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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text, promote sound doctrine while exposing the faulty. Here's your host, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. As we've been doing devotionals in the book of Romans, there have been times that I have said Roman Christians or Roman Church. And I hope that it's understood that I'm talking about the church in Rome in the first century as Paul was writing to.
I'm not talking about Roman Catholicism. There's a distinct difference there. I thought of that today as I came to the question that I'm going to be answering from a viewer because that somewhat comes up in this question.
First we're playing this video about the myth that Jesus descended into 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
Our question today comes from Avery in New York who says, Dear What, I was watching your video on Jesus didn't descend into hell, and in the video you say that the Apostles' Creed was not written by the Apostles.
Do you think it's something that we should pay attention to or not? And on the subject of the Apostles' Creed, I'm guessing the part that says the Holy Catholic Church is not talking about Roman Catholicism.
Avery, thank you for your question. First of all, I didn't mean for it to sound like in the video that I was just blowing off the Apostles' Creed. I do think that it's important and significant, but we should not consider it necessarily scripture because it wasn't written by the Apostles.
I do think, however, the Apostles' disciples would have taken some essential truths that were taught by the Apostles and arranged them together in this sort of creed. Now creeds are very important. Perhaps you've heard it said deeds, not creeds.
That's a ridiculous statement because we actually see all throughout the history of the church, even in the New Testament, that it is organized and intentional, founded on things like creeds. We have one such creed given in 1 Timothy 3, verse 16.
Paul says, Great indeed we confess is the mystery of godliness. He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
And this was not just something that Paul was writing to Timothy for the sake of writing it. He was reciting something that was a creed that had been recited in just about every church that had been planted.
So he reminds Timothy of these things. Whenever you see Paul say something like the saying is trustworthy, likely that saying is part of a creed that would have been recited in a church to remember essential truths of doctrine.
So I do think that the Apostles Creed is important. Matt Chandler just recently went through the whole Apostles Creed at the village church, going through it line by line and talking about this is why we believe this as Christians.
So using that as a guidepost to kind of lay out essential doctrines, a beautiful sermon series by the way, and I highly recommend it. And yes, you're correct. The part of the Apostles Creed that says Holy Catholic Church is not talking about Roman Catholicism.
The word Catholic means universal. So we're talking about churches everywhere in Jesus Christ being as one, even though they might be in different parts of the world. The Roman Catholic Church has taken that term and abused it and practices a number of things that we do not see in scripture.
So always come back to the Bible and know that what is being spoken is truth, even when it comes to creeds. Send us an email when we understand the text at gmail .com.