Q. Would you infer that in Luke 16 you get two compartments in Hades—a great gulf fixed between, so that there is no passing between the two in the spirit-world, the occupants of the one in comfort and happiness, that of the other in suffering and misery? Also in 2 Corinthians 5 where we read, “To be absent from the body” is “to be present with the Lord,” if the spirit is in Hades what does this mean? In verse 17 we read, “If any man be is Christ, he is a new creature” (or, “there is a new creature”). Would it be Scriptural to say that it is the new man, that which we receive at new birth, that is present with the Lord?
To get a right idea of Hades you must look at it as in relation to Death. Hades is not a place, but a condition. Death is not a place, but a condition. Hades is the condition of the SOUL without the body; Death is the condition of the BODY without the soul. The condition of the soul of the unbeliever is one of suffering and misery; the condition of the soul of the believer, one of comfort and happiness. “The great gulf fixed” is a symbolical expression signifying the truth of the eternal separation between the believer and the unbeliever without the hope of a second chance.
If you apply the test of Hades being a condition and not a place you will find that this is the Scriptural thought. One striking instance is found in Revelation 20:14—“And Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.” This means that all the dead bodies being raised and the disembodied souls being re-united to the resurrected bodies, the individuals, who in their former state represented the conditions of Death and Hades, will be cast into the lake of fire. If Hades were a place then we should have the incongruous idea of a condition (Death) and a place (Hades) cast into a place (the Lake of fire). But keeping in mind that Hades is a condition and a counterpart to Death, all is simple and plain.
The whole of this and kindred themes have been dealt with in a pamphlet obtainable at our publishers, entitled, “Shall not the Judge … do right?” We advise you to procure a few copies and use them among your friends.
What we have said really answers the second part of the question also. Our correspondent can see the difficulty that believing Hades to be a place puts him in. Hades being a condition, that is not soul without body, the soul of the believer is happily present with the Lord. It is the believer himself, as identified with his soul, who is present with the Lord. The condition is one thing; the place is another. The condition is a disembodied soul, the place—with Christ. Don’t mix up condition and place—keeping these thoughts clear in your mind will solve your difficulties in understanding these things.
It is true that “new creation” only obtains before God, but that is linked up with us as individuals, who have been saved by the grace of God. How this can be is in the hands of God Himself.