Dear Friends,
Cornerstone women have been diligently studying the book of 1 Peter during the Women's Bible Study this semester. During the study, a question arose that I would like to address as I believe it is important to the church as a whole. The question is from the Apostles Creed: What does it mean that Jesus "descended into hell?" This has been a troubling phrase for Protestant believers for many years. There are many churches that simply remove this phrase from their liturgy. In short, I think this is a great mistake. Let's try to understand a little of the history of this phrase.The Roman Catholic view of the phrase, "He descended into hell”, was associated with the doctrine of the "harrowing of hell." In this doctrine, Christ literally when into Sheol, the underworld in Hebrew, to preach to patriarchs of the Old Testament and lead them to heaven. This doctrine is not warranted in Scripture. 1 Peter 3 and Ephesians 4 do not support this Roman Catholic doctrine despite their best efforts to make it do so.Historically, the emphasis of these biblical texts is the importance that Christ did die and the saints of old now see in full what they only knew in part about the Messiah - that Jesus is the Messiah! The language of "He descended into hell" was borrowed from the Old Testament to simply say that Jesus died or passed into the grave just as any other person who died did. The very early Latin translations of the creed seem to indicate that Jesus descended into the place of the dead and not a literal place, hell.Too often, we confuse the biblical doctrine of hell with fantasy literature or even classical works like Dante's Inferno. In these works of fiction, hell is often described as a place were Satan reigns and he has control over people of the under-world. This is simply not the Bible's teaching on hell. In the Bible, hell is the place of eternal torment and fire - it is the place where those who have rejected Christ go to spend eternity. Ultimately, hell or the lake of fire is Satan's destination but not until Jesus returns to establish the new heavens and the new earth. Biblically, we affirm that the lake of fire or hell, is under the control and sovereignty of God, not Satan. Jesus did not descend into the lake of fire. Jesus died and human death.John Calvin stated that the clause, "He descended into hell," is vital to the fulfillment of our salvation and that it cannot by any means be omitted. Therefore we must keep it in our confession and not be ashamed to use it. Calvin goes on to explain, to which I fully agree, that it is best to understand that Christ descended into hell as a way of saying that He "experienced hell" on the cross - that is, He was afflicted for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5), He suffered the death which God's wrath lays upon evildoers, He experienced separation from God (Matt. 27:46), He bore the burden of God's vengeance, He endured all the signs of wrath that God displays toward sins and sinners in His righteous anger. Christ took on the hell of God's wrath by His death.Gavin Ortlund states, "In my judgment 'He descended to the dead' recognizes an important biblical teaching, namely that in His death, and specifically in his prolonged state of death, Jesus gains victory and frees those united with him from death’s grip."There are some resources linked below that I hope will help you better understand this important confession.I look forward to seeing you next Lord's Day.by His grace and to His praise,Wilson
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