Descended into Hell

[Sugar_Ray]

I know that Christ preached to the dead who had not yet been judged after His resurrection…why then does the Creed say He descended into hell (as opposed to He descended to the dead)?

Thanks in advance

 

[M-Dent]

Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, “hell” - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into “Abraham’s bosom”: “It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell.” **Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him. **

vatican.va/archive/catechism/p122a5p1.htm

 

[Alexius]

I know that Christ preached to the dead who had not yet been judged after His resurrection…why then does the Creed say He descended into hell (as opposed to He descended to the dead)?

Thanks in advance

Here’s an icon of the Descent into Hell:
trinstore.com/ecom_2/item_explore.cfm?inventoryid=1207

Prayers and petitions,
Alexius

 

[Spirithound]

I know that Christ preached to the dead who had not yet been judged after His resurrection…why then does the Creed say He descended into hell (as opposed to He descended to the dead)?

It’s due to a shift in the meaning of hell. hell, in the Jewish sense, is the abode of the dead, those who were righteous, but couldn’t enter heaven because it wasn’t open. Nowadays, hell refers to the abode of the damned.

 

[Vigis]

Well the Nicean Creed was written during the Council of Nicea. This took place in a heavily influenced Greek society. So the realm of the dead that you speak of, Limbus Patrum I bleive it is called, is in the Greek sense called Hell. This was at least then. Now this is not THE Hell, but just a realm of the dead that is being talked about. I have heard of it being described as being on the edge of Hell, but other than that I do not know much else. I hope this helps. God speed.