Jesus Went to Hell?
So, after Jesus died on the cross, did His spirit then descended to hell?
No. Jesus Christ did not go to hell between his death and resurrection.
In Ephesians 4, where it says: He ascended on high, He also descended into the lower region so that He might fill all things.
In saying, “He ascended”, what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the One who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things. (Ephesians 4:9-10)
But this does not mean He went to hell. It means He was buried in the earth. That’s literally how that translates.
Psalm 16 says:
You will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your Holy One see corruption. You make known to me the path of life… (Psalm 16:10-11)
The King James translates Sheol as hell but the word means grave. Not a place in the afterlife.
We read in Acts 2:31 that Christ fulfilled this prophecy because indeed His body was raised to life and did not decay.
[David] foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. (Acts 2:31)
In Matthew 12:40, Jesus said that He would go into the heart of the earth. But again, this is the grave.
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)
In 1 Peter 3, it says that after Christ died, He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison who did not obey in the days of Noah.
Being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, [Christ] went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah… (1 Peter 3:18-20)
But Colossians 2:15 explains that Christ triumphed over the dark forces and put them to open shame.
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him. (Colossians 2:15)
That doesn’t involve going to hell.
The gospel of Nicodemus says Jesus descended into hell. But, that’s an apocryphal text written in the fourth century.
Likewise the Apostles Creed says that he descended into hell, but the Creed came over a century after the apostles had all died… not by the Apostles. It isn’t Scripture.
And the phrase “He descended into hell” likely has the same meaning as Ephesians 4:9.
Jesus said to the thief hanging next to Him, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)
He said to His Father, “Into Your hands, I commit My spirit…” (Luke 23:46)
And, as He breathed His last, He said, “It is finished.” (John 19:30)
The work was done. Christ had no reason to descend into hell.
So then, where was His spirit for those three days that his body was in a tomb?
Well, He said: Paradise
…when we understand the text
(This video is by WWUTT. Discovered by Christian Podcast Central and our community — copyright is owned by the publisher, not Christian Podcast Central.)