Possibly the most disputatious phrase in the Apostles’ Creed is the descendit clause which reads “He descended into hell.” This phrase did not appear in the Apostles’ Creed until around, 390 A.D. and these words are not expressly stated in Scripture.
There are often four Scripture passages used by supporters of the descendit clause to defend its inclusion in the Apostles’ Creed, namely, Ephesians 4:9; 1 Peter 3:18, 19; 1 Peter 4:4-6; and Psalm. 16:8-10.
Ephesians 4:9 – “(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)”
- Supporters of Christ’s descent to hell (hades) take the phrase descended first into the lower parts of the earth (KJV) to mean that He went to hades. But the proper interpretation of Ephesians 4:9, 10 is that the reference to the lower parts of the earth is simply to the earth and this refers to the incarnation of Christ. These two verses speak of Christ’s humiliation and exaltation, His incarnation and His resurrection and ascension. This verse has no reference at all to the time period between Christ’s crucifixion and His resurrection and certainly does not support the idea of Christ descending to hades.
1 Peter 3:18, 19 – “18For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison.”
- Purportedly the phrase alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison refers to the soul of Jesus preaching to spirits in prison sometime between His crucifixion and resurrection. But this is not so.
- Like all human beings at death, Jesus’ living spirit went to heaven and did not roam the earth or the underworld between his death and resurrection.
- V 18 – when Christ died, like all the righteous, His body and soul separated, and his disembodied soul went immediately to glory in heaven. Jesus even commended his spirit to God just before his death on the cross (Matt. 27:50; Luke 23:46). This verse tells us that Christ, the righteous, suffered once to pay for the sins of the unrighteous so that believers in Christ would be reconciled to God, gain access to the Father, and brought to eternal life (Eph. 2:13, 18; 3:12; Heb. 10:21, 22).
- V 19 – Peter switches now to an Old Testament example. The divine spirit of Christ, which was active in the Old Testament times prior to his incarnation, proclaimed or preached through God’s providential operation, as he frequently did (Gen. 11:5; Hos. 5:15; Mic. 1:3), to the people of Noah’s time through Noah prior to the flood (2 Pet. 2:5). This verse refers to the spirits in prison because at the time Peter wrote this epistle the disembodied souls of the disobedient unrighteous people that Noah preached to by the spirit of God were in hell. The Greek word (Gr. phulaké) translated here and elsewhere (c.f., Matt. 14:10; Mark 1:14; Luke 23:19; Acts 12:4; 1 Peter 3:19) as “prison” can also be translated as “hell” Thus they were referred to in verse 19 as the spirits in prison. These were disembodied spirits of the wicked dead of Noah’s time now in hell.
- At any rate, these verses properly understood do not indicate that Jesus descended to hell between His death and resurrection.
1 Peter 4:4-6 – “With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 for this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.”
- the key verse that needs to be considered here is verse 6 which reads “For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.”
- This verse talks about believers who heard the gospel when they were alive, though they are now, at the time Peter is writing this, dead. The phrase “judged in the flesh” refers to those who were persecuted and suffered even unto death from their adversaries because of their belief.
- Those who reject the gospel will die a physical death and so will believers whether their death is the result of persecution or other causes. But those who reject the gospel will be subject to God’s eternal judgment and condemnation whereas believers, though they die in this life, they will crossover from death to life (John 5:24) and they will continue to live in the spirit because “the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7).
- Again, in no way does the phrase “the gospel was preached even to those who are dead” refer to Christ descending to Hades to preach to the dead. Preaching to the dead is futile; no one can respond to the gospel after their life has ended anyway. Once a person dies they go either to heaven or to hell and at that point there is absolutely nothing that can be done to change their eternal abode. Their eternal destination is determined prior to entering the eternal abode of heaven or hell.
Psalm. 16:8-10 – “8I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. 9Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. 10For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”
- Psalm 16:8-11 is a messianic prophecy fulfilled in Acts 2:25-28; 13:35.
