Christ’s Descent Into Hell, (descensus ad inferos; κατάβασις εἰς ἃδου), [is] a phrase used to denote the doctrine taught, or supposed to be taught, in the fifth article of the Apostles’ Creed.
I. History of the Clause. — The clause is not found in the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan Creed (A.D. 381), nor in any creed before that date. Pearson states that it was not “so anciently used in the Church” as the rest of the Apostles’ Creed; and that it first appears in the Creed of Aquileia, 4th century, in the words descendit in inferna. King, in his Histor. Symbol. Apost. c. 4, asserts that it was inserted as a testimony against Apollinarism; but this view is controverted by Waage in his Commentatio on this article of the Creed (1836). It is certain, however, that the clause was afterwards used by the orthodox as an argument against the Apollinarian heresy which denied to Christ a rational human soul (see Neander, Church History, Torrey’s ed., 2, 433). Rufinus († 410), while stating that it is found in the Creed of Aquileia, denies that it existed before that time in the Creed as used in the Roman or Eastern churches. Rufinus adds that “though the Roman and Oriental churches had not the words; yet they had the sense of them in the word buried,” implying that the words “he descended into Hades” are equivalent to “he descended into the grave.” Socrates, Hist. Eccl. 2, 37, 41, gives it as stated in the Arian Creed adopted at Sirmiumn A.D. 350, and at Rimini in 360. It is given in the Athanasian Creed (5th century). It fails to be found, except in the Athanasian Creed and in a few MSS., before the 6th century, but became quite common in the 7th, and is universal after the 8th century (Pearson, On the Creed, art. 5, notes). It remains in the Apostles’ Creed as used in the Greek and Roman churches; the Lutheran Church, and the Church of England. It is also retained in the Creed as used by the Protestant Episcopal Church, with a note in the rubric. that “any churches may omit the words He descended into hell, or may, instead of them, use the words He went into the place of departed spirits, which are considered as words of the same meaning in the Creed.” The clause was omitted by the Convention of 1785, but, the English bishops objecting, it was replaced, with the qualification named, after a great deal of discussion in 1786, 1789, and 1792 (see White, Hist. of the Prot. Episcopal Church; Muenscher, in Bib. Sac. April, 1853). It is omitted in the Creed as used by the Methodist Episcopal Church.
1. Scripture. — There is no passage in which it is expressly stated that Christ descended into hell, but...
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Author: McClintock and Strong Cyclopedia
Keywords: Hell, Christs Descent Into Hell, Sheol, Hades, Jesus in Hell, spirits in prison, limbus, Limbo, purgatory, preached to the spirits in prison, jesus soul in hell
Bible reference(s): 1 Peter 3:19, Acts 2:27, Ephesians 4:8, Romans 10:7
Source: John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, (abridged).
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