Did Jesus descend into hell?

No

I read the article. He uses one unclear verse (“Into Thy hands I commit my spirit” — which could be indirect hands, as in care) to disprove several other unclear verses. The explanations for some of the other unclear verses are less than satisfactory.

And he doesn’t deal with John 20:17.
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Where was Jesus before this? Hmm. The fact that He had promised one of the thieves hanging beside Him that the thief would be with Him in Paradise “today”, yet in John 20:17 seems to imply that He is perhaps only then returning to His Father is suspicious.

In short, the case can be made for this. I believe the jury is still out, and we won’t know for certain till we are in Heaven and can ask directly.

When we wish not to believe something we say it is Greek mythology’s fault and and when we wish to believe something we say Greek mythology got it from God’s children. I suspect it could have easily been the Greeks getting this from ancient truths and making their version and then when it is later found in the Bible we discount it because the Greeks had something similar forgetting where the Greeks may have gotten it (Gilgamesh anyone?).

Hell is a generic term for the underworld where the souls of men went either awaiting in Abraham’s Bossom or that of torments until the day of their judgement. Christ appeared to those who awaited his victory and resurrection that they may be led into glory(Eph).

To ask the question if anyone really believes the interior of the earth holds the souls of men (now only those who were unbelievers seeing believers go immediately into glory) is to dare with arrogant contempt someone be foolish enough to admit this. Strangely such a postured question while seemingly clever to some escapes the fact that the surface of the earth holds the souls of all living humans so what is so impossible and worth mocking that God might also assign some to the interior after death neverminding the bible st least implies this? Jesus went to hell but not to suffer but to proclaim victory and take those who awaited into glory.

I agree Alex. What exactly are people trying to protect God from? What is the horrible thing that could be true of Messiah descending into hades to bring His saints out? Sometimes people overthink what God said. Just believe the revelation and not feel the need to protect God. He can take care of Himself.

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/did-jesus-spend-saturday-in-hell-…?

I would say, therefore, that there is no textual basis in the New Testament for claiming that between Good Friday and Easter Christ was preaching to souls imprisoned in hell or Hades. There is textual basis for saying that he would be with the repentant thief in Paradise “today” (Luke 23:43), and one does not get the impression that he means a defective place from which the thief must then be delivered by more preaching.

For these and other reasons, it seems best to me to omit from the Apostles Creed the clause, “he descended into hell,”

If that theory is true, I’d like to see an exegesis of Luke 23:39-42:

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

[Jay C.] If that theory is true, I’d like to see an exegesis of Luke 23:39-42:

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Jay, the theory generally suggests that Paradise was not equivalent to Heaven at that time.

I’m not well studied on the whole ‘descended into hell’ thing, but Jesus’ claim to be in Paradise on the day of the crucifixion would seem to argue against any kind of descent into hell…unless, of course, they argue that Jesus went to paradise and THEN descended to Hell, which makes no sense either.

[Jay C.] I’m not well studied on the whole ‘descended into hell’ thing, but Jesus’ claim to be in Paradise on the day of the crucifixion would seem to argue against any kind of descent into hell…unless, of course, they argue that Jesus went to paradise and THEN descended to Hell, which makes no sense either.

Because of the comments in the lead article, this became a topic of discussion in our Wednesday night Bible Study. So, without a great deal of effort put in beyond prep for that discussion, here’s a quick summary of the typical teaching of this position. I do not claim that it is absolutely correct, or that every adherent of the view would say everything in exactly this way.

We start in the Savior’s dying moments. Jesus hangs on the cross, and he hears one of the thieves at his side say this…Luke 23: 43 Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Sometime, between the cross and the resurrection, Jesus will be in a place called “Paradise”.

What is Paradise? First guess. Heaven. That’s what we’d think. But, John 20:17 says: Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Now we have a problem. Because if Jesus was in Heaven, how had he not yet returned to the Father? This suggests that Jesus had not yet been to heaven at this point. And that suggests that Paradise was not equivalent to Heaven.

We’ve run out of options. Or have we? No. In Luke 16, we find the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. While we have to be careful how much we rely on parables for data beyond the original intent of he parable, I find it difficult to imagine that Jesus would give misleading information within a parable.

In it, the beggar Lazarus is carried to someplace – unidentified – but we know he’s at Abraham’s side. Abraham being the Spiritual and Physical father of the Jews. Lazarus is in a good place – but the rich selfish guy is in the bad place.

What is this good place?
It’s not Heaven. Let us posit that this good place is the place is Paradise.
How do I know it’s not Heaven? While both Heaven and our presumed Paradise are places of the righteous dead, they show two key differences. In this Paradise, the spirits of the evil people can readily be seen. Also, it appears to be supervised by Abraham rather than God the Father. [Or these are merely literary devices to advance the purpose of the parable – but would Jesus give misinformation to advance His purpose?]

Could this realm, where both the righteous and unrighteous dead are, respectively, blessed or tormented, be beneath the earth’s surface? Numbers 16 gives the account of the rebels against Moses and the Lord being directly sucked down into Sheol while alive. And it happens by a crack in the earth’s surface opening.

So, we now have a clear picture; there’s this place of the dead. And it has two sides. Paradise, and Hell. Paradise is a place of reward. Hell a place of torment. It’s actually the same idea as the Ancient Greek idea of Hades – a place where the dead go – with two divisions – for good and evil.
Can we prove Jesus went to this place Sheol? Perhaps.
Matthew 12:40. “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

So, Jesus went to this place. And He was there for the whole time he was dead. A prophecy by David about Jesus “You will not leave my soul in sheol, neither will you let my body experience corruption.”

So what does He do there? And which side does He go to? The “good side” or “the bad place”? Well, he said “This day you shall be with me in Paradise.” So we know He started out there. He goes to Paradise with his fellow sufferer from the next cross. And then He goes to Hell.

I Peter 3:18-20
18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison
20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,

He preached to the spirits who disobeyed while Noah was building the ark. Some connection to the weirdness of Jude 6 and Genesis 6 may be indicated.

Ephesians 4.
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
8 This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.”
9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?
10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)

So He, Jesus, also led captives – meaning he led the people who were prisoners of death up to Heaven in a glorious parade. The theory is that until the blood of Christ was actually given in sacrifice, the pre-Christ believers could still not enter Heaven.

Since the cross, what happened to Paradise? It split. Heaven now serves the role of Paradise (see 2 Cor. 12, where Paul describes Paradise as equivalent to the dwelling place of God). I might suggest that just as Hell is a temporary holding cell for future inhabitants of the Lake of Fire, Paradise was a temporary dwelling place for future inhabitants of Heaven.

What is Paradise? First guess. Heaven. That’s what we’d think. But, John 20:17 says: Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Now we have a problem. Because if Jesus was in Heaven, how had he not yet returned to the Father? This suggests that Jesus had not yet been to heaven at this point.

Alternatively, it could simply mean Jesus wasn’t done with His earthly ministry yet.

It could be that Jesus had not returned permanently to the Father, hence the “I am returning” a little later on.

Interesting post, Mike.