*Editor’s Note: The views expressed in this series are not intended as an official statement of CBTS or a uniform position of its faculty. This material is offered in the spirit of faith seeking understanding and to encourage further theological reflection. To read more installments in this series, click here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
A Debated Clause in the Apostles’ Creed
To discuss the idea of Christ’s “descent into hell,” we should begin with some facts about the creedal origin of this phrase. In a book on the early church, Henry Chadwick briefly explains the origin of what is traditionally called “The Apostles’ Creed”: “The Creed properly belonged to baptism and made a late appearance in the eucharistic liturgy. In any event the Western baptismal creed was the so-called ‘Apostles’ Creed’, while the Greek East used for baptism the Nicene creed of 325.”[1] The Apostles’ Creed became a commonly used creed in the Latin-speaking (Western) regions of the Roman Empire. This creed was not something commonly used in the Greek-speaking areas east of Rome, and the Nicene Creed does not include anything like the statement in question: “he descended into hell.” The so-called “Athanasian Creed” (or Quicunque Vult), which also mentions the descent into hell, could understandably be assumed by some to provide an eastern witness to this doctrine as part of early Nicene orthodoxy; but the “Athanasian Creed” was not produced by Athanasius in the East. It was rather a later Western creed from the fifth or sixth century. In any case, the Apostles’ Creed is a good place to start when examining the teaching that Christ at his death “descended into hell.”
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting. Amen.
In the context of recent “theological retrieval,” which usually includes a robust return to the ancient creeds, challenges to the historicity of the now-familiar text of the Apostles’ Creed are sometimes too easily dismissed. Here is an example of such dismissal:
Some scholars have argued that the phrase [“he descended into hell”] is absent from the early versions of the creed, and therefore conclude that it doesn’t belong. Others, however, have been able to identify the clause in early literature, thus strengthening the case for its authenticity.[2]
Notice carefully what is actually said here. The clause is identified “in early literature,” which is then implied to support its originality in the earliest versions of the Apostles’ Creed. The earliest available versions of the creed itself are not then treated as the standard for the earliest text of that creed. Rather, the fact that a phrase found in later versions is also found in other “early literature” then somehow shows that the phrase might have been in the earliest versions after all. Frankly, it is just as likely, indeed more likely in view of the available evidence, that the idea and phrase “he descended into hell” became increasingly popular over time and then found its way into later copies of the creed.
If you visit different churches and recite the Creed with them, you will note that most of them—Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed—include the statement that “he descended to the dead” or “he descended into hell,” while some, particularly those of the Wesleyan tradition, do not. The reason for this discrepancy is not really a theological difference or disagreement; it is only a disagreement as to what version of the Creed to employ. John Wesley, being a patristic scholar, knew that it was not included in most creeds until a relatively late date—the fourth century in one particular case, but generally the sixth to the eighth centuries. By the beginning of the ninth it was included in the official version of the Apostles’ Creed.[3]
This conclusion—that the descent into hell was a late addition to the Apostles’ Creed—is not a recent invention of contemporary scholarship. No less orthodox Protestant scholastics than Francis Turretin and Petrus van Mastricht held the same conclusion in the seventeenth century.[4]
There is often an urge now to affirm every phrase which commonly occurs in the Apostles’ Creed, and also to affirm every idea it was originally intended to teach. Why? Because the Apostles’ Creed has been chosen as an early, practically inerrant definition of the apostolic Christian faith. Ironically, this is a rather arbitrary choice, especially when placed alongside the renewed emphasis on the “ecumenical creeds,” which were the product of ecumenical church councils in the early centuries of the church. The Apostles’ Creed was not the product of an ecumenical council (and neither was the so-called Athanasian Creed, for that matter). Nevertheless, the Apostles’ Creed is ancient from our standpoint, and eventually came into common use in the Western church tradition. Thus there is significant pressure from some quarters to affirm the clause “he descended into hell” in the Apostles’ Creed (a clause which I personally do not affirm) and then to interpret scripture in light of this early idea in the ancient church. Take for example Samuel Renihan:
