REEXAMINING ᾅδῃς (HADES) IN LUKE 16:19-31
Keywords:
Hades, Sheol, Hell, Gehenna, ParadiseAbstract
The Greek word ᾅδῃς (hades), Hebrew ‘Sheol’ or English ‘hell’, has been misunderstood with γέεννα (Gehenna) and oftentimes are used interchangeably which brings more confusion. In this paper, the researcher used the picture of ᾅδῃς that was given by Jesus in Luke 16:19-31 to reexamine it and the objective of the paper is to know the different between ᾅδῃς (hades) and γέεννα (Gehenna). In order to achieve the aim and objective of the paper, the researcher used historical-grammatical method of exegesis to reexamine the word ᾅδῃς (hades) in the pericope. He discovered that ᾅδῃς (hades), Sheol, or hell is different with γέεννα (Gehenna). Which ᾅδῃς (hades) simply means the abode of dead waiting for the general resurrection and final judgment during the second coming of Jesus Christ while γέεννα (Gehenna) is the final destination of the unsaved souls after the final judgment by Jesus. Thus, both righteous and unrighteous people’s spirits who died are in the abode of dead (ᾅδῃς [hades]). The righteous are together with Abraham (paradise) while the unrighteous are being tormented, yet, this is not the last judgment because the final judgment will take place when Christ comes for the second time to judge the living and the dead. Moreover, even Jesus went to ᾅδῃς (hades) for three days as in the Nicaean, Apostles or Athanasian creeds and as recorded in Matthew 12:40; Acts 2:27; and 1 Peter 3:18-20.
References
Aland, Barbara et al eds. Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece 27th Revised Edition. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1993.
Baker, David L. Two Testaments, One Bible: The Theological Relationship between Old Testament and New Testament. Downers Grove: IVP, 2010.
Beale, G. K. and Carson, D. A. eds. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic Publishers, 2007.
Brown, Raymon E. et al eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary vol.2. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, inc., 1968.
Calvin, John. “Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus” in The Parables of Jesus: A History of Interpretation and Bibliography. edited by Warren S. Kissinger. Toronto: The Scarecrow Press, 1979 (pp. 48 – 56).
Johnson, Jesse. “Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna” https://thecripplegate.com/sheol-hades-and-gehenna-are-there-differences/ (accessed on 26th January, 2026).
Kissinger, Warren S. The Parables of Jesus: A History of Interpretation and Bibliography. Toronto: The Scarecrow Press, 1979.
Luther, Martin. “Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus” in The Parables of Jesus: A History of Interpretation and Bibliography. edited by Warren S. Kissinger. Toronto: The Scarecrow Press, 1979 (pp. 44 – 48).
McDonald, William ed. Believer's Bible Commentary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990.
McLaughlin, Ra. “Different Levels of Hell” https://thirdmill.org/answers/answer.asp/file/40267 (accessed on 26th January, 2026).
Pannenberg, Wolfhart. What is Man? Contemporary Anthropology in Theological Perspective. Translated by Duane A. Priebe. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1970.
Plumber, Alfred, International the Critical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Luke. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1960.
Ryken, Leland et al (eds). Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998.
Shogren, G. S. “Hell, Abyss, Eternal Punishment” in Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments. edited by Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1997 (pp. 459 – 462).
Sproul, R. C. (ed). The Reformation Study Bible. Orlando: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2019.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, adaptation, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors are permitted to post their work online in institutional/disciplinary repositories or on their own websites. Pre-print versions posted online should include a citation and link to the final published version in Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication as soon as the issue is available; post-print versions (including the final publisher's PDF) should include a citation and link to the journal's website.
