The Apostles' Creed...HE DESCENDED INTO HELL, THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD [Ecumenical]

WorkofGod.org ^ | October 27, 1998 | Robert M. Haddad

[Salvation]

 

HE DESCENDED INTO HELL,
THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE
AGAIN FROM THE DEAD

"The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day" (St. Matt. 17, 22-23).

At the moment of Our Lord’s death His soul descended into that part of hell called otherwise known as the Limbo of the Patriarchs or Abraham's Bosom - the place where the souls of the Just who died before Christ were detained: "For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth" (St. Matt. 12, 40). Christ announced the glad tidings of Redemption to them, and their approaching admission into heaven with Him on Ascension Day: "he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison" (1 Pet. 3, 19). Our Lord’s very presence transformed Limbo into a delightful paradise, as we gather from His words to the Good Thief: "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (St. Luke 23, 43).

It is also an expressed opinion that Christ visited purgatory, to console and comfort the souls suffering there: "I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth, and will behold all that sleep, and will enlighten all that hope in the Lord" (Sir. 24, 45).

For three days Christ’s soul was separated from His body, yet His divinity was never for a moment separated from either. On the third day, Christ, by His own divine power, reunited His soul to His body and rose again immortal and impassable: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (St. John 2, 19); "I lay down my life in order to take it up again" (St. John 10, 17).

After His Resurrection, Christ retained in His body the marks of His sufferings: "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe" (St. John 20, 27). These marks will ever remain to show that He rose again in the same body, and as tokens of His victory over sin and death.

Moreover, having risen with the same but glorified body Christ is no longer subject to death, as were those He miraculously raised to life. Further, He is the principle and cause of the future General Resurrection of all the dead: "for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ" (1 Cor. 15, 22).

On the fact of the Resurrection rests our belief in Christianity: "and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain..." (1 Cor. 15, 14). There are ten accounts given in Sacred Scripture of Christ's appearances after His Resurrection:

(i) To St. Mary Magdalen near the Sepulcher while she was looking for Christ's body (St. John 20, 16);

(ii) To the holy women returning from the Sepulcher after being shown the empty tomb by the angel (St. Matt. 28, 9);

(iii) To Simon Peter alone as Head of the Apostles (St. Luke 24, 34);

(iv) To the two disciples on the road to Emmaus to whom Christ expounded all the Scriptures concerning himself from Moses and the Prophets (St. Luke 24, 25);

(v) To the Apostles assembled behind locked doors, excepting St. Thomas, on the first Easter Sunday (St. John 20, 21);

(vi) A week later to all of the Apostles behind the same locked doors, including St. Thomas (St. John 20, 28);

(vii) To St. Peter and six other Apostles while fishing fruitlessly upon the Sea of Galilee (St. John 21, 7);

(viii) To the eleven Apostles in Galilee upon a mountain where Jesus had bidden them meet him (St. Matt. 28, 16);

(ix) To St. James the Less as recounted by St. Paul (1 Cor. 15, 7);

(x) On the day of His Ascension from Mount Olivet in front of as many as five hundred people (Acts 1, 9).

The Apostles were to go on and preach Christ’s Resurrection before the very Jewish leaders who put Him to death. They preached this truth to an incredulous world, filled with the unction of the Holy Spirit, braving persecution, imprisonment and death: "And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus" (Acts 13, 32-33).

The Fathers:

St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5, 31, 2 (C. 180 AD):

"For since the Lord went away into the midst of the shadow of death where the souls of the dead were, and afterwards arose in the body, and after the resurrection was taken up, it is clear that the souls also of His disciples, on account of which the Lord underwent these things, will go away into the place allotted them by God."

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 4, 11 (C. 350 AD):

"(Christ) descended into the subterranean regions so that He might ransom from there the just...David was there, and Samuel, and all the Prophets; and John, the same who, through his messengers, said: ‘Are You the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ Would you not want Him to go down to free such men as these?"

St. Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism 1 (Post 383 AD):

"God (the Son) did not impede death from separating His soul from His body according to the necessary order of nature, but has reunited them to one another in the resurrection, so that He Himself might be, in His person, the meeting point for death and life, by arresting in Himself the decomposition of nature produced by death and so becoming the source of reunion for the separated parts."

St. Augustine of Hippo (+430 AD), Commentary on Psalm 120 4:

"It is no great thing to believe that Christ died. This the pagans, Jews, and all the wicked believe; in a word, all believe that Christ died. But that He rose from the dead is the belief of Christians. To believe that He rose again, this we deem of great moment."

Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566):

Finally, the Resurrection of our Lord, as the pastor should inculcate, was necessary to complete the mystery of our salvation and redemption. By His death Christ liberated us from sin; by His Resurrection, He restored to us the most important of those privileges which we had forfeited by sin. Hence these words of the Apostle: He was delivered up for our sins, and rose again for our justification. That nothing, therefore, may be wanting to the work of our salvation, it was necessary that as He died, He should also rise again.

Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992):

No. 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. 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.

No. 639: The mystery of Christ’s resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness. In about AD 56, St. Paul could already write to the Corinthians: "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve..." The Apostle speaks here of the living tradition of the Resurrection which he had learned after his conversion at the gates of Damascus.

No. 655: Finally, Christ’s Resurrection - and the risen Christ himself - is the principle and source of our future resurrection: "Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep...For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive..."

[Salvation]

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[Salvation]

Catholic Discussion Ping!

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[Radix]

Execution on Friday, resurrection on Sunday: That is three days alright.

