Truth Seeker - 2. Dead--condition of . . .

2 Timothy 2:17b, 18, Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 men who missed the mark about the truth, saying the resurrection happened already, and they overthrow the faith of some.

2^nd Timothy was written in Rome about 65CE. By then many of the first apostles and disciples had surely passed away. Saint Stephen was probably killed somewhere around the year 33CE. Still, Paul states that nobody had received the resurrection^*1 when his 2^nd letter to Timothy was penned in 65 CE. This includes Stephen, most assuredly a Saint. Stephen would have to stay in his grave until the time Christ blew God's trumpet and called him home. There is thus abundant proof that the dead in Christ or otherwise dead, do not go to heaven when they die!

*1. The resurrection here referred to is not the
temporary resurrection Lazarus and others re-
ceived at the hand of Jesus or of the apostles.

1 Cor 15:23,
A. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming< 3952>. (KJV)

3952 parousia -- Strong's Greek Dictionary

B. and each in his proper order, a first-fruit Christ, afterwards those who are the Christ's, in his presence, (YLT)

Perhaps by now, honest Bible students can admit that Christ himself, as well as the whole initial Christian community because of the resurrection hope looked at death as a state of sleep!

Through their view, the following scriptures gain so much more power.

Eccl 9:5-10 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, hath now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any [thing] that is done under the sun. . . . 10Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do [it] with thy might; for [there is] no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. (Webster)

Psalm 146:3,4 Put not your trust in princes, [nor] in the son of man, in whom [there is] no help. 4His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. (Webster)

Isaiah 26:14 [They are] dead, they shall not live; [they are] deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. (Webster)

The above evidence quite backs up the Christian sentiment. These dead ones are certainly not active. No thoughts, no love, no actions of any kind, even the memory of them perishes. The ones that await the resurrection, thus are seen to be in a sleep like state -unconscious, in fact they do not exist except in God's memory – specifically, the book of life. There they are totally inactive until resurrected.

Job 24:24 . . . are exalted a little, and are not, Yea having been laid low, like all men, are they gathered, Even as the top of an ear of corn, do they hang down. (Rotherham)

Psalms 39:13, "O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more. (KJV)

Vocabulary and definitions

The word Hell is used frequently in older translations. The KJV employs it frequently. A study of this brings to light that Hell is translated in KJV mainly from these terms: 1. Sheol, a Hebrew word, 2. Hades, a Greek term, and finally 3. Gehenna, a name of a location, a valley used as a dump outside Jerusalem. One more word is found, that is discussed on the Jesus in Hell? page.

In the example from Rev 20:14 quoted with its Strong's Dictionary excerpt, the word hell is seen to have come from the Greek Hades. In the examples from the book of Psalms, the Hebrew word is Sheol. The two words mean the same and may be used interchangeably except that one is Greek and one is Hebrew. What is also stated clearly by Strong is that both the words mean grave. Thus these words refer to the common grave of mankind where everyone goes upon dying. The word hell in this way has no connection to a place of torment.

The last usage under this heading is from the Greek Gehenna. Gehenna is used to refer to those that become disapproved by God, who shall be destroyed totally and forever. Again, they suffer not; they simply are no more, not even in God's book of life.

Rev 20:14 And death and hell <86>were cast into the lake of fire.

00086:
86 haides hah'-dace from 1 (as negative particle) and 1492; properly, unseen, i.e. "Hades" or the place (state) of departed souls:--grave, hell. see GREEK for 1 see GREEK for 1492

Psalms 55:15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell <07585>: : for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them
Psalms 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave <07585>: for he shall receive me.

07585:
7585 sh'owl sheh-ole' or shol sheh-ole'; from 7592; Hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean retreat), including its accessories and inmates:--grave, hell, pit. see HEBREW for 07592

[WebstersDict] Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language 1913: Gehenna /Ge·hen´na/ (gē̇·hĕn´nȧ), n. [L. Gehenna, Gr. Γέεννα, Heb. Gē Hinnōm.] (Jewish Hist.) The valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem, where some of the Israelites sacrificed their children to Moloch, which, on this account, was afterward regarded as a place of abomination, and made a receptacle for all the refuse of the city, perpetual fires being kept up in order to prevent pestilential effluvia. In the New Testament the name is transferred, by an easy metaphor, to Hell. The pleasant valley of Hinnom. Tophet thence And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell. Milton.

Matt 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell <1067> fire

01067:
1067 geena gheh'-en-nah of Hebrew origin (1516 and 2011); valley of (the son of) Hinnom; ge-henna (or Ge-Hinnom), a valley of Jerusalem, used (figuratively) as a name for the place (or state) of everlasting punishment:--hell. see HEBREW for 01516 see HEBREW for 02011