Jesus Went to Hell?

Jesus Did Not Descend into Hell After His Death

So after Jesus died on the cross, did his spirit then descend into 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.

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.

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.

Jesus, the Grave, and the Heart of the Earth

In Matthew 12 .40, Jesus said that he would go into the heart of the earth, but again, this is the grave. 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.

But Colossians 2 .15 explains that Christ triumphed over the dark forces and put them to open shame. 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 4th century.

The Apostles' Creed and the Meaning of Ephesians 4:9

Likewise, the Apostles' Creed says that he descended into hell, but the Creed came over a century after the Apostles had all died. It isn't scripture. And the phrase, he descended into hell, likely has the same meaning as Ephesians 4 .9.

Christ's Words from the Cross and the Promise of Paradise

Jesus said to the thief hanging next to him, today you will be with me in paradise. He said to his father, into your hands I commit my spirit, and as he breathed his last, he said, it is finished. 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.