[Salvation]

The Apostles' Creed in the Scriptures, the Fathers, and the Catechisms [Ecumenical] (I believe in God the Father Almighty

The Apostles' Creed, the Scriptures,the Fathers,& Catechisms Creator of Heaven & Earth. Man, Angels [Ecumenical]

The Apostles' Creed in the Scriptures, the Fathers, and the Catechisms: AND IN JESUS CHRIST, HIS ONLY SON, OUR LORD [Ecumenical]

Apostles' Creed...WHO WAS CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY [Ecumenical]

The Apostles' Creed: SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DIED AND WAS BURIED [Ecumenical]

The Apostles' Creed...HE DESCENDED INTO HELL, THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD [Ecumenical]

[xjcsa]

Execution on Friday, resurrection on Sunday: That is three days alright.

Yes, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are three days. Not all cultures have always used the same language to describe the passage of time.

[Radix]

"Not all cultures have always used the same language to describe the passage of time."

True indeed.

I notice that not all cultures interpret Matthew 23:9 the same way either.

[lightman]

In the 2007 hymnbook Evangelical Lutheran Worship used by some congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America the phrase has been softened to "he descended to the dead"...supposedly because an ecumencial consultation on Common Texts has said to do so.

Strange, because the "full communion partner" Episcopal Church holds as ¶III of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Relgion:

III. Of the going down of Christ into Hell.

As Christ died for us, and was buried; so also it is to be believed, that he went down into Hell.

[Salvation]

Some Catholic Churches too, say descended to the dead. I personally do not like it, because I don’t think it tells the entire truth.

Of course, there is always the question, “Was there even a hell back then? Was there even a heaven back then?”

Christ said to the Good Thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Was Paradise a waiting place for all the souls bound for heaven? We read about free spirits in one of the Gospels roaming around Jerusalem, raised from their tombs. It is all very interesting to me.

I believe that Christ was the first one into heaven followed, of course, by the Good Thief, and of course, then by all the souls who had been waiting.

And the flip side of this discussion might be “Where were Moses and Elijah if they were assumed bodily into heaven as seemingly they were when we witness the “Transfiguration.” Oh, the questions I have for Christ................LOL!

[Radix]

"Christ said to the Good Thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

I have heard it said that that promise was actually made before the dispensation of Grace!

In other words, it was before the Church (Ecclesia) was established on Earth.

---

 

ec·cle·si·a (-klzh-, -z-)

n. pl. ec·cle·si·ae (-zh-, -z-)

1. The political assembly of citizens of an ancient Greek state.

2. A church or congregation.

---

[Latin ecclsia, from Greek ekklsi, from ekkalein, to summon forth : ek-, out; see ecto- + kalein, kl-, to call; see kel-² in Indo-European roots.]

[lightman]

Karl Barth said that time only has meaning for those who are going to die. For eternal beings all “times” are now, or, as declared in Psalm 90 “a thousand ages in your sight are like a single evening”. Even if the general resurrection of the dead is not for several more millenia the Good Thief is still with Christ “today”.

[luckystarmom]

My daughters are having to memorize the Apostle’s Creed right now for school. They say descended into Hell. They go to a Christian school sponsored by a Christian Reformed Church.

[xjcsa]

I notice that not all cultures interpret Matthew 23:9 the same way either.

Or Matthew 24:34.

[Salvation]

**They say descended into Hell.**

That is great!

[Invincibly Ignorant]

And the flip side of this discussion might be “Where were Moses and Elijah if they were assumed bodily into heaven as seemingly they were when we witness the “Transfiguration.” Oh, the questions I have for Christ................LOL!

Uh, I kinda hate to be the one to have an answer for ya so soon. But ok. Pssssssst, according to the writings you Catholics claimed to have compiled, the transfiguration was only a vision. See below.

Matthew 17:9 And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. 9And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.

[poinq]

Here is what I have been reciting for the past 40 years.

Profession of Faith:

[On Sundays and solemnities, the Nicene Creed is normally recited by everyone after the homily. The Apostles’ Creed may be used instead, esp. in celebrations of Masses with children.]

NICENE CREED:
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
[bow during the next two lines:]
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered, died, and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
APOSTLES’ CREED:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.

Amen.

[thefrankbaum]

Heck, I imagine some people even have different takes on Matthew 5:29-30!

[A.A. Cunningham]

"Because Christ also died once for our sins, the just for the unjust: that he might offer us to God, being put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit, In which also coming he preached to those spirits that were in prison: Which had been some time incredulous, when they waited for the patience of God in the days of Noe, when the ark was a building: wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water." 1 Peter 3:18-20

"Who shall render account to him, who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For, for this cause was the gospel preached also to the dead: that they might be judged indeed according to men, in the flesh; but may live according to God, in the Spirit." 1 Peter 4:5-6

"Chap. 3, Ver. 19. Spirits that were in prison. See here a proof of a third place, or middle state of souls: for these spirits in prison, to whom Christ went to preach after His death, were not in heaven; nor yet in the hell of the damned: because heaven is no prison: and Christ did not go to preach to the damned." St. Jerome's commentary.

[Invincibly Ignorant]

happy for ya

[Petronski]

VISION
G3705

ὅραμα

horama
hor’-am-ah
From G3708; something gazed at, that is, a spectacle (especially supernatural): - sight, vision.

[Invincibly Ignorant]

webster online

1 a: something seen in a dream, trance, or ecstasy; especially : a supernatural appearance that conveys a revelation b: a thought, concept, or object formed by the imagination c: a manifestation to the senses of something immaterial

2 a: the act or power of imagination b (1): mode of seeing or conceiving (2): unusual discernment or foresight c: direct mystical awareness of the supernatural usually in visible form