He descended into Hell?

[ajpirc]

Where did Christ go after He died to release the awaiting souls? The Creed says Hell, but people in Hell never go to Heaven. Wouldn’t He go to Purgatory because the souls there are destined for Heaven after their purification? Hell or Purgatory?

 

[jmcrae]

Where did Christ go after He died to release the awaiting souls? The Creed says Hell, but people in Hell never go to Heaven. Wouldn’t He go to Purgatory because the souls there are destined for Heaven after their purification? Hell or Purgatory?

Jesus went to “the place of the dead” which is called “Hades” in Greek, and sometimes translated as “Hell.” This was not the Hell of eternal punishment, though, but rather, it was a kind of Limbo where the dead were waiting for His coming.

Once He came, those who received Him with joy were welcomed into Heaven, and those who did not were consigned to everlasting punishment in Hell. The place of waiting then ceased to exist, and today, people go either to Heaven (sometimes via Purgatory, and sometimes directly) and others go directly to Hell.

 

[ajpirc]

So would Hades be like the Purgatory of the Old Covenant? And was Hades replaced by Purgatory or was Purgatory just waiting until Hades was gone?

 

[PJM]

=ajpirc;7799338]Where did Christ go after He died to release the awaiting souls? The Creed says Hell, but people in Hell never go to Heaven. Wouldn’t He go to Purgatory because the souls there are destined for Heaven after their purification? Hell or Purgatory?

GREAT QUESTION;

Hell in this reference is a specif ic reference to the “abode of the dead / holy souls.”

This was NOT the HELL Of Eternal Damnation.

Allow me to explain.

One of the effects of of Original Sin of Adam and Eve is that direct access to God. What e now call the “Beatific Vision;” was done away with. We can understand this as being Heaven was “locked-out” for everyone, because we all participate in the effects of Original Sin.

One of the efects [a extremely important one] of Christ Redemptive Mission was reopening the gates; the access to heaven, once again making possible direct contact with God. Spirit to Spirit. The Beatific Vision fulfilled.

It the intrim all of the early saints and Saints, like Noah, Moses, Abraham and David as well as the Prophets and the MANY, MANY worthy souls who were is a “holding place” that the Church termed “Limbo.”

Limbo is a palce of No pain; no suffering but also incomplete JOY; which requires God’s actual Presence. So what Christ did was to desend to Limbo and escourt all of the waiting saints into heaven.

If you’d like more informaton on this send me a PM…

Hope this helps you out?

God Bless,
Pat

 

[StTommyMore]

GREAT QUESTION;

Hell in this reference is a specif ic reference to the “abode of the dead / holy souls.”

This was NOT the HELL Of Eternal Damnation.

Allow me to explain.

One of the effects of of Original Sin of Adam and Eve is that direct access to God. What e now call the “Beatific Vision;” was done away with. We can understand this as being Heaven was “locked-out” for everyone, because we all participate in the effects of Original Sin.

One of the efects [a extremely important one] of Christ Redemptive Mission was reopening the gates; the access to heaven, once again making possible direct contact with God. Spirit to Spirit. The Beatific Vision fulfilled.

It the intrim all of the early saints and Saints, like Noah, Moses, Abraham and David as well as the Prophets and the MANY, MANY worthy souls who were is a “holding place” that the Church termed “Limbo.”

Limbo is a palce of No pain; no suffering but also incomplete JOY; which requires God’s actual Presence. So what Christ did was to desend to Limbo and escourt all of the waiting saints into heaven.

If you’d like more informaton on this send me a PM…

Hope this helps you out?

God Bless,
Pat

The suffering of Christ did not end on the Cross. I cannot articulate the argument sufficiently myself, but I would recommend Mysterium Paschale by Von Balthasar

 

[Barbkw]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:

scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a5p1.htm

PART ONE
THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION TWO
THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

CHAPTER TWO
I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY SON OF GOD

ARTICLE 5
“HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN”

631 Jesus "descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens."476 The Apostles’ Creed confesses in the same article Christ’s descent into hell and his Resurrection from the dead on the third day, because in his Passover it was precisely out of the depths of death that he made life spring forth:

Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.477

Paragraph 1. Christ Descended into Hell

632 The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was “raised from the dead” presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection.478 This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ’s descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.479

633 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.480 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”:481 "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell."482 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.483

634 "The gospel was preached even to the dead."484 The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfillment. This is the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ’s redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.

635 Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."485 Jesus, “the Author of life”, by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage."486 Henceforth the risen Christ holds “the keys of Death and Hades”, so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."487

Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him - He who is both their God and the son of Eve. . . "I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead."488

IN BRIEF

636 By the expression “He descended into hell”, the Apostles’ Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil “who has the power of death” (Heb 2:14).

637 In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven’s gates for the just who had gone before him.

 

[Barbkw]

The Catechism continues with “On the Third Day He Rose from the Dead”.

scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a5p2.htm

 

[PJM]

=StTommyMore;7799507]The suffering of Christ did not end on the Cross. I cannot articulate the argument sufficiently myself, but I would recommend Mysterium Paschale by Von Balthasar

OK, and I said it was?

