Jesus' Descent to Hades and the Intermediate State
The phrase "descended into hell" in the Apostles' Creed refers to Christ's descent to Hades (Greek hades, Hebrew sheol)—the realm of the dead—between his crucifixion and resurrection. Hades in biblical usage denotes "that which is out of sight," the common receptacle where all the dead alike go, whether righteous or wicked [1]. The term appears in the Septuagint as the standard rendering of sheol and carries no necessary connotation of torment, though Luke 16:23 depicts a compartmentalized Hades where the wicked experience torment while the righteous rest in "Abraham's bosom" [2].
Biblical Foundation and Early Interpretation
The descent doctrine rests primarily on 1 Peter 3:18-20, where Christ is said to have preached "to the spirits in prison" who disobeyed in Noah's day. Charles Hodge notes that the majority of interpreters understand this as Christ announcing redemption or the completion of atonement to souls in Hades [3]. Ephesians 4:8-10 also factors into the discussion: Paul argues that Christ's ascension presupposes a prior descent, and that the Psalm's language about ascending can only refer to God the Son, "who first descended, then ascended" [9]. The descent is thus tied to Christ's full participation in human mortality and his victory over death's domain.
Patristic Development
Early Christian teaching on the intermediate state was shaped by Jewish expectations that all souls descended into Sheol after death, remaining there until the Messiah's coming [4]. The patristic view held that Old Testament saints awaited Christ's advent in this underworld, and that his descent liberated them. Irenaeus describes the souls of the righteous as being "in a state of expectation" during the intermediate period, disciplined beforehand for incorruption [11]. Tertullian engages with skeptics who dismissed descent narratives as "juggling impositions," comparing Christ's descent to pagan myths of heroes visiting the underworld [6]. The church fathers thus affirmed a real descent but distinguished it from mythological fabrications by grounding it in redemptive history.
Scholastic and Reformed Articulations
Aquinas specifies that Christ descended into each division of the underworld but with different effects: he shamed the lost for their unbelief, gave hope to those in purgatory, and liberated the holy fathers detained in the limbus patrum [8]. The Roman Catholic tradition developed a complex geography of the afterlife, including the limbus patrum (where Old Testament saints awaited Christ) and purgatory, maintaining that Christ's descent emptied the former [7].
Reformed theology rejected this elaborate schema. Hodge clarifies that the question is not whether there exists an intermediate state—believers do pass through a period between death and resurrection—but rather its nature. The issue is whether believers' souls "immediately pass into glory" or remain in "a dreamy, semi-conscious state" [10]. The Reformed position, contra the patristic tendency toward a shadowy Sheol for all, affirms that believers at death are immediately with Christ, while the descent signifies Christ's full experience of death and his proclamation of victory over its powers.
Theological Significance
The descent affirms that Christ truly died, entering the realm of the dead as all humans do. It underscores the completeness of his humiliation and the scope of his victory: death could not hold him, and his resurrection vindicates all who trust in him. The doctrine also addresses the fate of Old Testament believers, though traditions differ on whether they required Christ's descent for their liberation or were already in God's presence. Hebrews 9:27 establishes the parallel between human destiny and Christ's work: "it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment," just as Christ was offered once to bear sins [5]. The descent thus fits within the broader pattern of Christ as the representative man, whose death and resurrection determine the fate of all humanity.
