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Christ's Descent Into Hell and the Wesleyan Quadrilateral EXPERIENCE Hell or Gehenna? Thesis: Christ�s last words of �Into Your hands I commit my spirit,� (Luke 23:46) give doubt to the Catholic doctrine of Christ�s dissension into hell after his crucifixion. Hearing Dr. Edwin Crawford briefly state in my History of the Manual/Church of the Nazarene course that he did not believe Christ went into hell after the crucifixion made me question my own theology on the subject. I just spent the summer in eastern Idaho working at a fishing resort. While there I regularly attended a small Presbyterian church down the road. Each week they recited the Apostle�s Creed of the Catholic Church. I chose not to recite the lines ��the holy Catholic church,� and ��descended into hell,� because I was not sure I believed such doctrine. The first was explained to me in a chapel service, that the term �Catholic Church� in the creed actually means �Universal Church.� It is only now, after interviewing several people of wise learning that I am beginning to understand what the latter of these statements mean. My interviewees included Dr. Wendell Bowes, Dr. Jim Willis, Dr. George Lyons, Dr. Edwin Crawford, and Mr. Anthony Stark. Dr. Bowes and Dr. Lyons are professors of Religion at Northwest Nazarene University (NNU). Dr. Crawford is professor of philosophy, chair of the faculty. Dr. Willis is a professor of music, chair of the music and fine arts department at NNU. Mr. Anthony Stark is a sophomore at NNU and has been a close friend and companion of mine for nearly 10 years. I asked all my interviewees the same five questions. In the following paragraphs I will analyze each of these questions of the responses of the interviewees. My first question was �Do you believe Christ descended into hell after the crucifixion and why?� Mr. Stark�s response to this question was, �No, I don�t believe he did. Christ, being the one and only son of God, was perfect and therefore would not have any reason to descend into hell.� Dr. Crawford�s response was �I take it that the word hell is based on the Greek word Hades. Hence the claim would be that Jesus was in the place of the dead. That is he really died. That is an important claim over against the claims of Christian Gnostics. In that sense I, along with all orthodox Christians, believe that Jesus really died.� These are two very different answers to the same question. Anthony took a very elementary approach in stating that Christ�s perfection itself prevented him from descending into the dwelling place of Lucifer. Dr. Crawford took the route of defining hell as �Hades� and thus the land of the dead, not necessarily the hell spoken of in Revelation. Dr. Lyons held a similar view: Yes. But it depends on what you mean by this. What I mean is that the Greek had hades, which might be translated �grave,� as well as (if not better than) �hell.� In any event, it must mean the place of the dead, wherever that is; it is unlikely as reference to the place of punishment. Jesus really died and he experienced the fat of all the dead, although only briefly (part of three days). Dr. Willis gave an honest answer to this inquiry: �No, I do not believe that Christ �went to Hell.� I would have a hard time with our Savior going there. My theology background is not expansive enough to know for sure, but He may have gone to some place we know nothing about.� I really appreciate it people as intelligent as Dr. Willis are willing to admit that they are limited in the theological understanding of various doctrine(s). This question in itself served to greatly enhance my understanding of the word hell or Hades as stated in our creed. I should state that Dr. Bowes gave me some very valuable information. Instead of answering each of my questions individually, he responded to them in a joint statement. He too admitted that his knowledge on the subject was limited and that he was not in a position to give me a definite answer. He advised me to begin with the study of the afterlife and the typical Jewish and/or pagan understanding of the afterlife in Jesus� day. He also said that I should discover if Christ actually descended to the �lower parts of the earth�, what was the purpose of such a visit? His advice on this subject will help greatly as I continue on with my research in the future. My second question was �Does my stated opinion make sense? That with Christ committing His spirit to God, it is not feasible, thus, that his spirit descended into hell.� I received a wide variety of responses on this question. Some directly agreed and some forcefully disagreed. Not knowing the validity of my thesis myself, it did not offend me when the more theologically learned of my interviewees chose to disagree with my statement. Anthony simply said, �I agree. It makes perfect sense.