Posted on 02/10/2015 8:55:01 AM PST by RnMomof7
On my personal blog, and through e-mail, I sometimes get reader requests for posts. People often have interesting questions about a wide variety of issues, and I do what I can to try to tackle reader questions when I can. One of my relatives sent me a question a little over a year ago, and seeing that I had the same question boiling around in my mind many years ago (before I figured it out), I’m thought I’d tackle it and clear up what is a somewhat common question.
The question has to do with whether or not Jesus went to Hell after the cross and why the Apostle’s Creed reads that Christ “descended into hell” (descendit ad inferna). The problem is confounded in that not only does the phrase appear in the Apostles Creed, but it also is arguably insinuated in Acts 2:25-31, Romans 10:6-7, Ephesians 4:7-10, 1 Peter 3:18-20 and 1 Peter 4:6 (though due to time I won’t tackle the biblical texts but rather leave that to people who have already done a far superior job to my possible offerings).[1] So how do we unpack this idea and figure out what is going on in the Apostles’ Creed?
Well, let’s start with the Apostles Creed itself. The Apostles Creed is unlike the Nicene Creed or the Chalcedonian Definition in that it wasn’t a creed written by a church council but rather a summary statement of belief that evolved from a Roman Baptismal formula in the 2nd century and was expanded and edited for roughly 5 centuries. The phrase “descended into hell” didn’t become a standard element of the Apostle’s Creed until at least the mid 7th century.[2] The first recorded occurrence of the phrase “descended into hell” appears in the version of the creed used in the church in Aquileia that is commented upon by Rufinus in his Commentary on the Apostle’s Creed (written around 404 AD). A digital and searchable copy of Rufinus’ work is here and he writes on the phrase “descended into hell”, saying:
Those who have handed down the Creed to us have most carefully specified the time at which these things were done, namely, ” under Pontius Pilate,” so that the tradition of these things should never in any respect vary, as though being vague or uncertain. Yet it should be known that the Creed of the Roman Church does not include the words ” He descended into Hell,” nor is this clause found in the Churches of the East. The meaning of the phrase, however seems to be the same as that of the words “He was buried.” (page 26)
So, even in Rufinus’ day there were multiple versions of the creed, some of which did not include the phrase, and even when it was included the phrase “descended into hell” was understood to refer to the grave. One reason for this would be that in the Old Testament, the place of the dead was called by the Hebrew term “She’ol”, which had a wide semantic range that included the place of post-mortem suffering, the place of post-mortem blessing, and the grave itself. In the day of Rufinus, She’ol was translated into Latin as inferna.[3] The person reading the Latin Old Testament (known as the Vulgate) would regularly see inferna used as the term referring the both the place in which the bodies of the dead were placed, as well as the place to which dead people went, and it would have been a relatively common term in the Latin Old Testament (She’ol occurs 65 times in the Hebrew Old Testament).
So, I’ll cut the Apostle’s Creed discussion short here since, well, that essentially answers the question. Now admittedly there’s lots of scholarly ink spilled here on which Early Church Fathers thought that Christ descended into Hell itself, whether or not they thought of inferna as “the grave” or something else, and what Christ did while in the inferna. This whole debate is interesting, but I’d suggest that the weight of the evidence clearly lies in favor of the understanding of Rufinus; that Christ’s descending into hell simply is another way of restating that he actually, physically died (and consequently was actually, physically resurrected).
In lieu of my rather long posts in my responses to Dr. Michael Brown’s book Authentic Fire, I thought I’d shift gears and toss something short and sweet up for you all!
You’re welcome!
[1] These passages are all thoroughly dealt with by Wayne Grudem and he convincingly argues the conclusion that the idea of Christ’s descent into Hell is nowhere to be found in the scripture. Wayne Grudem, “He Did Not Descend Into Hell: A Plea for Following Scripture instead of the Apostles Creed”, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 34 no. 1 (March 1991), 103-113. Also, for a comprehensive take on 1 Peter 3:18-20 (the main text that people appeal to for biblical support on this question), one should pick up William Kelly’s book Preaching to the Spirits in Prison, which goes through all 22 competing interpretations of 1 Peter 3:18-20 and gives the passage an exhaustive treatment.
I just got home after a long hard day.
However I will take time and prove what I say is true with scripture if you are really interested.
Thank you for confirmation of Gods awesome word.
