The Descent into Hell

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

            “He descended into hell…” is perhaps the single most misunderstood line in the Apostles’ Creed! A lot of folks just assume that Jesus descended to hell to continue His suffering. That’s what hell is, after all—a place of suffering.

            The fly in that ointment is Jesus’ own saying from the cross, “It is finished.” By Jesus’ own words, His redemptive work was accomplished on the cross. And with His dying breath, Jesus commended His spirit into His Father’s hands—hardly the words of one who is still suffering.

            So, what in the world is the descent into hell? We have three passages that can help us understand this strange point of teaching. First is Ephesians 4:8-9, “This is why it says: ‘When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.’ (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?)” I think most scholars understand this as a reference to the incarnation not to the descent into hell, but if it is an obscure reference to the descent into hell, the important words are that He took captives. Hold onto that for a second.

            The other two passages are in 1 Peter.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built (3:18-20).

For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit (1 Peter 4:6).

In the first passage, notice that Jesus went and preached to the souls in prison and He did it after He was made alive.

            So, what is the descent into hell? Some time, between the moment when Jesus was made alive in the tomb and the moment when He came out of the tomb, that is, sometime after nightfall on Holy Saturday, Jesus went to hell. He did it on the model of an ancient king who, having defeated his opponent, would hold a parade through the conquered foes capital city, often with the king and his nobles in chains as part of the procession. That is to say, Jesus descent into hell is part of His glorification. The victorious and risen One goes into His enemy’s capital and proclaims His triumph over His foe.

            As you can see, far from a moment of continued suffering, the descent into hell is part of Jesus’ Easter celebration. We can talk more about this tonight on Facebook Live. Hope to see you there!