repeated in Matthew 18:8a, 9a and Mark
30 Through combining two
of the 10 commandments, namely, Exodus 20:17, "You shall
not
covet [e]piqumh<seij] . . . your neighbor's
wife" with 20:14, "You shall not commit
adultery," Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:28
brings into focus the Creator's intent in
these injunctions.
31 James 1:14-15 describes
the process of committing an evil deed. It originates in
one's own evil passions and desires, which if given
free reign, produce the act (sin),
which in turn leads to death. This process well
illustrates Jesus' Transcendence of the
Mosaic
injunction, the latter focusing, at least on the surface, on the final outcome
rather than on the initial stage and process of
committing sin.
32 Luz observes that the
addition of verse 29 does not merely concern itself with being
a mirror of the soul which reveals one's own sin.
It indicates the radical nature of the
obedience required (Das Evangelium nach Mattaus, 266).
33 Matthew 18:9 has the
same grammatical form. But Mark 9:43, 45, and 47 are
third-class condition sentences, in which the
reality of the protasis is not necessarily
assumed. Regarding this difference, Blass and Debrunner note that "encroachment of
el
on the sphere of e]a<n appears to have taken
place sporadically" (F. Blass and A.
Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the
New Testament and Other Early Christian Liter-
ature, trans. and rev. Robert
W. Funk [
189-90, par. 372[3]). As examples they cite
the references under consideration. Thus
the usually sharp distinction between these protases is blurred in these texts. The dif-
ference between the Matthean and Marcan use may thus
be stylistically influenced.
34
("Matthew," 151). Though not the most
obvious interpretation, on the basis of Isaiah
57:8,
which perhaps uses the same figure, and within the context of adultery in this
pericope, his observation should
be given consideration. See Samuel Tobias Laths,
"Some
Textual Observations on the Sermon on the Mount," Jewish Quarterly Review
69
(1978): 108-9, for a similar interpretation. However, the use of decio>j (in Matthew
5:29-30
and not in the parallels) militates against this interpretation and favors the
more traditional interpretation that "right
hand" refers to the more important of the
Gehenna in the Synoptics 338
9:43a,
47a with some minor lexical variations and mention of the fool:
as a member of the body that can cause stumbling
and that therefore
needs to be cut off and thrown away.
The second part of Matthew 5:29 and
of 5:30 explains why radi-
cal obedience is required: It is better to be
maimed physically than
to experience absolute spiritual loss.35
However, there are some
minor variations within the explanatory parts of
these sayings that
are significant in relation to the New Testament
concept of the
afterlife taught by Jesus and thus pertinent to
our discussion. The
phrase
ei]selqei?n
ei]j th>n zwh>n ("enter life") in Matthew 18:8b, 9b
and Mark 9:43b, 45b is not included in Matthew
5:29b, 30b.36 Without
this positive mitigating factor, the emphasis
focuses relentlessly on
the judgment of Gehenna.37 In Matthew 18 and Mark 9, however, the
additional presence of the opposite concept,
namely, entrance into
life or into the
the warning of these sayings. On the contrary, it
allows Jesus' main
concern to come more clearly into focus, which
is not His listeners'
consignment to Gehenna,
but His urging and encouragement of people
to take drastic steps to avoid at all costs such a
dreaded destiny38
The manner of entrance into Gehenna is depicted differently in
these verses. First, entrance into this dreaded place
is with one's
body. This is made explicit in Matthew 5:29-30, which
have people
entering with "the whole body" (o!lon to> sw?ma<), and is implied in
the other passages by the use of synecdoches, "two eyes" (Matt. 18:9;
Mark
9:47), "two hands" (Matt. 18:8; Mark 9:43), and "two feet"
(Matt.
18:8; Mark 9:45). This mention of a body in connection with
Gehenna no doubt assumes an intervening
resurrection between death
and committal to this place.39 Jesus
clearly affirmed such a resurrec-
pair, thereby emphasizing the radical nature of the
obedience required by Jesus. In
the quest for eternal well-being no cost or
sacrifice is to be spared (cf. Theological
Dic-
tionary of the New Testament, s.v. "(de<zioj,"
by
35 Matthew 5:29 and 30
carry an explanatory postpositive ga<r plus sumfe<rei. In the
other references ga<r is lacking. The clauses
begin with kalo<n
soi< e]stin (Matt. 18:8b,
9b),
or kalo<n
e]stin se (Mark 9:43b, 45b), and kalo<n soi<
e]stin (9:47b).