Worship of men? The actual “worship of men” is holding to the “babblings” and errors of the “Reformers” and their theological descendants. Protestantism and its mutant offspring heresies have endangered countless souls for Hell — not the Christ-obedient teachings of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
Hell is in Michigan not New York State. They only have the kitchen. ;)
And then Gods anointed one died on the cross and everything changed. God had paid the price for mans sin. He took the keys to hell and death. He now has the right to take the scroll (deed to the earth) and break those seven seals.
A case can be made for them already being broken however a much better case can be made (IMO) that they will be broken during the first half of the final 7 years.
The Nicene creed I recite specifically says that Christ Jesus descended into Hell.
You would make a great apostle if you traveled back in time to 30 AD. Almost all your doctrine would line right up.
But then God revealed the mystery to Paul. The mystery being God was doing something nobody knew about (that’s the mystery part) He kept it hidden.
He would pour out his grace on those mangy flea ridden moralless dogs called gentiles aka heathens.
Also known as the body of Christ. Someday soon the last part of the body will be filled and God will blow a trump (notice I did not say angel) and the angel will SHOUT and in the twinkling of an eye we will be in Heaven in our glorified bodies.
come quickly Jesus!!!!!!!!
The bible says he went to Paradise. I will believe that especially since it makes sense compared to God going to “hell”
He doesn’t stay there.
You’ve been victimized by churchianity.
Paul’s mystery was how the rejected bride was to be remarried without violating Torah. This is discussed in chapter 7 of the epistle to the Roman Hebrews.
The question has its roots in the book of Hosea, where it is told of the divorce, and then subsequent remarriage of the House of Israel (’Ephraim’).
Torah scholars were all aware that such was a violation of Torah, and thus thought it impossible.
The solution to the mystery lie in the death of the husband, allowing the bride to be remarried legally. Yeshua died to remarry his bride.
Churchians do not study Torah; they’ve been blinded by their own reluctance to obeying Yehova’s commandments, so they are unable to understand this ‘mystery.’
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That’s true, only three days and three nights in the center of the earth however he did not go on the side of the gulf that contained torment otherwise known as hell or hades
You my friend have been duped by Hebrew roots. You cannot mix law and grace. By the way Paul has given us many commandments that came straight from the mouth of the Word.
You act like we don’t have laws let alone have them written on our hearts (awesome huh? )
The OT says God will one day write the laws on the hearts of all Israel and they will no longer have to teach them to their children. Seven years plus a little bit and Israel gets the earthly kingdom they have been waiting for.
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There is no apostolic church.
There are no apostles in the world today; the apostolic age ended with John’s murder.
Constantine’s cult is dedicated to the worship of humanity. His sun god worship completely permeates every facet of the RCC, especially their vile, pagan “eucharist.”
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Catch phrases and strawmen will not bring you into Yeshua’s way.
Grace is the giving of forgiveness of past sins, and sufficient faith to follow his commandments.
Belief is following his commandments to the end.
Matthew 7, and particularly verse 23, is written to those that have rejected the commandments. “Iniquity” is being without Torah.
It is difficult to even feel sorry for those that have rejected what he has requested of us. Your easy-belief path is broad and has room for the masses that will follow it to oblivion.
“He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved.”
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“Obviously, but they are not believers!”
“They are workers of iniquity. That simply means that they violate his Torah.”
The point is, [they] THINK THEY ARE -believers. They fully expect to enter the kingdom of heaven.
“workers of iniquity” has a deeper meaning that what you’re giving it. These people did not have their sins washed away by His blood. Therefore, all of the sins they committed through their whole life now come to bare on their heads.
Paul describes these people as:
“2 Tim 3:
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”
In their eyes they don’t see themselves as evil. It’s because they refuse to accept the truth. And they go around spreading their false doctrine and their false gospel.
I mean, in Christianity today, half believe in infant baptism the other half don’t. That right there should be a big red flag ... half of you are teaching false doctrine and always have been from the start. So the gospel you’re teaching is false.
But people don’t care. They wax worse and worse and have deceived everyone around them that baptism doesn’t matter today.
This is why Christ said:
23 Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,
24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
They will believe they are going to heaven right up to the point Christ closes the door in their face. That’s what He’s literally going to do.
“Was pointing out your rudeness rude?”
You’re trying to draw a moral equivalence to deflect your bad behavior. Your insults were directed specifically at me, and that’s rude.
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.
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>> “They will believe they are going to heaven right up to the point Christ closes the door in their face” <<
Absolutely!
But when we try to wake them up, they call us “legalists,” “Judaizers,” or any other thing they can think of to soothe their impugned “faith.”
Yeshua said that we should just “shake the dust from” our sandals at their door. I’m not so inclined.
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