Jesus' descent into hell

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

We talk about Christ's passion a lot (as we should!). However, I'd like to share a bit about what went on between Jesus' crucifixion & resurrection: his descent into hell. I wanted to share this & leave it open for good discussion.

I find it comforting, in an odd way, as I go deeper into the evils of the world, and they sometimes threaten to overwhelm me; it's comforting to unite my sufferings with this part of His Passion, and know that He also was surrounded by evil. One of the greatest & most unique parts of our Christian faith is the fact that suffering draws us closer to God, uniting us with the suffering that He Himself suffered for all of us.

(Side note: Here's a great talk about anti-fragile faith, staying strong against suffering; it's about 45 minutes long, but one of the best talks I've seen.)

Anyway, this is from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the collection of all the teachings of Catholicism:

ARTICLE 5
"HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN"

631 Jesus "descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens."476 The Apostles' Creed confesses in the same article Christ's descent into hell and his Resurrection from the dead on the third day, because in his Passover it was precisely out of the depths of death that he made life spring forth:



Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.477
Paragraph 1. Christ Descended into Hell

632 The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was "raised from the dead" presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection.478 This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.479

633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God.480 Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom":481 "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell."482 Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.483

634 "The gospel was preached even to the dead."484 The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfilment. This is the last phase of Jesus' messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ's redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.

635 Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."485 Jesus, "the Author of life", by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage."486 Henceforth the risen Christ holds "the keys of Death and Hades", so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."487



Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him - He who is both their God and the son of Eve. . . "I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead."488
IN BRIEF

636 By the expression "He descended into hell", the Apostles' Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil "who has the power of death" (Heb 2:14).

637 In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven's gates for the just who had gone before him.



476 Eph 4:9-10.
477 Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 18, Exsultet.
478 Acts 3:15; Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 15:20; cf. Heb 13:20.
479 Cf. 1 Pet 3:18-19.
480 Cf. Phil 2:10; Acts 2:24; Rev 1:18; Eph 4:9; Pss 6:6; 88:11-13.
481 Cf. Ps 89:49; 1 Sam 28:19; Ezek 32:17-32; Lk 16:22-26.
482 Roman Catechism I, 6, 3.
483 Cf. Council of Rome (745): DS 587; Benedict XII, Cum dudum (1341): DS 1011; Clement VI, Super quibusdam (1351): DS 1077; Council of Toledo IV (625): DS 485; Mt 27:52-53.
484 1 Pet 4:6.
485 Jn 5:25; cf. Mt 12:40; Rom 10:7; Eph 4:9.
486 Heb 2:14-15; cf. Acts 3:15.
487 Rev 1:18; Phil 2:10.
488 Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday: PG 43, 440A, 452C; LH, Holy Saturday, OR.


May God bless us all & guide us through suffering with His eternal love!

 

[Gregory Thompson]

We talk about Christ's passion a lot (as we should!). However, I'd like to share a bit about what went on between Jesus' crucifixion & resurrection: his descent into hell. I wanted to share this & leave it open for good discussion.

I find it comforting, in an odd way, as I go deeper into the evils of the world, and they sometimes threaten to overwhelm me; it's comforting to unite my sufferings with this part of His Passion, and know that He also was surrounded by evil. One of the greatest & most unique parts of our Christian faith is the fact that suffering draws us closer to God, uniting us with the suffering that He Himself suffered for all of us.

May God bless us all & guide us through suffering with His eternal love!

One of the things I relate most closely to in the catechism is the part in the sacraments that talks about uniting a sick person to the passion of Christ so that their illness can be part of the saving work of Christ.

I had a similar experience minus a priest doing a sacrament, and am aware of "sin" around me, and dealing with it is quite an ordeal ... but not as much as it used to be. I think God may have given me a way to stand up under it.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

We talk about Christ's passion a lot (as we should!). However, I'd like to share a bit about what went on between Jesus' crucifixion & resurrection: his descent into hell. I wanted to share this & leave it open for good discussion.

I find it comforting, in an odd way, as I go deeper into the evils of the world, and they sometimes threaten to overwhelm me; it's comforting to unite my sufferings with this part of His Passion, and know that He also was surrounded by evil. One of the greatest & most unique parts of our Christian faith is the fact that suffering draws us closer to God, uniting us with the suffering that He Himself suffered for all of us.

(Side note: Here's a great talk about anti-fragile faith, staying strong against suffering; it's about 45 minutes long, but one of the best talks I've seen.)

Anyway, this is from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the collection of all the teachings of Catholicism:

ARTICLE 5
"HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN"

631 Jesus "descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens."476 The Apostles' Creed confesses in the same article Christ's descent into hell and his Resurrection from the dead on the third day, because in his Passover it was precisely out of the depths of death that he made life spring forth:



Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.477
Paragraph 1. Christ Descended into Hell

632 The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was "raised from the dead" presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection.478 This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.479

633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God.480 Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom":481 "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell."482 Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.483

634 "The gospel was preached even to the dead."484 The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfilment. This is the last phase of Jesus' messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ's redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.