36 Mark 9:47b reads ei]j
th>n basilei<an tou? qeou?.
37 Cf. Davies and Allison,
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on
the Gospel ac-
cording to Saint Matthew, 523. Lohmeyer sees
rabbinic influence ("Das Wort
ist
sozusagen rabbinisiert
worden") in Matthew's omission of the contrast
between "life"
and "Gehenna"
in that the verse mentions only the avoidance of destruction in Ge-
henna (Ernst Lohmeyer, Das Evangelium des Matthaus, 2d ed. [
hoed( & Rupprecht,
1958], 128). The saying does not contrast this with entrance into
life as in the parallel texts, where entrance into
life represents the focus and goal of
the sayings.
38 Strawson, Jesus and the Future Life, 145.
39 As noted earlier (n.
20) the anthropological considerations of Jewish apocalyptic
in relation to the afterlife were not consistent.
There was considerable overlap of ter-
334 Bibliotheca Sacra / July-September 1992
tion, as in, for example,
John 5:28-29, where those with good deeds,
that is, the just, shall come forth to a
resurrection of life (ei]j
a]na<stasin
zwh?j), and those with evil deeds to a resurrection of
judgment (ei]j
a]na<stasin kri<sewj).
The idea of a resurrection from the
dead was an accepted concept
in postbiblical Judaism
by Jesus' time,40 though it was rejected by the
Sadducees,
who engaged Jesus in vigorous discussions on the subject,
attempting to make this doctrine appear ridiculous
(Matt. 22:23-33;
Mark
12:18-27; Luke 20:27-40). However, it is doubtful that Jesus was
making the point that the body will be raised in
exactly the same
condition as it was at the time of death. If a body
was missing a cer-
tain limb at death, Jesus
did not indicate that the body would be res-
urrected without that limb,
through some intertestarnental and rab-
binic texts imply that view.41
Second, different verbs describe the
manner of going to Gehenna.
In
five verses—Matthew 5:29; 18:8-9; Mark 9:45, 47—Jesus used a
form of the aorist passive of ba<llw, with the meaning
"to be cast or
thrown." In two verses Jesus used the aorist of a]pe<rxomai, with the
meaning "to go off or to depart"
(Matt. 5:30; Mark. 9:43). In the five
verses the passive focuses on God's activity of
retributive justice,
whereas the use of the active voice in the other
two verses shifts the
focus more on individual moral responsibility (as
indicated in the
words "to enter into life" [ei]selqei?n
ei]j th>n zwh>n, Matt. 18:8-9;
Mark
9:43, 45] and "to enter the
minology between the terms
"soul" and "spirit," which did not necessarily refer to a
disembodied entity or the immaterial aspect of man,
but could also refer to a person as
a whole, body included, in line with the Semitic
concept of man, which sees man as a
unity and not dichotomized. However, the more
systematized treatments of eschatol-
ogy, such as those in 4
Ezra or 2 Baruch, could conceive of the idea of a disembodied be-
ing in an intermediate
place/state waiting for the resurrection of the body.
40
For a
brief discussion of the development of this doctrine from its early beginnings
within the history of Judaism, see the conclusion of Ohyun Kwon's dissertation, "The
Formation
and Development of Resurrection Faith in Early Judaism" (PhD diss., New
Resurrection,"
in Traditions and Transformation: Turning
Points in Biblical Faith, ed.
Baruch
Halpern and Jon D. Levenson
(Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1981), 247-321.
Greenspoon rejects much of the commonly accepted
view that sees extensive foreign in-
fluence and stimulus—such as
Mesopotamian and Canaanite myths and rituals, as
well as Zoroastrian beliefs regarding the
reconstitution of the body—at work during
the early stages of development of this belief in
41 E.g., "God himself
will again fashion the bones and ashes of men, and he will
raise up mortals again as they were before" (Syb. Or. 4.181-82
[italics added]). For
some later rabbinic texts, see George F. Moore, Judaism in the First Centuries of the
Christian Era (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927-30), 2:380-81.
