Did Jesus actually believe in Hell?

38:38

Uploaded: 28 Apr 2026 (3 months ago) · Shared: 29 Apr 2026
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Video Description (from Youtube)

Links Mentioned in this Episode:
- https://www.bartehrman.com/BSA - Start a 14-day free trail and delve into live discussions, scholar interviews, book clubs, mixers, trivia nights, AND you also get access to over 50 university-level courses.

*Episode Outline:*
0:00 Is hell really in the Bible?
0:53 Intro: Jesus, the afterlife, and where the idea of hell came from
1:05 Bart’s next book project: Jesus and capitalism
2:39 Icebreaker: how publishing has changed from Bart’s first book to now
5:30 What Bart believed about hell as an evangelical
6:40 Biblical passages people use to support hell
8:16 The lake of fire in Revelation: eternal torment or destruction?
10:57 Jesus on fiery punishment: destruction, not endless torture
12:47 Resurrection, judgment, and what kind of “afterlife” Jesus taught
14:16 Promo break: Biblical Studies Academy community
17:57 The Hebrew Bible, Sheol, and why hell is not an Old Testament idea
23:33 Greek and Roman views of the afterlife
25:23 What the earliest Christians believed about resurrection and judgment
27:00 How later Christianity developed the doctrine of eternal torment
30:23 Misquoting Bart: responding to claims about Joseph of Arimathea and the empty tomb

*Episode Description*

This episode digs into one of Christianity's most controversial and widely misunderstood doctrines: the existence and nature of Hell. Speaker A welcomes New Testament expert Speaker B to break down where the traditional ideas of Hell really come from.

The episode opens with an exploration of Speaker B's personal history—from his experience as an evangelical to his present work as a biblical historian. Speaker A and Speaker B discuss foundational teachings about Hell and the eternal afterlife, drawing out how these concepts were instilled in Christian households well before anyone looked for biblical "chapter and verse."

They turn to the most-cited passages in Christian tradition—the Lake of Fire in Revelation, and Jesus’s warnings in the Gospels—and probe whether these texts truly describe a place of unending, conscious torment for sinners, or something else entirely. Through careful textual analysis, Speaker B reveals that the original context often points not to eternal punishment, but to annihilation—a permanent destruction that renders the wrongdoer nonexistent (see 10:11).

The interview also draws on the cross-cultural beliefs of the period, comparing Jewish, Greek, and Roman concepts of life after death. Topics range from Sheol in Hebrew scripture to Hades and Tartarus in Greco-Roman thought, leading up to an explanation of how Greek philosophical ideas about the soul filtered into later Christian doctrine.

Later in the episode, the hosts discuss the evolution from Jesus's own views (Anchored in resurrection and final justice) towards the more familiar doctrines of Hell and the immortal soul taken up by Gentile Christians centuries later. The Q&A segment, "Misquoting Bart," explores myths and common misunderstandings about the burial of Jesus and the empty tomb, using historical context to correct online skepticism and apologetic arguments alike.

Finally, Speaker A and Speaker B review the key takeaways and invite listeners to join their growing community of Bible enthusiasts at the Biblical Studies Academy.

*3 Key Takeaways*
- Traditional Notions of Hell Are Not in the Bible.
The idea of eternal, fiery torment is not found in the Hebrew Bible, the teachings of Jesus, or even most of the New Testament. Rather, they emerge from later combinations of Jewish concepts of justice and Greek philosophical notions of the immortal soul (37:14).
- The New Testament Speaks of Annihilation, Not Endless Torment.
Passages about "eternal punishment" typically refer to irreversible, total destruction—not ongoing suffering (10:11, 12:24).
- Ideas of Reward and Punishment in the Afterlife Evolved Over Time.
Early Christian ideas were shaped by both Jewish traditions of bodily resurrection and Greco-Roman beliefs about the soul, culminating in doctrines of Hell that most believers today assume were always central.

*Also watch these episodes:*
Am I Going to Hell? What the New Testament Says About Death and the Afterlife
https://youtu.be/OLfATpg1rBw?si=71vOGAgndZBGfyMs

Love Thy Stranger: The Radical Origins of Western Compassion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWnYqZNyEn4

#HellInTheBible
#Afterlife
#HistoricalJesus
#BiblicalScholarship
#NewTestament
#HeavenAndHell
#BookOfRevelation
#BibleStudy

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