Gehenna, Sheol, & Christ's descent into Hell

Genesis 4238. But he said: My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm should befall him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.

AELW 7:291-294

Finally, in this passage the Hebraists argue about the word שְׁאוֹלָה, which they understand to mean the grave and translate with “pit.” But they laugh at us for explaining it as Gehenna. But we care nothing about those unlearned asses; they have been given up to a base mind (Rom. 1:28) and outer darkness, so that they do not understand the language which is their own mother tongue.

But קֶבֶר has to mean one thing, and שְׁאוֹלָה has to mean something else. Just as the word “sepulcher,” קֶבֶר, is common to both the godly and ungodly, so is שְׁאוֹלָה. This is certain, and it is based on the usage of Holy Scripture, except that there is this difference: the sepulcher, קֶבֶר, properly speaking, is the earth which is dug out and in which the dead body is laid. For many die who are not interred, like those who are torn to pieces by wild beasts, are crucified, or are consumed by fire. To those a sepulcher is not granted, yet they are all said to descend from this life into the pit.

Therefore these words are correctly distinguished in such a way that the sepulcher is the place in which the body and bones of the dead are buried and where a definite time, person, and place are involved. But שְׁאוֹלָה is a kind of common receptacle not only for the bodies but also for the souls, where all the dead are gathered. In his Enchiridion to Laurentius Augustine mentions “secret shelters for souls.” Therefore this is that chaos in which, although it is unknown to us, there is no difference of places, times, and persons. Thither even those who lack sepulchers descend. It is a common place—provided that it can be called a place—not for the body but for the soul.

In the Apostles’ Creed we say that Christ died, suffered, was buried, and descended into hell. Here, according to the Hebrew way of speaking, these two things, the sepulcher and the descent into hell, are distinguished. And in Ps. 16:10 Christ says: “Thou wilt not leave My soul in Sheol.”

Properly and definitively speaking, therefore, שְׁאוֹלָה is shelter for the souls. But of what nature that place is has led to countless disputes and questions on the part of the ancients. For us this difference should suffice, that just as the body is kept in the earth, so the soul, when freed, comes into its own שְׁאוֹלָה. Nor is mention made of one שְׁאוֹלָה for the godly and another for the ungodly. Others, to be sure, engage in sharp disputes, and there are various arguments on both sides—arguments that do not particularly impress me.

In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus it is said that the rich man was buried in Hades (Luke 16:22–23), which is a sepulcher for the soul, not for the body. Nevertheless, we must think otherwise of the godly than of the ungodly, who are in the same שְׁאוֹלָה.

Thus Jacob says here and also above: “I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning” (Gen. 37:35). Likewise: “You would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol” (Gen. 42:38). Concerning the death of the godly there is a sure and very clear passage in Isaiah, when he says: “The godly enter into peace; they rest in their beds” (Is. 57:2). Likewise in Gen. 15:15: “As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.” In Gen. 25:8 we read: “Abraham was gathered to his people.” This is שְׁאוֹלָה, that is, a certain place into which the godly are gathered. Is. 57:2 calls it peace, saying: “He enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness.” Here, of course he is speaking of the dead. Thus to Josiah it is said in 2 Chron. 34:28: “I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants.”

All these passages from Holy Scripture are plain and certain, namely, that the saints, according to the body, go into their קֶבֶר, just as Abraham is buried in the field of Ephron, east of Mamre (Gen. 25:9). According to the soul, however, they enter into their chambers of rest, into שְׁאוֹלָה, where they are gathered with their fathers. The godly indeed have a pit into which they descend, but they do so in order to rest in it. And although they descend with grief, nevertheless they pass over to rest and peace. Therefore this descent of the godly is nothing else than the changing of this life into another state, where one no longer lives under the sun and on the earth. But after leaving this life the godly enter their chamber or bed, in which they sleep and rest until body and soul are again united in the future and eternal life.

Therefore Scripture contains nothing at all about purgatory but says that the saints and righteous men pass over into their שְׁאוֹלָה, where they enjoy the sweetest peace and rest.

But that man is righteous who, although he is a sinner, nevertheless believes in God’s Son, receives absolution from sins through the ministry of the Word, has been baptized, and has partaken of the Sacrament of the Altar. He is truly absolved and righteous. For this man no purgatory has been prepared; but there is a sepulcher for his soul, the שְׁאוֹלָה of the godly, peace and rest in his chamber."