� He obviously didn�t think too much about the question and about the theological accuracy of my thesis, but rather thought that it just makes sense, the same reason I wrote it to begin with. Dr. Willis agreed with my statement as well stating: It sounds correct to me. Our Lord broke the power of Satan with His death on the cross thus we can live with Him for eternity rather than in Hell. I may be contradicting myself at this point since Christ took our place in Hell that we deserve save for grace. Dr. Willis would indeed be contradicting himself if he believed that Christ descended into hell and took our place in hell. However, he already had stated he didn�t believe such, and therefore his statement was valid. His statement didn�t reflect Christ�s dissension on the basis of his last words. To this, he simply responded with an affirmation of my statement. Dr. Crawford told me that my conclusion does not follow from my premise. This was an vague response that did me little help. Dr. Lyons response, however, gave me the most theological incite: �No. It assumes too much. The statement may mean no more than that he entrusted himself to God�s care. Only if you take biblical anthropological statements woodenly does this require some dualistic notion that opposes body and spirit.� When studying something of this caliber it is actually encouraging when someone has the courage to inform me of a flaw in my theological thinking. Dr. Lyons went on to say that the true problem passage of the creedal statement is that which Jesus made to the dying thief, �Today, you will be with me in paradise.� He explained that this certainly did not exclude any possible reference to hell as gehenna (place of torment), but that it might be compatible with the blessed part of hades. I know that would be a whole other study, but what a thought! My third question was �What doctrine or teaching have led you to believe what you do?� I didn�t really get the nature of responses I was hoping for by this question. I was hoping to hear certain teachings explained that supported their theology. Anthony and Dr. Willis both said they had no official doctrine, thus partially explaining their difference in views with the other three interviewees. Dr. Crawford said �Basic Christian doctrine. As Paul teaches, Jesus became fully human, even dying on a cross.� Once again this was a little in concise, but it remains theologically sound. Dr. Lyons stated his readings about first century Jewish eschatological beliefs. I hope to be able to delve into such readings myself in the near future. I didn�t really have a doctrine from which a formed my thesis either, so I can conclude that my mistakes most likely stemmed from that fact as well. My fourth question was �What is your interpretation of Ephesians 4:9: �What does �he ascended� mean except that he also descended to the lower regions,�? Anthony responded with a detailed response, but obviously with an unstudied theological basis: �In this passage I believe that Paul was saying that He descended to the earthly regions but that does not mean hell would be included. I believe that heaven, earth, and hell are all separate. I do however believe that in the end earth will become hell.� I did inform him of the Wesleyan doctrine of Christ rebuilding His kingdom on earth, but he maturely responded that he doesn�t fully agree with that doctrine. He states what the earthly regions are not (hell), but he fails to identify what they actually are (in his opinion.) Dr. Willis� response was a very tangible one: �It means, in my opinion, that he was buried in the earth-out of site, lower than the surface of the ground.� Obviously this view is flawed because Christ was buried in a tomb. However, his failure to see any part of a deeper theology does not take away from the significance of the event to himself. Dr. Crawford responded with an out of this world response: �It means that the writer had a different cosmology than modern minds.� I have to be honest and admit that I have no idea what he meant by this. Based on his previous answers, I didn�t bother trying to decipher anything theological meaning from it for this paper. I may look into it deeper for future papers however. Dr. Lyons gave a response I was not expecting, but makes perfect sense: �The preexistent Christ (Logos) became incarnate and lived his life on earth among humans as a human. The lower realm is the earth, not some still lower realm. Of course, all of this is metaphorical. Heaven is not literally up and Hell is not literally down.� Of my five interviewees, Dr. Lyons is obviously the highest authority on this subject and scripture. I think this response illustrates how we often take scripture and read more into it than the writers originally meant. Once in a while I need to just step back and take the scriptures for what they are. My final question was simply one to help me as I prepare to write my future papers on this subject. I asked, �How would you recommend I go about studying for this subject?� Dr. Crawford responded with a laconic, �I don�t know.