Hades (Sheol)

Biblical Texts

In the Old Testament, Sheol is the place to which the dead go down. The Korean Revised Version (1961) rendered the word mostly as eumbu ("Hades"). The New Korean Revised Version transliterates many Old Testament occurrences as Seuol ("Sheol"), while generally translating the New Testament Hades as eumbu.

• Genesis 37:35: After losing Joseph, Jacob says he will "go down into the grave unto my son mourning" (Hebrew Sheol).
• Numbers 16:30–33: The company of Korah goes down alive into Sheol.
• Psalm 139:8: The psalmist confesses that God is present even in Sheol.
• Sheol also appears in Ecclesiastes 9:10, Isaiah 14:9–15, and Jonah 2:2.
• In the New Testament, Hades appears in Matthew 16:18 ("the gates of hell"), Luke 16:23, Acts 2:27, and Revelation 1:18 and 20:13–14.

Background

The etymology of Sheol is uncertain. The Old Testament portrays Sheol as a dark and silent place beneath the earth, to which both the righteous and the wicked descend. Hades was originally the name of the god who ruled the underworld in Greek mythology, as well as a term for the underworld itself. It became a biblical term when the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, rendered Sheol as Hades. The Sino-Korean word eumbu means "dark place."

Meaning Across Scripture

The Old Testament also expresses the hope that God will rescue people from the power of Sheol (Psalm 16:10; Hosea 13:14). The New Testament connects this hope with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Acts 2:27–31, Peter reads Psalm 16:10 as a prophecy of the resurrection. In Revelation, Christ is the one who has "the keys of hell and of death," and on the last day death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire. The New Testament generally distinguishes Hades from Gehenna, the place of final punishment. Gehenna, rendered jiok ("hell") in the New Korean Revised Version, derives its name from the Valley of Hinnom.

Interpretations and Issues

• Hades and hell: In the Korean church, Hades is often understood as synonymous with hell. Many commentators, however, distinguish the two: Hades is where the dead remain before the resurrection and judgment, whereas hell is the place of punishment after the final judgment (see Heaven and Hell).
• The state after death: The Westminster Confession of Faith teaches that the souls of the righteous go to heaven immediately at death, while the souls of the wicked are cast into hell. Some interpreters, appealing to the account of the rich man and Lazarus, hold that Hades contained separate places for the righteous and the wicked. Opinions differ, however, over whether this account should be read as a parable or as a description of actual conditions. The Seventh-day Adventist Church regards death as an unconscious sleep and understands Sheol as the grave.
• Christ's descent into Hades: The original text of the Apostles' Creed contains this clause, and 1 Peter 3:19 and Ephesians 4:9 are cited in its support. Traditions understand the clause in different ways.
• Lutheranism: Christ proclaimed his victory in Hades.
• The Heidelberg Catechism (Q. 44): The clause refers to the hellish anguish Christ suffered on the cross.
• The Westminster Larger Catechism (Q. 50): Christ continued in the state of the dead until the third day.
• The Catholic Church: The Korean Catholic text renders this clause as "went to the netherworld."
• Korean Protestantism: The Korean translation of the Apostles' Creed used in worship omits this clause.
• Later accretions: Vivid depictions of the flames and tortures of Hades, or of its layered structure, do not appear in the biblical text. Such depictions come from later tradition or from personal testimonies.

In the Korean Church

The words "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18; Korean: "the power of Hades shall not prevail") are frequently quoted in sermons to affirm that the church will not fall. Because the same Old Testament verses read eumbu in the Korean Revised Version but Seuol in the New Korean Revised Version, Bible studies sometimes explain that the two terms render the same word.