Sunday morning.
In the middle of the sermon, Pastor says: Jesus went to Hell during the three days between his death and resurrection.
Say what?
Where in the Bible does it say Jesus spent time in Hell?
How did I miss that?
Fake News?
Turns out I didn’t miss a thing. What I missed were the theological disagreements as to where Christ was between his death and resurrection.
Simple me. I never gave it a second thought. I thought Christ went to heaven. I’m not going to go into all the details regarding the philosophical and theological reasons for the belief that Christ was in hell, but I will give you an overview with biblical references to read for yourself.
Hell?
There is still disagreement among those who believe Christ spent time in hell. Some scholars agree with John Calvin that Christ endured hell while he was on the cross. Others state that Christ was in a state of death until his resurrection, which was like a hell. Still others believe Christ descended into hell.
For these theologians, Christ could not have gone to heaven because he was carrying the sins of the world. Apparently, going nowhere wasn’t an option. Christ had to go somewhere until the sins were removed. For Calvin and others, Christ experienced hell on the cross, but once he died physically the sin was removed and he could return to heaven. If sin was not removed on the cross, then where did Jesus spend the three (3) days since heaven wasn’t an option?
The following verses are used as support for the theory that Christ spent time in Hell.
- 1 Peter 4:6
- 1 Peter 3:18-20
- Ephesians 4:8-9
- Romans 10:6-7
- Acts 2:27
A Zondervan article lists three (3) verses in support of Christ spending the three (3) days in heaven.
- Luke 23:43
- Luke 23:46
- John 19:30
These are the verses that I am most familiar with. They contain the words Christ spoke on the cross.
I don’t care where Christ was for the three (3) days between his death and resurrection. I don’t think the answer impacts my faith. What matters are the church leaders who make statements about what the Bible says that are not based on what is written but on what is theorized.
Honestly, how hard is it to say: I believe that during the time between Christ’s death and resurrection, He descended into Hell; however, other theologians or biblical scholars do not agree. They believe he ascended to heaven.