Gehenna

Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that each being angry with his brother shall be subject to judgment! He who would say to his brother: ‘Worthless!’ shall be subject to the council, but he who would say: ‘Stupid!’ shall be subject to Gehenna for the fire!

Punishment of the Body

Matthew 5:29 Now if your right eye entraps you, take it out and cast it from you, for it is better for you that one of your members would be lost and your whole body not be cast into Gehenna!

Gehenna is not what the romish church later described as hell, but rather, he who sins in this life is punished in the body. It is the body, not the spirit, which Christ says will be thrown into the fire of Gehenna. While Yahweh can indeed destroy the spirit of men also, His promise to us is that our spirits shall be preserved. Therefore Paul says of unrepentant sinners, for example in 1 Corinthians 5:5: “To deliver such an one unto Satan [the adversary in this world] for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”  

Paul also discusses that eternal struggle between the desires of the flesh, and the necessity for obedience to God, at length in Romans chapter 7 and elsewhere. Men must know that even if we fail, that the law is good and that we must strive to live up to it. However with the law, all men are condemned, so we must have mercy upon our brethren who fall short even beyond where we have fallen.

Trials of Life

See also Fiery Trials

Again, Gehenna does not represent what the later romish church portrayed as hell. Rather, it represents the fire of trials in this life, as described in 1 Peter chapter 1 and 2 Peter chapter 3, and also to some extent by Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

Yahweh tries no man, as the apostle James tells us. Yet Yahweh allowed Job to be tried by the Adversary. Yahweh tempts no man, but allows us to be tempted by the world. This seems to be a paradox, yet it is rather simple. While it may not have been the case with Job, most often when men are tempted it is due to their own lusts which they give in to, and this leads us to trial. Obeying the will of God, we would not give in to such worldly desires, and we would have a far less chance of being subjected to the trials of this world.

From the Septuagint, Psalm 18:30: “As for my God, his way is perfect: the oracles of the Lord are tried in the fire; he is a protector of all them that hope in him.”