The Apostles’ Creed is one of the oldest statements of collective Christian beliefs, which many churches continue to confess today. The phrase “He descended to hell” or “He descended to the dead” has made some reluctant to embrace this creed. Others, as will be presented in the second part of this book, redefine this article into something entirely contrary to its intended meaning. This book has attempted to teach the Bible’s doctrine of the descent, so that we can unite our voices with Christians of all ages in the Apostles’ Creed and confess confidently that “He descended to the dead.”[5]
Let me remind you that, though a creed may happen in God’s providence to be without error in its interpretation of scripture, it is not infallible—incapable of error—by its very nature. A creed is not breathed out by God’s Spirit. It is merely a human document, though perhaps a weighty human testimony to the truth of scripture. Only scripture is infallible and thus without error, for its infallibility is due to its divine author. Therefore, if there is a questionable phrase in an otherwise biblical creed, Christians are under no obligation to believe the questionable phrase simply because it is found in a basically correct creed. Indeed, we should beware an overweening desire to find in scripture that which conforms to an attractive tradition. Rather, we should accept creedal tradition to the degree that it conforms to truly apostolic doctrine, which can be found infallibly in scripture alone. Creeds can helpfully instruct us in scripture, but they must never be believed simply because of their antiquity or wide acceptance.
Orthodox Interpretations of the “Descent” Clause
Given its long pedigree of common use in the Western church, those in the Reformation stream of theology understandably valued the Apostles’ Creed. At the same time, Reformed theology (with its insistence upon scriptural authority) inevitably clashed with the idea of a limbus patrum and with Christ’s descent there. Some heirs of the Reformation retained such doctrines, but many others did not. Those who did not retain the doctrine, however, often desired to retain the relevant phrase in the Apostles’ Creed. For that reason, the phrase has been interpreted in various ways, especially since the Reformation. We will briefly touch on these interpretations.
Interpretation 1: Christ’s Subjection to the Father’s Wrath on the Cross
In John Calvin’s Institutes (Book II, Chapter XVI, sections 10–11), Calvin argued that the Creed did not teach that Christ descended to hell locally, but that he suffered the agonies and punishments of hell due to man. Christ did this all his life, but especially in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross, thus making satisfaction for sins by his suffering.
[Quoting Calvin:] And truly there can be imagined no more dreadful bottomless depth, than for a man to feel himself forsaken and estranged from God, and not to be heard when he calls upon him, even as if God himself had conspired to his destruction.[6]
The Heidelberg Catechism itself takes pains to explain and apply the Apostles’ Creed, including the phrase, “He descended into hell”:
Question 44: Why is there added, “he descended into hell”?
Answer: That in my greatest temptations, I may be assured and wholly comfort myself in this, that my Lord Jesus Christ, by his inexpressible anguish, pains, terrors, and hellish agonies, in which he was plunged during all his sufferings, but especially on the cross, hath delivered me from the anguish and torments of hell.[7]
Interpretation 2: Christ’s Subjection to Death in His Human Nature
In 1680 Hercules Collins (c.1646–1702), a Particular Baptist pastor, published an edited version of the Heidelberg Catechism. The catechism, as mentioned above, works through the articles of the Apostles’ Creed. Arriving at the descent, Collins added a marginal note, quoting Ussher and referring the reader to Perkins. The note reads,
“Not that he (to wit, Christ) went into the place of the damned, but that he went absolutely into the state of the dead. See Dr. Ussher in his Body of Divinity, page 174 and Mr. Perkins on the Creed.”
In this brief example, the influences of Ursinus, Olevianus, Perkins, and Ussher combine to shape Hercules Collins’ view of the descent.[8]
Though their historical ties to the original intent of the clause seem tenuous at best, both these first two interpretations are at least in harmony with scripture.
