Jesus in Hell?

The Apostles Creed begins like this:

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary: Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell: The third day he rose again from the dead:

We’ve heard this before, but where did this come from and is it biblical?

Acts 2:31-32

He [David] seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

1 Peter 3:18-19

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 19through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison

These two verses probably are enough to form the basis for the Apostles Creed and for the Christian belief that Jesus did indeed descend into hell. There are those teachers who will take this belief and say that Jesus was in hell to take our punishment that we deserved. But does this make sense? Is this really what the Bible tells us?

To know the answers to these questions, we need to leave the English language for a little while and take a look at the original language. The English word “hell” is used in translation for three Greek words: Hades, Tartarus and Gehenna. However, even though each of these are translated as “hell”, do they all mean the same thing in the original language?

If we look at Acts 2:31-32 again, we see that the word translated hell here is the Greek word Hades. This word, Hades, is used ten times in the Bible. Although it has been translated as “hell”, the meaning of this word is very different that the meaning we intend when we use the word “hell”. When we think of hell, we think of fire and gnashing of teeth. We think of eternal punishment. But this is not the meaning of the word Hades. Hades simply meant the place of the dead. It was where all people went when they died. With this new understanding, we re-read Acts 2:31-32 with a new approach. The Bible is telling us that Jesus’ soul was not left in the place of the dead. We recognize that when Jesus was resurrected, he was no longer dead but alive. We know that Jesus is alive still and so has never returned to the dead. He is not in Hades – he is alive.

In Luke 23:42-43, we read: Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." When we thought Jesus was in hell as we know it, we had to ask, “How does Jesus say he is in Paradise when he is in hell?” Now with a better understanding of Hades, we can see that Jesus can be in Paradise. Hades, simply being the place of the dead, does not preclude Paradise. Paradise is apparently a place in Hades. We read about this in the parable of Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. In verse 23, we read that the Rich man was in Hades. We’ve always assumed that this is hell as we knew it, so we understood the torture and displeasure that the Rich man is going through. However, with our new understanding of Hades, we can look at this in the proper light. The Rich man and Lazarus are both in Hades, but they are on opposite sides of the chasm. The Rich man is in a bad place, but Lazarus is in a good place – at Abraham’s bosom. In the Hebrew, the word for Hades was Sheol. This word has the exact same connotation as Hades – it simply means the place of the dead. In Enoch, the non-canonical book from the Intertestamental period between the Old and New Testament times, we read that Enoch divides Sheol into different parts – some parts where there are sinners suffering and others where the righteous await the final judgment. Jesus and his listeners would have understood the meaning of Sheol and Hades and would have understood that the Rich man was in a part of Hades that was filled with suffering and Lazarus was in a part of Hades that was for the righteous.

In the same way, the thief at the cross is given the promise of Paradise. Jesus and the thief both went into Hades or Sheol – the place of the dead. But when they got there, they went to the part where the righteous were – Paradise. The other thief went to a suffering part. Even today, we recognize that when we die, this is where we go. Philippians 1:23 “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far”. Paul reiterates that when we die, we go to be with Jesus. Also, 2 Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” In all these, we recognize that we are not in the Eternal Heaven yet – that is to come after the Judgment – when God creates a New Heaven and a New Earth. At that time, we will be in the New Heaven, which is living on the New Earth where God has placed his Throne in the New Jerusalem. Heaven on Earth. Until then, we also go down into the place of the dead until Jesus comes to take us to be with him. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 “According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” We will leave Hades and our bodies will return from the Earth. We will be given our new resurrection bodies and we will be like that with the Lord forever.

The second word we will look at that is translated as “hell” is Tartarus. This word is only used once in the Bible: 2 Peter 2:4 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment”. How are we to understand this word if it is only used once in the New Testament? Well, we can know by seeing how it’s used in other writings of those days. The word “tartarus” appears in the Greek to refer to a place under the Earth, miserable and dark, regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead. It was thought of as a place of punishment. In the Aeneid, Virgil describes it as a place surrounded by a river of fire called Phlegethon and three walls to keep sinners in. Tartarus would be synonymous to the part of Sheol that was filled with suffering. It is the place that all people would go to if they sinned against God. It is where we would be headed for ourselves. The only difference between us and them is that, though we are sinners, Jesus died for us and became sin for us so that in God’s abundant mercy and love, He gave us a way to escape that place. It is where we all deserve to be heading, but for the love of God finding a way for us to get out. It was not easy and it was not painless for him – He had to come down to Earth, suffer and die. It was an unimaginable love that He showed to us to give us a way of escape. We can choose to use His escape plan or we can try to do it on our own. The reality is, no matter how hard we try on our own, it will not be enough to get us out of tartarus. There is no escape from that place. It is Alcatraz. It is maximum security prison. It is a Nazi Concentration camp. However, God has been gracious and He has given us a way out – a way that ANYONE can use. It is not a narrow-minded plan. It is not only for certain people. It is for anyone – regardless of your color, nationality, history, sinfulness, economic status. All are welcome to use the escape pod. You simply need to get in – Jesus has done the rest for you already.

This brings us to our third and final term which is translated as “hell”:

Mark 9:43 And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire,

The Greek word here is Geenna, (pronounced and popularly spelled as Gehenna). This is the “hell” that we are all familiar with. This is the hell that we expect to see all sinners go to without the grace and mercy of God. This is the place that we also call the Lake of Fire, found in Revelation 20:10, 15

- “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

- “If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

This word is used 12 times in the New Testament. Each time, it is used in the way we would be expect it to be used.

This word comes from the fact that the valley of Hinnom, which was just outside of Jerusalem, was used as a garbage dump. Earlier, it had been used as a place of child sacrifice prior to the Babylonian conquest. This place of burning flesh, burning garbage and burning animal carcasses became the perfect analogy for the future place of torment awaiting all who do not accept God’s way of escape – accept Jesus as their Lord, their savior, their whole lives.

Revelation 20:14 “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.” Here we see that Hades will be thrown into Gehenna. It will cease to be. Those who were in the parts of Hades that was for sinners will be in the Gehenna, the Lake of Fire or Hell as we know it. There will be no more Hades. Everyone will be either in the Gehenna or on the New Earth in the New Heaven.

In summary, we now understand that English is less detailed than Greek and where the Greek has several words with different meanings, the English has one word that has one meaning. Unless we properly understand the Greek, it is easy to miss the actual meaning of the scriptures. Jesus went to the place of the dead, what we might call Abraham’s bosom or Paradise in Sheol or Hades. After three days he came out of that place to become the firstborn from the dead. While there, he preached to those who would listen. The thief on the cross was there with him. One day in the future, Hades will be thrown into Gehenna and will be no more, but instead, there will be the Eternal Hell that we are more familiar with. Those of us who were wise enough to take God’s escape plan, will live that same Eternity with God in the Eternal Heaven.

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Last modified: May 16, 2007