Dear Friends,
A desire of the session, here at MPC, is for us to regularly state together the Christian creeds and elements of the Westminster Confession as part of our corporate worship. We have not yet said the Apostles’ Creed, since I’ve arrived, but the session would like to start incorporating it. The Apostles’ Creed is a wonderful, straightforward statement of faith. Before moving ahead with this, a particular issue in the Apostles’ Creed we’d like to address is the clause, “descended into hell.” The session is in agreement, consistent with many churches across the denomination, that this is an inaccurate, unbiblical statement, as it is written in the creed, and should not be included when we say the creed together. So, the session asked me to write a brief statement as to why and include it in the Link. Below is my humble attempt to briefly accomplish that task.
History. The creed was not given by the apostles, rather, it developed over time, from about “A.D. 200 to 750” (Grudem, Systematic Theology, 586). The clause “descended into hell” is not found in any of the early forms of the creed. It did not appear until a version used by a church in Aquileja, testified to by Rufinus in A.D. 390. Yet, Rufinus himself understood it to mean that Christ was “buried,” what we would translate into English, “descended into the grave” rather an actual descent into Hell (Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, 1.21, n. 6). From that point, the clause disappeared from orthodox Christianity until it reappeared in A.D. 650.
The Apostles’ Creed would seem to entirely consist of core teachings of the apostles, yet this late addition, the phrase “descended into hell” is an aberration. Despite this, the church picked up this aberration, and held onto it. It has even been defended in very creative ways, trying to somehow make it sync with Scripture.
John Calvin, for instance, posited the idea that “‘Christ’s descent into hell’ refers to Christ experiencing hell on the cross when God’s wrath was poured down upon him (see Calvin, Institutes, 2.16.10). This is also the argument for the phrase in the Heidelberg Catechism, Question 44. I call this solution to the problem the “Calvin workaround.” Calvin and the Catechism agree that Christ did not descend into Hell (the place of punishment). Yet, evidently, for the sake of preserving the ancient creed, a metaphorical Hell that Jesus experienced on the cross is to be understood when the clause is recited.
This “Calvin workaround,” however, makes the issue confusing and is unnecessary. It means that when we say the creed with this understanding and with the statement included, we say that Christ was literally crucified, literally dead, literally buried, but metaphorically descended to Hell back when he was on the cross, literally rose again on the third day, etc. This workaround is inconsistent with the thrust of the language of the creed.
There was quite a bit of disagreement over the clause’s inclusion even by the Westminster divines in the 17th century. Their solution is given in the answer to WLC Question 50: “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.” The caveat the divines make, “which hath been otherwise expressed,” was evidently an attempt to solve the issue by applying to the clause an accurate biblical statement of meaning. In other words, to say, “When it says this, it really means that.” So, while the WLC statement is correct in its assertion concerning Christ’s humiliation after his death, the last clause, while a completely different assertion than the Calvin workaround, applies the same tactic as Calvin. It redefines the statement, “He descended into hell,” to mean something it does not actually say.
Probably the most quoted scripture in support of the statement “descended into hell” is 1 Peter 3:18-20. However, a typical Reformed understanding of the passage in context, (dating back to Augustine) and my view, is that the passage is not referring to what happened during the time of Jesus’ being under the power of death. Rather, it is a statement that refers to Christ, “in Spirit,” preaching through Noah to the people at the time shortly before the flood (e.g. 1 Pet. 1:10-11; see Edmund Clowney, The Message of First Peter, 154-167). This ties in with our understanding that salvation has always been through Christ, and that his crucifixion (paying the penalty for believers’ sins) and resurrection (being made alive by the Spirit) made effectual the salvation of those who trusted in God in the Old Testament. Hence, they were justified by faith. In other words, Noah was saved by Jesus, and those who rejected Noah’s preaching therefore rejected Jesus. Now that Christ has been crucified, those people who died long ago are spirits in prison waiting the final judgment. Peter refers to them as they are, which is in the present, having rejected the gospel proclaimed to them in the past. After one dies, there is no second chance to believe and be saved (Luke 16:19-31; Heb. 9:27).
What we do know from Scripture, concerning what immediately happened after Jesus’ death, is that he was glorified by the Father and that he was in Paradise (Heaven). In John 13:32, Jesus says, “If God is glorified in him …” (a reference to what he had just affirmed in v. 31—the glory displayed/ revealed/ achieved at the cross) then, he says, because this is true “God will glorify him in himself, and will glorify him at once.” Shifting from the past tense to the future tense while using the term “at once” (ESV), also translated “immediately” (NASB), Jesus changes focus from the cross to his state immediately after his death on the cross. This means immediately upon Jesus’ death upon the cross, when “he gave up his spirit” (Matt. 27:50), the Father glorified the Son. Then in Luke 23:43, Jesus’ makes his promise to the thief on the cross, informing us, at the same time, that not only was Jesus immediately glorified, but that he was glorified in Paradise (Heaven) on the day he died.
This teaching flies in the face of the natural understanding of the clause in the English language, which is that Jesus went to Hell upon his death. To take it a step further in the natural understanding, due to Hell being hell, there is an implication that he suffered the punishment of hell (which is what is picked up on by Calvin, etc. with the workaround – that the hell referred to punishment). The Scriptures give absolutely zero support to the interpretation that he went to Hell and suffered, and it is certainly not the reality to which 1 Peter 3 testifies. The atonement for our sins was on the cross. There was no need for him to suffer in Hell. “It is finished” (John 19:30).
So, to avoid confusion when clarity is needed, and to ensure biblical accuracy when we recite The Apostles’ Creed, we will leave out the clause “descended into hell.” When we recite the creed together, we will say (at that point), “… born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. The third day he arose from the dead.”
If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask me or one of the elders. We’d be happy to discuss it with you.
In Christ, Roger