Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3 What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” 4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Luke 12:1-7
(see also Matthew 10:28)
If you’ve spent time with conservatives/fundamentalists, you’ve likely heard Luke 12:1-7 frequently quoted, referencing the need to fear God, who can allegedly burn your skin forever if you misbehave. Luke 12:5 (and Matthew 10:28) has frequently sparked debates among theologians and scholars. Some Bible translators, assuming this verse speaks of God, translated accordingly:
“But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has the power to throw that person into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!”
(NASB)
Notice that “One,” “Him,” and “He” are capitalized.
“But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill and then throw you into hell. Yes, he’s the one to fear.”
(NLV)
Here, the NLV takes it a step further, explicitly using the word “God.”
However, most other translations have not taken the liberty to interpret the verse but have stuck to the original text, for example:
“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.”
(KJV)
“But I will warn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.”
(ASV)
“But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”
(NIV)
So, as you can see, some translations have decided to translate the word “τὸν” in Luke 12:5 as God, while most others have kept it neutral. By the way, the meaning of the Greek word τὸν simply means “to/he/the” (definite article).
The word μετά (meta) in verse 5, translated as “after,” can also be translated as “also” or “not only.” In that case, the audience is to fear X, who can destroy either their body or/and soul.
To make things more complicated, the word “Hell” doesn’t actually exist in the text, but rather the word Gehenna (γέεννα), which refers to a valley outside Jerusalem, the Valley of Hinnom, where trash was burned daily.
Contextual Analysis
Context
To understand any verse in the Bible, it’s crucial to consider the context. Luke 12 is part of a larger discourse where Jesus addresses topics of the heart, and here He focuses on hypocrisy (Luke 12:1-2). This particular verse falls in a section where Jesus is encouraging His followers not to fear those who persecute them. In the very next verses as well, Jesus tells his disciples not to be afraid (Luke 12:6-7) because God cares for them. It makes little sense and appears awfully confusing and contradictory to assume Jesus told His young Jewish disciples not to fear but also to fear God, both in the same breath. Then, in verses 22-32, once again, Jesus teaches them not to be afraid because God cares for them. Misunderstanding of what Jesus taught here caused confusion among prominent Calvinists, leading them to grapple with contradictory sentiments, as expressed by R.C. Sproul in his commentary on Luke 12: “On the one hand, we should fear Him. On the other hand, we should not fear.“1
Jesus’ Teaching Style
Jesus was a Jewish rabbi who, like all rabbis, often used hyperbolic language, metaphors, symbolism, and allegories to make a point. One shouldn’t interpret “gouging your eye out” (Matthew 18:9) literally (or else most of us would be blind) but as a figure of speech, a common style of teaching in Judaism. Likewise, “Cast into the Valley of Gehenna” should be viewed as speaking allegorically about the repercussions of our heart’s decisions—especially hypocrisy—not as Jesus trying to threaten His young Jewish disciples with a cosmic fire chamber God may lock them in and burn their skins forever.
Fearing God?
Fear-based faith is the hidden foundation of religion and cults. The portrayal of God in the Bible, however, is multifaceted, embodying attributes of love, mercy, and justice. In the Old Testament, the concept of believers “fearing God” (Proverbs 1:7) typically aligns with reverence and awe rather than terror. In the New Testament, we are told: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7) and that “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1 John 4:18). Therefore, interpreting Luke 12:5 as saying believers should fear God will burn them forever seems incongruent with the broader depiction of God’s character in the scriptures.
Luke 12: Alternative Interpretations
Some scholars suggest that verse 5 does not refer to God but to the reality of evil or the social consequences of one’s actions. This interpretation aligns with the broader theme of moral and spiritual vigilance in Luke’s Gospel. Other scholars suggest that the verse speaks of Satan. For instance, N.T. Wright argues that this is a reference to Satan rather than God:
Some have seen “the one who can cast into Gehenna” as YHWH; but this is unrealistic. Jesus did not perceive Israel’s God as a kindly liberal godfather who would never hurt a fly, let alone send anyone to Gehenna. But again and again—not least in the very next verse of this paragraph—Israel’s God is portrayed as the creator and sustainer, one who can be lovingly trusted in all circumstances, not one who waits with a large stick to beat anyone who steps out of line. Rather, here we have a redefinition of the battle in terms of the identification of the real enemy. The one who can kill the body is the imagined enemy, Rome. Who, then, is the real enemy? Surely not Israel’s own God. The real enemy is the accuser, the satan.
(N.T. Wright, “Jesus and the Victory of God,” Pages 454-455)
Other interpretations suggest this verse speaks of people in authority, those who can both order the killing of your body, put your memory to shame, or turn you into an outcast scavenging for leftovers in the Valley of Hinnom just to survive another day.
What if the verse does speak of God?
For the sake of argument, let’s assume Jesus was speaking not of Satan or of some human authority like a judge or Roman officials, which is plausible, but of God. How, then, can we understand Luke 12:1-7?
Jesus was first warning about the “leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1). The threat is not being cast into a kind of cosmic fire chamber where God burns people forever but into Gehenna, or “Hinnom Valley,” which signifies something entirely different to the 1st-century Jewish mind.
What/where is Gehenna?
We have already covered what Gehenna means earlier, but in short, the Greek word Gehenna (“hell”) comes from the Hebrew GEHINNOM, meaning “the Valley of Hinnom.” This was a valley outside Jerusalem used as a dump where the poor and outcasts scavenged through the garbage to find food and things to sell. To eliminate waste and refuse, the trash would often be burned. Therefore, in the “valley of hell,” there were always flames of fire somewhere. Gehenna-hell was a real place full of disgusting waste burned in the fire and worms eating leftovers, not a spiritual place across the heavens. If you had to scavenge in Gehenna, in hell, it meant you had reached the lowest point in your life—a place of great shame.
This is why living with one eye is better “than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of Gehenna” (Matthew 18:9). If you were caught committing adultery, you would become an outcast by society and find yourself living in shame in a dumpster. (Remember, when a woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus, He did not condemn but forgave her!)
Hypocrisy will lead you to Gehenna
Again, remember the context and the opening statement or introduction: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” (Luke 12:1). Here, Jesus is warning against the sin of religious hypocrisy that can lead to a life regarded as worthless, a trashed life! Hypocrisy involves living a double life. On the outside, you exhibit a façade of righteousness and judge others according to religious standards you yourself don’t live up to, but behind closed doors, you are filled with evil. That’s why Jesus called the Pharisees “whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean” (Matthew 23:27).
In context, Jesus wasn’t warning secular individuals and atheists about being eternally burned in the fire for living immoral lives. Instead, He was cautioning Jews in a highly legalistic religious society against hypocrisy. He emphasized that once God exposes such hypocrisy, it could lead to the ruin of their lives. A great (and sad) example in our time may be Bill Gothard (Wheaton College, Louisiana Baptist), who founded the “Institute in Basic Life Principles” (IBLP), an independent, wealthy, conservative fundamentalist Christian organization that greatly shaped the Evangelical movement in America. Gothard, known for promoting the “Purity Movement,” was exposed after 34 women accused him of sexual harassment and molestation (some of whom were underage), leading to his dismissal and public embarrassment. (A mini-docuseries worth watching, titled “Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets,” was produced about his ministry/church/movement.)
Long story short, you may be able to fool people but not God, who can and will expose your hypocrisy if you fail to repent. And when He does, you may become an outcast. This is precisely the warning Jesus gives in verse 2:
“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.”
(Luke 12:2-3)
To summarize, I believe the point of this passage in Luke 12 is that the sin of hypocrisy can destroy your soul (and make you end up an outcast). Sin has the power to go far beyond killing your body; it has the power to destroy your soul, which will lead to the worst outcome—becoming an outcast.In Judaism, the pain of shaming is considered more bitter than death. This is reflected in the teaching that one should rather fling himself into a fiery furnace than humiliate someone in public (Talmud, Bava Metzia 59a). Living with shame and humiliation is viewed as worse than death, for the dead no longer endure the burden of shame. Living in shame and humiliation (“hell”) can, indeed, be worse than death.
On a national level, that is exactly what happened to Israel. Israel’s religious leadership did not repent and ended up causing Israel to suffer the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and be exiled. Many Jews became poor and homeless and had to scavenge for food. They, quite literally, suffered hell.
Perhaps an alternative translation of Luke 12:4-5 could be:
4 I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who only kill the body but can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: fear the one who, besides killing, has the power to expose you and cast you into Hinnom Valley. Yes, I tell you, fear that!
This article is part of my upcoming book HELL: A Jewish Perspective on a Christian Doctrine
- “Fearing God,” sermon by R.C. Sproul December 15, 2013. ↩︎
