The notion that Jesus went to Hell when He died stems primarily from the Apostles’ Creed, which states of Jesus that He “was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead.” It is vital to note that the Apostles’ Creed is not Scripture. It is a summary statement of core doctrine that was written in the second century. It was not written by the Apostles. In the creed’s earliest forms, the “descent into hell” clause is not included.
We must keep at the forefront of our minds what the Word of God says concerning the efficacy of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. His shed blood is what has freed us from our sin and made us kings and priests to God (Revelation 1:5), not some supposed suffering of Jesus in the throes of Hell. “In him we have redemption through his blood” (Ephesians 1:7). We must read the Bible both for what it says and for what it does not say. We are never instructed that our forgiveness and restored relationship with the Father has come by some torment of Jesus in the fires of Hell. We are consistently instructed that by His blood and death on the cross, we have been saved and set on the road of righteousness and Heaven. One of the most concise statements regarding where our sins were carried to the fullest extent of punishment is in 1 Peter 2:24, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Notice, again, the penalty for my rebellion against God was absorbed by Jesus during His work “on the tree” – not in the grave or in Hell.
In Scripture, we are presented with a statement the Apostle Peter makes in quoting a Psalm of David. Peter instructs us in Acts 2:31 that David “foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.” Sure enough, Psalm 16:10 declares, “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” [This is a prophecy with ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, as affirmed by Peter in the aforementioned sermon recorded in the book of Acts.]
Note that Psalm 16:10 speaks of the Messiah not being abandoned to “Sheol” in the English Standard Version, to “Hell” in the King James Version, to the “grave” in the New Living Translation, and to the “realm of the dead” in the New International Version. Was Jesus rescued from Hell? Or was He rescued from the grave? The best rendering here is Sheol, which is also how the New American Standard Bible and the New King James Version translate the original Hebrew. In the Old Testament, Sheol was a simple – yet mysterious – reference to the place of the dead. The word “Sheol” does not differentiate between the place of death for the wicked or for the righteous; it simply means “death.”
In the New Testament, “Sheol” becomes “Hades,” when referencing the place of the unsaved dead. In other words, the Greek of the New Testament begins to differentiate the destination of the dead, according to whether the person is righteous or not. Hades is the destination of the unsaved, and “Paradise” or “Abraham’s bosom” refers to the destination of the saved at death. We read of these two separate destinations in Luke 16:19-31. In reading the words of Jesus in this text, we see the stark contrast when it comes to the death of the righteous vs. the unrighteous.
When Jesus is on the cross and speaks to the repentant thief, he promises, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43). We find the exact same Greek word in Revelation 2:7, when referencing the tree of life that we shall one day partake of again in the New Heavens and New Earth, “To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (See also Revelation 22:2). The Apostle Paul also uses the same Greek word for “Paradise” when he refers to the third heaven, the place of God’s presence, “And I know that this man was caught up into paradise” (2 Corinthians 12:4). Therefore, we rightfully conclude that when the Bible proclaims that Jesus was not “abandoned to Sheol,” that this does not mean that Jesus spent any time in Hell. Our Lord died; He visited the grave on our behalf. He went to the place of death, but God did not leave Him there! His body never corrupted; He rose again!
It is to be noted also that Jesus unequivocally stated that He was placing His spirit into the hands of His Father at the point of His death. (Luke 23:46) While His body stayed on the cross and then was deposited in the tomb, Christ went directly into the presence of His Father. In corroboration of the fact of Jesus going to the Father and not to Hell to finish being punished for our sin, we read in John 19:30 that the Son of God proclaimed at last on the cross, “It is finished.” Those same words are found written on papyri receipts for taxes, and the words mean, “Paid in full.” Jesus completed payment for our wickedness on the cross, where He died. Colossians 2:14 instructs, “God made us alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” Our debt was nailed to the cross. It was not shed in Hell; it was nailed to the cross!
May I add that the finality of Hell in its eternal state, is the lake of fire. Just as the finality of Heaven in its eternal state, is the New Heavens and New Earth. No person has yet entered the final Hell. That place, said Jesus, “is prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41) The antichrist and the false prophet will be the first two people deposited into the eternal lake of fire. Satan will follow. Then, at the Great White Throne Judgment, all of Hades and Death will vomit forth its contents, and the unsaved from all ages will receive final sentencing and go to Hell, the eternal lake of fire. (Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10, 14, 15)
So then, Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. This is clear, straight from the mouth of Christ Jesus. Make no mistake, humans go there. However, it was always God’s intention to provide the way of escape from the torment of eternal Hell. That way is Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross. What the infinite Son of God did on finite hours on the cross could absorb all the sin of the world. Those who reject the work of infinite Jesus, will have to exist forever in a state of suffering, and still never be able to pay off the debt of sin, for we are finite beings.
Jesus was able to stand in between us and Hell. Our deposit in Hell never has to happen. Sinless Jesus stood in our place, paying the price for our sin, in the realm in which we currently live, so that we would never enter the realm of Hell, but rather live righteously in the presence of the Father. Humans end up in Hell by actively rejecting Jesus Christ and His work of salvation by His shed blood. He really died, and that was truly enough. He did not have to go to Hell – the place He created for Satan and the demons. His earthly and infinite payment was enough to blockade Hell from our destiny. Even greater, His work was enough to make the way for full restoration with God and living in His glorious presence forever.
There exist few other, enigmatic Scriptures that people point to in asserting that Jesus went to Hell and suffered. Those verses are highly debated among the best of scholars and give no impetus to the flawed premise that our sinless Savior ever suffered in Hell. The overwhelming Scriptural evidence points to a Savior who accomplished it all on the cross on which He died willingly for you and me.
– Shelli Prindle