Mark W. Christy, PhD
The notion that Jesus descended into hell may have been popularized by the Apostle’s Creed which, though not approved by a single church or ecumenical council at one specific time, “gradually took shape from about A.D. 200 to 750.[i] The phrase, “descended into hell,” first appeared in the Arian version in A.D. 360.[ii] Tyrannius Rufinus (A.D. 345 to 411) observes that the phrase did not appear in the Roman version of the Apostle’s Creed, but does say it appeared in another version. Relying on the Greek version of the Creed which uses hades, Rufinus took this phrase as a reference to Christ’s entombment. If he is correct, his interpretation ends up forcing redundancy upon the Apostle Creed by following the phrase “was buried” with, according to Rufinus, “descended into the grave.”[iii] After Rufinus’s time, according to annals of Church history, the phrase does not appear again until A.D. 650 (approximately 250 years later) and ultimately becomes included in the final version written in A.D. 750.
Despite the somewhat sordid history of the phrase “descended into hell” in modern versions of the Apostle’s Creed, its inclusion and the confusion that it has wrought has led some to believe that Jesus actually went to hell. The website for Kenneth Copeland Ministries states unabashedly, “After the crucifixion, Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb, and His Spirit went to hell.”[iv] Apparently in agreement, Joyce Meyer believes that Jesus, during his internment, “entered hell and defeated Satan.”[v] Besides these members of the Word of Faith movement among many others, some Lutheran sects have embraced similar teachings. Among them, some adhere to the Formula of Concord, a creed written in A.D. 1577, which states that “Christ descended into hell, destroyed hell for all believers, and delivered them from the power of death and of the devil, from eternal condemnation and the jaws of hell.”[vi]
Given the dubious history behind the idea that Christ descended into hell and the widespread ascendency to this view, it is worthwhile to examine the Scriptures for evidence to support or reject this view. Among the multiple passages appealed to typically by adherents who contend for the descension of Christ into hell, Acts 2:27, Romans 10:6-7, Eph 4:8-9, 1 Peter 3:18-20, and 1 Peter 4:6 offer the best support. With this in view, this article will examine these texts to determine whether or not the Bible teaches that Christ actually descended into hell while in His grace and before His resurrection along with a few passages that appear to undermine this contention.
Quoting the words of David, who was speaking about Christ in Psalm 16:10, Luke writes that God “will not abandon [Christ’s] soul to Hades” (Acts 2:27).[vii] In the original text the Psalter employs the word sheol which can mean either the grave or death. Likewise, Luke uses the word Hades carries the same meaning. In the same verse, Luke additionally comments that God will not allow Christ to “undergo decay” even while He remains in the grave. From this, it would seem that Luke is demonstrating from the Old Testament that Christ was prophesied to be resurrected from the grave, unlike all other people whose physical bodies were left to rot (until the final resurrection in the end times).
Along with Acts 2:27, some turn to Romans 10:6-7 to support the view of Christ descending into hell. In this text, Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 30:13, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” Given that Romans was written well after Christ’s ascension, Paul could hardly be concerned about literally bringing Christ down from heaven or up from the dead as Christ by that time had arisen into glory and beyond the artifices of humanity. Instead, Paul wants these concerns to be avoided because Christ is near to all believers. As he mentions in the proceeding verse (Rom 10:8) by way of contrast with the quote taken from Deuteronomy, “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching.” Beyond these contextual clues, Paul also offers the linguistic clue by choosing to use abyssos (“abyss”) which refers to either the ocean depths or the realm of the dead. If he had wanted to imply that Christ descended into hell, he would have most likely used the most common term for it, gehenna.
In Ephesians 4:8-9, Paul quotes Psalm 68:18 and then asks a question: “’When He ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.’ (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?” The quoted Psalm rather clearly speaks, as the following verse (Ephesians 4:10 – “He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens”) makes evident, to the ascension of Christ. Confusion, however, begins to mount over the phrase “descended into the lower parts of the earth.” On the surface, the ambiguity of this phrase should serve as a warning to those who would use this verse to support a particular theological position. Thankfully, reconsidering this verse in the Greek will help the reader regain an assurance in the interpretation of this verse. From the context, it would seem that Paul is using a genitive of apposition, and therefore, one should read “lower parts of the earth” as “lower regions which are the earth.” Taken this way, the verse seems to be simply discussing Christ’s incarnation.
Perhaps the strongest support for the view that Christ descended into hell comes from 1 Peter 3:18-20 where the Apostle writes, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.” Based on this passage, some infer that Christ preached in hell “to the spirits now in prison” by either declaring the gospel of repentance and faith or simply declaring his victory over them. These understandings suffer in several ways when one considers the context. Peter is certainly not meaning all people who are spiritually imprisoned because he limits the group only to the unbelievers in the time of Noah’s ark. It would seem strange for Christ to only selectively preach to this group, especially given the absence of any further biblical evidence.
