Some teach that when Christ died, he went to hell. The Lutheran Church teaches that Jesus descended into hell, not to suffer for our sins but to proclaim his victory over sin, death, hell, and the devil. Thus, their theologians consider Jesus' descent into hell to be the first of Christ's works of "exaltation" mentioned in the Apostles’ Creed rather than part of his work of "humiliation." Various denominations adhere to the Apostle’s Creed.

 

One radio preacher claimed that at his death, Christ went to hell and opened the gates, inviting any who desired to come to him. If true, this would have been the greatest migration in history, resulting in a stampede, leaving an empty hell.

 

These ideas come from misunderstanding I Peter 3:18-20: “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.” There is also some ambiguity over the precise meaning of the word “hell.”

 

This is coupled with the King James translation of Psalm 16:10 concerning Christ’s resurrection: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” The word “hell” there is not a good translation. The actual Hebrew word is “sheol” — “Hades or the world of the dead” (Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary). The NASV translation is: “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.” “Sheol” refers to the realm of the dead—whether righteous or evil. The context must determine the appropriate meaning of the word.

 

Consider Smith’s Bible Dictionary’s definition of the word “hell”: “In the Old Testament this is the word generally and unfortunately used by our translators to render the Hebrew Sheol. It really means the place of the dead, the unseen world, without deciding whether it be the place of misery or of happiness. It is clear that in many passages of the Old Testament Sheol can only mean ‘the grave,’ and is rendered in the Authorized Version…see, for example, Ge 37:35; 42:38; 1Sa 2:6; Job 14:13. 

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In other passages, however, it seems to involve a notion of punishment, and is there-fore rendered in the Authorized Version by the word ‘hell.’ But in many cases this translation misleads the reader. In the New Testament ‘hell’ is the translation of two words, Hades and Gehenna. The word Hades, like Sheol sometimes means merely ‘the grave,’ Ac 2:31; 1Co 15:55; Re 20:13, or in general ‘the unseen world.’ It is in this sense that the creeds say of our Lord, ‘He went down into hell,’ meaning the state of the dead in general, without any restriction of happiness or misery. Elsewhere in the New Testament Hades is used of a place of torment, Mt 11:23; Lu 16:23; 2 Pe 2:4, etc.; consequently, it has been the prevalent, almost the universal, notion that Hades is an intermediate state between death and resurrection, divided into two parts one the abode of the blest and the other of the lost. It is used eleven times in the New Testament, and only once translated ‘grave.’ 1 Co 15:55 The word most frequently used (occurring twelve times) in the New Testament for the place of future punishment is Gehenna or Gehenna of fire. This was originally the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned; a fit symbol of the wicked and their destruction.”

 

When was Christ exalted? When he was seated at the Father’s right hand. “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear” (Acts 2:33). There is not one word in the Bible about Christ being exalted by means of a trip to hell. It may be in the “Apostles Creed,” but it is not in the Bible. 

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So, what does I Peter 3:18-20 mean? Consider an expanded paraphrase. “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; the same spirit which was in Noah, in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits who were living in Noah’s time, but who are now in prison, i.e., the place of torment, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah…”

 

How did Noah prophesy the coming destruction? The “spirit of Christ” was in him. This “spirit of Christ” is mentioned as being in the prophets of old who were “searching what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them” (I Peter 1:11).

 

The idea that Christ ever went to hell, the place of torment, is not found in the Word of God. Let us not add to or take from, lest the plagues written in the Book be added to us, or our part shall be taken away from the tree of life (Rev. 22:18-19). 

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Jefferson David Tant