- V. 10 teaches that Jesus will be exempt from the dominion of the grave and thus His body, even when dead, will see no corruption.
- John Calvin writes about the words sheol and shachath (i.e., the pit) in verse 10 as follows:
- The question, however, may be asked, as Christ descended into the grave, was not he also subject to corruption? The answer is easy. The etymology or derivation of the two words here used to express the grave should be carefully attended to. The grave is called שְׁאוֹל, sheol, being as it were an insatiable gulf, which devours and consumes all things, and the pit is called שַׁחַת, shachath, which signifies corruption. These words, therefore, here denote not so much the place as the quality and condition of the place, as if it had been said, The life of Christ will be exempted from the dominion of the grave, inasmuch as his body, even when dead, will not be subject to corruption… Both the Greek and Latin Fathers, I confess, have strained these words to a meaning wholly different, referring them to the bringing back of the soul of Christ from hell. But it is better to adhere to the natural simplicity of the interpretation which I have given.[1]
- Calvin clearly indicates in his commentary of verse 10 that it does not refer to “the bringing back of the soul of Christ from hell.”[2]
“Scripture certainly does not teach a literal descent of Christ into hell. Moreover, there are serious objections to this view. He cannot have descended into hell according to the body, for this was in the grave. If He really did descend into hell, it can only have been as to His soul, and this would mean that only half of His human nature shared in this stage of His humiliation (or exaltation… And, finally, at the time of His death Christ commended His spirit to His Father. This seems to indicate that He would be passive rather than active from the time of His death until He arose from the grave. On the whole it seems best to combine two thoughts: (a) that Christ suffered the pangs of hell before His death, in Gethsemane and on the cross; and (b) that He entered the deepest humiliation of the state of death.”[3]
Hell is separation from God. Scripture teaches this in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 which reads “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.”
John Calvin denies a literal descent into hell, the abode of the disembodied spirits of the wicked. He believed that the “hell” suffered by Christ was His suffering on the cross. He believes that Christ did not literally descend into hell, but the wrath of hell was poured out upon him while on the cross. Therefore, Christ had no need of literally going to hell because He suffered the nearly unbearable wrath of separation from God, which to the Son of Man was unthinkable.
However, Calvin supported leaving the descendit clause in the Apostles’ Creed but insisted that its meaning should be understood not as Christ’s literal descent to hell but as the bodily and spiritual suffering of the punishment of hell, the separation from God, on the cross.
That Christ suffered the punishment of hell on the cross is evident by His words, spoken on the cross, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34). The word forsake means to renounce or turn away from entirely. It involves abandonment, leaving, quitting, deserting, or stranding. To renounce speaks of refusing to recognize any further; to totally repudiate. Jesus was clearly experiencing the separation from God, which to Jesus especially, was spiritual agony and the worst punishment imaginable. This is the precise description of hell. Hell is not so much a location but a state of existence.
We are not saved when we get to heaven. Our salvation is a finished work, on Judgment Day, before we get there. Jesus consummates believers’ salvation at judgment and then they are ushered into heaven. Heaven is the abode of the saved. Likewise, we are not abandoned and separated from God when we get to hell. Our separation occurs before we arrive in hell. Hell is the abode of those who have been separated from God at death. The key to understanding heaven and hell is comprehending the work wrought in us that facilitates our entrance to heaven or hell.
Since Christ suffered the punishment of separation from God on the cross, it was unnecessary for Him to literally go to the abode of the wicked in hell after his death. Christ suffered the pangs of hell, physically and spiritually, while alive on the cross and not after death.
Supporters of the descendit clause have to acknowledge that in their view Christ’s soul only went to hell but his body remained in the tomb because that is what Scripture tells us about His body. But our understanding of Christ suffering hell, spiritually and physically, on the cross provides for the whole person of Christ receiving the wrath of hell.
