"He Descended into Hell"
What Happened on Holy Saturday?
Christ’s descent into Hell is a disputed doctrine. Though many Christians from Irenaeus to the present have affirmed it, it is not without its dissenters. Though the Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglo-Catholics, and Lutherans all affirm it, the Reformed tend away from this position. They prefer to interpret “He descended into Hell” in the Apostle’s Creed as either his abandonment in the Garden, his crucifixion, or his burial. Anything suggesting his actual descent into the place of the dead awakens controversy.
The Heidelberg Catechism answers the questions Why does the [Apostles’] Creed add “He descended into Hell”? (Q&A 44 ) by stating, “To assure me during attacks of deepest dread and temptation that Christ my Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul, on the cross but also earlier, has delivered me from hellish anguish and torment.” Calvin points to the passion and crucifixion as Christ’s descent into Hell.
The Westminster Larger Catechism answer to question 50 describes Christ’s humiliation after his death as “his being buried, and continuing in the state of the dead, and under the power of death till the third day; which hath been otherwise expressed in these words, He descended into hell.”
The Heidelberg Catechism and Westminster Larger Catechism, if they desired to prohibit those under their sway from affirming a literal descent, would not write these answers in such a way. “Why does the [Apostles’] Creed add…” and Westminster Larger Catechism describing the humiliation rather than the descent specifically. Neither of these answers prohibit belief in a descent into Hell, the realm of the dead, and in fact, this view can be encapsulated by Christ being “under the power of death till the third day” as the Westminster Larger Catechism states.
There are some Reformed Christians that affirm the traditional sense of the descent. Reformed Theological Seminary professor Charles E. Hill defends the descent here. I recommend reading that piece.
This issue will not be settled here. However, I would like to bring something I read recently into the discussion.
The lengthy passage below is extracted from Vernon Staley’s The Catholic Religion. Fr. Staley (1852-1933) was a priest in the Church of England who was a part of the Anglo-Catholic movement. His book The Catholic Religion teaches the Anglican faith and practice. It has been republished by Nashotah House Press. It can also be accessed online here. It is in the public domain. I highly recommend reading this book. Enjoy the passage below.
At three o'clock on Good Friday our blessed Saviour died on the cross, and from this time until the morning of Easter-day, a period of some forty hours, his soul remained separated from his body. It was during this interval that the soul of Jesus " descended into hell." The word hell in the Creed, signifies 'the under world,' or 'the unseen world.' It does not mean the place of torment reserved for the devil and his angels, but the abode of departed spirits, of which our Lord had spoken to the penitent thief under the name of "paradise."
From the death of Abel until the time of our Lord's passion, great numbers of souls had passed out of this life into the unseen world. These disembodied souls were in a place of safe-keeping in what is known as 'the intermediate state,' by which we understand the state of the departed between death and the last judgment. St. Peter describes some of these souls as "the spirits in prison," and declares that our Lord visited the realms of the dead after his passion, in order that He might announce to them the glad tidings of his victory over Satan.1
Our Lord's descent into hell is a subject about which little can be said with certainty. As to what actually took place there at his coming, we do not know. We may believe that some special blessing to the departed resulted from his presence at such a time, but we have no means of knowing any details.
Connected with our Lord's descent into hell is a subject of some importance, of which we will now speak. We refer to the condition of the departed in the intermediate state.
Holy Scripture seems to imply that at death the soul goes before God for the particular judgment, and is then consigned to a place of joy or misery in the intermediate state. This joy is not the final joy of heaven, neither is this misery that of everlasting punishment. This particular judgment is to be distinguished from the final or general judgment. The general judgment is represented as a vast assize at which all the world will be assembled, and which will not take place until after the resurrection at the end of the world; hence it is called "the last judgment." Our Lord himself so describes it in St. Matt. 25:31-32, — "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory . . . before him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." Upon the general judgment at the end of the world, the condition of souls in eternity depends. No one, however good he has been, will receive his final degree of bliss immediately after death ; and no one, however bad he has been, will then receive his final measure of rejection. All souls, good and bad alike, go at death to a place of waiting, where we believe they receive a foretaste, though not the actual realization, of their final lot in eternity. This we may conclude from the teaching of our Lord in the parable of the rich man and the beggar, which is recorded in St. Luke 16:19-31.2 Our Lord is describing the state of two souls in the interval between death and the judgment. That He is not speaking of heaven or hell is evident. The Greek word translated "hell" in the sentence, "And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments," is " hades," and is never used in Holy Scripture for the place of everlasting punishment. The rich man's allusion to his five brethren still living upon earth, also shows that the time spoken of is that previous to the resurrection and the general judgment. It is not until after these events that men will reach their final state in eternity.
