Sheol, Hades, the lake of fire, Paradise and Abraham’s Bosom — what is the difference?

What you were told

The two sides of Hades

Hades was divided into two sides by a great chasm. One side was Abraham’s Bosom, otherwise known as Paradise. After Christ’s death on the cross He went into one side of Hades, into Paradise, made a proclamation of His victory announcing the good news to the dead in Christ, and took all of Paradise up with Him. 1 Peter 3:18–20 · Ephesians 4:8–10 · Acts 2:24–31 · Luke 23:43 · 1 Peter 4:6

The chasm between them

In Luke 16:26 Abraham speaks to the rich man across the gulf dividing Hades and says “And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.” Hades is the place where the wicked were and are being held even to this day until this cell block is cast into the lake prison.

Where Gehenna got its name

In most places where we see the word “Hell” in the English Bible, it is referring to the original Greek word: “Gehenna,” otherwise known as the old Valley of Hinnom in Hebrew. This was a real valley, just outside the gates of Jerusalem. A place where horrible abominable acts took place — where innocent children were sacrificed to the ancient Canaanite god Molech, and the smoke of that abomination rose over the city. This is the same place where God’s anger was provoked by the shedding of innocent blood.

God had already renamed the valley of the abomination, the place where innocent blood was shed. He called it the Valley of Slaughter. And it was known as a place of judgment. The place where the blood of the innocent was spilled became the place where the guilty would be judged. That is how Gehenna, the cursed valley, became the word used for the final judgment of the wicked.

Where the word “Hell” came from

So where did the word “Hell” come from? Not from the Bible. “Hell” is an old English word with pagan roots. Hel was the mythical Norse underworld, the shadowy realm of the dead ruled by a goddess with the same name — Hel. The translators chose to translate three different words from the original languages — the Hebrew Sheol, the Greek Hades, and the Greek Gehenna — two different places, using one English word.

That doesn’t mean there is no real judgment. There is. Translating three words into the single word “Hell” hid the distinctions of the original words. There is a difference between the temporary holding place for the dead and the final judgment of the wicked.

The lake of fire is not a torture chamber

The lake of fire isn’t the torture chamber that is usually imagined. God isn’t a sadist, inflicting pain and suffering on people for all eternity. What would even be the point of endless torture and suffering? The wicked have nothing left to learn and nowhere to go. What is beneficial to everyone is keeping those who love evil contained, not allowing them to be free forever and ever to harm and wreak havoc on everyone else for all eternity. God always does what is beneficial for all. And what is beneficial is loving. For God is love.

The reason criminals must be confined here on earth is so they are not allowed to continue to harm others. In the same way, it would be neither just nor loving to allow those who love evil to be free to cause trouble for all eternity. The lake of fire is a prison for those who love evil and remain there in a conscious state. They are not annihilated or removed from existence; they remain, forever facing the truth of who they really are and why they are there.