The Two Deaths by John Nevins Andrews

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 7, 1865

The Two Deaths

By John Nevins Andrews

Thoughts on Matt. x, 28, and Luke xii, 4, 5.

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matt. x, 28.

"And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them which kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea I say unto you fear him." Luke xii, 4, 5.

1. These texts are the record, by different writers, of the same language of the Saviour. The first one is often quoted by those who teach the immortality of the soul, and its conscious existence in death. In Matthew's version of the Saviour's words, the soul is indeed made very prominent; but in that of Luke, it is not even mentioned. Yet the language of the one

is the same in substance with the other.

2. Thus while Matthew represents the Saviour as saying, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul," Luke expresses the idea thus: "Be not afraid of them which kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do." And as Matthew adds: "Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell," Luke gives the same warning, thus: "Fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell."

3. Thus it is seen that our Lord recognizes the fact so plainly expressed elsewhere, that there are two deaths. The first death which is the common lot of mankind is thus spoken of by Paul: "It is appointed unto men once to die." Heb. ix, 27. The second death is the portion only of the wicked. "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." Rev. ii, 11; xx, 6, 14; xxi, 8. The Saviour bids us not to fear those who can only inflict the first of these deaths, but warns us to fear him who alone is able to kill with the second death.

4. The place in which the terrible punishment here set forth is inflicted is called hell. This word is found in the English Testament twenty-three times. But in the Greek Testament there are three different words, Hades, Gehenna, and Tartarus, signifying different places, all rendered by the one English word, hell. Thus Hades is used eleven times in the original, and is rendered hell ten times and grave once. The following are the places of its occurrence, the italicized word in such case being the translation of Hades:

Matt. xi, 23. "Shall be brought down to hell."

" xvi, 18. "The gates of hell shall not prevail."

Luke x, 15. "Shall be thrust down to hell."

" xvi, 23. "In hell he lifted up his eyes."

Acts ii, 27. "Wilt not leave my soul in hell."

" ii, 31. "His soul was not left in hell."

1 Cor. xv, 55. "O grave, where is thy victory?"

Rev. i, 18. "Have the keys of hell and of death."

" vi, 8. "Was Death, and Hell followed."

" xx, 13. "Death and hell delivered up the dead."

" xx, 14. "Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire."

Gehenna is found in the following places:

Matt. v, 22. "Shall be in danger of hell fire."

" v, 29. "Whole body should be cast into hell."

" v, 30. "Whole body should be cast into hell."

" x, 28. "Destroy both soul and body in hell."

" xviii, 9. "Having two eyes to be cast into hell fire."

" xxiii, 15. "More the child of hell than yourselves."

" xxiii, 33. "How can ye escape the damnation of hell."

Mark ix, 43. "Having two hands to go into hell."

" ix, 45. "Having two feet to be cast into hell."

" ix, 47. "Having two eyes to be cast into hell."

Luke xii, 5. "Hath power to cast into hell."

Jas. iii, 6. "It is set on fire of hell."

Tartarus is used only in the following text: "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell." 2 Pet. ii, 4.

Thus Hades is seen to be the place of the dead, whether righteous or wicked, the place into which they are introduced by death, and from which they are delivered by the resurrection. Those who are in Hades are said to be dead. Rev. xx, 10. Once in the English Testament, Hades is rendered grave. 1 Cor. xv, 55. Gehenna on the contrary, is the place where the wicked are to be cast alive with all their members and to be destroyed soul and body. It is the lake of fire in which the wicked dead are to be punished after their resurrection. Rev. xx, 13–15. Tartarus is the place into which the evil angels were cast after their rebellion. These three places, therefore, though rendered by the one English word hell are not to be confounded together.

5. In giving the warning recorded in Matt. x, 28; Luke xii, 4, 5, it is claimed that the Saviour taught the continued existence of the soul in death. But it is worthy of notice that in each of these texts he utters no warning concerning the punishment of the soul in Hades, the place or state of the dead, but his warning relates to that which shall be inflicted upon "soul and body" together in Gehenna.

6. That he should speak nothing of the punishment of the soul in its disembodied state in Hades, if such punishment really takes place, is very remarkable; for here more than any where else in the Bible is there evidence of the continued existence of the soul while the body is under the power of death. Yet while expressly stating the dreadful fate of the lost, and that too in such connection as would especially call out the fact, if it were a fact, that the souls of the wicked exist in a place of dreadful suffering, between death and the resurrection, the Saviour says not one word concerning the suffering of the soul in its disembodied state, but confines his warning to that which shall be inflicted upon "both soul and body in hell," i. e., in Gehenna, thus showing that the retribution against which he warns us, comes after the resurrection and not before it.

7. Our Lord means to point out precisely the danger to which the ungodly are exposed. When therefore he says, "Fear him which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into Gehenna," he means to teach that God will cast the wicked into Gehenna. And when Matthew expressing the same warning in different words makes the Saviour say "Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna" the fact set forth is, that such will be the fate of the lost.

8. "Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Gehenna." As the wicked are to be cast into Gehenna alive and in possession of all their bodily members, (see the list of passages in this article where Gehenna is used) it follows that he who can thus cast them there, after they have once been killed, is God alone; for to do this he must raise them from the dead. The resurrection to damnation must precede the damnation of Gehenna. Compare John v, 28, 29, with Matt. xxiii, 33. More on this subject hereafter.

J. N. ANDREWS.

Rochester, N. Y., P. O. Box, 1200.