635 Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."485 Jesus, "the Author of life", by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage."486 Henceforth the risen Christ holds "the keys of Death and Hades", so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."487



Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him - He who is both their God and the son of Eve. . . "I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead."488
IN BRIEF

636 By the expression "He descended into hell", the Apostles' Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil "who has the power of death" (Heb 2:14).

637 In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven's gates for the just who had gone before him.



476 Eph 4:9-10.
477 Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 18, Exsultet.
478 Acts 3:15; Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 15:20; cf. Heb 13:20.
479 Cf. 1 Pet 3:18-19.
480 Cf. Phil 2:10; Acts 2:24; Rev 1:18; Eph 4:9; Pss 6:6; 88:11-13.
481 Cf. Ps 89:49; 1 Sam 28:19; Ezek 32:17-32; Lk 16:22-26.
482 Roman Catechism I, 6, 3.
483 Cf. Council of Rome (745): DS 587; Benedict XII, Cum dudum (1341): DS 1011; Clement VI, Super quibusdam (1351): DS 1077; Council of Toledo IV (625): DS 485; Mt 27:52-53.
484 1 Pet 4:6.
485 Jn 5:25; cf. Mt 12:40; Rom 10:7; Eph 4:9.
486 Heb 2:14-15; cf. Acts 3:15.
487 Rev 1:18; Phil 2:10.
488 Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday: PG 43, 440A, 452C; LH, Holy Saturday, OR.


May God bless us all & guide us through suffering with His eternal love!

There is a bit of a spanner in the works about Jesus descending into Hell. When Jesus died, He gave up His spirit to the Father's hands. So, His spirit didn't go to hell; it went into the hands of the Father who is in heaven. Also, Jesus said to the penitent thief: "Today you will be with Me in Paradise". So, the very day that Jesus and the thief died, they both went to Paradise, not to hell.

Actually, although the Catechism says that Jesus went to hell, the Bible doesn't. In fact, the two things I just mentioned shows that Jesus went to Paradise, not hell at all!

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

There is a bit of a spanner in the works about Jesus descending into Hell. When Jesus died, He gave up His spirit to the Father's hands. So, His spirit didn't go to hell; it went into the hands of the Father who is in heaven. Also, Jesus said to the penitent thief: "Today you will be with Me in Paradise". So, the very day that Jesus and the thief died, they both went to Paradise, not to hell.

Actually, although the Catechism says that Jesus went to hell, the Bible doesn't. In fact, the two things I just mentioned shows that Jesus went to Paradise, not hell at all!

Who says He didn't do both? Accompany the criminal to heaven, then go burst the chains of the Realm of the Dead?

May God bless us all!

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Who says He didn't do both? Accompany the criminal to heaven, then go burst the chains of the Realm of the Dead?

May God bless us all!

That is quite possible. If He did go to the Realm of the Dead, then He went as victor. He did not go to Hell to be punished and tormented for our sins. He took the complete wrath of God and our punishment for sin while He was on the cross. When He died He gave up His spirit to the Father.

 

[samwise gamgee]

Before the death of Jesus all the dead, good and bad alike, went to Sheol. In the account of Lazarus and the rich man, in Luke 16, the rich man was able to see and speak to Abraham, which shows that both of them were in Hades. Jesus obviously went to Hades to take out the righteous dead and bring them to Paradise.

 

[Rubiks]

*Hades

 

[PROPHECYKID]

There is a bit of a spanner in the works about Jesus descending into Hell. When Jesus died, He gave up His spirit to the Father's hands. So, His spirit didn't go to hell; it went into the hands of the Father who is in heaven. Also, Jesus said to the penitent thief: "Today you will be with Me in Paradise". So, the very day that Jesus and the thief died, they both went to Paradise, not to hell.

Actually, although the Catechism says that Jesus went to hell, the Bible doesn't. In fact, the two things I just mentioned shows that Jesus went to Paradise, not hell at all!

I disagree with both of you. Lets agree on the fact that Jesus did not ascend to heaven. Jesus himself said that he had not yet ascended to the father in heaven.

The bible does say his spirit returned to God and according to Eccesiastes 12:7, that is what is supposed to happen. We can discuss later what the spirit is.

But did Jesus go to paradise on that very day? I believe that in that verse the comma is misplaced and it should be placed before the word today/ As you know, punctuation were added by translators to help us understand better. Now Jesus died on friday, the thief did not. The thieves legs were broken and taken down from the cross because the Sabbath (a new day) was commencing but Jesus was already dead. So if Jesus was telling the thief he would be with him in paradise that very day, it won make sense as the thief did not die that very day.

But even more, where does scripture tell us that paradise is?

2Co 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth such an one caught up to the third heaven.
2Co 12:3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth
2Co 12:4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

Paradise my friend is in the third heaven. Notice is says caught UP which means paradise is up, in the third heaven. But guess who dwells in the third heaven? God does.

Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Rev 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Rev 22:3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

So Jesus did not go to paradise on that day. He didn't go to down to what most people believe is hell either.

