What is Tartarus?
Question 10122
Tartarus is the rarest of the New Testament terms for a place of punishment, occurring only once in the entire Bible, in 2 Peter 2:4. It is a word drawn from Greek mythology, and its single New Testament appearance has generated considerable discussion about who is held there, why they are there, and what relationship this place bears to Hades, Gehenna, and the broader biblical picture of divine judgement. Despite its rarity, the verse in which it appears reveals something significant about the angelic rebellion and the severity of God’s response to it.
The Text: 2 Peter 2:4
Peter writes: “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgement” (2 Peter 2:4). The word translated “cast them into hell” is the Greek verb tartaroo, meaning “to consign to Tartarus.” Peter does not use the word Hades or Gehenna here. He uses a term his Greek-speaking readers would have associated with the deepest, most secure prison in the underworld, the place in Greek mythology where the defeated Titans were confined beneath the earth.
Peter is not endorsing Greek mythology. He is borrowing a term his audience understood to describe the most severe form of divine imprisonment, and applying it to a specific category of fallen angels. The parallel passage in Jude 6 confirms the same reality: “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgement of the great day.”
Which Angels Are in Tartarus?
The angels confined in Tartarus are not the entire company of fallen angels. Demons are active in the world throughout Scripture, from the Gospels to the present age. Satan himself remains at large, though his ultimate defeat is certain. The angels in Tartarus represent a specific group whose sin was of such severity that God confined them immediately rather than permitting them to remain active.
The most widely held identification, particularly among dispensational interpreters, connects these imprisoned angels with the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:1-4, who took human women as wives and produced the Nephilim. This reading understands bene elohim (“sons of God”) as angelic beings, consistent with the usage in Job 1:6 and 2:1. Their sin was a violation of the created order so profound that God responded with immediate and permanent confinement. Jude’s description of angels who “left their proper dwelling” fits this interpretation well, as does Jude’s comparison with the sexual sin of Sodom and Gomorrah in the following verse (Jude 7), which describes those who pursued “unnatural desire,” literally “strange flesh.”
This is a working identification rather than a certainty, but it has strong exegetical support and accounts for why this particular group of fallen angels received treatment different from the rest.
Tartarus Distinguished from Other Terms
Tartarus is not Hades, though both are in the unseen realm. Hades is the broader intermediate holding place for the human dead; Tartarus is a specific place of confinement for a particular group of fallen angels. Tartarus is not Gehenna either; Gehenna (the Lake of Fire) is the final destination of all the wicked, both human and angelic, after the last judgement. Tartarus is the present prison from which these angels will eventually be brought to face the judgement of the great day. Their current confinement is not their final sentence but their pre-trial detention, held in chains of darkness until the appointed time.
So, now what?
Tartarus appears only once in Scripture, but its significance is not proportional to its frequency. It demonstrates that God takes the violation of His created order with absolute seriousness. Angels who crossed boundaries God had established found themselves immediately and permanently confined, with no opportunity for further rebellion. Peter’s point in context is pastoral and urgent: if God did not spare angels, He will certainly not spare false teachers who lead others astray. The judgement that fell on the most powerful of created beings will fall with equal certainty on any who defy the God who made them. That sobering reality runs through the whole of 2 Peter 2 and is meant to produce not terror in believers but confidence that God will vindicate the righteous and hold the wicked to account.
“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgement…” 2 Peter 2:4