Sources
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Hades — That which is out of sight, a Greek word used to denote the state or place of the dead. All the dead alike go into this place. To be buried, to go down to the grave, to descend into hades, are equivalent expressions. In the LXX. this word is the usual rendering of the Hebrew sheol, the common receptacle of the departed (Gen. 42:38; Ps. 139:8; Hos. 13:14; Isa. 14:9). This term is of comparatively rare occurrence in the Greek New Testament. Our Lord speaks of Capernaum as being "brought down to hell" (hades), i.e., simply to the lowest debasement, (Matt. 11:23)”
- Luke “Luke 16:23 (ASV) — And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 130: p. 570. The majority of modern interpreters adopt the old interpretation. Bretschneider 469 469 Bretschneider, Dogmatik, 3d edit., Leipzig, 1828, vol. ii. p. 219. expresses the sense of the passage thus: “As God once through Noah exhorted men to repentance, and threatened to bring upon them the flood, as a punishment, so Jesus preached redemption, or announced the completion of the work of atonement, to the souls of men in Hades.” According to others the souls to whom Christ preached were those who in the days of Noah had rejected the of”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 78: § 3. Patristic Doctrine of the Intermediate State. Although the true doctrine concerning the state of the dead was, as has been shown, revealed in the Old Testament, it was more or less perverted in the minds of the people. The prevalent idea was that all souls after death descended into Sheol, and there remained in expectation of the coming of the Messiah. When He came it was expected that the Jews, or at least, the faithful, 734 would be raised from the dead, and made partakers of all the glories and blessedness of the Messiah’s reign. ”
- Hebrews (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Hebrews 9:27: as--inasmuch as. it is appointed--Greek, "it is laid up (as our appointed lot)," Col 1:5. The word "appointed" (so Hebrew "seth" means) in the case of man, answers to "anointed" in the case of Jesus; therefore "the Christ," that is, the anointed, is the title here given designedly. He is the representative man; and there is a strict correspondence between the history of man and that of the Son of man. The two most solemn facts of our being are here connected with the two most gracious truths of our dispensation, our death and judgment answering in p”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 4: Tertullian IV, Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen — CHAP. LVI. (part 1): But since the Jew says that these histories of the alleged descent of heroes to Hades, and of their return thence, are juggling impositions,[2] maintaining that these heroes disappeared for a certain time, and secretly withdrew themselves from the sight of all men, and gave themselves out afterwards as having returned from Hades,--for such is the meaning which his words seem to convey respecting the Odrysian Orpheus, and the Thessalian Protesilaus, and the Taenarian Hercules, and Theseus also,--let us endeavour ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 79: § 4. Doctrine of the Church of Rome. Although Romanists reject the doctrine of an intermediate 744 state in the sense of the ancient Church, they nevertheless divide the world into which the souls of men enter at death, into many different departments. The Limbus Patrum . They hold that the souls of the righteous before the coming of Christ descended into Sheol, where they remained in a state of expectancy awaiting the coming of the Messiah. When Christ came and had accomplished his work of redemption by dying upon the cross, He descended”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Third Part (Tertia Pars), Of Christ's Descent into Hell, Art. 2: Article: Whether Christ went down into the hell of the lost? I answer that, A thing is said to be in a place in two ways. First of all, through its effect, and in this way Christ descended into each of the hells, but in different manner. For going down into the hell of the lost He wrought this effect, that by descending thither He put them to shame for their unbelief and wickedness: but to them who were detained in Purgatory He gave hope of attaining to glory: while upon the holy Fathers detained in hel”
- Ephesians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Ephesians 4:9: Paul reasons that (assuming Him to be God) His ascent implies a previous descent; and that the language of the Psalm can only refer to Christ, who first descended, then ascended. For God the Father does not ascend or descend. Yet the Psalm plainly refers to God (Eph 4:8, Eph 4:17-18). It must therefore be GOD THE SON (Joh 6:33, Joh 6:62). As He declares (Joh 3:13), "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven." Others, though they did not previously descend, have ascended; but none save Christ can be referred to in the Psalm ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 78: whether 739 there is a state intermediate between death and the resurrection in which believers are less glorious and exalted than they are to be after the second advent of Christ, but what is the nature of that state. Are believers after death with Christ? Do their souls immediately pass into glory? or, are they in a dreamy, semi-conscious state, neither happy nor miserable, awaiting the resurrection of the body. That this latter view was for a long time prevalent in the Church may be inferred, (1.) From the fact that this was the view o”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 1: Clement, Polycarp, Ignatius, Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus — CHAP. XXXI.--THE PRESERVATION OF OUR BODIES IS CONFIRMED BY THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION OF CHRIST: THE SOULS OF THE SAINTS DURING THE INTERMEDIATE PERIOD ARE IN A STATE OF EXPECTATION OF THAT TIME (part 1): 1. Since, again, some who are reckoned among the orthodox go beyond the pre-arranged plan for the exaltation of the just, and are ignorant of the methods by which they are disciplined beforehand for incorruption, they thus entertain heretical opinions. For the heretics, despising the handiwork of God, an”