He descended into Hell

[nhojw]

In the Apostles Creed it is state that Jesus descended into Hell, can you explain this?

Was Jesus in Hell and why was he there?

Was he there to see how bad it was to be in Hell?

 

[Huiou_Theou]

In the Apostles Creed it is state that Jesus descended into Hell, can you explain this?

Was Jesus in Hell and why was he there?

Was he there to see how bad it was to be in Hell?

There is some controversy over it; I think Hans, Urs Von Balshazar took a different position regard the exact meaning of hell and it’s potential emptiness vs. traditional views. (I am not saying he’s wrong.)

The creed statement is equivalent to saying Jesus suffered death, the penalty one receives for sin. He was there because it provided a way to make the Devil’s testimony (in a heavenly court) be shown to be a lie/false testimony.

His purpose, as listed by St. Peter, was to “preach” to those in prison; even those who had died as far back as the time of Noah (Although Peter doesn’t explain why this doesn’t go back to the time of Adam.)

Preaching can be done in more than one way; so it may be a “physical” preaching to them by his presence there; and isn’t something that I am aware of the details of.
But alternately, given the problem of evil and the existence of a devil – his descent to Hell is also to “bind” the devil who is down here on earth with us. In a way, it can be seen that unless he restrained the devil – who is spiritual – the devil could affect others even in heaven who fear and pray for us on earth.

The prophecy of Isaiah regarding the Messiah’s burial says that he will be given that in perpetuity; I will give him “continuously” a grave. I don’t know the full meaning, but I do know that one possible interpretation is that Jesus went to hell to “open” it and to (for eternity) hold the damned devil.

Even if the church does not declare any human person in hell – it none the less has stated that the devil (Satan) is real – and he is historically condemned by all the church Fathers as “unsavable”. Therefore, there is at least one person in hell – and someone to bind him until he repents – and if he can not repent, it means hell is eternal.

Consider:
We pray as Catholics “Glory be…as in the beginning … world without end”

For as long as creation continues in journeying, and people are born die and go to be with God; the eternal fire of hell is purifying those who are here on earth.
St. Peter said that the Devil was thrown down “to earth” which means he is here with us; and God said to the serpent – “You shall eat dust all the days of your life.”

So that the devil is present here, and this is the “stuff” of hell that will be thrown into the lake of fire until the end. In his mercy, God even allows the resurrection of the Dead – and the indications in Revelation are that God will occasionally allow this to happen with the devil. The beast who rises from the pit – and who does great evil as did Nero, Hitler, and others.

The second reason Jesus went to the dead, was to bring life to the saints who had died in all the ages past; This is the traditional view – that Jesus went to free the captives that the devil holds in dust; for if the devil did not exist – our bodies would not return to dust.

Hell, therefore, is not empty; But Jesus is perhaps there as he is in St. Peter in the Vatican, which is right next to Rome proper where Nero – the wicked of his day – rose to power. In all the ages after then, it has been Peter’s successors with Peter’s spirit that have been the “jail keeper” of Rome. For as long as Peter is Holy, the devil can’t win but a battle here and there; but not the war.

 

[Third_Day]

In the Apostles Creed it is state that Jesus descended into Hell, can you explain this?

Was Jesus in Hell and why was he there?

Was he there to see how bad it was to be in Hell?

Jesus descended into Hades not hell also known as Gehenna the place of the damned.

Hades is where the thief would have went to when Jesus said “this day you will be with me in paradise.”

Hades is the spirit prison that 1 Peter 3: 19 mentions: " He went and preached to the spirits in prison."

Hades is sometimes translated as “hell” but this is not the place of the damned.

 

[thistle]

In the Apostles Creed it is state that Jesus descended into Hell, can you explain this?

Was Jesus in Hell and why was he there?

Was he there to see how bad it was to be in Hell?

The Church teaching:

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

CCC 631 Jesus “descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens.” 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.

Paragraph 1. Christ Descended into Hell

CCC 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. 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.

CCC 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. 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.

CCC 634 “The gospel was preached even to the dead.” The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfilment. 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.

CCC 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.” 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.” 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.”

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.”

 

[thomas_jd]

In the Apostles Creed it is state that Jesus descended into Hell, can you explain this?

Was Jesus in Hell and why was he there?

Was he there to see how bad it was to be in Hell?