Cf. Gunther
Stemberger, Der Leib der Auferstehung:
Studien zur Anthropologie and Eschatologie
des palastinischen Judentums im neutestamentlichen
Zeitalter (ca. 170 v. Cr.-100 n.
Chr.), Analecta Biblica 56 (Rome: Biblical Institute, 1972), 23. He notes that bodily
Gehenna in the Synoptics 334
basalei<an tou?
qeou?, Mark 9:47]).42
However, since some minor
tual variants are indicated,
this point of difference should not be stressed unduly.43
Third, another difference among
these texts is the qualifiers at-
tached to the term Gehenna. In Matthew 5:29-30 and Mark 9:45.
ge<ennan occurs without any
further description. In the other pas-
sages, however, it is variously characterized as
"hell of fire," th>n
ge<ennan
tou? puro<j
(Matt. 18:9); "into hell, into the unquenchable
fire,"
th>n ge<ennan, ei]j to> pu?r to> a@sbeston (Mark 9:43); and "hell,
where their worm does not die, and the fire is not
quenched," th>n
ge<ennan,
o!pou o[ skw<lhc au]tw?n ou]
teleut%? kai>
to> pu?r ou] sbe<nnu-
tai (Mark 9:47-48). Matthew
18:8 has "the eternal fire," to> pu?r to>
ai]w<nion, with no reference to Gehenna. However, the context and
close proximity of Gehenna
in Matthew 18:9 make it unmistakably
clear that the same destiny is in view in both
verses.44
The fire metaphor associated with Gehenna may be traced to
Old
Testament traditions such as
the flame of fire in the burning bush. Combined,
these give the im-
pression of a divine visitation.
In addition there is the common use
of fire in connection with torture and
persecution. These observations
indicate that this metaphor associated with Gehenna signifies the
divinely decreed suffering associated with the
eschatological judg-
ment, an observation
corroborated particularly by the phrase
"weeping and gnashing of teeth" in such contexts.
The phrase "weeping and
gnashing of teeth" is confined to the
Gospel of Matthew and one occurrence in Luke. In Matthew 24:51 and
Luke
13:28 the phrase stands alone, but it occurs three times in con-
junction with "outer darkness" (Matt.
8:12; 22:13; 25:30) and twice in
conjunction with "furnace of fire" (Matt.
13:42, 50). These five refer-
ences, each spoken by Jesus,
refer to the experience of those rejected
from the
resurrection is emphasized and
nothing more. Such passages with reference to indi-
vidual body parts merely affirm the fact of the
resurrection, not its manner.
42
Matthew
10:28 and Luke 12:4-5 state explicitly that God casts into Gehenna.
Go-
ing to Gehenna
is described as a twofold process involving being killed or dying and
facing the subsequent judgment. When going into Gehenna is viewed as a one-step
process, human responsibility is more evident.
43 These variants, listed
in the Nestle-Aland 26 Greek text, indicate an
overlap and
distribution of the verbs among the
passages. No variants are listed in the apparati of
UBS III.
44 Dalman
notes that one is "the obvious equivalent" of the other (Gustav Dalman,
The Words of Jesus:
Considered in the Light of Post-Biblical Jewish Writings and the
Aramaic Language, trans. D. M. Kay [
45 New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, s.v. "bru<xw,"
by
Thomas
McKomiskey, 2:421, and "klai<w," by Hermann Haarbeck, 2:417. McKomiskey
notes that there are no parallels to the expression o[
klauqmo>j kai> o[ brugmo>j tw?n o[-
do<ntwn in either secular Greek or Jewish
literature. Thus its meaning must be derived
contextually from the specific New
Testament occurrences. He further observes,
336 Bibliotheca Sacra / July–September 1992
The irreversible finality of this
eschatological state is ad-
dressed by the several qualifiers of Gehenna and of fire, such as
"eternal fire" (Matt. 18:8), "the unquenchable
fire" (Mark 9:43), or
"where their worm does not die, and the fire is not
quenched" (Mark
9:48).
