Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We Made Up

by Francis Chan

Paul uses Greek words (verbs and nouns) for “mercy” twenty-seven times,

The word Peter uses for “hell” here is the Greek tartarus. This term is used in Greek mythology to refer to the place where giants such as Cyclopes and the Titans were cast. Tartarus is also used in Hellenistic, or Greek, branches of Judaism, as seen, for instance, in the Septuagint of Job (40:20; 41:24), Proverbs (30:16), and other early Jewish writers (e.g., Sib. Or. 4:186; 1 En. 20:2; Philo, Mos. 2.433; Praem. 152). For a discussion, see Richard Bauckham, 2 Peter and Jude (Word Bible Commentary 50) (Waco, TX: Word, 1983), 249.

Jesus threatens hell to those who curse their brother (Matt. 5:22).

with harsh words.

some people have slammed their Christian brothers and sisters in the process, simply because they have a different view of hell, missing the purpose of Matthew 5: Whoever calls his brother a fool may find himself guilty of hell.

Jesus didn’t speak of hell so that we could study, debate, and write books about it. He gave us these passages so that we would live holy lives.

Jesus evidently hates it when we tear into our brothers or sisters with demeaning words, words that fail to honor the people around us as the beautiful image-bearing creatures that they are.

The most horrific word in this passage isn’t hell; it isn’t fire, furnace, everlasting, gloom, darkness, worms, or torment. In fact, none of these words occur in this passage. The most frightening word is many. Jesus says, “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’” (Matt. 7:22 NASB).

How will Jesus respond to your laundry list of Christian activities—your Easter services, tithe, Bible studies, church potlucks, and summer-camp conversions? Are you sure you’re on the right side? What evidence do you have that you know Jesus? Please understand my heart. I believe I am asking these questions for the same reason that Jesus gives the warning. It’s the most loving thing I can do! “Many” will go to hell even though they thought they’d waltz into paradise. Jesus will say, “I never knew you; depart from me” (Matt. 7:23).

In Matthew 8, Jesus smuggles a warning about hell into the context of racism and ethnocentrism (the belief that your ethnicity is superior). The entire context of Matthew 8—9 depicts Jesus reversing all of the cultural and social assumptions of the Jews of that day.

Why is it that only 5.5 percent of American evangelical churches could be considered multiethnic (where no single ethnicity makes up more than 80 percent of its congregants)?1

!!!!!

Yet there are three places where racial division still persists: bars, prisons, and the American evangelical church.