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The Apostle Paul boldly declares Christ's victory of death and the grave:
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible
must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this
corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed
up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (I Cor. 15:51
55)
There is victory over death. There is victory over the grave. What a wonderful promise!
Now read once again verse 55: O grave, where is thy victory? The Greek word translated
grave here is hades. Hades literally means unseen or unperceived. It is consistently used
as a metaphor for death, the grave, or destruction. It appears eleven times in the New
Testament. The parallel term in the Old Testament is Sheol.
The interesting thing is that in the King James Version, all other occurrences of Hades
are translated hell:
And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for
if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would
have remained until this day. (Matt. 11:23)
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matt. 16:18)
And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. (Luke
10:15)
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and
Lazarus in his bosom. (Luke 16:23)
Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to
see corruption. (Acts 2:27)
He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in
hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. (Acts 2:31)
I am he that liveth , and was dead; and, behold , I am alive for evermore , Amen; and
have the keys of hell and of death. (Rev. 1:18)
And I looked , and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and
Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,
to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
(Rev. 6:8)
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. (Rev.
20:13)
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (Rev. 20:14)
So why did the editors of the KJV translate hades as grave in 1st Corinthians 15:55?
Could it be that the powers that be did not want its readers to believe that there would be
victory over hell? All I am saying is that to be fair and consistent, the translators should
have rendered this verse: O death where is thy sting, O hell, where is thy victory. In fact,
if hades is really hell, then the scriptures make it quite clear that hell will be emptied out
and destroyed.
If Gehenna is hell, then nothing will be tormented there and it will not burn forever. The
fire of Gehenna does only two things: it destroys and it purifies.
This is great news. Hell will emptied out and destroyed. It will have no victory and no
victims. Now you can see why the Apostle Paul got so excited proclaiming the Good
News of Jesus Christ.