The most controversial part of the Apostles Creed is the statement “He descended into Hell.” While there are many that deny Heaven, Hell, or both, the Bible teaches that the righteous go to eternal life and the unrighteous to eternal destruction. Jesus said,
“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matt 25:46 NAS)
God’s judgment upon the sinner results in death and eternal punishment in hell.
“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” (Eph 5:6 NAS)
God’s final judgment upon the sinner begins at death. At the moment someone dies, God’s final judgment goes into effect.
“And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” (Heb 9:27 NAS)
God’s final judgment on the sinner is His wrath. Many people have a hard time with the teaching that Christ bore the sins and wrath of God due to another person’s sin. Paul wrote,
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” (Rom 5:8-9 NAS)
Jesus Christ suffered the judgment and wrath of God that we should suffer in our place. Christ took the punishment of our sin.
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Co 5:21 NAS)
The crucifixion, death, burial, and remaining under the power of death for three days is all a part of the penalty that Christ bore on our behalf. After the crucifixion, Christ was placed in a tomb or otherwise stated “buried.” The Westminster Larger Catechism explains this.
“Christ’s humiliation after his death consisted in his being buried, and continuing in the state of the dead, and under the power of death till the third day; which hath been otherwise expressed in these words, He descended into hell.” (WLC Q# 50)
It is an important fulfillment of the Scriptures that Jesus died, was buried and rose from the dead on the third day.
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” (1Co 15:3-4 NAS)
Christ was not buried in the literal sense.
Jesus was placed in a tomb. In other words, they did not dig a hole and throw His body in it and cover Him with dirt. The Bible says,
“And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.” (Matt 27:59-60 NAS)
Christ was crucified on the Passover and was in the tomb during the Sabbath. After the Sabbath, the Mary’s found the grave empty.
“Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.” (Matt 28:1 NAS)
The Scriptures teach Christ went to Sheol or Hades.
The Apostle Peter, quoting Psalms in the book of Acts, talked about Jesus Christs burial. Peter said,
“Because Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay.” (Acts 2:27 NAS)
Psalms says,
“For Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay.” (Psa 16:10 NAS)
Because the book of Acts was written in Greek, the word “Hades” was used. Psalms is written in Hebrew so the word “Sheol” was used. The word “Hades” is Greek for the god of the underworld who rules over the abode of departed spirits. The word “Sheol” is Hebrew for the underworld or the place to which people descend at death. The Old Testament word “Sheol” and New Testament word “Hades” have the same meaning. In the Bible, the physical body goes to the grave and the soul goes to Sheol or Hades.
Peter taught in the book of Acts that the prophecy in Psalm 89 was fulfilled in Christ.
“Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. “And so, because he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants upon his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay.” (Acts 2:27-31 NAS)
Hades or Sheol is where all people go when they die and are generally regarded as a place for punishment.
The word “Hell” is the specific location where sinners go for punishment.
The words “Hades” and “Sheol” are generic references to the underworld. The word “Hell” is specific for those who are punished by the wrath of God.
Hell is the word “Gehenna” in Greek. It is the Greek term for the Hebrew place “Gai-Ben-Hinnom” meaning “Valley of the Son of Himmon.” It was an actual valley outside of old Jerusalem that was a smoldering garbage dump at the time of Jesus. This is found in 2nd Chronicles.
“Moreover, he burned incense in the valley of Ben-hinnom (Gehenna), and burned his sons in fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel.” (2Ch 28:3 NAS)
Hell is also the Greek word “Tartaros.” It is the name of the subterranean region, doleful and dark, regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they suffer punishment for their evil deeds.
“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell (Tartaros) and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment.” (2Pe 2:4 NAS)
Christ descending to “Hell” is the fulfillment of the “offering by fire” on the altar.
“And you shall offer up in smoke the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the LORD: it is a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.” (Exo 29:18 NAS)
The Apostle Paul alludes to this aspect of Christs sacrifice.
“Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” (Eph 5:2 NAS)
In the Old Testament, the priests were required to burn the sin offering by fire.
“Then the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they shall be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their error.” (Num 15:25 NAS)
Hell, Sheol, and Hades all involve fire.
Jesus says the rich man was in torment and flame in Hades.
“And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.’” (Luk 16:23-24 NAS)
Jesus calls Hell an unquenchable fire.
“And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.” (Mark 9:43 NAS)
In Deuteronomy, God’s anger is said to be a fire kindled to the lowest part of Sheol.
“For a fire is kindled in My anger, and burns to the lowest part of Sheol, And consumes the earth with its yield, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.” (Deut 32:22 NAS)
We die as result of our sin. Not just dying; but, remaining dead as well. It’s true that Christ had to die in order to satisfy the requirement of God’s Law. He also had to be dead. The penalty for sin has the legal, judicial, sentence of death required by God’s Law. Death is a permanent state of existence. Death is not ceasing to exist or annihilation. The point the Bible clearly makes is that while people will certainly die, the outcome is that they will remain dead forever. Unless God raises them from the dead.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 6:22-23 NAS)
“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell?” (Matt 23:33 NAS)
Christ paid the penalty of not only dying on the cross; but, remaining under the power of death for 3 days. The sin that He died for was not His. It was ours. The punishment He suffered was in our place, not His. He is not the sinner, we are.
“Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us.” (2Co 1:9-10 NAS)
“Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.” (Rom 6:9-10 NAS)
The penalty for our sin is not only dying, its remaining dead and suffering the eternal punishment of God.
Christ could only do this because He is fully God and Man.
The teaching that “He descended into Hell” is an important doctrine that Christ, while dead, did not cease to be God. The divinity of Christ did not separate from His body and soul. Christ did not skip out of the punishment a sinner must go through at death. He paid the sentence of death for us in this life and the life to come. Because Christ is God, He is indestructible and cannot be held by the power of death.
“And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” (Acts 2:24 NAS)
“Who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life.” (Heb 7:16 NAS)
The primary attribute of death is decay and corruption. Though our bodies decay and go to dust, Christs body is indestructible. He was dead yet did not decay. His body was preserved whole until His resurrection.
There is no place where God does not reside. God is everywhere and has no boundary. Even in the depths of Hell.
“Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there.” (Psa 139:7-8 NAS)
“Therefore, He also says in another Psalm, ‘Thou wilt not allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay.’ “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers, and underwent decay; but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.” (Acts 13:33-37 NAS)
Christ being the radiance of God’s glory can withstand the brightest flame of any fire.
“And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” (Heb 1:3 NAS)
Christ can stand in the full Glory of God. That which would obliterate any created being, Christ can stand in God’s presence with no harm to His person. Christ, who is God, can bear His own wrath.
In light of all this, the phrase “He descended into hell” is not a theological afterthought, but a profound declaration of the depth of Christ’s humiliation and the extent of His atoning work. It affirms that Jesus not only died physically, but also fully entered into the state of death—bearing the full measure of divine wrath that we, as sinners, deserve. His burial, descent into Sheol, and remaining under the power of death for three days were not symbolic gestures, but the real and necessary fulfillment of God’s justice. Yet in His divine nature, Christ could not be corrupted or held by death, and by His indestructible life, He triumphed over it. Thus, His descent was not defeat—it was victory. Christ endured the punishment of hell so that His people might be spared from it, and by His resurrection, He secured eternal life for all who trust in Him. In this doctrine, we see both the terrifying reality of God’s judgment and the overwhelming magnitude of His mercy in Christ.