If Peter is indeed suggesting that Jesus went to hell to proclaim His victory, one wonders why Christ would have only made an arbitrary proclamation given the occasion. If, on the other hand, He went to preach the gospel to this select group from the pre-flood time of Noah, one can not help but question why Christ would not have offered repentance to all other condemned sinners. If Christ did indeed make such an offer of salvation while speaking to those imprisoned in hell, His efforts would have been a waste of time because the Bible plainly teaches that there is no other opportunity to receive salvation after one’s physical death (Luke 16:26; Heb 10:26-27).
Further evidence begins to mount against the idea that Christ preached in hell when one considers the context of this passage. In this section, Peter seems preoccupied with encouraging his readership to boldly declare the faith. He challenges them to “prove zealous for what is good,” to “not fear their intimidation,” to “not be troubled,” to “be ready to make a defense” of the faith, and to “keep a good conscience” (1 Peter 3:13-16).
Based on the preceding argumentation, it would seem that 1 Peter 3:18-20 is not referring to the descension into hell by Christ. To properly understand this text, Grudem harkens back to Augustine who believed that this passage discusses “what [Christ] did ‘in the spiritual realm of existence’ at the time of Noah.”[viii] He continues, “When Noah was building the ark, Christ ‘in spirit’ was preaching through Noah to the hostile unbelievers around him.”[ix] With the Petrine epistles, Peter does make similar statements. In 1 Peter 1:11, the Apostle notes that “the Spirit of Christ” was active the ministries of the Old Testament prophets. In 2 Peter 2:5, he refers to Noah as a “preacher of righteousness.” Taking these passages together with 1 Peter 3:18-20, it would seem that Peter is discussing Christ’s spiritual ministry via Noah to those alive while he was obeying God by constructing the Ark. While Peter does say that now (at the time of his writing) those unbelievers from the time of Noah are spiritually imprisoned, a careful look at this passage reveals that Peter could easily be saying that Christ spoke to them through Noah in ages past even though now they are beyond redemption.
The final text to be considered in this article as a possible support for teaching that Christ descended into hell is 1 Peter 4:6 where the Apostle states, “For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.” If one reads into this text the idea that Christ descended into hell, one would be forced to conclude that Peter is teaching a message that runs counter to Luke 16:19-31 and Hebrews 9:27, which both declare that there is no second opportunity to receive salvation after physical death. Even if one were to concede to this interpretation, one must demand further evidence because Christ is not directly mentioned in this passage.
To better explain Peter’s intent, one should understand the dead to be those who are spiritually dead although physically alive, as this is a somewhat common description of the unredeemed (Matt 8:22; Rom 4:17; 6:13; 8:10; Eph 2:1, 5; Col 2:13; 1 Tim 5:6; etc.). In the preceding verses (1 Peter 4:1-5), Peter discusses God’s judgement of the living and the dead immediately after explaining the differences between his Christian audience and the unbelieving Gentiles that surround them. From this, it would seem that Peter has living people in mind when he makes his remark in 1 Peter 4:6. With this in view, Peter is saying in this verse that the gospel is preached to the unsaved that they may be judged as sinners according to the flesh in the hope that they may receive life according to the spirit from God.
At this point, the common texts appealed to by those upholding the belief that Christ descended into hell have been examined. Now, some passages that seem to directly oppose this teaching will be considered. First, Jesus told the thief of the cross that he would be with Him “Today” in Paradise (Luke 23:43). This strongly suggests that Jesus remained alive according to the spirit and went to be with the Lord in heaven while entombed. While still on the cross, Jesus also cried, “It is finished” (John 19:30). This appears to accentuate that Christ’s suffering is over, and if so, it would seem improbable that he would venture into the place of eternal torment for three days. Finally, Jesus also spoke these words on the cross, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). Christ’s words here indicate that He expected to be received presently by the Father and not to be further disowned by being sent to hell.
In conclusion, the shaky history of the teaching on Christ’s descension into hell as evidenced by its non-inclusion in the Apostles Creed for several centuries of the Creed’s development along with it being found first among the heretical Arian sect reveals that this teaching should be viewed with circumspect. Along with its problematic provenance, this teaching lacks clear support from Scripture and even appears to run afoul of Christ’s final words on the cross.
[i]Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 586.
[ii]Philip Schaff, Ante-Nicene Christianity from the Death of John the Apostle to Constantine the Great A.D. 100-325, in vol. 2 of History of the Christian Church (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 532.
[iii]Grudem, Systematic Theology, 586-87.
[iv]Kenneth Copeland Ministries, “Question of the Day,” available at: https://www.kcm.org/read/questions/did-jesus-go-hell.
[v]Joyce Meyer, The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make: A Complete and Thorough Understanding of What It Means to Be Born Again (Tulsa, OK: Harrison, 1996), 39.
[vi]The Formula of Concord, available at: http://www.wolfmueller.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/
FormulaOfConcordEpitomeCover-1.pdf.
[vii]All Scripture references are taken from NASB1995.
[viii]Grudem, Systematic Theology, 591.
[ix]Ibid.