When Jerome Translated the Bible: How Repentance Became a Ritual and Hell Took Center Stage

Sometimes things get lost in translation.

That may have happened with our understanding of Scripture—especially when it comes to repentance, righteousness, and hell.

As we explored in the previous article on Tertullian, early Latin translations of Scripture varied widely. With so many versions circulating—and with debates about key theological terms intensifying—the Emperor decided it was time to commission an official Latin translation. Enter Jerome.

When the New Testament was translated from Greek into Latin in the fourth century, small changes in wording led to big shifts in theology.

The man behind that translation, Jerome, was a brilliant scholar working in Bethlehem. His Latin version of the Bible, known as the Vulgate, became the official Bible of the Western Church for over a thousand years. Because of this, Jerome’s word choices carried enormous weight.

And a few of those choices changed everything.

The Greek and Latin Divide

Greek is a rich, nuanced language. The New Testament was written in Greek, and its words carry layers of meaning. Latin, while elegant and efficient, doesn’t always capture those same nuances. When Jerome translated Greek ideas into Latin, he sometimes had to pick just one Latin word where the Greek offered several shades of meaning.

Given these constraints—and wanting to make the translation more readable—Jerome used more of a thought-for-thought approach instead of a literal word-for-word translation. This may have opened the door for more of his interpretation of Scripture, shaped by the philosophical lens of his day.

That’s where some of our modern misunderstandings may have begun. Here are a few that stand out.

"Change Your Mind" Becomes "Do Penance"

In Greek, the word for repentance is metanoia. It literally means “to change one’s mind.” It’s about transformation—rethinking everything, turning around, and heading in a new direction.

But Jerome translated metanoia as "paenitentiam agite"—"do penance."

That one move shifted the focus of repentance from internal transformation to external performance. Instead of being an invitation to see differently and live differently, repentance became a demand to feel bad enough, say the right prayers, and perform the right rituals to earn forgiveness.

Over time, this shaped a whole system of penance. Confession. Contrition. Religious duty. Feeling sorry enough to deserve grace. Instead of being about freedom and renewal, repentance became a cycle of shame and rededication.

This cycle of shame-based repentance has appeared in much of the modern church. Author Wm. Paul Young once said, “Most churches are rededication machines.” That’s what happens when repentance gets paired with shame and reduced to “feeling sorry” for what we did. We loop through guilt and resolution without ever truly changing our minds.

Repentance in this context becomes more about what we’ve done than the mindset (and heartset) behind our actions. Behavior modification becomes the focus while the mind never gets changed.

But what if Jesus never said “do penance”? What if all he asked was: change your mind. He knew that behavior follows a changed mind.

The Mercy Seat Becomes Propitiation

The Mercy Seat was located on top of the Ark of the Covenant in the holiest place of the Jewish tabernacle and temples. Above the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod, and a sample of the manna stood angels overlooking the seat of mercy.

In Romans 3, Paul writes about “the righteousness of God... through faith for all who believe.” He goes on to describe Christ Jesus, "whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation" for our sins. But what does propitiation actually mean?

The Greek word Jerome was translating here is hilasterion. And it doesn’t mean propitiation—it means mercy seat.

God displayed Jesus publicly as the mercy seat. The place of His favor, once hidden in the Holy of Holies, now revealed for all to see.

Roman culture didn’t have much room for mercy, so it’s not surprising that Jerome struggled to find a Latin equivalent. Sadly, the word he chose—propitiation—doesn’t just obscure the meaning of hilasterion, it reverses it. Propitiation implies appeasing an angry god through sacrifice. This sounds more like the Roman god Apollo than the Father revealed by Jesus Christ.

Even today, most modern translations of Romans 3:25 still use propitiation, with only a few offering a footnote to explain that hilasterion refers to the mercy seat.

Covenant Faithfulness Becomes Legal Justice

Another major shift appears in Jerome’s translation of the Greek word dikaiosyne. This is usually rendered as righteousness, but its meaning, especially to a Hebrew reader, points to God’s covenant faithfulness—His unwavering commitment to keep His promises to Abraham and his descendants.

Jerome, however, translated dikaiosyne as iustitia—a Latin word referring to legal justice.

In this framework, God’s righteousness became about crime and punishment. Romans 3, read through this lens, sounds like a courtroom drama: humanity is guilty, and Jesus steps in to pay the penalty.

But when we read Romans 3 in light of the original Greek, a different story emerges:

But now, apart from the law, the dikaiosyne (covenant faithfulness) of God has been revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets— even the covenant faithfulness of God through Jesus Christ for all who believe. For all have missed the mark (hamartia, the Greek word translated sinned) and fall short of the glory of God, being dikaioumenoi (declared in the right, a derivative of dikaiosyne) by His grace through the redemption (think: a slave being ransomed) which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a hilasterion (mercy seat!) in His blood, through faith.
Romans 3:21-24

Let that sink in: God remains faithful to His covenant. We were unfaithful. So God, in Jesus, publicly displays mercy and redeems us.

Jerome’s choice of iustitia helped shift Christianity’s view of God from a covenant-keeping Father to a stern Judge. And with mercy turned into appeasement, the entire framework moved from relationship to retribution.

Hades, Sheol, and Gehenna Become "Hell"

With all this in mind, it’s not surprising that the Roman legal mindset also gave rise to a new word in Scripture: hell. Because when mercy becomes payment and faithfulness becomes justice, then someone must be punished.

In the Bible’s original languages, there are several different words for what happens after death:

Sheol (Hebrew): the grave, the pit—the shadowy realm of the dead.

Hades (Greek): the underworld, similar to Sheol.

Gehenna: a valley outside Jerusalem used as a metaphor for judgment—often a place of burning trash and remembered for child sacrifice.

But Jerome translated all of these words with one Latin term: "infernus"—the root of our English word hell.

That’s how a single term, hell, came to appear over a hundred times in Latin and many English Bibles—despite never being used in the Greek. Nuance was lost. The grave, the underworld, the metaphorical place of judgment—all were flattened into a fiery inferno.

From there, imagination took over. Hell became central to Western Christianity’s theology and evangelism. It was the stick used to drive people to God. Artists painted it. Preachers shouted about it. Whole doctrines were built around it. In many cases, the “good news” became framed around how to avoid going to hell.

But what if Jesus wasn’t talking about an eternal torture chamber? What if hell was a Roman fever dream—an image born of a brutal culture that crucified criminals and feared wrathful gods?

What If?

What if to repent simply means to change our minds?

What if hilasterion points not to appeasing wrath but to revealing mercy?

What if dikaiosyne is about God keeping His covenant promises—not punishing our failures?

And what if hell isn’t the centerpiece of the gospel at all?

What if Jerome, as brilliant as he was, made a few choices that skewed our vision of God?

And what if now, with fresh eyes and open hearts, we’re being invited to rediscover the original message?

Not a message of shame and torment.

But one of God's mercy and faithfulness.

Change your mind. Come home to the Father's mercy and faithfulness. The kingdom is here.