Luke 12:5

12:5 hell (Greek Gehenna): The Valley of Hinnom was a ravine along the southwestern side of Jerusalem. It became a metaphor for hell because Israelites had offered their children as sacrifices there (Jer 32:35) and later used it as a place to burn garbage (Jer 19:2, 10-13). Jesus’ disciples should never be afraid of enemies who can only take away their life on earth. Instead, they should fear God, who can give eternal punishment.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 12:5. Ὑμῖν, I will show or suggest to you) viz. my friends.—φοβηθῆτε, fear) This verb is employed thrice with the greatest force.[114]—μετὰ τὸ ἀποκτεῖναι) The verb is employed as it were impersonally [after the act of killing has taken place].—γέενναν, hell, Gehenna) Weighty and stern language this, addressed even to friends.

[114] Therefore in Luk 12:4 it would be better, instead of Engl. Vers. Be—afraid of, to use the same word fear to translate the thrice repeated φοβηθῆτε, both in Luk 12:4-5.—ED. and TRANSL.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He warneth them of dangers that presently hang over their heads, for those that come upon the sudden, do make the greater wound.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Fear Him . . . Fear Him--how striking the repetition here! Only the one fear would effectually expel the other.

after he hath killed, &c.--Learn here--(1) To play false with one's convictions to save one's life, may fail of its end after all, for God can inflict a violent death in some other and equally formidable way. (2) There is a hell, it seems, for the body as well as the soul; consequently, sufferings adapted to the one as well as the other. (3) Fear of hell is a divinely authorized and needed motive of action even to Christ's "friends." (4) As Christ's meekness and gentleness were not compromised by such harsh notes as these, so those servants of Christ lack their Master's spirit who soften down all such language to please ears "polite." (See on Mar 9:43-48).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. Fear him] Even the friends of God are commanded to fear God, as a being who has authority to send both body and soul into hell. Therefore it is proper even for the most holy persons to maintain a fear of God, as the punisher of all unrighteousness. A man has but one life to lose, and one soul to save; and it is madness to sacrifice the salvation of the soul to the preservation of the life.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Fear him, which after he hath killed] Many commentators have understood this expression of the Devil, and one of the Fathers goes so far as to say that it is the only passage in the Bible in which we cannot be certain whether God or Satan is intended. There can, however, be no doubt that the reference is to God. If “fear” ever meant ‘be on your guard against,’ the other view might be tenable, but there is no instance of such a meaning, and we are bidden to defy and resist the Devil, but never to fear him; nor are we ever told that he has any power to cast into Gehenna.

to cast into hell] Rather, into Gehenna. It is a deep misfortune that our English Version has made no consistent difference of rendering between ‘the place of the dead,’ ‘the intermediate state between death and resurrection’ (Hades, Sheol), and Gehenna, which is sometimes metaphorically used (as here) for a place of punishment after death. Gehenna was a purely Hebrew word, and corresponded primarily to purely Hebrew conceptions. Our Lord (if He spoke Greek) did not attempt to represent it by any analogous, but imperfectly equivalent, Greek term like Tartarus (see 2Pe_2:4), and certainly the Apostles and Evangelists did not. They simply transliterated the Hebrew term (גי הנם Gê Hinnom, Valley of Hinnom) into Greek letters. It is surely a plain positive duty to follow so clear an example, and not to render Gehenna by English terms which cannot connote exactly the same conceptions. The Valley of Hinnom, or of the Sons of Hinnom (Jos_15:8; Jos_18:16; 2Ki_23:10; Jer_7:31), was a pleasant valley outside Jerusalem, which had first been rendered infamous by Moloch worship; then defiled by Josiah with corpses; and lastly kept from putrefaction by large fires to consume the corpses and prevent pestilence. Milton describes it with his usual learned accuracy:

“First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood

Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears;

Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud

Their children’s cries unheard that passed through fire

To his grim idol......

and made his grove

The pleasant Valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence

And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell.”

Par. Lost, I. 392.

Tophet is derived from the word Toph ‘a drum’ (compare τύπτω), dub, thump, &c.).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear, I will be your monitor, and direct you to the proper object of fear and reverence, and whom you should be careful to displease and offend:

fear him, which after he hath killed; your body, as the Persic version adds; hath taken away the life of it, by separating soul and body asunder, by sending one disease or another, or death in one shape or another:

hath power to cast into hell; your soul, as the above version also adds; yea, to destroy both body and soul in hell, as in See Gill on Mat 10:28.

yea, I say unto you, fear him; and none else, not with a servile, but with a filial fear.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

5 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.

