Comfort in the Depths - "He Descended Into Hell"

Why the most misunderstood line in the Creed is actually the deepest comfort you’ll ever hear.

The Line Everyone Trips Over

Most people treat the phrase “He descended into hell” in the Apostles’ Creed like that one weird cousin at family gatherings; we all nod politely, pretend we understand him, and move on quickly to safer topics.

Depending on your church context, you may get a mental picture of Jesus kicking down the gates of Hades, ripping the keys of death from Satan, preaching to the dead, pulling Old Testament saints into heaven. Others, like Joyce Meyer, teach that Jesus suffered in hell for His people.¹ (1) While others may mumble, “I don’t understand, and I’m not sure we really believe that part.”

Here’s the problem. Most interpretations of the descensus ad inferos (“descent into hell”) try to fill in the events between Christ’s death and resurrection by reading the Apostles’ Creed like the itinerary of Christ after His death. But the Creed isn’t giving us Jesus’ weekend schedule, it’s telling us the meaning of what He endured to save us. It is the theological climax of His humiliation.

Other Views… and Their Problems

Historically, the most popular explanation of the descent has been the so-called Harrowing of Hell. In this view, Jesus descended to the realm of the dead between Good Friday and Easter to rescue the righteous who had died before He came, a reading some try to base on 1 Peter 3:19.

(As an aside, the “spirits in prison” passage is better understood as the Spirit of Christ preaching through Noah to the people of his day, not Jesus giving a victory proclamation to the demonic forces in hell.)

The problem with the Harrowing view is that it assumes Old Testament believers were not in God’s presence at death, as if Abraham’s bosom was just a waiting room for them until the Messiah’s arrival. Yet Jesus told the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Paul is equally clear that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).

Others have suggested that Jesus went to hell itself to proclaim His victory to the damned, a kind of cosmic taunt, or victory lap before Satan and his followers. The trouble with this view is that no biblical text actually teaches this.

Still others have gone in a very different direction, imagining that Jesus descended to offer the dead a second chance to repent. The issue with this is that it contradicts Hebrews 9:27 and Jesus’ teaching in the gospels.

To be clear, there have been serious theologians behind each of these views. I’m not trying to dismiss their entire body of work. I am saying that the Reformation gave us the clearest reading.

For a deep dive on the history and variations of these interpretations, I highly recommend Samuel Renihan’s book, Crux, Mors, Inferi

Heidelberg’s Answer

The Reformed churches, following the Heidelberg Catechism, would read and understand the descent into hell differently from the three other views.

Question 44 asks, “Why is there added: He descended into hell?”

The answer: “That in my greatest temptations I may be assured that Christ my lord, by His inexpressible anguish, pains and terrors, which He suffered in His soul on the cross and before, has redeemed me from the anguish and torment of hell.”

In other words, the descent isn’t about where Jesus went after He died but about what He endured on the cross for His people. The hell He descended into was not beneath the ground; it was the judicial removal of God’s favorable presence. (More on that here)

This reading actually fits the order of the Creed better than the others. The descent comes after “was crucified, dead, and buried,” not to add a new stage after the tomb, but to explain the depth of His suffering in death. It matches the Gospels, where the true agony is at Calvary, not in some unseen realm between death and resurrection.

The Humiliation Arc

We must be careful to understand that Christ’s suffering extended across His whole life, starting with His incarnation (Phil. 2:6–8). The descent is the bottom of His humiliation arc, the point where the covenant curse reaches full strength. It’s His exile without the hope of return.

When Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He was not confused; rather, He was quoting Psalm 22 as the One truly abandoned in the land of the curse, and under the law’s curse.

The part most people skip is that the descent did not end at 3 p.m. on Friday; it also includes Christ truly entering the state of death, body in the tomb, human soul separated from that body.

The state of death itself was part of the curse (Gen. 3:17). Real death means the unnatural tearing apart of body and soul. His body lay in the tomb; His human soul was in the Father’s keeping, not because He was powerless, but because salvation required Him to enter fully into what death is, and to sanctify it for His people.

From a redemptive-historical perspective, this is the climax of the covenant story. Adam’s rebellion brought death, a curse, and exile from God’s presence, so He had to enter our condition fully to redeem it fully. The final judgment that should have fallen on us fell on Him, and that is what is meant by the descent.

Comfort in the Depths

This discussion isn’t merely there for theologians to debate on X (formerly Twitter), it is actually there to fuel your assurance. If Christ has been there, in the humility of the natural state, a little lower than the angels, and descended into the depths of God-forsakenness, then no matter how low you go, He has gone lower.

In temptation, in depression, in the fear of death, you can say, “My Lord has been here, He has drained this cup, and there is no wrath left for me.” If you descend into hell, He is there because even the grave is no longer enemy territory. It is Christ’s grave now, because He holds the keys.

Where the Story Goes Next

Humiliation is only half the story.

The One who descended is the One who ascended, and when He ascended, He took captivity captive and gave gifts to His church.

That’s Part 2 — the victory of Christ and the work of ministry that flows out of it.

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1. Joyce Meyer, The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make: A Complete And Thorough Understanding Of What It Means To Be Born Again (Tulsa: Harrison House, 1991), 35-36