Did Christ descend into Hell?

[Notthemama1984]

From another thread.

He was in Hell?

Apostle's Creed says as much. Doesn't Ephesians 4:9-10 imply it as well? I was under the impression that Christ descending into Hell was a common and orthodox view.

If not, I stand by to learn.

-----Added 12/15/2009 at 03:52:03 EST-----

Acts 2:31 as well,

he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption

You should start a thread so as not to derail this one.

 

[LeeJUk]

Not in the sense that he was in hell being tormented for the sins of the world after the cross. I guess it's a widely debated issue. John Calvin and Martin Luther if I remember correctly, thought that Christ going to hell to suffer was part of the atonement - I may be wrong.

I prefer to believe that he was in that..."abraham's bosom" kinda place, and that then he went to paradise like he promised the thief on the cross. My explanation is my no means exhaustive though.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

As Josh noted this is a good article.
In Defense of the Descendit: A Confessional Response to Contemporary Critics of Christ’s Descent into Hell
By Daniel R. Hyde

It appeared in The Confessional Presbyterian 3 (2007) 104-117.

You may find this helpful:

http://www.cpjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/hyde.pdf

 

[Notthemama1984]

As Josh noted this is a good article.
In Defense of the Descendit: A Confessional Response to Contemporary Critics of Christ’s Descent into Hell
By Daniel R. Hyde

It appeared in The Confessional Presbyterian 3 (2007) 104-117.

You may find this helpful:

http://www.cpjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/hyde.pdf

Seeing that I am a new subscriber, I will read the article tonight.

 

[bill]

I don't believe Christ descended into Hell. After all Christ told the criminal on the cross, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." Luke 23:43
Also Ephesians 4:9 says He descended into the lower parts of the earth, that does not mean Hell. I prefer "Hades" or place of the dead, not Hell.

-----Added 12/15/2009 at 04:51:49 EST-----

I don't believe Christ descended into Hell. After all Christ told the criminal on the cross, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." Luke 23:43
Also Ephesians 4:9 says He descended into the lower parts of the earth, that does not mean Hell. I prefer "Hades" or place of the dead, not Hell.

 

[ericfromcowtown]

My wife asked me this exact question after last Sunday's service, when we recited the Apostle's Creed.

I'll print out and read the article on my train ride home tonight.

What I told her, was that I did not believe Christ had actually "decended into Hell," since on the cross he cried out "it is finished," not "it will be finished in three days." But then again...

 

[GTMOPC]

this may be helpful...

I just submitted a paper for my Systematic Theology class where I had to briefly address this topic. Below is the exerpt:

Christ's Burial: The Decent into Hell

After the death of Christ on the cross he was placed in a tomb of which He would be resurrected from in three days time. According to the Apostles Creed it is proposed that He “descended into Hell.” What does this mean? Did Christ after His death actually go down into the bowels of hell? Was he tormented and punished by Satan? The author thinks a better explanation is that Christ, rather than particularly going down into hell, suffered all the miseries of death and hell as the focal point of God's wrath. His descent into hell can be summarized by His own words from the cross: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Ps 22:1; Matt 27:46) He was at once separated from God His Father and at the the same time caused to suffer God's terrible wrath meant for sinners. John Calvin says it best:

“it was expedient...for him to undergo the severity of God’s vengeance, to appease his wrath and satisfy his just judgment. For this reason, he must also grapple hand to hand with the armies of hell and the dread of everlasting death... "he was wounded for our transgressions" by the Father, "he was bruised for our infirmities" [Isa 53:5]. By these words he means that Christ was put in place of evildoers as surety and pledge-submitting himself even as the accused-to bear and suffer all the punishments that they ought to have sustained. All-with this one exception: "He could not be held by the pangs of death" [Acts 2:24]. No wonder, then, if he is said to have descended into hell, for he suffered the death that, God in his wrath had inflicted upon the wicked!” -John Calvin Institutes

 

[SRoper]

I remember Rev. Hyde's article was very helpful.

