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After setting aside a month of study of the origin and the history of both the Apostle's creed and the later inclusio, "descended into Hades" (NOT hell), I have found there are 4 interpretations of the inclusio. There is the Latin/RCC usage. There is the Luthern and there its the Anglican (which often leaves it out.). The earliest record of the inclusio is around mid to late 400AD found in the Aquilian Creed. The Nicene and Constantinople creeds were 325 and 385 respectively which did not use the inclusio. When was the Apostolic Creed written? We don't know for sure but often it is said late 400's. We know that the inclusio had its genesis in Greek mysticism along with the teaching of the place of the dead having at least two compartments. It is strange that Christ never taught this. He always spoke of Hades with a deep warning of it being a place of torment. Also, we have no apostolic teaching on, what would have been a very important doctrine, Christ's descent into Hades, witnessing of the Gospel and the leading of OT saints to heaven. In fact, we have Paul teaching that Paradise was the Third Heaven. It is unbiblical, as in there are no clear passageS teaching or alluding to the inclusio. 1 Pet 3 is open to wide ranging interpretations so much so that there shouldn't even be a reference to it when defending any particular doctrine. However, there is a strong argument to be made that Christ, upon His death, ascended to heaven/Paradise. Christ's parable (?) of the rich man and Lazarus has the rich man looking up to Abraham and Lazarus. The Eph passage doesn't help buttress the inclusio argument either. Nor does the Ps. This is a creed which often is said at every service. It is a doctrinal statement and therefore should be adequately biblically defensible on every point. The inclusio has no such perspicuity of scripture. Remove it!
Jesus was in His tomb for three days and three nights, just He said He would be: ■ "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:40) He was dead; He said so later on: ■ "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." (Revelation 1:18) Where do people get the idea He was in hell, or was preaching to people in hell, or took captives with Him to heaven? ▬ The idea He was in hell comes from Acts 2:31: ■ "He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." "Hell" in that verse is from the Greek word άδης (“hades” in English) which means the grave, the place of the dead, the place where the dead are laid to rest. That same Greek word was correctly translated as "grave" here in 1 Corinthians 15:55, just after Paul described resurrection from the grave: ■ "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? " (1 Cor 15:55) When readers see "hell' they usually mistakenly assume it's referring to a place of eternal, fiery torment. Jesus was raised from His *grave, His tomb,* after three days and nights. ▬ The idea He went to preach to "spirits in prison" comes from 1 Peter 3:19,20: ■ "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." The "spirits" in prison were not men: they were spirits - angels - who had crossed the line in their interactions with humans back in the time of Noah. For that they were figuratively bound in "chains" to prevent them from messing with humans. They will remain bound until judgment. This is described in Jude 6: ■ “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” Peter also spoke of that imprisonment here in 2 Peter 2:4: ■ “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” “Hell” in that verse is from the Greek word ταρταρώσας which is a verb meaning to incarcerate. Note that they are not yet judged: they are in figurative “chains” . . . “reserved unto judgment.” Once again, use of the word “hell” easily misleads the reader into wrong assumptions. Jesus preached or "made proclamation" to those fallen angels back in the time of Noah . . . not while He was dead in His tomb. ▬ The idea Jesus took captives (presumed to be in hell) with Him when He ascended to heaven comes from Ephesians 4:8. Note the difference between the King James Version and the Revised Standard Version: KJV: ■ “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.” RSV: ■ “Therefore it is said, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” The RSV and others like it would lead you to think Jesus brought “captives” - people - with Him when He ascended. The verse is a reference to Psalm 68:18: ■ “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.” (KJV) So why the difference between the KJV (and versions like it) and the RSV (and versions like it)? Long story made short: the KJV and RSV are based on different sets of early texts. So did Jesus take people with Him when He ascended to heaven? Are there people in heaven now, with Jesus? Sometime after Jesus had ascended, Peter said that David - ("a man after God's own heart") - "is both dead and buried" and "is not ascended into heaven": ■ “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.” (Acts 2:28) ■ “For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool.” (Acts 2:34,35) The apostle Paul wrote that Jesus alone - "only" - has immortality: ■ “That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." (1 Timothy 6:14-16). So we have scriptural grounds to believe _no one_ went with Jesus when He went to heaven: no other man is *_in_* heaven with Jesus. What about Abraham, and Moses and others like them, who died before Jesus ascended? Were they already in heaven? No. Like David, they had not gone to heaven. Jesus said so: ■ "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." (Jesus, in John 3:13). So if Jesus led captivity captive, as stated in the KJV, what could that mean? Our “captivity” - hopelessly condemned to perish in death as the wages of sin (Romans 6:23) - was “led captive.” Jesus’ death and blood are now available to redeem us from that death penalty. ■ "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2:14) ▬ Some will ask, "Didn't Jesus say He'd be in paradise the same day He died?" That idea comes from Luke 23:43, KJV: ■ “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” What we have here is a translation issue. There were no commas or similar punctuation in the original texts. Commas were all added by translators. In this case the comma before "To day" should have been after "To Day" or left out entirely. Here’s two translations with *no* comma directly before or after “today”: ■ Jesus replied, “I promise you today you will be with me in paradise.” (FBV, Free Bible Version) ■ “Amen, I say to thee to-day that with me thou shalt be in the Garden of Eden." (F. C. Burkitt, The Curetonian Version of the Four Gospels, Vol. I, Cambridge, 1904). Check some other Bibles, you’ll find a comma placed correctly: after “today.” Immediately any suggestion that He was in paradise *_the same day_* disappears: ■ And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you today, you shall be with Me in paradise.” (The Holy Bible In Its Original Order) ■ And יהושע said to him, “Truly, I say to you today, you shall be with Me in paradise.” (The Scriptures 2009) Was Jesus in paradise the same day? No: He was in the tomb, for three days and three nights. Jesus did not even ascend to the Father until after His resurrection. Outside His tomb He spoke to Mary: ■ “Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” (John 20:17) Some preachers try to explain how Jesus could be in paradise and in hell at the same time (neither are true) by teaching that paradise is some sort of compartment or section in hell. That's nothing less than a doctrinal train wreck, error upon error. Why not take Jesus word for it? He was dead, in His tomb for three days and three nights, just as He said He would be. All the ideas about Jesus going to hell and preaching to spirits in prison after His death, and gathering captives to take to heaven with Him are out of line.
This was beautifully put together. Every time I hear someone say Jesus went to hell my spirit doesn't sit right with it. And I could never find a scripture that ever says that he went to hell so therefore my belief in that is not there. Just as you stated three days three nights rose and then ascended. Thank you for this Because any church that teaches this I will leave. May God's peace be upon you
@ the Bible says- we know what we would mean by the phrase in Matthew 12:40: we would mean a seventy-two-hour period or at least most of that period. Second, we know that Jesus was not in the tomb more than thirty-six to thirty-eight hours, since he was buried at evening (which began at about 6 p.m.) on Friday and rose by morning (about 6 a.m.) on Sunday. Third, we know that the phrase “three days and three nights” was not a problem for Matthew, for he can use both that and “on the third day” and include no explanation, which he does in other cases where he senses a problem. Having seen what we know, we now need to look at what we may be assuming erroneously. First, we may be assuming that first-century Jews thought about time in the same way that we do. In fact they did not. Any part of a day could be counted as if it were a full day, much as in Canada and the U.S.A. a child is deductible for income-tax purposes at the full year rate even if he or she was born at 11 p.m. on December 31. The “three days and three nights,” then, may simply refer to three twenty-four-hour days (sunset to sunset periods), and Jesus was in fact in the tomb parts of three different days.
@@TheBibleSays it's "included in the term "day" read closely and think about what is said there in my comment, you're not taking into account what is called colloquialism or terms whose meaning is not readily apparent to those outside of a culture- they did not count "days" the same way we do- Any part of a day could be counted as if it were a full day, ( and that includes the nighttime or period of darkness. by the way I looked at your reference and see you must be relying on the KJV fovr Acts 2:31- all that means is "Jesus really did die. bottom line the Bible simply does not tell us of the location of His soul during the period of his death (between time of saying ":it is finished" and the resurrection per se. so people should not be dogmatic about it. And the Bible simply does not say he descended into Hell. so certainly, best to NOT SAY IT.
