Did Jesus descend into hell?

[BlindSeeker]

The following is some early creeds that do not mention Jesus going to hell . . . not until around 400 A.D.

Question is, why did the early church not include this in their statement of faith it Jesus did in fact descend into hell itself. Remember, our English translations are dated mush later than 400 A.D.

THE APOSTLES' CREED

THIRD CENTURY (?)

"The Symbolum Apostolorum was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. It is the most popular creed used in worship by Western Christians. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator. "Legend has it that the Apostles wrote this creed on the tenth day after Christ's ascension into heaven . . . each of the doctrines found in the creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The earliest written version of the creed is perhaps the Interrogatory Creed of Hippolytus below (c.215 A.D.).

INTERROGATORY CREED OF HIPPOLYTUS

Do you believe in God the Father All Governing? Do you believe in Christ Jesus, The Son of God, Who was begotten by the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary, Who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and die (and was buried) and rose again the third day living from the dead, and ascended into the heavens, and sat down on the right hand of God, and will come again to judge the living and the dead? Do you believe in the Holy Ghost, in the holy Church, and in the resurrection of the body?

Notice there is no mention of a descent into hell.

RULE OF FAITH

SECOND CENTURY, AS RECORDED BY IRENAEUS:

". . .this faith: in one God, the Father Almighty, who made the heaven and the earth and the seas and all the things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was made flesh for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who made known through the prophets the plan of salvation, and the coming, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily ascension into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and his future appearing from heaven in the glory of the Father to sum up all things and to raise anew all flesh of the whole human race. . ."

Again no mention of a descent into hell.

CREED OF MARCELLUS (340 A.D.)

I believe in God, All Governing; And in Christ Jesus His only begotten Son, our Lord, Who was begotten of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Marf, Who was crucified under Pontius Pilate and buried, Who rose from the dead on the third day, ascending to the heavens and taking His seat at the Father's right hand, whence He shall come to judge both the living and the dead; And (I) believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, life everlasting.

Again no mention of a descent into hell.

A BAPTISMAL CONFESSION

THIRD CENTURY, HIPPOLYTUS

"When the person being baptized goes down into the water, he who baptizes him, putting his hand on him, shall say:

[Xan]

It is my belief Jesus did not descend into hell but to the grave. The word 'sheol' can be translated either way, and that is probably where part of the hell doctrine came from. Although, I must admit the passage in Peter has always confused me because even if he did preach to those in hell as it seems to imply, that really wouldn't make any sense because judgement would have been sealed. My only speculation is He went to those who were in a place only mentioned as "Abraham's Bosom", which is also what Catholics call purgatory. The curtain in the temple was rent symbolizing we now have free access to God the Father through the blood of the Son. I believe this was also symbolic of what happened in the spirit world and the "curtain" between Abraham's Bosom and heaven was also ripped. In other words, Jesus did not actually minister to those in hell but to those whose bodies were in the grave and whose spirits were in Abraham's Bosom.

[EricH]

Just because the creeds to not mention something early on, does not mean the doctrine is invalid. Typically what the creeds adressed was necessitated in part by what the church was battling in terms of heresy. As the canon was closed, the scriptures became more available, and the key tenents of the faith became "stable", wider areas of theology were addressed.

To determine truth one should ot ask what the creeds teach. They simply help us understand the history of interpretation. One should ask what the scriptures teach. Neither should the timing of the development of a doctrine be a prime consideration. There can be many reasons for the late develppment of a doctrine. In some cases we cannot know why it was developed late. The timing of a doctrine does not determine its truth

[ParanoidAndroid]

I do not think Christ descended into "hell" in the sense the word was meant (ie, the place where the souls of the dead resided). Jesus was in the grave (same word, "sheol" - edit: oops, this is the Hebrew. "Hades", Gehenna", and "tartaros" are all variously translated as "hell" in the Greek. Sorry for the mix-up), but I have not read biblical evidence to support that he went into hell for those three days. Whenever we used to read the Apostles Creed at church, I always happen to accidentally fall silent during that sentence and pick straight up again in the next line. I say "used to" because sometime in the past couple of years, the Church heirarchy (pastors, leaders, etc) got together and agreed that we should leave that out of the Creed. So there's no need for me to fall silent.

