Did Jesus Invent Charity? (VIDEO)

Did Jesus Invent Charity? (vIDEO)

Welcome to the home of Episode 177 of the Misquoting Jesus Podcast with Bart Ehrman. Below, you can watch the entire episode, read its description, and see links to related resources.

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episode description

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Episode 184 explores a central but often misunderstood Christian idea: hell as eternal fiery torment. Bart Ehrman argues that this widely held belief is not actually found in the Bible as traditionally assumed. Instead, he explains that both the Hebrew Bible and the teachings of Jesus lack any concept of eternal conscious torment after death.

In the Hebrew Bible, humans are not seen as having immortal souls that survive death; rather, a person is a unified body animated by breath. When that breath ceases, the person no longer exists. Concepts like Sheol refer simply to the grave, not a place of punishment.

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Turning to the New Testament, Ehrman emphasizes that even passages often cited—such as the “lake of fire” in Revelation or Jesus’ warnings about fire—do not describe eternal torment. Instead, they reflect a belief in annihilation: the wicked are ultimately destroyed, not endlessly tortured. This aligns with Jewish apocalyptic thought, where a future resurrection leads either to eternal life or permanent destruction.

The idea of hell as eternal suffering, Ehrman argues, emerges later as Christianity spreads into the Greek world. Influenced by Greek philosophy—especially the notion of an immortal soul—Christians began to reinterpret punishment as everlasting torment.

The episode concludes that the modern doctrine of hell is a theological development, not a teaching rooted in Jesus or the earliest biblical traditions.