When I started this excursus on the article, He descended into hell, from line 38 of the Creed, I really only expected it to be two posts.
It turns out, the complications of interpreting this article, and the rich theology of Christ’s descent that arises from it, have necessitated four posts. This will be the final post.
You can read the previous three posts below:
But to sum up what we have learned so far:
- He descended into hell does not necessitate the idea that Christ suffered further torments after His death.
- It also doesn’t demand that He gave the damned a second chance to repent.
- Hell is simply an ancient term for the underworld—the abode of the dead. Older translations (like the KJV) have obscured this by rendering many different words as hell.
- Scripture absolutely teaches that Christ descended into the underworld after death.
- The underworld as described in the Bible has three levels:
- Upper Sheol / Abraham’s bosom (righteous dead)
- Lower Sheol / Hades (wicked dead)
- Tartarus / the Abyss (rebellious angels)
- Scripture speaks of Christ descending to all three levels.
- Christ didn’t descend to suffer, but to speak.
In this post, we will finish our excursus by learning two things:
- The nature of Christ’s proclamation in the underworld.
- What it accomplished.
Again, since this year we’ve been explaining the Athanasian Creed from Scripture, every conclusion we have reached and will reach is supported by Scripture.
What did Christ proclaim to the spirits in the underworld?
One of the primary difficulties in establishing what Christ’s descent into the underworld accomplished is squaring 1 Peter 3:18b-19; with 4:6.
He was put to death in flesh but was made alive in spirit, in which he also went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison …
… the gospel was preached also to those who are dead … (EHV, emphasis added)
I’ve explained in previous posts that I believe these passages are talking about two different events.
The Gospel was preached in the past to those who have since died, for the salvation of those who believed. This is quite separate from Christ descending to the underworld in the spirit after He died to make an announcement to the spirits in prison.
Besides interpretive difficulties that arise from making these statements refer to the same event—which, again, have been discussed in previous posts—what’s really decisive here is that the Holy Spirit inspired Peter two use two different words for preaching or proclamation in the two passages.
1 Peter 4:6 uses euangelizō, which is the particular word for proclaiming the Gospel. We see this reflected in the English translations. But 3:19 uses kérussō, which can mean preaching the Gospel (for example in Romans 10:14); but is more of a general term for an official proclamation (so, for example, Acts 15:21).
That’s why I chose the EHV’s rendering of these verses. Because it reflects the different shades of meaning of the respective verbs.
So here’s how we should understand it.
1 Peter 4:6 refers to the Gospel proclaimed to the living who have since died. Their belief in the Gospel while they lived means they will be saved from final judgment, although they suffered the common human judgment of physical death (see the whole of vv5-6).
Meanwhile, 1 Peter 3:19 refers to Christ proclaiming the victory of God over Satan and death, secured by Christ’s obedience to His mission.
Imagine Christ walking freely about the underworld, proclaiming: All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18 NKJV). That authority would extend to the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12 NKJV).
This proclamation would be very bad news for the devils, and the wicked dead. Christ’s victory would seal their doom.
But for those who had died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, and embraced them (Hebrews 11:13 NKJV)—this would be fabulous news, indeed.
Those in Abraham’s bosom—the upper chamber of Sheol—would be seeing the promises in which they trusted and hoped beginning to appear: Where then is my hope?Who can find any hope for me? Will it go down with me to the barred gates of the grave? Will we rest in the dust together? (Job 17:16 EHV)
Their Hope has come to them, through the barred gates of the grave. To those who had been waiting in Upper Sheol, He would announce: Return to the stronghold, You prisoners of hope. Even today I declare That I will restore double to you (Zechariah 9:12 NKJV). These Old Testament saints had lived and died, and waited in death, as prisoners of hope. And now their Hope and Stronghold has come for them.
And they would answer Him: Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation (Isaiah 25:9 NKJV).
By this one proclamation, Christ announces to Satan, his demonic host, and his human seed (Genesis 3:15) that He has overcome them. These spirits in prison will be held there to await the final judgment, where they will be raised to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2) in the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:29). But by this same proclamation, He assures the saints of old who had died in faith, that He has come to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound (Isaiah 61:1).
What did Christ’s proclamation to the underworld accomplish?
There are essentially three direct and immediate consequences of Christ’s royal proclamation within the gates of Hades.
First, in proclaiming His victory, He also proclaimed His absolute Lordship. In my last post, I stated that Christ’s descent into the underworld was not the last suffering of His humiliation; but the first confirmation of His exaltation. In this event, all of the dead, along with the rebellious angels, learn that He is the Lord of Psalm 110, to whom the LORD has said: “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” (NKJV).
It is in Christ’s descent that those dwelling in the underworld learn that God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11 NKJV). Those under the earth—even Satan!—all bowed the knee to Christ and confessed Him as Lord.
Second, Christ fulfilled what He had spoken about during His earthly ministry: how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house (Matthew 12:29 NKJV). Christ went into Satan’s house, and bound him: Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while (Revelation 20:1-3 NKJV).
Now someone might say: But it says an angel bound Satan, not Jesus! True enough. But where would an angel procure the key to the bottomless pit? Does Christ not say elsewhere: I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death (Revelation 1:18 NKJV, emphasis added)? The angel got the key to the bottomless pit from Christ, its rightful key-holder.
And that brings us to the third thing Christ’s descent into the underworld accomplished: He did indeed plunder Satan. He emptied upper Sheol, releasing the spirits of the saints who had died before He secured the New Covenant into heaven, where they could be with the Lord until the day of resurrection.
Paradise—the enclosed garden where God communes with His saints—was moved from Upper Sheol to the Third Heaven (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:2-4). Thus, it is written: He brings out those who are bound into prosperity … The Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the Holy Place. You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts among men (Psalm 68:6, 17-18 NKJV; cf. Ephesians 4:8-10).
The captives He led in His train were the saints He liberated from Sheol. Upper Sheol is now a ghost town.
Conclusion
Christ’s descent into “hell” is not only a fact that can be biblically verified across all of Scripture; it’s the beginning of His exaltation. Even as His body rested in the sepulcher, the Father was already beginning the work of making His enemies His footstool (Psalm 110:1).
For in His descent, He proclaimed His Lordship to the underworld. The enemies of the saints—the devils and the wicked dead—were forced to bow before Him and confess Him as Lord, thus conceding God’s victory over them. Meanwhile, those who had died in faith began to receive the promises they had hoped for. Christ liberated them from Sheol so that they could be comforted in God’s presence, as they await the resurrection of the dead and final judgment.
the sermonator 