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Of all the statements in the Apostles’ Creed, “he descended into hell” is easily the most controversial. It’s a polarizing, third-rail kind of phrase that has been handled in various ways throughout church history. Some congregations even omit or alter it for use in public worship gatherings.
But before we throw it out, blindly accept it, or edit it in our own words, I believe it would be valuable to examine and assess Christ’s descent into hell in three ways: based on Scripture itself, how the church has interpreted this doctrine historically, and what implications it has on our Christian life and worldview.
Assessing Christ’s Descent Into Hell — The Analogy of Scripture
Wisdom suggests that when we encounter a difficult theological statement that leaves us wondering what it means, we should interpret it in the light and context of clearer texts and clearer doctrines. Historically, theologians call this the “analogy of Scripture,” which is the practice of using clear biblical passages to interpret difficult ones.
William Tyndale once put it like this,
This is very helpful counsel for assessing an issue like the one at hand. Because the fact of the matter is that Scripture is far more clear about what happened to Jesus before he died and after he was raised than it is about what happened to him immediately after his death.
When we evaluate this statement in the Creed next to the clear teaching of the New Testament, there are at least two possible conclusions to eliminate. First, we can be confident that Christ’s “descent into hell” absolutely cannot mean that his work on the cross was in any way incomplete. It doesn’t mean that Jesus had more suffering to do after taking his final breath. It’s not as if our divine mortgage payment had an outstanding balance when Jesus took his last breath on the cross that was paid off more fully in hell.
The sufficiency of the crosswork of the Lord Jesus is a bright and blazing light, biblically speaking. In John 19:30, Jesus says, “It is finished.” He does not say, “We’re almost there,” or “Just a little farther.” In Colossians 2:13–15, Paul writes that God cancelled “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands” by “nailing it to the cross,” disarming authorities and triumphing over them. There was no overtime period needed to settle our debt; victory was fully secured at Calvary. His death satisfied the wrath of God for everyone who believes.
The second interpretive direction to eliminate is that Christ’s descent into hell implies a kind of post-death second chance for salvation. While some read 1 Peter 3:18–20 as Christ preaching to souls in hell as a kind of postmortem evangelistic campaign, Hebrews 9:27–28 plainly states that death comes before judgement. Scripture never promises a secret passageway or trap door that leads to repentance after we die (Luke 16:26). Christ is being very patient with us now (see 2 Pet. 3:9-10), giving us every opportunity to repent. The call to turn to Christ is always focused on today. As J.C. Ryle once put it, “Tomorrow is the Devil’s day.”
Assessing Christ’s Descent Into Hell — Historical Interpretations
Like gathering different samples for study in a lab, it can be very helpful, when assessing creedal statements, to gather the interpretive data throughout church history. The following views, while incomplete, will help us assess the historical sample size.
- A later addition: The phrase did not appear in the Creed’s earliest versions, such as the Old Roman Creed. It was not included in the Nicene Creed in 325 AD, and was omitted when Augustine preached through the Creed in 393 AD. It seems not to have been included until Rufinus in 390 AD. Because of this, some argue that the phrase should simply be dismissed.
- A description of Christ’s spiritual anguish: John Calvin argued the phrase was figurative. He taught that on the cross Jesus suffered, in his spirit, all the horrors, abandonment, and torments that every believer would have experienced in an eternity in hell. The Heidelberg Catechism makes a similar point, saying that Christ, through his soul’s anguish on the cross, redeemed us from the torment of hell.
- An entry into the realm of the dead: J.I. Packer argues that the English word “hell” is misleading because it has changed its sense over time. The original Latin used inferos (corresponding to Greek Hades and Hebrew Sheol), meaning “lower regions,” “those below,” or “the realm of the dead.”
Of these options, while Calvin’s view is certainly useful for meditation, Packer’s “realm of the dead” explanation seems to best fit the language of the original Creed and the biblical data.
Saying Jesus “descended into hell” is a declaration that Christ’s spirit, or his human soul, descended into death. Packer argues that Christ’s human soul entered Hades after suffering “a genuine death, not a simulated one.” He joined his people spiritually in death as well as physically in death.
This is consistent with the tradition of theologians, such as Gregory of Nazianzus of the fourth century, who said of Jesus “That which he did not assume, he could not heal.” Jesus in his death, though he never sinned, goes through what every sinner who dies experiences too, a descent into the realm of the dead.
Assessing Christ’s Descent Into Hell — Christian Implications
Christ’s descent into hell—or the realm of the dead—reminds us of the critical importance of the rule of faith: building our theology from clear biblical texts to make sense of the trickier ones. This is the discipline of theological triage.
Christ’s descent into death also reminds us of the urgency of repentance and faith. We should not presume upon God for a second chance on the other side of the grave, keeping in mind Paul’s urgent plea: “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2b).
Finally, Christ’s descent into hell should transform our attitude toward death and suffering. Our culture tends to deal with death in different ways. Some hope to use technology to upgrade humanity and code our way out of the grave, such as the transhumanism movement. They hope to try and eliminate death from the dropdown menu of human existence by way of technological improvement.
Others resort to ignoring death. We can be tempted to take a kind of “out of sight, out of mind” approach to death. We can be tempted to try to delay death, stiff-arming it through diet, exercise, or plastic surgery. The Christian response to death must be different.
Packer points out that what makes Jesus’ entry into Hades important for us is that we can face death knowing that when it comes, not if it comes, we shall not find ourselves alone. Christ has been there before us, and he will see us through.
Many will know that having a friend who has gone through something daunting, whether it’s a marathon or a miscarriage, and came out on the other side, is invaluable for when we face the same challenge. They can be there to comfort us and be with us. Christ’s descent into death means that we have that friend in Jesus. He experienced death both physically and spiritually, yet promised the dying thief that he would be with him in paradise (Luke 23:43).
Jesus is the kind of friend who climbed up onto God’s divine electric chair for our crimes. He let the lethal injection of our sin pump through his veins, descended into death, emerged alive, and promised to be with his people by his Spirit, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20). Because of Jesus, wrote Michael Green, “it is through death that resurrection comes.”
For further reading on the topic of the descent, see this article: He Descended to the Dead? Recovering Holy Saturday