As far as the souls of the saved are concerned, we may regard the intermediate state as a preparation for the life of heaven. We may believe that purification from the stains of sin committed in this life, forms a necessary part of such preparation. Dr. Pusey thought that "amid the rest and felicity of knowing that they are saved, that they cannot again have the very faintest wish to commit the very slightest sin… the temporary banishment from the sight of God will be intense purifying suffering."3
No one, however good a life he may have lived on earth, is fitted at once to come into that glorious Presence. There are stains and imperfections still clinging to the souls of the very best men, which must needs be purged and done away, before the full sight of God can be endured, and his presence be enjoyed. There is a legend of the middle ages which teaches a great truth. A certain bishop had some ill-will towards a city which had rejected his authority. He saw in a vision an empty throne in the next world intended for himself. On advancing to occupy this throne he was motioned back, being told that he was not then fit to occupy it. Turning his eyes within, he saw a black spot on his soul. It was the grudge he bore towards the city which had despised his authority.4
In the time of waiting between death and the last judgment, the final preparation for God's presence is made. When we reflect upon what we really are, and what God is, and how much of the ways of heaven we have yet to learn, we cannot but heartily thank God that He has provided such an interval, in which the work of grace begun on earth may be continued and perfected. Speaking of the saintly John Keble, Dr. Pusey wrote,—" It would be expected of such a humble soul as that of the author of The Christian Year, that the prospect of such a preparation was an unspeakable comfort to him within a year of his death. He expressed it both to myself and others."5
Our thoughts of the departed who in this life sought to obey God and to keep themselves pure and true, can only be those of unspeakable rest in Christ.6 It has moreover been widely believed in the Church, that the more exalted of the faithful departed, though they have not yet attained to their perfect consummation and bliss, are even now brought into close association with our Lord in his heavenly glory and mediation.7
For the many who depart this life apparently neither good enough for heaven nor bad enough for hell, we may hope that a place of mercy is provided in the intermediate state, in which the evil will be completely purged, and the good perfectly developed. It is reasonable to suppose that when this purification is accomplished, such souls will enter into perfect peace, and advance towards that final and unending happiness which will follow the resurrection of the body and the last judgment.
'Every heresy is the intellectual vengeance of some suppressed truth.' This is so of forgetfulness of the truth of which we are thinking. Such forgetfulness has led to the gravest consequences. Unmindful of the merciful provision of a place of preparation between death and the judgment, men have come to deny the existence of hell. Instinctively feeling that so many souls leave this life unfitted for heaven, and ignorant of the truth of the intermediate state, they have naturally rebelled against the thought of such souls being eternally lost. Thus, with no other alternative before the mind, they have been led to deny that there is any hell at all. A belief in the true doctrine of the intermediate state would have saved them from their error.
Again and again we see that the abuse of a thing is fatal to its right use. It is one of the unhappy results of exaggerated teaching that in the reaction against that which is false, that which is true is lost sight of. And such is the case in regard to the intermediate state. At the time of the Reformation, serious errors and abuses widely prevailed concerning the condition of the departed. To some of these we have already alluded in speaking of the sale of indulgences (pp. 89, 90). It is against such errors and abuses that the Church of England protests in Article XXII. This article is not meant to condemn the primitive doctrine of the intermediate state as we have stated it, but only 'the Romish doctrine,' which so largely obtained at the time of which we are speaking, and which could claim no support from the teaching of antiquity. The term purgatory simply means 'a place or process of cleansing or purging; it is disused amongst us because of certain ideas which in medieval times had attached themselves to the word. Of these we have already spoken in discussing the causes of the Reformation.
The subject of prayer for the departed will be treated of later in this book (see pp. 224- 226, 272).
I myself am not sure what to think about this doctrine. The parable of the rich man and the beggar does seem to imply that the saved and unsaved inhabited the same realm prior to Christ’s resurrection. However, a gulf existed between them. The saved were kept from the sufferings of the place of the dead, and the unsaved were not.
The testimony of Daniel seems to point to a similar truth. The three men in the furnace were kept safe from the heat of the fire, those nearby were not kept safe (Daniel 3). Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den for refusing to pray to the king. He was kept safe from them. God shut the mouths of the lions (Daniel 6:22). His accusers were not kept safe (Daniel 6:24).
What the story of Daniel in the lion’s den and the three men in the furnace points to is Christ in the tomb and the resurrection. Daniel was accused, like Christ (Daniel 6:13). Daniel was throne into the lion’s den, and a stone covered the entrance (Daniel 6:17). Jesus tomb was closed by a stone. There are more parallels, but what does this all tell us?
Christ was under the power of death for three days. He was both buried, as the Apostle’s Creed says, and he descended into Hell. Both his body and soul were under death’s power. However, he did not suffer in Hell. He was kept from its power. His ascension from Hell is a part of his open vindication. Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? He was raised from Hell according to his soul and raised from the ground according to his body as a demonstration of his innocence and power.
And as he ascended from Hell and into Heaven, he led a train of the captives, those who were eagerly awaiting his arrival.
The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. (Psalm 68:17-18)
Ephesians draws this connection explicitly:
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) (Ephesians 4:7-10)
Jesus did not suffer in Hell. He came as a conquering king to rescue his subjects. They called out to him, to deliver them, and now they await in his solicitude until they are reunited with their bodies in the resurrection and made capable of fully enjoying the incarnate Son of God in their flesh.
“By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison…” (1 Peter 3:19); “For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit,” (1 Peter 4:6).
“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead,” (Luke 16:19-31).
Edward Pusey, What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment? 3rd Edition, p. 119.
See Edward Pusey, Addresses to the Companions of the Love of Jesus, p. 128, note.
Edward Pusey, What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment? 3rd Edition, p. 122, note.
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them,” (Revelation 14:13).
The opinion that the souls of the martyrs entered heaven immediately after death has been generally held in the Church.