Dr Paul Allen

“The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.” ( James 3:6 ) The word for “hell” in this verse is gehenna, and this is the only one of its 11 occurrences in the New Testament that is not a direct quote from the lips of Christ . Since the tongue is not a literal fire and since its misuse can in effect make it a “world of iniquity,” this passage suggests that hell itself is the ultimate world of iniquity that has made the uncontrolled tongue an extension of itself. The Bible speaks of this future hell as a place of “ everlasting fire , prepared for the devil and his angels” ( Matthew 25:41 ). However, if these were fires such as we have here on Earth , it is difficult to see how, as Jesus said, God will “destroy both soul and body in hell” ( Matthew10:28 ). Fire would destroy the body, but what about the soul? The fire of hell may include some

“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.” ( Hebrews 13:20 ) This is the only verse in the book of Hebrews that refers specifically to Christ’s resurrection from the dead. It occurs at the climactic conclusion of the book (which had previously referred at least 17 times to the atoning death of Christ) and is associated with God’s everlasting covenant with His people. The covenant theme is strong in the book of Hebrews. The Greek worddiatheke, which is also frequently translated “testament,” occurs more in Hebrews than in all the rest of the New Testament (or “New Covenant”) put together. The word basically means a contract, especially one for disposition of an inheritance. A number of God’s divine covenants are mentioned in Scripture, but the writer of Hebrews is especially concerned with God’s new covenant (or “new testament”). It is surely the most significant of a