Peter Carruthers
The gospel accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection tell us little about the day(s) between His burial and rising again ‘on the first day of the week’. Luke simply states that His disciples “rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56). From Matthew, we learn that the chief priests and Pharisees lobbied Pilate to set a guard on the tomb, to prevent his disciples taking his body away at night and claiming he has risen from the dead; Pilate agreed (Matthew 27:62-66).
But what did Jesus do? The gospels are historical accounts of Jesus life and teaching, and are not explicit about what was happening ‘behind the scenes’ in the unseen realm. They simply record that He died on the cross and was buried in the tomb. But the early church, drawing on several indirect references, developed an understanding that He ‘descended into hell’ or ‘to the dead’ (Matthew 12:38-4; Acts 2:25-31), as reflected in the Apostles’ Creed, and preached to the “spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:19 and to “those that are dead” (1 Peter 4:6), thus completing His work.
Here is the biblical data.
‘The sign of Jonah’
Jesus likens His burial in the earth to Jonah’s sojourn in the belly of the great fish.
Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:38-40).
Jonah’s prayer from the fish’s belly reveals that, in fact, he descended to Sheol (ie Hades); in other words, he died and went to the place of the dead, before the Lord brought him back to life and out from the fish.
I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me….. The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me for ever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God (Jonah 2:2-6).
By referencing Jonah’s experience, Jesus was revealing what would be His own experience.
‘You will not leave my soul in Hades’
The belief that Jesus died and descended into the abyss of Hades is also expressed in Peter’s sermon of the day of Pentecost. When David wrote, “you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption” (Psalm 16:10), Peter asserted, he was prophesying about Jesus (Acts 2:25-31).
Paul also confirms that before Jesus “ascended on high”, he “descended into the lower parts of the earth” (Ephesians 4:8-9), “into the abyss” (Romans 10:7).
‘The gospel was preached to those who are dead’
The most detailed text is found in the first letter of Peter.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:18-21).
The gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does (1 Peter 4:6).
Peter states, first, that Jesus “died in the flesh, but was made alive in the spirit”, and, second, in the spirit He went and preached to the “spirits in prison”, to “the dead”. Reading Peter’s letter alongside the texts above, many church fathers concluded that this meant that between His death and resurrection, Jesus preached to the dead in Hades, the realm of the dead (ie He gave those who had died before His coming, the opportunity to believe and be saved).
There is, however, much debate as to the exact meaning of these rather mysterious verses. According to Craig Keener1, as well as the traditional teaching above, there are two other main views as follows.
Christ preached through Noah to people in Noah’s day (the view of many Reformers).
Before or (more likely) after his resurrection, Jesus proclaimed triumph over the fallen angels (the view of most scholars today).
‘The Harrowing of Hell’
The ‘harrowing of hell’ “is an “Old English and Middle English term for the triumphant descent of Christ into hell (or Hades) between the time of His Crucifixion and His Resurrection, when, according to Christian belief, He brought salvation to the souls held captive there since the beginning of the world” (Catholic Encyclopedia). The phrase appears around AD 1000, but reflects a much older belief that developed out of the biblical data above and other biblical texts.
The teaching of Jesus’ triumphant descent into Hades is a particularly important theme in Orthodox Christology, and is especially reflected in Orthodox iconography
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "By the expression 'He descended into Hell', the Apostles' Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil 'who has the power of death' (Hebrews 2:14). In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened Heaven's gates for the just who had gone before him."
The Formula of Concord (a Lutheran confession) states: “I believe in the Lord Christ, God’s Son, our Lord, dead, buried, and descended into hell. For in this [Confession] the burial and descent of Christ to hell are distinguished as different articles; and we simply believe that the entire person, God and man, after the burial descended into hell, conquered the devil, destroyed the power of hell, and took from the devil all his might".
In an ‘Investigation of the Harrowing of Hell in the Apostles’ Creed’, Melanie Nassif comments that “Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and other Christian traditions affirm Christ’s descent to Hades; .. the collective patristic, liturgical, and biblical witnesses all point to Christ’s descent”. But “many Reformed and evangelical churches confess that Christ could not have descended to Hades, using both biblical and historical arguments”. However, as she concludes, what matters most is the indisputable truth of Jesus’ victory over sin, death and the devil.
“The theology of Holy Saturday has been debated since the Reformation. Many churches today affirm the descent clause in their recitation of the Apostles’ Creed, while others want to drop it altogether. To be theologically informed, Christians must weigh the biblical, historical, and theological arguments for and against the clause. Regardless of the outcome, however, both sides can rejoice in Christ’s victory over death. In the words of the ancient hymn, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death!”
Baptism
Finally, Holy Saturday speaks of our death and burial with Christ through baptism, prior to our own rising to newness of life. Symbolically, we also descend into Hades to be liberated by our Saviour and Lord, who has triumphed over death. Reflecting this, Catholics, Anglicans and others renew their baptismal vows as part of the Easter Vigil service on the Saturday night before Easter Day.
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead (Colossians 2:11-12).
Grant , Lord, that we who are baptised into the death of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ may continually put to death our evil desires and be buried with him; that through the grave and gate of death we may pass to our joyful resurrection; through his merits, who died and was buried and rose again for us, your son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Keener, C S. 1993. The IVP Bible Background Commentary, New Testament, p 718. InterVarsity Press, Illinois.