Before Christ died, He experienced hell ― the separation from God ― on the cross. When Christ died, His body was placed in the grave and His disembodied spirit was immediately in heaven with God. On the third day, He was resurrected with His incorruptible body reunited with his soul and His resurrected body was transformed into a new glorified body. At no time did Christ literally descend into hell with the disembodied spirits of the unrighteous and Scripture doesn’t teach this.
CONCLUSION
Here are several points for your consideration regarding why the disembodied soul of Jesus could not literally descend to the abode of the disembodied spirits of the unbelieving dead in hell.
- Scripture simply does not state or imply this;
- Scripture teaches that the punishment of hell is separation from God, not abiding in a particular place, though those eternally separated from God are made to abide in hell.
- If any part of Christ’s human nature descended to hell, then so would His divine spirit which is inextricably connected with His human nature and this would defeat the “separation from God” aspect of the death of the wicked. The punishment of those in hell is absolute separation from all things divine.
- While on the cross, immediately before He died, “Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit! And having said this he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46). This shows that at death, the disembodied spirit of Jesus ascended to God in heaven and from this point through His resurrection, the spirit of Christ was passively in God’s hands and could not have descended to hell. Likewise for ALL human beings ― at death the disembodied spirits of believers go immediately to bliss with God in heaven and the disembodied spirits of unbelievers are immediately separated from God and placed in hell.
- On Judgment Day, resurrected unbelievers are separated from God as their eternal punishment, body and soul, prior to entering eternal hell. They receive their just due at judgment. Hell is not so much a place of torment but a place of the tormented. It is the place where those who are separated from God at death abide. The separation of body and soul from God is the punishment of hell, which is what Christ suffered on the cross.
- Christ was not able to suffer the punishment of hell, body and soul, the way all resurrected unbelievers will on Judgment Day except on the cross prior to death. All unbelievers at death received the punishment of hell, body and soul. Thus Jesus must receive the punishment of hell. body and soul and that only occurs on the cross;
- Jesus received the punishment for believers’ sins on the cross, body and soul. Scripture makes it clear that His body remained in the tomb until His resurrection (John 19:40–20:1; Luke 23:50-24:1). His disembodied soul descending to hell, sans the body which was in the tomb, doesn’t provide the suffering due from sinners who suffer separation from God, body and soul, at judgment. And only on the cross could this body and soul suffering happen;
- Jesus, Himself, told us from the cross that He suffered the separation from God when he said “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34). The word forsake means to renounce or turn away from entirely. It involves abandonment, leaving, quitting, deserting, or stranding. To forsake speaks of refusing to recognize any further; to totally repudiate. Moreover, since God is the source of all good (Ps. 31:19-20; Luke 18:19; Rom. 8:28; Jas. 1:17), the absence of God means that Jesus would have suffered the absence of all good, thus no good thoughts, emotions, feelings, awareness, physically or spiritually. Jesus was clearly experiencing the agony of separation from God, which to Jesus especially was spiritually and physically a horrifying torment and the worst punishment imaginable. This is the precise description of hell and it is exactly what all the unbelieving dead will suffer on the Day of Judgment. Hell is not so much a location but a state of existence.
The descendit clause could be restated to avoid misunderstanding and replaced with the phrase “suffered hell on the cross.” (and while we’re at it, we could change “catholic” to “universal). Thus the Apostles’ Creed might read something like this “was crucified, suffered hell on the cross, died, and was buried; The third day he rose from the dead and the holy universal church…” and this would diminish the possibility of misunderstanding these phrases.
[1] John Calvin, John Calvin’s Complete Commentaries: The Psalms, Ps. 16:10, Kindle Edition, ed. Henry Beveridge (The Ephesians Four Group, 2013).
[2] Calvin, Psalms 16:10.
[3] Systematic Theology. Louis Berkhof, The Banner of Truth Trust, 2019, 347.
