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soccer09
Guest
In the Apostle’s Creed it states that Jesus descended into hell. Why did He go to hell???
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peregrinus_WA
Guest
Actually, this is another good example of “lost in translation” The original term, I believe, was “Sheol” or “land of the dead” which is a place where all souls, both good and bad, went after death and before the resurrection.In the Apostle’s Creed it states that Jesus descended into hell. Why did He go to hell???
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LilyM
Guest
Other translations of the Apostles Creed in fact say ‘he descended to the dead’ to clarify this.
As to the reason why - no-one was able to enter heaven prior to Christ’s death, since He was, as Paul said, the firstfruits.
But it’s clear God didn’t send everyone in the OT to hell of the damned either - Elijah and Enoch were assumed, and Christ mentions Lazarus and Abraham being in an abode of the blessed. This was in fact a limbo state - the righteous were there awaiting Christ’s death in order for heaven to be open to them.
So he went to them in this Limbo after His death to give them the good news of their salvation and open heaven to them when He rose again on Easter.
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Naztakuan
Guest
Here’s an interesting interpretation:
I’m not protestant but my family friends are.
According to their interpretation in their Jesus of Nazareth Easter play. Jesus went to hell to fight the devil or something and then he came back.
Now that’s not what catholics believe because we know that sheol isn’t the “hell” of the damned but this was one of the churches that takes everything as a literal face value translation.
I’m not sure what protestants believe when it comes to the afterlife before Christ. I just know that SDAs believe what the Jewish people believe which is tha the soul doesn’t go anywhere. You die and then you wake up during the ressurection. That’s the main reason that when I attended SDA school, that I never converted. Their concept of the immortal soul and punishment is different from ours. They don’t believe that souls suffer for all eternity and they believe that Satan will cease to exist after being burned for a thousand years, but they also believe that all souls cease to exist until the 2nd coming.
I’m not protestant but my family friends are.
According to their interpretation in their Jesus of Nazareth Easter play. Jesus went to hell to fight the devil or something and then he came back.
Now that’s not what catholics believe because we know that sheol isn’t the “hell” of the damned but this was one of the churches that takes everything as a literal face value translation.
I’m not sure what protestants believe when it comes to the afterlife before Christ. I just know that SDAs believe what the Jewish people believe which is tha the soul doesn’t go anywhere. You die and then you wake up during the ressurection. That’s the main reason that when I attended SDA school, that I never converted. Their concept of the immortal soul and punishment is different from ours. They don’t believe that souls suffer for all eternity and they believe that Satan will cease to exist after being burned for a thousand years, but they also believe that all souls cease to exist until the 2nd coming.
M
mercygate
Guest
“Protestants” of the ‘orthodox’ mainstream variety do NOT believe this. This is a teaching by some popular [independent wide-audience evangelists](http://www.(name removed by moderator)lainsite.org/html/jesus_reborn_in_hell.html#quotes).
The mainstream churches of the reformation hold the same view we do.
Scriptural support for the ‘descent into hell’ comes from I Peter 4:6: “For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God.”
T
Thing
Guest
The place of the dead for the ‘good’ people was known as Abrahams comfort, I think.
Implies souls continue to ‘live’ after death, and that it was not exactly an unpleasant state either. Unlike the ‘bad’ people who did not enjoy Abrahams comfort after death but rather they were separated from the ‘good’ by an impassible chasm. This suggests theirs was not a pleasant experience.
Implies souls continue to ‘live’ after death, and that it was not exactly an unpleasant state either. Unlike the ‘bad’ people who did not enjoy Abrahams comfort after death but rather they were separated from the ‘good’ by an impassible chasm. This suggests theirs was not a pleasant experience.
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abbot
Guest
He went to sheol to preach to the dead and to save the souls that where controlled be the devel. ans sheole was like a form of pergtoury for souls to get clean untill the Lord comes to bring them into heaven
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Ron_Conte
Guest
Christ did visit both Purgatory and Hell itself between His death and Resurrection.
Hell is not a place run by the devil; it is run by God.
Jesus visited Hell, not to be punished, but so that even the souls
in Hell would know the Saviour of all mankind, whom they had
rejected by rejecting goodness, truth, etc.
Hell is not a place run by the devil; it is run by God.
Jesus visited Hell, not to be punished, but so that even the souls
in Hell would know the Saviour of all mankind, whom they had
rejected by rejecting goodness, truth, etc.
Z
Ziggamafu
Guest
Go read *Mysterium Paschale *by Hans Urs Von Balthasar.