Ver. 5. {See Trapp on "Mat 10:28"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5-7. They were to fear, not the hierarchy, but God who had the power of hell; whose eye neither the minute sparrow nor the slightest hair escaped.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; literally, into Gehenna. This is simply Gee-hinnom, "valley of Hinnom," translated into Greek letters This valley was situated in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, and originally was noted for the infamous rites practiced there in the worship of Moloch, in the times of the idolatrous kings of Judah. King Josiah, to mark his abhorrence of the idol-rites, defiled it with corpses; fires were subsequently kindled to consume the putrefying matter and prevent pestilence. The once fair valley, thus successively defiled with hideous corrupting rites, by putrefying corpses, and then with blazing fires lit to consume what would otherwise have occasioned pestilence, was taken by rabbinical writers as a symbol for the place of torment, and is used not unfrequently as a synonym for "hell." The translators of the Authorized Version have done so here. The reminder is, after all, we need not fear men. When they have done their worst, they have only injured or tortured the perishable body. The One whom all have good reason to fear is God, whose power is not limited to this life, but extends through and beyond death. Some have strangely supposed, not God, but the devil, is intended here to be the real object of human fear. The devil can be no object of fear to the Master"s disciples.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fear him who hath power to cast into hell - Even to his peculiar friends, Christ gives this direction. Therefore the fearing of God as having power to cast into hell, is to be pressed even on true believers.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

hell

(See Scofield "Mat 5:22").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. τίνα φοβηθῆτε. The indirect interrogative is sometimes expressed by the subjunctive, as in Mat 8:20, οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ κλίνῃ: Rom 8:26, οὐκ οἴδαμεν τί προσευξώμεθα. Comp. Luk 19:48, Luk 22:2.

φοβήθητε τὸν μετὰ τὸ ἀποκτεῖναι, κ.τ.λ. Many commentators have understood this expression of the devil, and one of the Fathers goes so far as to say that it is the only passage in the Bible in which we cannot be certain whether God or Satan is intended. There can, however, be no doubt that the reference is to God. If “fear” ever meant ‘be on your guard against,’ the other view might be tenable, but there is no instance of such a meaning, and we are bidden to defy and resist the devil, but never to fear him; nor are we ever told that he has any power to cast into Gehenna.

εἰς τὴν γέενναν. ‘Into Gehenna.’ It is a deep misfortune that our English Version has made no consistent difference of rendering between ‘the place of the dead,’ ‘the intermediate state between death and resurrection’ (Hades, Sheol), and Gehenna, which is sometimes metaphorically used (as here) for a place of punishment after death. Gehenna was a purely Hebrew word, and corresponded primarily to purely Hebrew conceptions. Our Lord (if He spoke Greek) did not attempt to represent it by any analogous, but imperfectly equivalent, Greek term, like Tartarus (see 2Pe 2:4), and certainly the Apostles and Evangelists did not. They simply transliterated the Hebrew term (גי הנם, Gê Hinnom, Valley of Hinnom) into Greek letters. It is surely a plain positive duty to follow so clear an example, and not to render Gehenna by English terms which cannot connote exactly the same conceptions. The Valley of Hinnom, or of the Sons of Hinnom (Jos 15:8; Jos 18:16; 2Ki 23:10; Jer 7:31), was a pleasant valley outside Jerusalem, which had first been rendered infamous by Moloch worship; then defiled by Josiah with corpses; and lastly kept from putrefaction by large fires to consume the corpses and prevent pestilence. Milton describes it with his usual learned accuracy:

“First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood

Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears;

Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud

Their children’s cries unheard that passed through fire

To his grim idol …

and made his grove

The pleasant Valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence

And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell.”

Par. Lost, I. 392.

Tophet is derived from the word Toph, ‘a drum’ (compare τύπτω, dub, thump, &c.).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. φοβήθητε τὸν μετὰ τὸ ἀποκτεῖναι ἔχοντα ἐξουσίαν, κ.τ.λ. There is little doubt that this refers to God and not to the devil. The change of construction points to this. It is no longer φοβήθητε ἀπὸ τούτου, but τοῦτον φοβήθητε, “fear without trying to shun,” which is the usual construction of fearing God. Moreover, we are not in Scripture told to fear Satan, but to resist him courageously (Jas 4:7; 1Pe 5:9); τὸν θεὸν φοβήθητε, τῷ διαβόλῳ ἀντίστητε is scriptural doctrine. Moreover, although the evil one tries to bring us to Gehenna, it is not he, who has authority to send us thither. This passage (with Mat 10:28), the king with twenty ousand (see on 14:33), and the Unjust Steward (see on 16:1), are perhaps the only passages in which the same words have been interpreted by some of Satan and by others of God.

ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν γέενναν. Excepting here and Jas 3:6, γέεννα occurs only in Mt and Mk. in N.T. Not in LXX. The confusion caused in all English Versions prior to RV. by translating both γέεννα and ᾅδης “hell” has been often pointed out. Lft. On Revision, Pp. 87, 88; Trench, On the AV. p. 21. Γέεννα is a transliteration of Ge-Hinnom, “Valley of Hinnom,” where children were thrown into the red-hot arms of Molech. When these abbominations were abolished by Josiah (2Ki 23:10), refuse of all kinds, including carcases of criminals, was thrown into this valley, and (according to late authorities) consumed by fire, which was ceaselessly burning. Hence it became a symbolical name for the place of punishment in the other world. D. B.2 “Geharma,” “Hinnom,” and “Hell.”

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will forewarn [υποδειξω] . Rev., warn. See on warned, ch. 3 7. Hell. See on Mt 5:22.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.