With respect and regret, I disagree with your understanding as to Jesus’ descent into hell. He quite literally did descend into in Hebrew was Sheol, or Hades, in Greek. The translation as ‘hell’ back then in the King James Bible was sense-neutral and not associated with today’s pejorative connotation. Simply, it meant the realm of the dead. His descent was not to atone for sin, either. That was all ‘finished’ while on the cross. His tour-seeming detour- through hell, was a victory lap, for the “harrowing of hell,” as it has been better known for centuries. The most important reference connected with this would be Ephesians 4:9-10 which reads, “(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)” Ephesians 4:9-10 KJV The preceding passage, Ephesians 4:8 is a direct reference to Psalm 68:18, which is directly related to Christ’s harrowing of hell, as such. Accounting for a couple of glaring translation errors which have persisted through centuries across various iterations of translations, Psalm 68 and Ephesians 4 must be understood together as being a reference to the same event of Christ’s post-death and pre-resurrection victory lap through the lower parts and preaching of the gospel to the “spirits there.” “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord GOD might dwell among them.” Psalm 68:18 KJV The Creed’s reference to Christ’s Victory tour, aka Descent into Hell, is how, he led back a train of captives from captivity, as per the relevant passage in Psalm 68, which reads: “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts {for--> of/from} men; Yea, {for->of/from} the rebellious also, that the Lord GOD might dwell among them.” Psalm 68:18 KJV The above use of prepositions reflects a less-than intact understanding as to the meaning of the original reference as translated. For this, simply confer John 17, which will better inform you as to what is really going on. In all, it explicated what happens when there is translation by committee, as was the case with the committee of 54 or so involved in tackling the Authorized Version of 1611, better known as the King James Bible. Christ’s victory tour is in my mind the most significant and exciting point about His death and resurrection. Please do not conflate it by way of attempting to explain it as being a mere symbolic account of the reference to Christ’s descending in hell. Nor was it some disembodied spirit only that went to hell or a spirit-less body that, like a zombie, found itself down there for a while. As a pastor, it behooves you to conduct further studies in both this as well as other matters. Please replace this with a study that is biblically sound and based on true scholarship. Finally, the controversy over translations here concerning gift-giving or gift-receiving has to do with the failure to properly understand what kind of gift we are talking about. Simply put, “man” is the gift-as given the Son, by the Father…! Again, cf. Ch. 17 of the Gospel of John and you will see that Christ’s stopping by what was then called ‘hell,’ during the KJV era is most significant, in that He had conquered and overcome death: This is very heavily associated with translation by committee, nay-community. Please move away from Calvinism and conduct further in-depth studies before you inadvertently mislead many others!
Sheol is the most used descriptive in the OT. Almost half the time it is translated "grave." You are correct that the NT does not speak of "hell." The Apostolic Creed inclusio, "descended into Hades" is often translated "descended into hell." That is a bad translation. It is Hades. Hell is the Lake of Fire mentioned in Rev. Hades, by Christ's usage of the term, is where the ungodly dead reside until the time of the Great White Throne Judgment. "Hell Under Fire" is a good primer on the subject.
I am surprised that this guy had gone over 1/3 of the way through his presentation and still gave no scripture on the 3 days Christ was dead. Why all the fluff.
I so appreciate you doing this series. I'm watching this on Good Friday after discovering that The Passion of the Christ Part 2: The Resurrection is beginning filming in two months (expected to release in 2020). What got me searching out the history of the Apostle's Creed is that word on the street is that the sequel will cover the three days after the crucifixion of Christ. Mel Gibson seems to hint that he will include the descent into hell. You and I might differ slightly, but we agree on way more, that Christ descended into Hell to rescue those who died in the Hope in the Messiah.
