Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

a. The words sheol and hades do not always denote a locality in Scripture, but are
often used in an abstract sense to designate the state of death, the state of the separation
of body and soul. This state is frequently locally conceived as constituting the realm of
death, and is sometimes represented as a stronghold with gates, which only he who has
the keys can lock and unlock, Matt. 16:18; Rev. 1:18. This local representation is in all
probability based on a generalization of the idea of the grave, into which man descends
when he enters the state of death. Since both believers and unbelievers at the
termination of their life enter into the state of death, it can very well be said figuratively
that they are without distinction in sheol or hades. They are all alike in the state of death.
The parallelism clearly shows what is meant in a passage like I Sam. 2:6: “Jehovah
killeth and maketh alive; He bringeth down to sheol, and bringeth up.” Cf. also Job
14:13,14; 17:13;14; Ps. 89:48; Hos. 13:14, and several other passages. The word hades is
evidently used more than once in the nonlocal sense of the state of the dead in the New
Testament, Acts 2:27,31; Rev. 6:8; 20:28. In the last two passages we have a
personification. Since the terms may denote the state of death, it is not necessary to
prove that they never refer to anything that concerns the righteous and the wicked
alike, but only that they do not denote a place where the souls of both are gathered. De
Bondt calls attention to the fact that in many passages the term sheol is used in the
abstract sense of death, of the power of death, and of the danger of death.
b. When sheol and hades designate a locality in the literal sense of the word, they
either refer to what we usually call hell, or to the grave. Descent into sheol is threatened
as a danger and as a punishment for the wicked, Ps. 9:17; 49:14; 55:15; Prov. 15:11; 15:24;
Luke 16:23 (hades). The warning and threatening contained in these passages is lost
altogether, if sheol is conceived of as a neutral place whither all go. From these passages
it also follows that it cannot be regarded as a place with two divisions. The idea of such
a divided sheol is borrowed from the Gentile conception of the underworld, and finds no
support in Scripture. It is only of sheol as the state of death that we can speak as having
two divisions, but then we are speaking figuratively. Even the Old Testament testifies to
it that they who die in the Lord enter upon a fuller enjoyment of the blessings of
salvation, and therefore do not descend into any underworld in the literal sense of the
word, Num. 23:5,10; Ps. 16:11; 17:15; 73:24; Prov. 14:32. Enoch and Elijah were taken up,
and did not descend into an underworld, Heb. 11:5 ff. Moreover, sheol, not merely as a
state, but also as a place, is regarded as in the closest connection with death. If the
Biblical conception of death is understood in its deep significance, in its spiritual
meaning, it will readily be seen that sheol cannot be the abode of the souls of those who
die in the Lord, Prov. 5:5; 15:11; 27:20.
759