Before the 4th century CE, many early church fathers retained a strongly Hebraic view of death and the intermediate state.
In this view, the souls of the dead do not yet enjoy their final reward or punishment, but rather wait in a hidden realm (often called Hades, Sheol, or the place of waiting) until the final resurrection and judgment.
Here’s a list of the most notable early church fathers before the 4th century CE who clearly or implicitly taught this Hebraic “Sheol-like” concept.
Note - Sources cited come from English translations of the Ante-Nicene Fathers (ANF),
Irenaeus, Against Heresies V.31.2
“Since, then, the Lord went away in the midst of the shadow of death, where the souls of the dead were, yet afterwards arose in the body, and after the resurrection was taken up into heaven, it is manifest that the souls of His disciples also, upon whose account the Lord underwent these things, shall go away into the invisible place allotted to them by God, and there remain until the resurrection, awaiting that event; then receiving their bodies, and rising in their entirety, that is bodily, just as the Lord arose, they shall come thus into the presence of God.”
ANF 1 → Book V ch. 31
Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho ch. 80
"For if you have fallen in with some who are called Christians, but who do not admit this [the truth of the resurrection], and who venture to blaspheme the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; who say there is no resurrection of the dead, and that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven; do not imagine that they are Christians.."
ANF 1 → Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 80
Tertullian, On the Soul ch. 55
“All souls, therefore, are shut up within Hades: do you admit this? … The bosom of Abraham, although it is a place of blessed repose, yet is a part of Hades, and not in heaven.”
ANF 3 → On the Soul ch. 55
Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh ch. 17
“Paradise, you must understand, to be a certain place appointed by God, as the receptacle of souls, even a spot in the lower parts of the earth, as is plain from the circumstances of the Lord’s descent thither.”
ANF 3 → Resurrection ch. 17
Hippolytus, Against Plato, on the Cause of the Universe ch. 1
“Hades is a place in the created system, rude, a locality beneath the earth, in which the light of the world does not shine; and since the sun does not shine there, there must necessarily be perpetual darkness. This locality has been destined to be as a guard-house for souls, at which the angels are stationed as guards, distributing temporary punishments according to every one’s deeds.”
ANF 5 → Against Plato ch. 1
Lactantius, Divine Institutes VII.21
“All souls are kept in the lower regions until the day of judgment; and then those whose deeds have been good shall rise again to eternal life, and those whose works have been evil shall be condemned to eternal punishment.”
ANF 7 → Book VII ch. 21
Clement of Rome, 1 Clement ch. 50
“Let us consider all the generations from Adam even unto this day: every generation hath passed away; and those who, through the grace of God, have been made perfect in love, now possess a place among the godly, and shall be made manifest in the revelation of the kingdom of Christ.”
ANF 1 → 1 Clement ch. 50
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9
“These also are those who have fallen asleep in righteousness and great purity, and have suffered much for the name of the Lord. These, therefore, are distinguished from the rest of the righteous, because they have suffered for the name of the Son of God. … They are set apart in a certain place until the building of the tower be finished.”
ANF 2 → Similitude 9
For background, see Sheol.
Btw. The shift from the early Hebraic view of a waiting state in Sheol/Hades to the later Christian belief in an immediate ascent to heaven was not sudden but the result of several overlapping forces.
The most significant intellectual influence was Greek philosophy. As Christianity transitioned from its Jewish roots into the Greco-Roman world, it adopted categories from Platonism and later Neoplatonism.
These philosophies viewed the soul as an immortal, immaterial essence temporarily imprisoned in a corruptible body. Death, therefore, was understood as the liberation of the soul, which ascended immediately to a higher realm.
You may have noticed in the quotes above that several of the early church fathers reacted very forcefully against the growing Hellenistic reinterpretation of death, the afterlife, and the soul.
Many of them saw the Platonic “immortal soul escaping the body” idea as a direct threat to core Christian doctrines such as bodily resurrection, final judgment, and the unity of the human person.
Justin Martyr was one of the strongest opponents of the “soul goes to heaven at death” idea. In fact, he openly rebuked Christians of his own time who were already drifting in that direction.
I wonder what he'd think about beliefs in the church today?
As time progressed, these ideas continued to permeate Christian thought. The focus shifted from the biblical hope of bodily resurrection and a temporary underworld “waiting place” to the soul’s immediate postmortem destiny.
Over time, the resurrection remained "official" doctrine but no longer dominated the everyday imagination of believers. Instead, the Platonic concept of an instant heavenly afterlife became the intuitive expectation for most Christians.
