Professing Christians today hold to various conceptions of what happens to the soul after death.  Roman Catholics believe that saints ascend directly to heaven, unbelievers are condemned to the lake of fire, and those who are part of the church but not righteous enough to enter heaven go to purgatory to be purged of their sins.  Protestants generally believe that at death, the souls of the saved and the lost immediately awake in their eternal destiny; and at the future resurrection, the soul will return to join the body as it ascends from the grave.  Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in the soul or spirit, teaching that the deceased simply cease to exist until the resurrection, when God recreates 144,000 people to ascend into heaven and the rest to live forever on the earth.  Seventh-day Adventists believe that the soul sleeps until it reunites with the body at the resurrection.

All of these groups claim that their teachings harmonize with Scripture, yet obviously they cannot all be true at once.  The early Christians’ conception of the afterlife was very different from all of these views, yet it harmonizes remarkably well with Scripture.

Understanding the terms

Part of the confusion regarding the afterlife stems from a translational inaccuracy in the King James Version of the Bible.  The KJV translates Gehenna, Hades, Sheol, and Tartarus as “hell.”  However, these four words were not at all synonymous to the people who lived in Bible times:

• Gehenna refers to the lake of fire in which the wicked are cast on Judgment Day.
• Hades refers to a receptacle where the souls of all the dead – both righteous and wicked – wait until the resurrection of their bodies.
• Sheol is the Hebrew word for the Greek Hades.  It is used over 60 times in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms.
• Tartarus is the place of punishment for the wicked angels.  The word is used in 2 Peter 2:4 as well as in the Greek translation of 1 Enoch.

More recent translations clarify most of these terms.  However, the KJV has been one of the most commonly used English translations for over 400 years, and it has influenced much of post-Reformation theology, including common teachings regarding the afterlife.

What did the early Christians believe?

The early Christians believed that, at death, all souls go to Hades, an intermediate state where the dead await the final resurrection.  Hades is divided into two parts – a lower part for the wicked and a higher part (called Abraham’s bosom or paradise) for the righteous.  (A minority of early Christian writers believed that Abraham’s bosom is not part of Hades but is rather a separate place.)  The righteous are not in heaven, but they are in the presence of Christ, and they fellowship with believers who have already died.  The wicked are in a place of darkness and sorrow, where they are keenly aware of the nearby lake of fire and their impending punishment.

As seen in the quotations below, the early Christian writers universally taught this view of Hades:

• “All the generations from Adam even unto this day have passed away.  However, those who, through the grace of God, have been made perfect in love, now possess a place among the godly.  And they will be made manifest at the revelation of the kingdom of Christ.  For it is written, ‘Enter into your secret chambers for a little time, until my wrath and fury pass away.  And I will remember a propitious day, and will raise you up out of your graves’ [Isa. 26:20].” – Clement of Rome (c. 96)
• “The souls of the godly remain in a better place, while those of the unjust and wicked are in a worse place, waiting for the time of judgment.” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)
• “[Christ’s enemies] imagined they would put Him to death, and that He, like some common mortal, would remain in Hades.” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)
• “The Lord has taught . . . that souls continue to exist, that they do not pass from body to body, that they possess the form of a man (so that they may be recognized), and that they retain the memory of things in this world.  Moreover, it is plain that . . . each class receives a habitation such as it has deserved, even before the judgment.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “The Lord ‘went away in the midst of the shadow of death,’ where the souls of the dead were.  However, afterwards, He arose in the body.  And after the resurrection, He was taken up [into heaven].  From this, it is clear that the souls of His disciples also (upon whose account the Lord underwent these things) will go away into the invisible place allotted to them by God.  And they will remain there until the resurrection, awaiting that event.  Then receiving their bodies, and rising in their entirety (that is, bodily), just as the Lord arose, they will come in that manner into the presence of God.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “‘No disciple is above the Master’ [Matt. 10:24]. . . . Our Master, therefore, did not at once depart, taking flight [to heaven].  Rather, He awaited the time of His resurrection, as determined by the Father. . . . Likewise, we also should await the time of our resurrection determined by God.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “‘Every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth’ [Phil. 2:10] – that is, angels, men, and souls who had departed from this temporal life before His coming.” – Clement of Alexandria (c. 195)
• “All souls, therefore, are shut up within Hades. Do you admit this? It is true, whether you say yes or no.  Moreover, there are already experienced there punishments and consolations.” – Tertullian (c. 210)
• “What lies beneath the earth is not itself void of distributed and arranged powers.  For there is a place where the souls of the just and the unjust are taken, conscious of the anticipated dooms of future judgment.” – Novatian (c. 235)
• “The rich man was in torment and the poor man was comforted in the bosom of Abraham.  The one was to be punished in Hades, and the other was to be comforted in Abraham’s bosom.  Yet, they are both spoken of as before the [second] coming of the Savior and before the end of the world.  Therefore, their condition is before the resurrection.” – Methodius (c. 290), as quoted by Photius
• “Let no one imagine that souls are immediately judged after death.  For all are detained in one and a common place of confinement – until the arrival of the time in which the great Judge will make an investigation of their deserts.  Those whose piety will have been approved will receive the reward of immortality.  However, those whose sins and crimes will have been brought to light – these will not rise again.  Rather, they will be hidden in the same darkness with the wicked, being destined to certain punishment.” – Lactantius (c. 304-313)