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CentralFLJames
Guest
I agree. Most Catholics believe that Jesus only went to Purgatory. My personal speculation is that God wanted to manifest His Glory and Supremacy in all of Creation (above earth, below earth and on earth). I personally think Jesus entered Hell just to proclaim Himself as “The Lord” and to force Satan and the minions of evil souls and spirits to kneel before Him.
There is even some theological speculation that Jesus may have divinely intervened to rescue Judas from His eternal punishment since he was instrumental in setting in motion the events leading to Jesus’ fulfillment of scripture by betraying Him. The idea was that Judas could boast that he sacrificed himself to hell as the greater sacrifice to Jesus’ suffering & three days of death to cooperate to save others knowing full well that Jesus really was the Messiah and was just role playing his part. The idea is that Judas suffering eternal hell would diminish Jesus’ sacrifice and His glory and give evil the right to boast and claim a right to share in God’s glory by cooperating with Jesus.
Note: Contrary to this speculation, Judas’ name comes up a lot in exorcisms as they are forced to identify themselves.
The truth is all we know for certain is that Jesus descended at least to purgatory to rescue those who were waiting for heaven to be opened to human souls but were not condemned to eternal hell.
James
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rmax70
Guest
Date March 24 2008 Time 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Title Holy Saturday and Jesus’ Descent into Hell Guest Michael Barber and Brant Pitre
javascript
opUp(‘http://www.catholic.com/radio/event.php?calendar=1&category=0&event=5082&date=2008-03-24’,‘435’,‘485’);
javascript
opUp(‘http://www.catholic.com/radio/event.php?calendar=1&category=0&event=5082&date=2008-03-24’,‘435’,‘485’);
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CentralFLJames
Guest
rmax - the link you posted has some errors in it and it does not work. This one does:Date March 24 2008 Time 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Title Holy Saturday and Jesus’ Descent into Hell Guest Michael Barber and Brant Pitre
javascript
Holy Saturday and Jesus’ Descent into Hell
James
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CentralFLJames
Guest
Here is the official Church Teaching from the CCC.
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 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.
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
Scriptural references:
476 Eph 4:9-10.
477 Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 18, Exsultet.
478 Acts 3:15; Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 15:20; cf. Heb 13:20.
479 Cf. 1 Pet 3:18-19.
480 Cf. Phil 2:10; Acts 2:24; Rev 1:18; Eph 4:9; Pss 6:6; 88:11-13.
481 Cf. Ps 89:49; 1 Sam 28:19; Ezek 32:17-32; Lk 16:22-26.
482 Roman Catechism I, 6, 3.
483 Cf. Council of Rome (745): DS 587; Benedict XII, Cum dudum (1341): DS 1011; Clement VI, Super quibusdam (1351): DS 1077; Council of Toledo IV (625): DS 485; Mt 27:52-53.
484 1 Pet 4:6.
485 Jn 5:25; cf. Mt 12:40; Rom 10:7; Eph 4:9.
486 Heb 2:14-15; cf. Acts 3:15.
487 Rev 1:18; Phil 2:10.
488 Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday: PG 43, 440A, 452C; LH, Holy Saturday, OR.
James
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 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.
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
Scriptural references:
476 Eph 4:9-10.
477 Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 18, Exsultet.
478 Acts 3:15; Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 15:20; cf. Heb 13:20.
479 Cf. 1 Pet 3:18-19.
480 Cf. Phil 2:10; Acts 2:24; Rev 1:18; Eph 4:9; Pss 6:6; 88:11-13.
481 Cf. Ps 89:49; 1 Sam 28:19; Ezek 32:17-32; Lk 16:22-26.
482 Roman Catechism I, 6, 3.
483 Cf. Council of Rome (745): DS 587; Benedict XII, Cum dudum (1341): DS 1011; Clement VI, Super quibusdam (1351): DS 1077; Council of Toledo IV (625): DS 485; Mt 27:52-53.
484 1 Pet 4:6.
485 Jn 5:25; cf. Mt 12:40; Rom 10:7; Eph 4:9.
486 Heb 2:14-15; cf. Acts 3:15.
487 Rev 1:18; Phil 2:10.
488 Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday: PG 43, 440A, 452C; LH, Holy Saturday, OR.
James
I
igator99
Guest
I was wondering that myself.In the Apostle’s Creed it states that Jesus descended into hell. Why did He go to hell???
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Em_in_FL
Guest
CentralFLJames answered it best… from the catechism…
The most relevant answer is in this paragraph…
The most relevant answer is in this paragraph…
Great answer!
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