The gates to Heaven were closed until Jesus died on the cross. Those that had died waited in a place without God( hell). This is described as the first hell referred to in the Creed, the absence of God! He visited the prophets , the holy people of God, to bring them into His Kingdom. After His death the hell of absence and waiting was no longer needed.
Jesus described hell as a fiery place, full of suffering, eternal damnation.This is the second definition of hell.
Think of it this way: the first hell was a waiting area for the Redemptive death of Reparation on the cross.The second is forever.

 

[chepner3]

One of favorite Catholic priests is quite a scholar. I was so blessed to be able to attend his weekly adult education lectures while I lived in another state. He always said that Jesus descended into Hell and “kicked the gates of Hell open”. In other words, the only souls that remain in Hell now are those that are so sinful, they choose to remain there. The rest of the souls heard his voice and followed him to Heaven.

 

[jmoneyideas]

Isn’t Hell described as a place where God is not Present, so of Jesus Ascended into Hell then it totally wouldn’t be hell because God was present there all be it for a short time.? Just wonders, we kinda talked about this in RCIA last week and I forgot to bring it up and continue the discussion…

 

[pablope]

In the Apostles Creed it is state that Jesus descended into Hell, can you explain this?

Was Jesus in Hell and why was he there?

Was he there to see how bad it was to be in Hell?

There was a place that the Jews called Abraham’s Bosom…a place where the OT righteous waited…also known as Paradise to the Jews.

This is where Jesus went, when Peter (in one of his epistles) said Jesus went to preach to those in prison. This is what is referred to in the creed.

*In the unseen world of the dead the souls of the righteous occupied an abode or compartment of their own which was distinctly separated by a wall or a chasm from the abode or compartment to which the souls of the wicked were consigned. The latter was a place of torments usually spoken of as Gehenna (cf. Matthew 5:29, 30; 18:9; Mark 9:42 sqq. in the Latin Vulgate) — the other, a place of bliss and security known under the names of “Paradise” (cf. Luke 23:43) and “the Bosom of Abraham” (Luke 16:22-23).
newadvent.org/cathen/01055a.htm

 

[ruth0903]

In the Apostles Creed it is state that Jesus descended into Hell, can you explain this?

Was Jesus in Hell and why was he there?

Was he there to see how bad it was to be in Hell?

I’ve wondered this myself, I’m in RCIA, and hadn’t discussed this yet.

Thank you for asking

 

[Paul_Infirdigno]

The Church teaching:

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

CCC 631 Jesus “descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens.” 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.

Paragraph 1. Christ Descended into Hell

CCC 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. 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.

CCC 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. 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.

CCC 634 “The gospel was preached even to the dead.” The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfilment. 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.

CCC 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.” 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.” 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.”

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.”

^ I think, IMHO, that this is the best answer were going to get for this question, its right from the Church!

 

[onlyvoice]

The Church teaching:

Paragraph 1. Christ Descended into Hell

CCC 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. 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.

CCC 633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, “hell” - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek…"

If Jesus indeed “like all men, experienced death” then He could not have gone preaching while He was dead, for the Scriptures tell us that, “the dead know not anything” (Eccl. 9:5).

The Scriptures are clear that there is a complete lack of consciousness for the one who has died: “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun” (verse 6).

Jesus could not have done anything during the three days He was dead in His grave because, “… there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave (Hebrew “sheol”), whither thou goest” (Eccl. 9:10).

 

[DPMartin]

If Jesus indeed “like all men, experienced death” then He could not have gone preaching while He was dead, for the Scriptures tell us that, “the dead know not anything” (Eccl. 9:5).

The Scriptures are clear that there is a complete lack of consciousness for the one who has died: “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun” (verse 6).

Jesus could not have done anything during the three days He was dead in His grave because, “… there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave (Hebrew “sheol”), whither thou goest” (Eccl. 9:10).

onlyvoice

No matter the Church teaching, consider, before the beginning there was God, what could possibly be in His Creation that could stop the Fulfillment of His Word in His Presence? Or even His Word spoken in His Presence? Man’s experience of death? Na, what kills a man cannot kill God. Jesus bore the sins of the world, and now is seated at the Right Hand of the Father. Nothing stopped Him from being, alive.