Certainly God suffers because of our NO’s to God. No’s to what is right; and to what is moral. But God is and has to be Perfect and because God can ONLY be perfect on good things;[God only permits / tolerates evil] He does not NOW [any-longer] suffer in the manner we do.

We can neither add to or take anything from God. So exactly how God suffers is a mystery [to me at least.].

God Bless,
Pat

 

[StTommyMore]

OK, and I said it was?

Certainly God suffers because of our NO’s to God. No’s to what is right; and to what is moral. But God is and has to be Perfect and because God can ONLY be perfect on good things;[God only permits / tolerates evil] He does not NOW [any-longer] suffer in the manner we do.

We can neither add to or take anything from God. So exactly how God suffers is a mystery [to me at least.].

God Bless,
Pat

There is a tendency for some (not you, and I apologize if I implied if I was accusing you of this) that the suffering ended on the Cross (this was Calvin’s view). How he suffered is indeed mystery, as is how his suffering redeemed all of mankind.

 

[PJM]

There is a tendency for some (not you, and I apologize if I implied if I was accusing you of this) that the suffering ended on the Cross (this was Calvin’s view). How he suffered is indeed mystery, as is how his suffering redeemed all of mankind.

God Bless you my friend!

Pat

 

[Timothysis]

The traditional teaching of the Church was that Christ descended into the abode of the dead to awaken the righteous who lived before His redemptive act. It is called the harrowing of Hell.

The notion of no positive suffering and incomplete joy in limbo is theological speculation and was never part of the deposit of faith. If I’m not mistaken, it is not even mentioned in the catechism.

 

[ProVobis]

An interesting take:

…
In the Apostles’ Creed Jesus is said to have “descended into hell.” There have been many interpretations of the meaning of this expression. It is not found in the earliest versions. The first known appearance of it is in a 390 AD version which added “descendit in inferna”. Some early translations of inferna used the Greek word hades while others rendered it “lower parts”. The placement of this phrase varied in the creed until it became fixed in later Roman versions which put it after the mention of Jesus’ burial and before his resurrection. Calvin states the obvious when he notes that such an addition must have intended to add some new idea that was perceived as missing in the earlier form (Institutes 2:16:8).

The Latin word inferna literally means “lower”. It was used of the grave into which a body was lowered, or the realm of the dead which was considered to be the underworld in Greek and Roman religions.

The Greek word hades also has a wide range of meanings. It was originally the proper name of the Greek god of the underworld, the ruler over the realm of the dead. Later it came to be used as a name for the underworld itself. The word was also used as a personification for death itself and was often used as a synonym for thanatos death.

Both inferna and hades were used to represent the Old Testament Hebrew word sheol. Its primary meaning is of the realm or dimension of those who are dead. It was often viewed in ancient times as an underworld. In 33 places in the King James Version it is translated as “grave.” The Hebrew term is in some cases used with figurative meanings. Even when speaking of the “grave” it often is not limited to just the physical place itself, but where we go to think of our departed ones whose souls are not there.
…

more:

pressiechurch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59:jesus-descended-into-hell&catid=9ractical-theology&Itemid=7

 

[PacoG]

I have always wondered about this reference in Matthew 27:52:

[T]he tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

Is this a reference to Christ’s descent to the dead, or is this something different? What’s the explanation of this?

 

[StTommyMore]

I have always wondered about this reference in Matthew 27:52:

[T]he tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

Is this a reference to Christ’s descent to the dead, or is this something different? What’s the explanation of this?

This is the first Resurrection of the dead. What happened in a limited scope then will happen universally at the eschaton

 

[PacoG]

This is the first Resurrection of the dead. What happened in a limited scope then will happen universally at the eschaton

Am I correct in assuming from the “appeared to many” part that they appeared in their glorified bodies? Or were they resuscitated like Lazarus?

 

[StTommyMore]

Am I correct in assuming from the “appeared to many” part that they appeared in their glorified bodies? Or were they resuscitated like Lazarus?

I would have to do a study, but I think it was a bodily resurrection

 

[waitforsun]

this seems to be quite nice
thanks for posting this good informations…

Pump It Up dvd
Royal Pains dvd set

 

[PJM]

=PacoG;7800871]Am I correct in assuming from the “appeared to many” part that they appeared in their glorified bodies? Or were they resuscitated like Lazarus?

Please tolerate my ignorance, but the only reference of “appearing to many” [500], refers to Christ after the resurection. Is there another one I’m unaware of?

God Bless,
Pat

 

[StTommyMore]

Please tolerate my ignorance, but the only reference of “appearing to many” [500], refers to Christ after the resurection. Is there another one I’m unaware of?

God Bless,
Pat

Yes in Mt. 27:53, it clearly says that those who were resurrected “appeared to many”

 

[PJM]

Please tolerate my ignorance, but the only reference of “appearing to many” [500], refers to Christ after the resurection. Is there another one I’m unaware of?

God Bless,
Pat

Dummy me… NOW I know of which you speak.

**Matt.27: 52-53 "**the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 "and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many

I checked Haydock’s Catholic Commentary and he had no comments to share. My guess is that as it is a further sign of, and a proof of the Second Comming; that is would have been in there Glorified Bodies. This would give additional assurance that this too is OUR Future.

Sorry about the dummy bit

God Bless,
Pat