The following quotation from Hippolytus gives more detail about the early Christians’ understanding of Hades:

• “But now we must speak of Hades, in which the souls both of the righteous and the unrighteous are detained.  Hades is a place in the created system, a locality beneath the earth, in which the light of the world does not shine; and as the sun does not shine in this locality, there must necessarily be perpetual darkness there.  This locality has been destined to be as it were a guard-house for souls, at which the angels are stationed as guards, distributing according to each one’s deeds the temporary punishments for different characters.  And in this locality there is a certain place set apart by itself, a lake of unquenchable fire, into which we suppose no one has ever yet been cast; for it is prepared against the day determined by God, in which one sentence of righteous judgment shall be justly applied to all.  And the unrighteous, and those who believed not God, who have honored as God the vain works of the hands of men, idols fashioned (by themselves), shall be sentenced to this endless punishment.  But the righteous shall obtain the incorruptible and unfading kingdom, who indeed are at present detained in Hades, but not in the same place with the unrighteous.  For to this locality there is one descent, at the gate whereof we believe an archangel is stationed with a host.  And when those who are conducted by the angels appointed unto the souls have passed through this gate, they do not proceed on one and the same way; but the righteous, being conducted in the light toward the right, and being hymned by the angels stationed at the place, are brought to a locality full of light.  And there the righteous from the beginning dwell, not ruled by necessity, but enjoying always the contemplation of the blessings which are in their view, and delighting themselves with the expectation of others ever new, and deeming those ever better than these.  And that place brings no toils to them. . . . There is neither fierce heat, nor cold, nor thorn; but the face of the fathers and the righteous is seen to be always smiling, as they wait for the rest and eternal revival in heaven which succeed this location.  And we call it by the name Abraham’s bosom.  But the unrighteous are dragged toward the left by angels who are ministers of punishment, and they go of their own accord no longer, but are dragged by force as prisoners.  And the angels appointed over them send them along, reproaching them and threatening them with an eye of terror, forcing them down into the lower parts.  And when they are brought there, those appointed to that service drag them on to the confines or hell.  And those who are so near hear incessantly the agitation, and feel the hot smoke.  And when that vision is so near, as they see the terrible and excessively glowing spectacle of the fire, they shudder in horror at the expectation of the future judgment, (as if they were) already feeling the power of their punishment.  And again, where they see the place of the fathers and the righteous, they are also punished there.  For a deep and vast abyss is set there in the midst, so that neither can any of the righteous in sympathy think to pass it, nor any of the unrighteous dare to cross it.  Thus far, then, on the subject of Hades, in which the souls of all are detained until the time which God has determined; and then He will accomplish a resurrection of all, not by transferring souls into other bodies, but by raising the bodies themselves.” – Hippolytus (c. 205)

What does the Bible say?

Contrary to much of Protestant theology, Scripture never teaches that souls immediately enter heaven.  Rather, the saved and unsaved alike await Christ’s return, when the souls from Hades join their resurrected bodies, and all people stand in judgment before Christ.

Several of the early Christian writers referenced Luke 16, describing the rich man and Lazarus in Hades.  Notice the similarity to Hippolytus’ descriptions of being escorted by the angels, as well as the suffering of the wicked:

• “The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side [bosom].  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.  And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’  But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.  And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’” – Luke 16:22-26

1 Corinthians 15 is one of the key chapters discussing the resurrection:

• “Behold!  I tell you a mystery.  We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” – 1 Corinthians 15:51-54

Notice that “we shall be changed” – not when we die and immediately enter heaven – but at the second coming of Christ.  Then, death will be swallowed up in victory.  Notice also that rewards are given at Christ’s second coming, not at death:

• “And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” – 1 Peter 5:4

Another classic passage on the resurrection indicates that when the dead in Christ are raised, they join those who are still living to rise and meet the Lord:

• “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

Jesus never said that we go to heaven immediately when we die; rather, He said that He would return to take us there Himself:

• “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” – John 14:3

Several verses in Scripture are often used as proof texts for entering heaven immediately after death.  One such verse is Hebrews 9:27: “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”  However, this verse does not contradict the intermediate state.  It simply states a chronology that man dies, and later (the verse never says how much later) comes the judgment.  2 Corinthians 5:8 makes a similar statement: “Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”  Again, this verse in no way denies the Scriptural teaching of the intermediate state, for God’s presence is with us even in Hades: “If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol [Hades], you are there!” (Psalm 139:8).

