The Church generally does not interpret Ephesians 4:9 correctly. They falsely assume that the verse refers to Jesus descending *after* he died on the Cross. The correct interpretation is that Jesus *first* descended to the Womb of Mary...
John 6:38
"For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."
Ephesians 4:9 is referring to the descent of Jesus when he *first* came down, i.e., to incarnate.
We have confirmation here...
Psalms 139:15
"My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth."
Thus, both lowest and lower parts of the Earth are euphemism for the Womb.
Read it again with Psalms 139:15 in mind...
Ephesians 4:9
Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
According to some Scholars, Jesus went to Hell...
...some interpret this of Christ's descent into hell, which must be understood not locally, but of his enduring the wrath of God for sin, which was equivalent to the torments of hell, and of his being in the state of the dead;
Really? Let us keep reading...
...but it may rather design the whole of his humiliation, as his descent from heaven and incarnation in the virgin's womb, where his human nature was curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth;
And there we have it. Jesus *first* descended into the Womb of Mary, i.e., the lower parts of the Earth.
Jonah was in the 'belly', again another reference to the Womb.
