Weird Ideas: Descent to Hell, Then Raised From the DeadSýnishorn

The Apostles’ Creed says Jesus descended into hell. Of all the things that could be said about Jesus, why is this considered so important as to make its way into this creed? Think about it. If you were trying to explain who Jesus is and what he did, would his descent into hell be something you would lead with? The early Christians did.

Too often people have a narrow view of hell. They see it as a place where sinners are punished or the unsaved go in their quest to remain separate from God. Sometimes Jesus talks this way, and his word of choice that gets translated as “hell” is Gehenna. But there’s a broader way the Bible talks about hell too. It’s a place or state of being where all dead people go. Or better, a way of describing and personifying the state of death. In this case, it prefers the Greek word Hades.

When the Apostles’ Creed says Jesus descended into hell, it’s this latter concept (and word) it has in mind. Jesus descended into hades. Does that mean Jesus went to some place in Greek mythology? No. It’s a way of saying that when Jesus died, he experienced what all dead people do. He was fully dead. His soul departed. He died. Period. In the fullest possible way. Jesus died just like many of our loved ones have. Just like you and I will someday (if Jesus doesn’t return first!). That’s why some translations of the Apostles’ Creed will say Jesus “descended to the grave.”

Jesus descending into “hell” has nothing to do with the weird ideas some people have that Jesus went there to suffer, that his work on the cross wasn’t sufficient, or that he was tormented by the devil in some way. It was a way of reinforcing that Jesus was dead. Actually dead. Stone-cold dead. And this one who was stone-cold dead defeated death. He conquered death and the grave.

Jesus’s descent into hell is a war cry. It’s a way of proclaiming, “Death, you did not defeat Jesus. Death, you have no hold on me!”