 

[PROPHECYKID]

Before the death of Jesus all the dead, good and bad alike, went to Sheol. In the account of Lazarus and the rich man, in Luke 16, the rich man was able to see and speak to Abraham, which shows that both of them were in Hades. Jesus obviously went to Hades to take out the righteous dead and bring them to Paradise.

That's a parable, not an account of something which actually happened.

 

[samwise gamgee]

That's a parable, not an account of something which actually happened.

How do you know that? If it is a parable it is completely unlike any other parable Jesus told. His parables described something his audience could see and showed how it expressed a truth. The account of Lazarus and the rich man described something no one had ever seen.

Lazarus and the rich man – parable or actual event?

 

[PROPHECYKID]

How do you know that? If it is a parable it is completely unlike any other parable Jesus told. His parables described something his audience could see and showed how it expressed a truth. The account of Lazarus and the rich man described something no one had ever seen.

Lazarus and the rich man – parable or actual event?

It is similar to other parables, the fact is that it accomplishes exactly what a parable is supposed to. Its a made up story to illustrate a moral lesson. There needs to be elements of the story that the hearers can relate to and we definitely get that in this parable. There are so many details you can easily miss if you take a surface level reading of the parable.

 

[Knee V]

The Parable of the Good Samaritan was a parable, but Samaria was real, inns were real, roads were real, and bands of thieves were real. The Parable of the Widow's Mite was a parable, but widows are real and coins are real.

Just because Christ told a parable that involved Hades/Sheol doesn't mean that it is not a real place and that the description isn't accurate. We wouldn't say that just because it was a parable that there is no such thing as a rich man or a beggar, or that people don't die.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

We talk about Christ's passion a lot (as we should!). However, I'd like to share a bit about what went on between Jesus' crucifixion & resurrection: his descent into hell. I wanted to share this & leave it open for good discussion.

I find it comforting, in an odd way, as I go deeper into the evils of the world, and they sometimes threaten to overwhelm me; it's comforting to unite my sufferings with this part of His Passion, and know that He also was surrounded by evil. One of the greatest & most unique parts of our Christian faith is the fact that suffering draws us closer to God, uniting us with the suffering that He Himself suffered for all of us.

(Side note: Here's a great talk about anti-fragile faith, staying strong against suffering; it's about 45 minutes long, but one of the best talks I've seen.)

Anyway, this is from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the collection of all the teachings of Catholicism:

ARTICLE 5
"HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN"

631 Jesus "descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens."476 The Apostles' Creed confesses in the same article Christ's descent into hell and his Resurrection from the dead on the third day, because in his Passover it was precisely out of the depths of death that he made life spring forth:



Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.477
Paragraph 1. Christ Descended into Hell

632 The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was "raised from the dead" presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection.478 This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.479

633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God.480 Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom":481 "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell."482 Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.483

634 "The gospel was preached even to the dead."484 The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfilment. This is the last phase of Jesus' messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ's redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.

635 Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."485 Jesus, "the Author of life", by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage."486 Henceforth the risen Christ holds "the keys of Death and Hades", so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."487



Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him - He who is both their God and the son of Eve. . . "I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead."488
IN BRIEF

636 By the expression "He descended into hell", the Apostles' Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil "who has the power of death" (Heb 2:14).

637 In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven's gates for the just who had gone before him.



476 Eph 4:9-10.
477 Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 18, Exsultet.
478 Acts 3:15; Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 15:20; cf. Heb 13:20.
479 Cf. 1 Pet 3:18-19.
480 Cf. Phil 2:10; Acts 2:24; Rev 1:18; Eph 4:9; Pss 6:6; 88:11-13.
481 Cf. Ps 89:49; 1 Sam 28:19; Ezek 32:17-32; Lk 16:22-26.
482 Roman Catechism I, 6, 3.
483 Cf. Council of Rome (745): DS 587; Benedict XII, Cum dudum (1341): DS 1011; Clement VI, Super quibusdam (1351): DS 1077; Council of Toledo IV (625): DS 485; Mt 27:52-53.
484 1 Pet 4:6.
485 Jn 5:25; cf. Mt 12:40; Rom 10:7; Eph 4:9.
486 Heb 2:14-15; cf. Acts 3:15.
487 Rev 1:18; Phil 2:10.
488 Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday: PG 43, 440A, 452C; LH, Holy Saturday, OR.


May God bless us all & guide us through suffering with His eternal love!

I was viewing on Youtube last night and he explained it quite well. He said that in the place of the dead (Sheol) there were two compartments. One was called Paradise, where Jesus and the penitent thief went, and the other was called hell where Satan, his demons, and the unrighteous dead went. When Jesus gave up His spirit, his body was dead and placed in the tomb, but His spirit was very active. He first went to Paradise, then to heaven to offer up His blood in the holy of holies, then went back to hell, bruised Satan's head, took the keys of death and hell, went back to Paradise, unlocked all the doors and freed the righteous dead and took them with Him to heaven. Then on the third day, He rose again from the dead. That was best best explanation that I have heard yet about what may have happened while the body of Jesus was in the tomb.