What did Jesus do when he was in Hell?

Akrasia

And why did he go there?

(According to the apostles creed he descended into hell for 3 days between his death and his resurrection)

There are a few other questions I have. If hell is defined as 'the absence of god' then how could Jesus go to hell (jesus is god)

Does the apostles creed mean that hell is a real place full of torture and suffering, and that god sent jesus there for a few days as part of his sacrifice?

R0ot

I remember reading about this for the first time and was a little bit confused by it.

If hell is defined as 'the absence of god' then how could Jesus go to hell (Jesus is god)

Well it is defined as the 'absence of god' but its not like Jesus is still there, and remember Jesus "died for our sins" so the hell part makes sense in an atonement sort of view. Just remember that it says his spirit went to hell but obviously didn't stay because of the resurrection. You could take a comical view of it and think for 3 days the souls in Hell had the presence of god to lighten up there lives.

Here's a nice read if you want to browse it for a bit.
http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/jesus-in-hell-faq.htm

Zombrex

FYI, not all Christians believe Jesus went to "hell"

It depends on the translation one uses. Both Jewish and Greek tradition have the idea of Sheol/Hades, a place where dead souls go after they die.

Many Christians believe this has separate areas, of which the concept of "hell", the lake of fire, is simply one, the place of eternal damnation. Saved souls are also in Hades, awaiting the final judgment. Or another interpretation is hell is hades after everyone saved has left to go to heaven.

So it is debatable whether the Bible says that Jesus went to the suffering, absence of God, bit of Hades.

A lot of Christians don't believe he did, though some believe he did to further suffer for our sins.


DISCLAIMER - I am not a Christian nor am I claiming or pretending to be one.

PDN

I don't believe he went to hell for three days, and I believe the so-called Apostles Creed to be mistaken on that point. (Carefully places cat among pigeons )

I do believe that Jesus suffered all the pains of hell on the Cross, and that this spiritual suffering far outweighed the physical agony of crucifixion.

all the stars

stop the lights....

never heard that bit... Mental. that mental

Akrasia

PDN wrote: »

I don't believe he went to hell for three days, and I believe the so-called Apostles Creed to be mistaken on that point. (Carefully places cat among pigeons )

So where do you think he was between good friday and easter sunday?

Akrasia

PDN wrote: »

I do believe that Jesus suffered all the pains of hell on the Cross, and that this spiritual suffering far outweighed the physical agony of crucifixion.

so you do believe hell is a place of physical punishment?

And why would jesus be suffering spiritually during the crucifixion? He knew that god had not abandoned him (other than at that brief moment in the garden when he asked that he be relieved of his duty) and that he was fulfilling a great purpose.

Zombrex

Yeah I wondered about that

Did Jesus know he was going to resurrected at the moment of his death?

PDN

Akrasia wrote: »

So where do you think he was between good friday and easter sunday?

His body was in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. He Himself said that His spirit would be in Paradise (part of Hades).

And why would jesus be suffering spiritually during the crucifixion? He knew that god had not abandoned him (other than at that brief moment in the garden when he asked that he be relieved of his duty) and that he was fulfilling a great purpose.

God did abandon Him on the Cross, which is why He cried out, "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken Me?"

As the second Person of the Trinity Jesus was one with God the Father - indivisible. But, in some way that goes beyond my understanding, God was ripped in two on the Cross. The Son was separated from the Father and, in a 3 hour period, all the punishment for the sins of the world was dumped on Him. Take the pains of hell, multiply them by 13 billion or more (for every human being that would ever live), and then concentrate them into a small finite period. Then inflict that unimaginable intensity of suffering onto a Person who, because he was God, had an infinite capacity to endure pain without the relief of death or unconsciousness. Now you have the atonement.

Zombrex

PDN wrote: »

God did abandon Him on the Cross, which is why He cried out, "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken Me?"

As the second Person of the Trinity Jesus was one with God the Father - indivisible. But, in some way that goes beyond my understanding, God was ripped in two on the Cross. The Son was separated from the Father and, in a 3 hour period, all the punishment for the sins of the world was dumped on Him. Take the pains of hell, multiply them by 13 billion or more (for every human being that would ever live), and then concentrate them into a small finite period. Then inflict that unimaginable intensity of suffering onto a Person who, because he was God, had an infinite capacity to endure pain without the relief of death or unconsciousness. Now you have the atonement.

Sounds nice, but what does any of that actually mean

Firstly, what do you mean by God abandoning/forsaking Jesus? Why did Jesus ask why God had left him if the entire purpose of Jesus coming to Earth in the first place was for this event to take place?

Did God the Father really abandon Jesus given that abandonment implies a negative action.

For example, if I abandon my child I am doing something negative. On the other hand if I leave them at their first day of school, I am leaving them and they may even be upset by this, but I wouldn't call that abandonment. Abandonment implies to leave someone when they need them the most for negative reasons. God didn't do this. He left Jesus on the Cross because that was the purpose of Jesus. Even Jesus should have been aware of this at this stage as he seemed in later life to have quite a good understanding of his mission on Earth.

Secondly, what does the "pains of hell multiplied by 13 billion" mean?

Do you mean emotional pain, physical pain, "spiritual pain" (again a rather undefined concept). Its all very well to say something like add up all the "pain" in hell and imagine that inflicted on one person for 3 hours, but by its very nature pain, emotional or physical, doesn't work like that.

For example one can't say "imagine the pain of braking a bone, now multiply that pain by 10 and imagine that" because pain doesn't function as a mathematical product. The pain of braking 2 bones isn't "twice" the pain of braking one bone.

The same applies to emotional pain or suffering. The concept "imagine the pain of your girlfriend braking up with you, now multiply that by 10" is equally nonsensical.

Put simply, our brains and one would imagine Jesus' since he was supposed to be human, don't work like that.

kelly1

Akrasia wrote: »

And why did he go there?

(According to the apostles creed he descended into hell for 3 days between his death and his resurrection)

There are a few other questions I have. If hell is defined as 'the absence of god' then how could Jesus go to hell (jesus is god)

Does the apostles creed mean that hell is a real place full of torture and suffering, and that god sent jesus there for a few days as part of his sacrifice?

My understanding is that Jesus descended to Sheoul/Hades not to the region of the damned but to the region of the just. He came to announce their redemption.

Slav

As it's been correctly pointed out this is all about Judaic Sheol and it has nothing to do with the Hell as know it from Dante's Divine Comedy.

Being a human Jesus went straight to Sheol along with all the others who died before Him. Being the God at the same time He destroyed Sheol just by the fact of the His presence there. As Sheol came into existence by the Fall it could not stand the presence of God in it. Christians believe that this is the very reason for the dual nature of Christ and that it's the essential part of the divine plan for men.

This doctrine may not be that visible in Western Christianity (namely RCC and Reformation Churches) though it's always been there. On the other hand it's well presented in Orthodox liturgics and iconographics where for instance the whole Holy Saturday Liturgy is dedicated to the Harrowing of Hell.

JimiTime

Am I right in saying it says he 'witnessed' or 'preached' to those in Hades?

PDN

JimiTime wrote: »

Am I right in saying it says he 'witnessed' or 'preached' to those in Hades?

The Greek word translated as 'preached' (εκηρυξεν) means to announce or proclaim, rather than to persuade.

The Mad Hatter

I've also heard it put forward that hell is permadeath. In which case, firstly the above makes sense (ie. that he died for three days and went nowhere), and secondly I have no reason to convert to Christianity.