Christ’s Descent and Resurrection

Continuing our look at the Apostles’ Creed, we read that Jesus Christ “descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead.” The statement on Christ’s descent into hell has been the subject of much discussion in church history.

We should first note that some of the earliest versions we have of the Apostles’ Creed do not include the reference to our Lord’s descending into hell. Thus, it may well be that the phrase was not originally intended to be there. Nevertheless, the most commonly confessed versions of the creed do include it. Some argue that the phrase belongs in the creed because Jesus, after His death but before His resurrection, descended to the realm of the dead where the souls of the Old Testament saints resided and then brought them to heaven. Texts cited in support of this belief include Ephesians 4:8–9 and 1 Peter 3:18–20.

Although the belief that Christ rescued the souls of the Old Testament saints from the realm of the dead has a long pedigree in church history, it seems overly speculative. Furthermore, Jesus’ statement “It is finished” indicates that His saving work was completed on the cross (John 19:30). A descent to rescue old covenant believers after His death would mean that He had not finished His saving work on the cross. A more biblical understanding of the descent would be to take the phrase as emphasizing our Lord’s burial, with the descent referring simply to His descent into the grave. Alternatively, John Calvin suggests that the descent refers to our Lord’s suffering the pains of hell on the cross as He bore the wrath of God against our sin (Gal. 3:10–14). In that case, it points to Christ’s work of propitiation. On the cross, Jesus suffered the full punishment for our sin such that God’s wrath is fully turned away from His people.

The creed also says that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, referencing the bodily resurrection of Christ. Importantly, when we talk about the resurrection, we are talking about a real historical event wherein Christ’s body was restored to life and He walked out of the grave. Some professing Christians have tried to interpret the resurrection in other, nonliteral ways. Aside from being irresponsible readings of the text, such interpretations fail to understand how Christ had to be resurrected for us to have a right standing with God. Jesus was raised for our justification; His resurrection proves that He met all the demands of God’s law for His people, and so we are righteous before God in and through Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).