An honest question
Is hell real? What do Lutherans believe?
Key points
- Short answer: Jesus spoke about judgment, and Christians take that seriously.
- What Jesus did: Look at who he was warning. Most of his hardest words were for respectable religious leaders who shut other people out.
- The Lutheran view: The Lutheran confessions teach that Christ will come to judge, and they do not teach that everyone will be saved.
The short answer
Jesus spoke about judgment, and Christians take that seriously. He spoke about it most sharply to religious people who were sure they were safe.
He also said that God “didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.” Lutherans start there.
What Jesus said and did
Look at who he was warning. Most of his hardest words were for respectable religious leaders who shut other people out. In his best-known story about the last judgment, people are judged by how they treated others. Did they help the hungry, the stranger, the sick and the prisoner? Both groups are surprised. He never used hell to frighten outsiders into following him.
The heart of the Christian answer is who the judge is. Christians say it is Jesus. He forgave the men nailing him to a cross. He promised a dying thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Anyone who trusts him, Jesus said, “doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
A little longer
When Jesus warned about judgment, he usually used pictures: outer darkness, fire, and Gehenna, the name of a burning rubbish valley outside Jerusalem. Christians have long debated how literally to take those pictures. What is clear is that he meant that how we live matters, and that evil will not have the last word.
Maybe you were told you are going to hell, or it frightened you as a child. You don’t have to carry that fear into this. The one who will judge is the one who came looking for you.
Where Christians disagree
Christians hold three main views. Many believe hell is a real, lasting separation from God. Some believe the lost simply cease to exist. Some hope that in the end God’s love will win over everyone. They also disagree about whether the fire is a picture or a description. They agree that Jesus is the judge, and that nobody is in a position to say who is lost.
How Lutherans see it
The Lutheran confessions teach that Christ will come to judge, and they do not teach that everyone will be saved. But Lutheran preaching keeps its eyes on the promise. Judgment has already fallen on Jesus at the cross. God’s word to the person who trusts him is forgiveness. Lutherans don’t speculate about who is lost, and they don’t use hell to frighten people into faith. Fear can make people obey; it cannot make them trust.
Where it is in the Bible
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John 3:16–17 God sent his Son to save the world, not to judge it.
Read John 3:16–17
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
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Matthew 25:31–46 The judgment: what you did for the least, you did for him.
Read Matthew 25:31–46
31 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. 36 I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? 38 When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ 40 “The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ 44 “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’ 45 “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
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John 5:24 Whoever trusts him has passed from death to life.
Read John 5:24
24 “Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
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Luke 23:39–43 A dying man asks to be remembered and is promised Paradise.
Read Luke 23:39–43
39 One of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!” 40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Don’t you even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 He said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” 43 Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
What do these words mean?
| The word | It means |
|---|---|
| The cross | Where Jesus was put to death. Christians see God’s love most clearly there. |
| Faith | Trust in God. Lutherans say it is a gift God gives, not something you work up. |
| Gospel | One of the four books about Jesus’ life: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It also means “good news.” |
Tap a word for more. All 228 church words: the glossary, A to Z
Where to go next
Other questions people ask
Written by Digital Lutheran Church, a small, free website from the nonprofit Hope for Americans, in the tradition of the ELCA. Bible passages are from the World English Bible.