An Apologetical Explanation of

Christ’s Descent Into Hell

What does it mean when we say that Christ “descended into Hell”?

“[The Patriarch David] foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.”  (Acts 2:31)

Christ also died for sins once for all, 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 preached to the spirits in prison.  (1 Pt 3:18-19)

This is why the gospel was preached even to the dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God.  (1 Pt 4:6)

When the Apostles’ Creed speaks of hell, it refers not to the eternal Hell but to the abode of those persons who had died before the Redemption, both the just and the unjust.  Christ the Redeemer went there after his own Death and preached salvation to the souls who were there.  Scripture uses the Hebrew term Sheol, or the Greek Hades, to refer to this place of the dead; in addition, the New Testament sometimes refers to it as the Bosom of Abraham:

[Jesus said to the Pharisees,] “The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.  The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom.”  (Lk 16:22-23)

This “hell” is distinct from the post-Resurrection concept of Hell, which designates the state of eternal separation from communion with God and the blessed in Heaven.

Because Christ had not yet completed his act of redemption by rising from the dead, the just who had died could not have entered into eternal life.  At his own Death, because he was truly human, Christ descended into hell.  However, since he was not a human person but the divine Son of God who would redeem the world, he was able to announce the Good News of salvation to the just there.  (Cf. CCC 632-634)

By virtue of his descent into hell, Christ opened the gates of Heaven to the just who had been awaiting the fulfillment of God’s promise of Redemption.  “It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell” (Roman Catechism, I, 6, 3).  (Cf. CCC 635)

The Catechism addresses this question in paragraph 633.

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