In Luke 16:19-31, we find Jesus’ famous story about a rich man who went to torment after death, while Lazarus, a poor man who had passed a miserable existence outside the rich man’s gate, went to “Abraham’s bosom”. Does not this passage, then, teach that the wicked pass at death to torment in hell, while the righteous go immediately to bliss? My answer, and that of most reputable scholars today, is: no.
First, there is no doubt that this is a parable, not a report of actual events. It begins the same way many parables do: “There was a (rich) man…” (verse 19; compare Luke 16:1, 15:11, 14:16). As Craig Blomberg puts it, therefore, this is undoubtedly “a fictitious narrative.”1
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Author: Warren Prestidge
Keywords: Rich man, Rich Man and Lazarus, Lazarus, Dives, Hades, Hell, Hell torments, Immortal soul, Immortal spirit, Abraham's bosom, Tormented in hell, Egyptian folk talk, Egyptian afterlife, Egyptian after life, Two funerals
Bible reference(s): Luke 16:19-31
Source: “From Life, Death and Destiny.”
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.