A more unclear verse is Luke 23:43, when Jesus told the thief on the cross, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”  Throughout history, many people have considered Abraham’s bosom and paradise to be synonymous, primarily on account of this verse.  Also, some early writers believed that the souls of the martyrs were granted access to heaven (see Revelation 6:9), and perhaps this is the case here.

Does Hades still exist?

Some people today think that Hades existed only until the death of Christ, when He opened heaven and led the saved who were previously in Hades to heaven.  However, Scripture nowhere teaches this view.  We do know that Jesus preached the gospel when He descended into Hades (1 Peter 3:9; 1 Peter 4:6).  Many early Christians believed that He gave the Gentiles and people who had never heard the gospel a chance to repent and be saved, and then He led those souls to Abraham’s bosom or paradise.

If Hades no longer existed after the death of Christ and believers now go directly to heaven, why would the apostles and the early Christians not have cleared up the misunderstanding?  Instead, they continued to preach the same message that Jesus preached while He was on the earth – that all souls wait in Hades until the final resurrection.  In addition, if Hades ceased to exist, how could death and Hades be cast into the lake of fire following the final judgment (Revelation 20:14)?

Did anyone teach otherwise?

There was a group of people who lived during the first couple hundred years of Christianity who taught that there is no intermediate state and the souls of the saved go directly to heaven.  This group was the Gnostics, the heretical teachers that the apostles and early Christians repeatedly warned against:

• “You may have fallen in with some [Gnostics] who are called Christians.  However, they do not admit this [intermediate state], and they venture to blaspheme the God of Abraham. . . .  They say that there is no resurrection of the dead. Rather, they say that when they die, their souls are taken to heaven.  Do not imagine that they are Christians.” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)
• “The heretics . . . do not acknowledge the salvation of their flesh . . . but claim that immediately upon their death, they will pass above the heavens and the Demiurge [Creator] and go to the Mother or to that Father whom they pretend exists. . . .  For they do not choose to understand, that if these things are as they say, the Lord Himself, in whom they profess to believe, did not rise again upon the third day.  Rather, immediately upon His expiring on the cross, He undoubtedly departed on high, leaving His body to the earth. . . .  The Lord observed the law of the dead so that He might become the First-Begotten from the dead.  And He waited until the third day ‘in the lower parts of the earth.’ . . .  These men [the Gnostics] must be put to confusion, who allege that ‘the lower parts’ refer to this world of ours, but that their inner man, leaving the body here, ascends into the super-celestial place.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)

Summary

What happens after death is inherently uncertain, as none of the early Christian writers had experienced it.  Instead they wrote what they had been taught by the apostles, and they speculated on the rest.  However, they universally believed that there is an intermediate state called Hades, where the dead await the final resurrection.  This view of the afterlife is still maintained today by many Anabaptist, Anglican, and Brethren churches as well as some in the Restorationist movement, although it has been lost in most other denominations.

The final judgment

After the resurrection, all people are judged according to what they have done, as Jesus told in Matthew 25.  The righteous are taken to their eternal reward and the wicked are cast into Gehenna, the lake of fire.

• “He . . . will examine all things, and will judge righteous judgment, rendering merited awards to each.  To those who seek immortality by patient endurance in well-doing, He will give life everlasting, joy, peace, rest, and an abundance of good things.  To the unbelieving and despisers, who do not obey the truth, but are obedient to unrighteousness, when they will have been filled with adulteries and fornications, . . . there will be anger and wrath, tribulation and anguish.  At the end, everlasting fire will possess such men.” – Theophilus (c. 180)
• “The Lord will say, ‘Depart from me, you cursed ones, into everlasting fire.’  These persons will be condemned forever.  However, to others He will say, ‘Come, you blessed of my Father.  Inherit the kingdom prepared for you for eternity.’  These ones receive the kingdom forever, and they make constant advancement in it.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “He who acts righteously will escape the eternal punishments, and he will be thought worthy of the eternal life from God.” – Theophilus (c. 180)
• “‘And death and Hades were sent into the lake of fire, the second death.’  Now this is what is called Gehenna, which the Lord called ‘eternal fire.’” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “An ever-burning Gehenna will burn up the condemned – a punishment that devours with living flames.  Nor will there be any means by which at any time they can have either rest or an end to their torments.  Souls with their bodies will be reserved in infinite tortures for suffering. . . .  This is in accord with the truth of Holy Scripture, which says, ‘Their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched.’ . . .  The pain of punishment will then be without the fruit of penitence.  Weeping will be useless and prayer ineffectual.  Too late, they will believe in eternal punishment who would not believe in eternal life.” – Cyprian (c. 250)

Conclusion

When was the last time you heard a message on the intermediate state?  Perhaps more importantly, when was the last time you considered the eternal punishment awaiting those who reject Christ and live contrary to His commandments?

• “And let those who are not found living as He taught, be understood to be no Christians, even though they profess with the lip the precepts of Christ; for not those who make profession, but those who do the works, shall be saved, according to His word: ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.’” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)

Jesus taught that those who keep His commandments are the ones who are truly saved.  Will you live as Jesus commanded and teach others to do the same?