Section 92, On Hades/Sheol
A side discussion on the word Hades.
"The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side." Luke 16:22-23
Hades (en tōi Hāidēi). See note on Mat_16:18 for discussion of this word. Lazarus was in Hades also for both Paradise (Abraham’s bosom) and Gehenna are in the unseen world beyond the grave. -RWP
Mat 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
"The gates of Hades (pulai hāidou) shall not prevail against it. Each word here creates difficulty. Hades is technically the unseen world, the Hebrew Sheol, the land of the departed, that is death. Paul uses thanate in 1Co_15:55 in quoting Hos_13:14 for hāidē. It is not common in the papyri, but it is common on tombstones in Asia Minor, “doubtless a survival of its use in the old Greek religion” (Moulton and Milligan, Vocabulary). The ancient pagans divided Hades (a privative and idein, to see, abode of the unseen) into Elysium and Tartarus as the Jews put both Abraham’s bosom and Gehenna in Sheol or Hades (cf. Luk_16:25). Christ was in Hades (Act_2:27, Act_2:31), not in Gehenna. We have here the figure of two buildings, the Church of Christ on the Rock, the House of Death (Hades). “In the Old Testament the ‘gates of Hades’ (Sheol) never bears any other meaning (Isa_38:10; Wisd. 16:3; 3 Maccabees 5:51) than death,” McNeile claims. See also Psa_9:13; Psa_107:18; Job_38:17 (pulai thanatou pulōroi hāidou). It is not the picture of Hades attacking Christ’s church, but of death’s possible victory over the church. “The ekklēsia is built upon the Messiahship of her master, and death, the gates of Hades, will not prevail against her by keeping Him imprisoned. It was a mysterious truth, which He will soon tell them in plain words (Mat_16:21); it is echoed in Act_2:24, Act_2:31” (McNeile). Christ’s church will prevail and survive because He will burst the gates of Hades and come forth conqueror. He will ever live and be the guarantor of the perpetuity of His people or church. "-RWP
"The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side." Luke 16:22-23
Hades (en tōi Hāidēi). See note on Mat_16:18 for discussion of this word. Lazarus was in Hades also for both Paradise (Abraham’s bosom) and Gehenna are in the unseen world beyond the grave. -RWP
Mat 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
"The gates of Hades (pulai hāidou) shall not prevail against it. Each word here creates difficulty. Hades is technically the unseen world, the Hebrew Sheol, the land of the departed, that is death. Paul uses thanate in 1Co_15:55 in quoting Hos_13:14 for hāidē. It is not common in the papyri, but it is common on tombstones in Asia Minor, “doubtless a survival of its use in the old Greek religion” (Moulton and Milligan, Vocabulary). The ancient pagans divided Hades (a privative and idein, to see, abode of the unseen) into Elysium and Tartarus as the Jews put both Abraham’s bosom and Gehenna in Sheol or Hades (cf. Luk_16:25). Christ was in Hades (Act_2:27, Act_2:31), not in Gehenna. We have here the figure of two buildings, the Church of Christ on the Rock, the House of Death (Hades). “In the Old Testament the ‘gates of Hades’ (Sheol) never bears any other meaning (Isa_38:10; Wisd. 16:3; 3 Maccabees 5:51) than death,” McNeile claims. See also Psa_9:13; Psa_107:18; Job_38:17 (pulai thanatou pulōroi hāidou). It is not the picture of Hades attacking Christ’s church, but of death’s possible victory over the church. “The ekklēsia is built upon the Messiahship of her master, and death, the gates of Hades, will not prevail against her by keeping Him imprisoned. It was a mysterious truth, which He will soon tell them in plain words (Mat_16:21); it is echoed in Act_2:24, Act_2:31” (McNeile). Christ’s church will prevail and survive because He will burst the gates of Hades and come forth conqueror. He will ever live and be the guarantor of the perpetuity of His people or church. "-RWP
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