The word Gehenna is used in 100% of Jesus’ references to “Hell” in the English bible. It is a literal physical valley with a geographic location outside the gates of Jerusalem.
In Israel’s history Gehenna was literally a place of perpetual fire. A rubbish dump filled with so many bodies that the worms would never die from lack of food. The valley contained so much trash, thrown out from the besieged city’s walls that the bodies would burn perpetually. Gehenna was the garbage dump outside of Jerusalem; it is not referring to eternal conscious torment in a place called hell.
“Gehenna” was well known throughout Israel as an evil and dark place, used for a variety of evil acts throughout Israel’s history. In the time of Hosea, the rebellious Israelites committed child sacrifice there to honor the pagan god Molech.
Jeremiah 19: 5 They have built also the high places of Baal (lord), to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: 6 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet (place of fire), nor The valley of the son of Hinnom (lamentation), but The valley of slaughter.
The thought of burning people never entered into the heart of God. It became the valley of slaughter in which the dead bodies of those who did not listen to Jesus warning to flee Jerusalem in 70. A.D were thrown into.
It was a Prophetic statement referring to the destruction of the temple, Jerusalem and the Old Covenant system in AD70 .
Dead bodies were literally thrown into this dump during the time of Isaiah and would be again just 40 years after Jesus spoke these words, when the Romans besieged and destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. Rather than eternal “hell” this was a physical place for dead bodies.
Jesus uses the word Gehenna 11 times but only in 4 different ways mostly to describe beliefs that are opposite to life in the Kingdom. None of Jesus’ uses were referring eternal torment or punishment after death.
Mark 9: 42And whosoever shall offend (from a trap or snare, from a root meaning bow) one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. 43And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter (aorist infinitive, not future-to go or enter into) into (motion into) life (eternal life) maimed (crippled, lame), than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 44Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Jesus is talking to his disciples. He is talking about life in the kingdom now. The word offend- means being caught in a snare, like an animal in a trap. The word comes from a root meaning to bow. It is talking about being brought into bondage.
Jesus says it is better to die in the sea, or have your dead body thrown into the garbage dump, than to be ensnared by sin.
Jesus is using the most disgusting location in Jerusalem to illustrate how destructive sin is and to encourage people to overcome it. Gehenna was where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned.
Rather than discussing the afterlife, Jesus is using a well-known local landmark to illustrate how significant and pervasive the destruction caused by sin is to our lives and relationships. Jesus is literally saying that cutting off your hand will be less damaging to your life than a lifestyle of sin motivated by a lack of identity as sons.
As we look at some of the individual meanings Jesus used when talking about Gehenna, we need to realize that at all times Jesus is talking about kingdom life not about going to heaven or ending up in “hell”. On most occasions Jesus was talking to the religious leaders.
There are six references to cutting off a member of the body where the word Gehenna is used by Jesus.
James 3:6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell (Gehenna). This same concept is seen in the only non Gospel use of Gehenna . Evil from one body part corrupts the whole body as Paul affirmed this in 1 Cor 12:26
Matt 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of Gehenna?
Jesus was literally calling them children of the sewer. He was telling them that their own “righteousness” won’t be enough to save them from being thrown out onto the dung heap. They were going to end up outside the covenant with all the other dead at AD70.
Some of those listening could have actually had their dead bodies dumped over the city walls and into Gehenna during the Roman siege to come at AD70. They were proud of being children of Abraham and now they were being called children of the refuse.
Matthew 10: 24The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 25It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? 26Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 27What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. 28And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill (to put to death) the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy (cause to perish) both soul and body in hell (gehenna). 29Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. 32Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. 34Think that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword . 35For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 37He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39He that findeth (to obtain) his life (soul) shall lose it: and he that loseth (to destroy) his life for my sake shall find it.
Jesus is sending out the twelve disciples. He is telling them that they will suffer persecution, but not to fear. He is talking about the cost of disciple ship.
But rather fear him, the word him is not in the original but refers to the definite article- the. It could refer to a person or a thing, but the word God is not used. The word soul refers to life. Jesus told them to fear that which would destroy their soul and body in Gehenna. The whole context is about a spirit of fear that was going to come against them, when Jesus was arrested all his disciple forsook him. They literally lost their soul, all their hopes and desires were destroyed when Jesus was crucified.
So Jesus is talking about fear, he is not talking about conscious eternal torment in a place called hell in our English bible.