Interpretation 3: Christ’s Descent to the Netherworld after His Death
The most ancient reason for the relevant phrase in the Apostles’ Creed seems indeed to be the belief that Jesus went down to Sheol/Hades, a netherworld of departed spirits, between his death and resurrection. Three basic reasons have been given for such a descent in orthodox versions of this teaching. Sam Renihan’s book on the topic proposes all three reasons, and his words represent these reasons well.
First, it is said that Christ descended to the netherworld to release pre-Christian saints confined there.
Saints before the resurrection may have been at rest, but they had not yet arrived at that heavenly country, which Hebrews says was reserved until a time when both they and ourselves would have access to it…. Satan had no power to torment these saints, but they were contained in Sheol. So, Jesus broke the bars and gates of Sheol and led a host of captive souls out while the strong man could do nothing but watch. Jesus descended to Abraham’s Bosom without humiliation or defeat, but as a conqueror. He did not descend to languish but to liberate.[9]
Here it is important to remember some historical context of the ancient church. As mentioned in the blog posts on Sheol, there were many in the ancient church who believed that only a select few Christians, such as martyrs, go directly to heaven at death, and that most believers still go to a subterranean place of departed spirits. In other words, as a rule, both the righteous and the unrighteous dead have always gone and still go to Hades under the earth (though perhaps to different compartments). This was in line with both Jewish and pagan ideas of the time, and it seems to have been a belief of many Christians as well. Thus Christ’s release of Old Testament saints to go to heaven did not necessarily mean that the righteous now go straight to heaven at death. In fact, the developing doctrine of purgatory continued this theme in the Middle Ages, teaching that most Christians are restricted at death from the heavenly glory of God. It was the Protestant Reformation that bore renewed testimony to the simple Biblical truth that all Christian believers enter heaven at death.
Second, it is said by some that Christ descended to the netherworld to proclaim victory over wicked angels or demonic spirits.
Jesus Christ, as a soul… made a proclamation to imprisoned angels, the wicked and rebellious angels imprisoned in Tartarus, the lowest tier of Sheol. By appearing in Tartarus, or the abyss, and declaring his victory, Jesus caused every demon to know that their efforts were all in vain.[10]
Third, it is said that Christ descended to the netherworld to proclaim condemnation to the wicked dead.
Jesus also caused everyone who died in unbelief to know that the one whose name they had refused to name, the one upon whom they had refused to call, was precisely who the Scriptures said he was, precisely who he said he was. They know that their condemnation is just.[11]
Finally, it is worth mentioning that there have also been more heterodox versions of such ideas.
The common view during the Middle Ages was that when Jesus descended into hell he preached to all who had lived before him, thus giving them an opportunity for salvation. According to tradition, the apostles had preached to every nation, so that those living after Jesus who did not believe had been given an opportunity and failed to make use of it. Thus, by descending into hell and there preaching to those who had lived before him, Jesus gave them a fair opportunity for salvation.[12]
The next blog post will move to briefly address some proof texts for a descent of Jesus’ soul into the netherworld.
[1] Henry Chadwick, The Early Church, Revised Edition, The Penguin History of the Church (London: Penguin Books, 1993), 270.
[2] Nate Pickowicz, Christ and Creed: The Early Church Creeds and Their Value for Today (Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus, 2023), 25.
[3] Justo L. Gonzalez, The Apostles’ Creed for Today (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2007), 48.
[4] Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Volume 2, translated by George Musgrave Giger, edited by James T. Dennison, Jr. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1994), 362; Petrus van Mastricht, Theoretical-Practical Theology, Volume 4: Redemption in Christ, translated by Todd M. Rester, edited by Joel R. Beeke (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2023), 456–457.
[5] Samuel D. Renihan, Crux, Mors, Inferi: A Primer and Reader on the Descent of Christ (Independently Published, 2021), 95.
[6] Ibid., 107–108.
[7] The Commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus on the Heidelberg Catechism, translated by George W. Willard (Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2025), 226.
[8] Renihan, Crux, Mors, Inferi, 119.
[9] Ibid., 68.
[10] Ibid., 72.
[11] Ibid., 72.
[12] Gonzalez, The Apostles’ Creed for Today, 48.