 

[Rogerant]

I believe that the three hours on the cross when the sun did not shine was the evidence that His Father had turned His face away from His beloved Son. It was during this three hours that Christ experienced "hell", the abandonment of His Fathers approbation. This separation from the Love of Him in whom He had been in relationship since eternity past was likened to descending into hell, being thrown into a bottomless dry pit, into the Mariana's trench where their is no light.

Heaven is being in the presence of the living God. Hell is being estranged from His love and presence. The world interprets heaven and hell all the time as physical places. The scriptures do not always use those words in their literal physical destinations.

Just my humble opinion

 

[Notthemama1984]

I remember Rev. Hyde's article was very helpful.

Just finished the article. Very eye opening. I had always heard that Christ descended and just took it for granted. I had no clue that I was siding with the minority position.

 

[earl40]

I remember Rev. Hyde's article was very helpful.

Just finished the article. Very eye opening. I had always heard that Christ descended and just took it for granted. I had no clue that I was siding with the minority position.

Just because it is a minority position that it doesn't mean it is wrong. Though in this instance it is spot on. Remember that it was the death of Jesus on the cross that pays the penalty for our sin. I have heard people espouse that He paid the price in the 3 days after the cross but this is purely speculative thinking. I think Joyce Meyers espouses this teaching, so if you watch her turn of the TV ASAP.

Good question BTW. It is amazing the things we assume are true and hold for such a long time without even thinking we could be mistaken.

 

[Notthemama1984]

I remember Rev. Hyde's article was very helpful.

Just finished the article. Very eye opening. I had always heard that Christ descended and just took it for granted. I had no clue that I was siding with the minority position.

Just because it is a minority position that it doesn't mean it is wrong. Though in this instance it is spot on. Remember that it was the death of Jesus on the cross that pays the penalty for our sin. I have heard people espouse that He paid the price in the 3 days after the cross but this is purely speculative thinking. I think Joyce Meyers espouses this teaching, so if you watch her turn of the TV ASAP.

Good question BTW. It is amazing the things we assume are true and hold for such a long time without even thinking we could be mistaken.

Is Christ descending into Hell really a TBN preacher thing? you mention Joyce Meyers and Rev. Hyde mentioned others in his article. My parents are wrapped in that junk so I probably got it from them.

I agree that the minority position is not always wrong. Take the doctrines of grace for example, a poll of today's "Christians" would place these doctrines in the minority for sure, but you and I both know they are spot on.

 

[P.F.]

The Three Forms of Unity link "descended into hell" to the torments of the Cross, whereas the Westminster standards link "descended into hell" to Christ remaining under death's power for a time.

 

[Archlute]

I remember Rev. Hyde's article was very helpful.

Just finished the article. Very eye opening. I had always heard that Christ descended and just took it for granted. I had no clue that I was siding with the minority position.

I have not read the article yet, but a literal descent into hell is by no means a minority position. I believe that all Lutherans and Anglicans, whose numbers far surpass our own, hold to a literal descent.

This is a topic regarding which I have wanted to read more thoroughly. The common Reformed answer has always seemed a bit weak to me, and employs a hermeneutic of the creed that most would roll their eyes at if it were applied to Scripture. However, Grudem does a pretty good job in presenting reasons for the omission of this phrase from the Apostle's creed, and making some explanation for the pertinent passages of Scripture from which this phrase may have been taken.

 

[Amazing Grace]

I remember Rev. Hyde's article was very helpful.

Just finished the article. Very eye opening. I had always heard that Christ descended and just took it for granted. I had no clue that I was siding with the minority position.

I have not read the article yet, but a literal descent into hell is by no means a minority position. I believe that all Lutherans and Anglicans, whose numbers far surpass our own, hold to a literal descent.

This is a topic regarding which I have wanted to read more thoroughly. The common Reformed answer has always seemed a bit weak to me, and employs a hermeneutic of the creed that most would roll their eyes at if it were applied to Scripture. However, Grudem does a pretty good job in presenting reasons for the omission of this phrase from the Apostle's creed, and making some explanation for the pertinent passages of Scripture from which this phrase may have been taken.

I am beginning to think His descent to the dead was to mock those whom rejected him.