Comforted by Christ's descent into hell

by Timothy Teuscher

Week after week and year after year we confess in the Divine Service these words from the second article of the Apostles’ Creed: “He descended into hell.” But what do those familiar words mean? What comfort do we find in this rather mysterious work of our Lord?

If you have no idea, then you are probably not alone. There are a few reasons for this. First, this work of Jesus is explicitly mentioned in only one place in the Scriptures (although other passages allude to it). So St. Peter writes: “For 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, in which He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:18-19). Second, various conflicting opinions regarding Christ’s descent into hell have been floating around the Church for the past 1,500 years or so. And third, along with Christ’s incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension, His descent into hell is also included in what St. Paul calls “the mystery of godliness” (1 Timothy 3:16)… which is why he says in another place, “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Perhaps a better way to understand our Lord’s descent into hell is to consider what it doesn’t mean. This does not refer merely to His going to the realm of the dead—a place where, as some falsely teach, the souls of all people, believers and unbelievers alike, go at the time of death. After all, as Jesus said to the thief on the cross: “Today, you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Rather, at death there are two and only two places where the souls of the dead go: unbelievers to Hades, to hell; believers to Paradise, Abraham’s bosom, heaven.

Nor did Jesus descend into hell in order give those who had already died in unbelief another opportunity to be saved. For, as the writer of Hebrews states, “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). That is why there is an urgency for everything the Church does, because this life is the only opportunity anyone will ever have to hear the Gospel, believe it, and be saved. There are no do-overs, no second chances.

Nor did Jesus descend into hell in order to suffer some more and so complete the payment price for sin. After all, it is while hanging from the cross that He suffers the agony of hell for bearing the sins of the world, and so cries out: “My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). And when He then says, “It is finished” (John 19:30), He is proclaiming that sin is now completely and fully paid for. Nothing more needs to be done. There is nothing you can do or must do to atone for your sins because He has done it all for you on the cross.

In the above-cited passage, Peter makes two things clear. First, between the time of His death on the cross and burial in the tomb and His subsequent resurrection Easter morning, Jesus went in body and spirit (“quickened” or “vivified” are words used to express this mystery) to the ‘prison’— the abode of the devil and his demons and the place where the souls of unbelievers are held until the Last Day.

Second, He went there to make a proclamation, the content of which is alluded to by St. Paul in these words: “(God) disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in (Christ)” (Colossians 2:15). Or as Jesus Himself says in speaking of His casting out demons: “How can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?” (Matthew 12:29).

Our Lutheran Confessions summarize this mysterious, often-ignored article of the Apostles’ Creed in these words: “We simply believe that after the burial the entire person, God and man, descended into hell, conquered the devil, destroyed hell’s power, and took from the devil all his might. We are not to concern ourselves with exalted and acute speculations about how this occurred. With our reason and five senses this article cannot comprehended any more than the preceding one, how Christ has been made to sit at the right hand of the almighty power and majesty of God. We must only believe and cling to the Word. Then we shall retain the heart of this article and derive from it the comfort that neither hell nor the devil can take us or any believer in Christ captive or harm us” (FC SD IX.2-3).

What is especially significant and comforting in all this is that Peter speaks of Jesus’ descent into hell in the context of his hearers undergoing great sufferings, especially hatred and hostility from the world and persecution from the government. And although “the devil (still) prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8), he has now been defanged and declawed. He can tempt you, hound you, accuse you, even take your life from you—but he cannot take from you the crown of eternal life that Christ has won for you. And while the battle rages on, the war is over. Satan is defeated. Christ’s descent into hell proclaims that truth.

This is why we sing boldly and confidently the words of the Easter hymn: “Now hell, its prince, the devil, Of all their pow’r are shorn; Now I am safe from evil, And sin I laugh to scorn. Grim death with all its might Cannot my soul affright; It is a pow’rless form, Howe’er it rave and storm” (LSB 467:4).

Rev. Timothy Teuscher

Rev. Timothy Teuscher is President of Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC).