The church holds an ancient belief that Jesus went to the realm of the dead -- perhaps that is hell, or Hades, or some other place -- in between his death and resurrection. The only scriptural support for this belief comes from some the New Testament's strangest verses, including 1 Peter 3:19-20. (Click that link to pull up three different translations side-by-side. Notice how different they are.) Peter never mentions hell specifically -- only that Jesus went to "preach to the spirits in prison":
And it was by the Spirit that he went to preach to the spirits in prison. In the past, these spirits were disobedient—when God patiently waited during the time of Noah. Noah built an ark in which a few (that is, eight) lives were rescued through water. (Common English Bible)
"The Decent to Hell" by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 14th c. |
Noah's place in verse 20 is important for at least two reasons: God's anger before the flood had to do with strange spiritual beings (see Genesis 6:1-6), and the ark is symbol of baptism. The person of Jesus ties all this together. Christ cheats death, just like Enoch did. And in Christ the water of the flood takes on new meaning in baptism, which is like a mini-resurrection for each one who experiences it.
The identification of Christ with hell does something else for our belief: it affirms that Jesus experienced all aspects of humanity. Ephesians 4:7-10 also tells us that Jesus "descended to the lower, earthly, regions." We sure would like to believe that Jesus went to preach the good news to those who had already died. This "harrowing of hell" -- or as Dr. Warren Smith puts it, "Christ's commando raid on hell" -- has captured the imagination of Christian artists for many centuries. We may not know with certainty where Jesus spent Friday night and Saturday, but we are sure that his death and resurrection defeated the effects of sin and death. And that's the main point of the Apostles Creed.