If my thesis is correct, eternal life (ζωὴ αἰώνιος – zoè aiônios) is specifically what follows judgement. But it is possible that this expression refers to the afterlife in a global meaning. Nevertheless we have seen that this kind of life is prepared (John 14,2-3) for those who build a relationship with God. This relationship Read More …
Conclusion 2: The general pattern
After all that have been said, you can understand why I choose to talk about an immediate afterlife being She’ol first, followed by resurrection, itself followed by judgement. It seems to be the general pattern proposed by the Bible even if it doesn’t look like the general popular thinking that presents afterlife beginning by a Read More …
Conclusion 1: Build your afterlife… now!
If we go back to the parable of the rich and the poor Lazarus (Luke 16,19-31) that we already studied, it is interesting to follow the dialogue between the rich and Abraham. There are three parts in it: First, Lazarus is complaining as he suffers torments. He asks for mercy, this same mercy he did Read More …
Conclusion about judgement: don’t fear but fight
Beginning with this idea that judgement is necessary to establish justice and that in this world there is no visible justice at least not at a divine level, OT authors understood judgement to be an eschatological event. They asked God to do justice for them, to defend their cause, to save them form deceitful people Read More …
Different views of judgement
From what we have said in the three previous articles we can discern that: 1/ A basic judgement that would consist of weighing good and bad works seems ruled out. God’s justice is not about moral deeds (even if it leads to moral decisions) because morality does not offer clear and stable rules that allow Read More …
God’s judgement in the New Testament (2)
We continue by exmaining Paul’s view of judgement: The first generation of Christians thought that Jesus return and thus God’s judgement was close. The questions the Thessalonians asked Paul that he answered in 1Thessalonians 4 that we already studied shows it (but many other passages reveal it too). But as years and decades rolled by, Read More …
God’s judgement in the New Testament (1)
The whole of the New Testament refers or allude to the Last Judgement: of the 27 books, only Paul’s letter to Philemon does not mention it. Most of the descriptions of judgement talks about what happens for followers, but few passages describe what the reality of lost souls will be: it sometimes uses frightening but Read More …
God’s judgement in the Old Testament
I entitled this section “Testing or formality”, because it is a good way to express the paradoxical (we could also says dialectical) view of judgement in the Bible. The way our reference book talks about jugement, seems to be conflictual. But when we analyze how to reconcile the different views that are expressed by biblical Read More …
Conclusion about resurrection
It is important to notice that in Jewish and pagan worlds resurrection was thought through a wide range of speculations but in early christianity, whatever the movement (a united first church is a myth), resurrection was a quite clear doctrine (which could have been considered as a modified pharisaic doctrine). It is important because in Read More …
Teachings from Paul about resurrection
Because the Cross/Resurrection couple is so important for Paul, he speaks about it very often, directly or indirectly. To try to get an overview of Paul’s teaching about resurrection , we will focus on one1 major biblical reference: 1Thessalonians 4,13-18 and I will mention others when necessary to assist us in understanding the difficulties of this Read More …
Teaching from Jesus about resurrection
Jesus (like the pharisees, but unlike the Sadducees) preaches the resurrection from the dead. But, unlike pharisees, his teaching splits resurrection in two steps: his own resurrection (we already talked about it) as a first step and the eschatological résurrection as a second step. In the synoptic gospels (Matthew/Mark/Luke) Jesus’ teaching about the resurrection is Read More …
Teaching from Jesus’ resurrection (2)
Bodily resurrection One of the principles we must hold most firmly is this one: He is the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1,18 – Revelation 1,5). That means that by following his faith and spiritual example, we will also be born from the dead. When the risen Jesus met the disciples on the road of Read More …
Teaching from Jesus’ resurrection (1)
The turning point of all christian theology The turning point of all christian theology is the resurrection of Jesus. Mainly for two reasons: 1/ Remember Daniel 12: within Judaism, resurrection has been thought as an event for the end of time (i.e. it is what theologians call an eschatological event) so it was seldom the Read More …
Resurrection in the Old Testament and intertestamental literature
If She’ol/Hades is an intermediate state, then it means it is still not the end. The main biblical pattern seems to be about a resurrection after this waiting time we just talked about. We will focus on passages that really talk about resurrection with a link with the final fate of humanity1. In the Read More …
Afterlife after the New Testament
We know now, that the Bible through the evolving notion of She’ol/Hades, assumes that there is an intermediary state between death and resurrection that it is not the final state. This thought has been maintained by many1 Church fathers2. The first epistle of Clement of Rome written at the end of the first century, explain Read More …
Summary about Sheol/Hades/Hell/Gehenna/Paradise
Within the Old Testament, through intertestamental literature and even in the New Testament, it is possible to discern an evolution of thoughts concerning She’ol/Hades. If we take into account this evolution, the main biblical pattern of the immediate afterlife is that there is a temporary place for dead people like a “waiting room”, without a Read More …
Paradise
The word Paradise comes from the greek paradeisos (παράδεισος) which itself comes from the hebrew Paredès (פַּרְדֵּס) found in Song of songs 4,13 or Ecclesiastes 2,5. It means orchard or grove. Let’s have a look at a few passages of the NT from different literary genres using this word paradise: Luke 23,39-43 is very often Read More …
Gehenna
Gehenna is often translated Hell, which transmits centuries of misunderstanding. The word comes from the hebrew גֵּיא בֶן-הִנֹּם (géy vèn-hinnom — valley of the son of hinnom) which was a real physical place where human sacrifices were performed by burning children, according to Jeremiah 7,31-331 31They [the Judeans] have built the high places of Topheth Read More …
When Sheol became Hades
After Alexander the Great, Greek became the common language in the occidental world. Even in countries of Semitic culture, most people stoped to speak Hebrew and began to speak greek, at least in intellectual, political and even religious circles. Less privileged people spoke a language derived from the Hebrew: Aramaic. Only educated religious people of Read More …
שְׁאֹל (she’ol)
The word שְׁאֹל (She’ol) is found 66 times in the Massoretic Text1. It is a dark (Job 17,13) and silent (Psalm 115,17) place with gates (Job 38,17; Isiah 38,10) where all humans go (Psalm 49,10-11). Being there is like being in a deep water under a mountain (Jonah 2,2-7): it is a world under the Read More …