Paradise And The Bosom Of Abraham

In some Christian circles, it is traditionally thought that Paradise was a part of Hades. According to this understanding, Hades is made up of two parts: Paradise and the bottomless pit. The bottomless pit, of course, was where the souls of the unsaved went when they died. Paradise, on the other hand, was the “good part” of Hades, where the souls of the saved went before the Crucifixion.

Many Christians think that before Jesus’ crucifixion, righteous people could not “go to heaven” when they died because at that time, Jesus had not yet died on the cross for their sin, and so they had to go to paradise instead. However, such a view is based upon the false idea that Jesus’ crucifixion was restricted by time, and did not have any effect until it occurred in History.

As biblical support for their concept of a dipartite Hades consisting of a “good part” and a “bad part,” many Christians point to the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19–31), where Jesus mentions the “bosom of Abraham,” which is often assumed to be the same thing as Paradise:

It should be noted, first and foremost, that Jesus was only telling a parable, and not narrating an account of events which occurred in reality. In context, this passage belongs in a series of parables, several of which are not explicitly stated to be parables. Moreover, Jesus introduces this parable in the same manner he introduces other parables: “There was a certain rich man” (v. 19). The Greek word for “certain”, tis, is used by Jesus to introduce other parables, like the Parable of the Great Banquet: “A certain (tis) man made a great supper and called many” (14:16).

In order to assert the validity of their doctrine of a dipartite Hades, many Christians claim that this passage was not a parable, but an account of actual events. As proof of this, they point to the fact that actual names are used (i.e., Lazarus and Abraham). However, this is clearly nothing but special pleading; there is no support for such a line of reasoning. Since when did the use of actual names necessarily indicate that a certain passage is not a parable but an account of actual events?

Probably the best evidence that this passage was not an account of reality is Jesus’ use of the term “bosom of Abraham.” You may search the entire Old Testament for yourself, and you would not find one occurrence of the “bosom of Abraham.” Why? Because it is not a biblical concept, but a Pharisaic one! The “bosom of Abraham” appears in the Talmud, which was written by the theological descendants of the Pharisees. When Rabbi Adda bar Ahabah died, he was said to be sitting “in the bosom of Abraham”:

היום יושב בחיקו של אברהם.
(BT Kiddushin 72B)

Today he sits in the bosom of Abraham.