Edited June 12, 2008 by ParanoidAndroid

[glorywatch]

The short answer to this question is: "No." The biblical authors were more accurate in their use of words than some of our Bible translators or creed writers. There are two Greek words for the abode of the dead. (Greek is the language in which the New Testament of the Bible was originally written.) Hell (Geenna in Greek, also called the lake of fire and the eternal fire) was made for the Devil and his minions (Matthew 25:41) and will be occupied by all the unrighteous after the last judgement (Revelation 19:20-21 and 20:10-15). There is no biblical evidence that anyone has gone there or will go there until after Jesus' Second Coming (Revelation 19:11-16). This includes Jesus Himself.

The other Greek word is Hadas (from which we get the English word Hades). This is the region of the dead. Before Jesus' ascension, the spirits of all people went to Hades. After His ascension, only the spirits of unbelievers go to Hades, while the spirits of believers go directly to be with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:1-8). It is into this region that Jesus entered after His crucifixion (Acts 2:25-31 in which Peter quotes from Psalm 16:9-10). Ephesians 4:8-10 says that Jesus, "had descended into the lower parts of the earth." This may also speak of Jesus' visit to Hades before His ascension. Finally, Romans 10:7 refers to Jesus in "the abyss" while He was among the dead. After the final judgment, Hades will be cast into Hell (Revelation 20:14). Therefore, the longer answer is: "Yes, Jesus descended into Hades but not into Hell."

[ParanoidAndroid]

The short answer to this question is: "No." The biblical authors were more accurate in their use of words than some of our Bible translators or creed writers. There are two Greek words for the abode of the dead. (Greek is the language in which the New Testament of the Bible was originally written.) Hell (Geenna in Greek, also called the lake of fire and the eternal fire) was made for the Devil and his minions (Matthew 25:41) and will be occupied by all the unrighteous after the last judgement (Revelation 19:20-21 and 20:10-15). There is no biblical evidence that anyone has gone there or will go there until after Jesus' Second Coming (Revelation 19:11-16). This includes Jesus Himself.

I don't really want to turn this into a debate on the nature of Hell, but why is it that "Hades" (a hole in the ground/the grave), "Gehenna" (a valley in Jerusalem where people burnt their garbage and sometimes their dead), and "tartaros" (only mentioned in 2 Peter 2:4 as a place of punishment for Satan and his demons) are considered by many Christians as the same place, along with the "Lake of Fire" mentioned in Revelation 19?

It's taking four separate words, each with different meanings, and then applying them all to be referring to the same thing. To me, that doesn't make sense.

Edited June 12, 2008 by ParanoidAndroid

[glorywatch]

Paranoid, I would love to say I understand it all but I don't. I do accept it because it's God's Word. Scripture tells us the things that have been revealed belong to man, the things that are secret belong to God (paraphrased) Deut 29:29

[Guest man]

Wherever He went, He went there for us.

[mizzdy]

Growing up I had always thought they were the same place and no one came along and set me straight until much later in my life. The man that became my husband dared me to take a look at the words and I was more than surprised to learn they were not all the same. One theory I have heard mentioned more than a few times is that Christ went down and 'preached' to the fallen angels, basically saying that all was on schedule just as had been planned. I don't understand it all either but each discussion I read it appears that most don't have the full understanding of it either so I feel like I am in good company.

[BlindSeeker]

It is my belief Jesus did not descend into hell but to the grave. The word 'sheol' can be translated either way, and that is probably where part of the hell doctrine came from. Although, I must admit the passage in Peter has always confused me because even if he did preach to those in hell as it seems to imply, that really wouldn't make any sense because judgement would have been sealed. My only speculation is He went to those who were in a place only mentioned as "Abraham's Bosom", which is also what Catholics call purgatory. The curtain in the temple was rent symbolizing we now have free access to God the Father through the blood of the Son. I believe this was also symbolic of what happened in the spirit world and the "curtain" between Abraham's Bosom and heaven was also ripped. In other words, Jesus did not actually minister to those in hell but to those whose bodies were in the grave and whose spirits were in Abraham's Bosom.

Hello Xan

I has addressed Peter's words in another thread about the angels in this post. However, I reposted the relevant part here for convenience.

1Pe 3:19 By which also He went and preached unto the

spirits in prison

;

20

Which sometime were disobedient, when

once the longsuffering of God waited

in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing

, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

What is clear in the verse above is that