The Word of God in the Presence of God, cannot die, and is forever. Therefore the reason why Jesus always refers to the Son of man. (As if, like we do, in third person) The Son of God never died, it was the Son of man that died and was resurrected. Man was made to be in God’s image, Jesus Christ is the completion, and fulfillment of that, to God’s satisfaction. The proof is the resurrection of Christ.

 

[Mintaka]

Re: how Jesus, the Word, could preach even in Sheol, the realm of the dead:

Isaiah 55:10-11 –

"And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return without that they soak the earth, and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

“So shall my Word be, which shall go forth from My mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it.”

Jesus couldn’t be dead and in the land of the dead, without making death life and death’s realm a land of the living. Jesus is God’s incredibly effective Word; He can’t go anywhere without being a preaching of the Word. That’s why, if the people of Jerusalem had been silent, the very stones would have cried out His praise. His presence remakes things, brings light into darkness, and changes what had been changeless.

 

[pablope]

If Jesus indeed “like all men, experienced death” then He could not have gone preaching while He was dead, for the Scriptures tell us that, “the dead know not anything” (Eccl. 9:5).

 

[onlyvoice]

onlyvoice

No matter the Church teaching, consider, before the beginning there was God, what could possibly be in His Creation that could stop the Fulfillment of His Word in His Presence? Or even His Word spoken in His Presence? Man’s experience of death? Na, what kills a man cannot kill God. Jesus bore the sins of the world, and now is seated at the Right Hand of the Father. Nothing stopped Him from being, alive.

First of all, thank you for your thoughts.

When the Word became flesh, he was still God in terms of His identity, but He was also a human being in every sense of the word. “…God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Gal. 4:4). He was subject to every physical law [and every spiritual law] that every human being is subject to. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also likewise took part of the same” (verse 14). Christ was flesh as we are flesh. As such, His death was that of a flesh and blood human being – the kind of death described in Ecclesiastes.

The Word of God in the Presence of God, cannot die, and is forever. Therefore the reason why Jesus always refers to the Son of man. (As if, like we do, in third person) The Son of God never died, it was the Son of man that died and was resurrected. Man was made to be in God’s image, Jesus Christ is the completion, and fulfillment of that, to God’s satisfaction. The proof is the resurrection of Christ.

Rom. 1:3-4 – “Concerning his Son [that is, God’s Son, or the Son of God] Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh…” Notice it, the Son of God “was made… according to the flesh.” The Son of God was true man [as He was true God] because He was “made according to the flesh” and so He was subject to death as we are – a death characterized by a total lack of consciousness.

This “Son of God” was made alive only by a resurrection from the dead. “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (verse 4).

Jesus could not have been dead and at the same time alive, for then there could be no resurrection from the dead – no bringing back to life. For how could one who is alive be brought back to life? Only the dead can be resurrected to life. The living already has life and needs no resurrection.

 

[onlyvoice]

onlyvoice;8757345:

Only one of the most anti-catholic cults…the SDA believes this. You do not indicate your protestant following, but what you say here strongly indicates you are SDA.

I am not SDA. But, really, I don’t see how my church affiliation can be relevant to the discussion.

And by the way, I don’t think the SDA’s can be categorized as “Protestant” as you seem to imply here since they were never a part of the Catholic Church and so did not come out of it in “protest”.

But Jesus is not like all men, isn’t it? He was both God and Man.

If as you say Jesus could not have gone preaching…where then did He go prior to His resurrection?

Where does the Bible say he went, Onevoice?

If we go by what the Bible reveals about the state of the dead, Jesus did not go anywhere while He was dead and buried. The dead, according to the Holy Scriptures, “know not anything.”

Can you explain this passage, Onevoice…from 1Peter 3:

18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the [n]spirit; 19 in [o]which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,

After Christ was “put to death in the flesh,” what happened next? Notice it. He was “made alive in the spirit.” How was He made alive? By “the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4). But as we all know, the Resurrection took place three days after Jesus died. Therefore in the interim, prior to His resurrection, Jesus remained dead and unconscious in His grave (sheol).

Now, Jesus also, by that same Spirit which brought Him back to life, “went and preached unto the spirits in prison” (verse 19). But when did this happen? Was it during the time Jesus was dead and buried? The very next verse tells us that this preaching happened, “… in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing…” (verse 20). That’s when Jesus preached to the imprisoned spirits. And who were these spirits that Jesus preached to in the days of Noah? Wicked angels who followed Satan and who are in chains of darkness, imprisoned for their own folly (Jude 6).