Did Jesus Descend into Hell?
As a part of our worship service from time to time we read the Apostle's Creed. In many churches the line "He descended into hell" is omitted. Traditionally at Zion it has been left in although there are varying opinions on the question. I thought I would share some perspectives on this line from a well written statement of our faith.
There are two passages in the New Testament that, taken a certain way, would seem to indicate that Jesus did descend into hell. One is in Ephesians 4:9 where it says that Christ descended into the lower parts of the earth. Some have taken this to refer to hell. I would say that this probably means that he descended to the earth, which is the lower parts. Scholars point out that the "of" there doesn't mean that he is going under the earth. So this verse is not a conclusive proof that Jesus descended into hell.
The main text referred to is 1 Peter 3:18-20 where it says that Christ went to speak to the spirits who are now in bondage. A good summary of the possible positions is offered by John Piper "That is, they have died—having lived in the days of Noah—and they are now in bondage; and Christ went to speak to them. Some take that to mean that between Good Friday and Easter Christ went to hell and he preached the gospel there. Others believe it means that when these people were alive in the days of Noah, in the Spirit Christ spoke to them through the preaching of Noah; and now they are in prison." I lean more toward the latter explanation because it fits with overall context of slavation in the Bible best.
I also am impacted by Jesus' words on the cross when he said to the thief, "Today you will be with me in paradise." That's the only clue we have as to what Jesus was doing between death and resurrection. In my study of the pasages I would conclude that the text does not indicate Jesus descended into hell.
I would ask you to examine the passages yourself and see whether you think there are other foundations for the idea that Jesus did descend into hell. If you agree that he did say the statement in the creed, if you believe he did not then don't say that part of the creed. It is a great question that we can examine and end up loving people on both side of it.
We will look at more of these types of questions in the future as well.
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