Those who willfully disregard Jesus' warning will
suffer spiri-
tual loss. The use of ai]wn<ioj, though subject to a
variety of meanings,
supports such an interpretation.46
There is little doubt that contex-
tually ai]w<nion means
"eternal," "endless," or "forever," since the
state contemplated in Gehenna
in the sayings of Jesus is contrasted
with "entrance into life," or being in the
shall endure forever, or eternally. The New Testament
views
"entrance into life" or the
come" (ai]w<n
me<llon), the new and everlasting creation representing
the final order of things.47 Thus a strong
case can be rnade in support
of the view that suffering in Gehenna
will be endless or everlasting.
"While
it is true that in many instances the usage of bru<xw
in the expression 'to gnash
the teeth' connotes anger, the association of the
word with klauqmo>j (weeping), and
the figure of torment that accompanies the term in
Matt. 13:42, 50 seem to indicate
that the gnashing of the teeth is not an indication
of rage but of extreme suffering and
remorse." Rengstorf
notes that Jesus referred to the "weeping and gnashing of teeth"
and "outer darkness" to describe
"the state of those who are excluded from the
basilei<a, even though they were called to
it," an obvious reference to the Jews, who
were the rightful heirs to the
the kingdom through their rejection of Jesus
Christ, God's Messiah (Theological Dic-
tionary of the New Testament, s.v. "bru<xw,"
by Karl Heinrich Rengstorf, 1:641).
46 Bauer, Arndt, and
Gingrich list several meanings of ai]w<n: (a) "a very long
time,"
time gone by or time to come, that is,
"eternity" when no end of time is involved, (b) a
segment of time, or an age, such as the present
age, (c) the age to come, namely, the
Messianic period, (d) the Aeon
as a person.
The adjective and cognate noun are nearly
identical in meaning (Walter Bauer, William F.
Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English
Lexicon of the New
Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 2d ed., rev. F. Wilbur
Gingrich
and Frederick W. Danker [
47 Sasse
notes that the New Testament in its two-aeon view
essentially agrees with
first-century apocalyptic, except for
the latter's clear distinction between the present
age and the age to come (Theological Dictionary of
the New Testament, s.v. "ai]w<n,"
by Hermann Sasse,
1:197-209, esp. 207). In the New Testament this distinction is
blurred in that believers are already redeemed
from the "present evil age" (ai]w<n, Gal. 1:4) and
"have tasted ... the powers of the age [alaiv]
to come" (Heb. 6:5). The transition has already
begun "in and with the resurrection of Christ,
inasmuch as this is the beginning of the general
resurrection (cf. 1 Cor. 15:20, 23)," though as yet, the dawning of this
new aeon is concealed
from the eyes of men. In Jewish and early Christian
eschatology, the resurrection represents the
transition point from one aeon
to the other and the beginning of the new and eternal creation.
In the Gospel of John entrance into
the life of God (=entrance into the kingdom of
God)
is equated with the kind of life received at regeneration. This is the quality
of
life believers receive and possess now and in the
age to come "without end or interrup-
tion," and both ai]w<n and ai]w<nioj are used of this kind
of life (John 10:28; 3:36; 5:24;
6:47,
54; cf. 1 John 5:11-13). The believers, then, possess a never-ending or eternal
life,
and therefore Christ could claim that those who
possess this eternal life shall never
die (see, e.g., John 6:51, 58; 8:51-52; 11:26).
Gehenna In the Synoptics 337
Summary
What conclusions may be drawn from
these observations about
Gehenna in
these sayings of Jesus? Apart from Matthew 5:29-30,
where the emphasis is solely on the judgment of Gehenna, one can
hardly ignore the contrast between entrance into life
(or into the
henna). Entrance into life or God's kingdom is of
such importance
that anything obstructing this goal must be dealt
with in the most
radical manner. No illustration could more
forcefully support this
point than Jesus' demand for removal of even the most
important and
prized members of one's body, namely, the right hand,
eye, or foot.
Conversely, a destiny in Gehenna is to be avoided at all costs,
since it involves great suffering and an irreversible
finality. The suf-
fering is indicated by the
"fire," a descriptive detail that occurs
from the earliest appearances of this concept in the
intertestamental
literature. The irreversible finality of one's
destiny in Gehenna is
indicated by the several qualifiers of Gehenna and of fire, espe-
cially the word ai]w<nioj. In contrast to the
considerable variety of
ideas about Gehenna in the
literature of the intertestamental pe-
riod, the New Testament
presents Gehenna as the final eschatologi-
cal punishment for all the wicked.
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