The Apostles’ Creed says that Christ descended into hell but rose on the third day. Millions of Christians have recited this creed, but is this true? Did Jesus descend into hell, and if not, where did he go when he died?
Did Jesus Take Our Place in Hell?
Jesus took our punishment for sin, so did he also take our place in hell? In Ephesians 4:9-10, Paul declared that Christ “descended to the lower regions, namely, the earth [so] He, the very one who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.”
Although some take this to mean that he went to hell, Christ’s first descent was to Earth. What about after he was crucified?
Jesus promised the thief, “Today, you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). A modern understanding of paradise suggests an idyllic location where the flesh is satisfied — “a place or state of bliss, felicity, or delight” — and does not evoke an image of the One True God.
Digging into the English origin of “paradise” leads to an image of the Garden of Eden, or where the dead go to await Christ’s return. The biblical Greek word paradeisos also refers to “a park, a garden, a paradise,” such as Eden as it was before the Fall of Man related in Genesis 3.
This is a time and a scenario where everything was whole, and we were at peace with God, not hell — where the unrighteous dead suffer.
Jesus Rose from Somewhere
Certainly, Jesus went down to a place from which he rose. The interim location of the dead-in-Christ, according to certain scriptural passages, suggests a place of restful waiting “Through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Perhaps Christ slept?
Some scholars teach “that Jesus went to hell or to Hades to release the prisoners held there and take them to heaven or into God’s presence.”
While the dead waited for Christ’s return, there was an Old Testament thought that “believers were in Abraham’s bosom — the paradise part of Hades.”
After Christ died and rose from the tomb, this enabled him to go get the dead in faith and raise them up to the Father — when the day of his return comes at last.
Justin Dillehay, discussing the Apostles’ Creed, explained that the Greek was misinterpreted as ad inferna (“descended into hell”) instead of ad inferos (“descended to the dead [ones]”) as per a book on the subject by Matthew Y. Emerson. He did not go to hell but instead visited that interim place mentioned above — paradise.
Dillehay helps readers to understand the fundamental difference between Old and New Testament perceptions of Hades. “Regardless of where paradise was for Old Testament saints (whether heaven or Hades), it was different in this key way: it lacked the presence of the human Christ.”
When Christ descended, he brought himself to a place that had previously never experienced such a revelation; that God would come in the form of His Son to raise the righteous dead. “First, in the descent, he is present with them in his human soul, and then, after the ascension, he is present with them bodily” (Ibid.).
Hell, But Not Hell
If there was any doubt that Christ descended at his death somewhere — either a place of Hellfire or to the place of the dead — this doubt is certainly put to rest. But there is more evidence regarding the nature of hell, which helps us to understand what Christ’s experience was not.
For example, Emerson explains that hell was actually divided into three parts: there is a place for rebellious angels known as Tartarus, a section for the unrighteous dead (those who rejected God) known as Gehenna, and Paradise, which is already described as the resting place for the dead in Christ.
We can surmise, then, that Christ did not enter Tartarus. This was no place for Immanuel, who was not an angel, which some people must have believed. The writer of Hebrews stressed that “it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking” (2:5).
What about Gehenna? Christ took the punishment for all sin, and by his death on the cross, everyone who died in faith, past, present, and future, has been saved. Does that mean he spent time among the unrighteous dead?
Jesus teaches, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). He went to the grave, but Jesus did not suffer the torments of hell.
He bore the burden of our sin; he was judged by the Father; and he was proclaimed righteous because Jesus was our sinless Savior.
“Because he is both the completely righteous Messiah and also God in the flesh, when he enters the place of the dead, he does so as the one that Death cannot hold” (Emerson). Gehenna seems unlikely also because Christ was fully righteous.
Paradise was the hoped-for resting place of all believers until they will be taken to heaven, so I would assert that this is where Christ went on Friday at the moment of his death, where he stayed on Saturday and the place from which he rose on Sunday.
He did not go fully into hell even though he suffered torment for our sake. As Emerson explains, Christ’s descent turned hope into reality. Paradise was transformed by his presence there.
Those who expected him by faith were vindicated by his arrival after the crucifixion and will share his victory upon Christ’s return.
If this is truly where he went, then those who are “asleep” and await their Messiah’s return to call them home can truly rest in the meantime.
Clear as Mud?
The Apostle’s Creed is recited by Christians around the world and taken for granted by millions of individuals. He was the perfect, sinless substitute for our sin. As such, he not only covers us with his blood, but his sinless obedience of and love for the Father conquered sin, which is death.
Is it essential that we understand what happened during the days following Christ’s death on the cross? Even coming to this conclusion, I am left with nagging doubt that I have fully grasped what happened to Jesus during those days of weeping after his death and before his triumphant return on Sunday.
There are always mysteries associated with our faith, but we can rest assured that Christ rose in power. He is coming back for us, and — praise him! — believers will never have to endure hell.
Even if he did not go to that place associated with everlasting torment, Jesus suffered for us in ways we might never know. After all — he took our place, so I cannot imagine he would wish to take us there, even figuratively.
For further reading:
Why Did Jesus Have to Die for Us?
What Is the Difference Between Hades and Hell?
Why Did Jesus Leave Heaven for Us?
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