� Anthony suggested I talk to more professors and compare some books on Catholic and Wesleyan doctrine. Dr. Willis suggested commentaries, an obvious resource which I will undoubtedly take advantage of in the near future. Dr. Lyons told me of a book by J.N.D. Kelly which speaks of the history of doctrines. He told me about W. Pannenberg and others who have written studies on the Apostle�s creed, from which the descent into hell creed is taken. I will most definitely be searching out some of these books as well. I never imagined that my view of the creed and this section in particularly would change so much after just the initial stage. I�m glad it has though. This has opened up the opportunities for further study; a study I know will now be on the right track. I think it was a very wise decision to place the interview/experience paper first in this theology paper project. I�m looking forward to really studying more about this myself soon. TRADITION The Theology of Hell Adapted Thesis: The Christian doctrine and segment of the Apostle�s Creed that testify to Christ�s descent into hell (Hades) after his crucifixion place their theology in debatable proofs. I have always found it interesting how certain theories can have multitudes of evidence and proofs and yet, they remain just that, theories. So is the case with the theology of Christ�s decent to hell following his crucifixion. As I have researched various theologians and their works, I have found that most will either state the definiteness of his or her belief, or give examples of various theologies. In general three main arguments have been established. First, that Christ did not descend at all; second that He did descend to the underworld (eiJ~ ta katacqovnta katelqovta), that is, the place of the dead; and third that he descended to hell (descendit ad inferna) and battled with Lucifer and/or Hades in an effort to rescue those who came before Christ. At the advice of Dr. George Lyons, professor of Religion at Northwest Nazarene University, I have chosen J.N.D. Kelly as my main source of theology for this work. J.N.D. Kelly�s published works include Early Christian Creeds (1950), Early Christian Doctrines (1958), The Athanasian Creed (1964), Jerome: His life, writings, and controversies (1975), The Oxford Dictionary of Popes (1986) and Golden Mouth (1995). He has proved to be an authority of many subjects concerning the legalities of the Church. Kelly was the Principal of St. Edmund Hall in Oxford as a University Lecturer in Patristic Studies. Exegetical Tangents to 1 Peter 3:19-4:6 Throughout the first two segments of this study on the creedal statement of Christ�s decent into Hell after his crucifixion, various views have been circulated which find their only Scriptural basis in 1 Peter 3:19. After a careful study of a book by William Joseph Dalton of Catholic Theological College, it has become known that there are many Scriptures throughout the entire Christian canon that have been used in reference to Christ�s descent, or purpose of descent. Dalton�s book is entitled Christ�s Proclamations to the Spirits: A Study of 1 Peter 3:18-4:6. In the final segment of this study, these references to Christ�s descent will be discussed in detail so that the reader main gain a truly Biblical awareness concerning the topic at hand. Enough information will be given for the reader to gain a broad understanding of just how much information concerning Christ�s descent is truly debated. The Scripture that draws all other scriptures to itself concerning Christ�s descent to Hell is 1 Peter 3:19-4:6. However, 3:19 and 4:6 themselves hold the most relevance. They say, �through whom he also went and preached to the spirits in prison,� (NIV, 3:19) and �For this reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit� (NIV, 4:6). Since the significance of 3:19 has been discussed in segment two, let us begin by analyzing 4:6. There are traditionally four mainline interpretations of 1 Peter 4:6: first, �the text refers to Christ�s preaching, during the three days between death and resurrection, to all the dead, thus offering to all those who had lived in pre-Christian time the grace of faith and conversion;� second, �the text deals with the good news of salvation which Christ brought, at this time, to the just of the Old Testament;� third, that �the theme is rather the preaching of the gospel by apostles and others on this earth who are spiritually dead;� and fourth, �that �the dead� are those Christians, who heard the gospel preached on earth, but died before the writing of the epistle, that is, before the parousia, which was regarded as imminent� (Dalton, 51). The first two of these interpretations deal directly with the idea of Christ�s descent, so I will deal primarily with them. The first explanation sounds very similar to that of the explanation given for 1 Peter 3:19. It is this interpretation that is given in linking these two Scriptures together. This is also the most common interpretation. The second interpretation lies hand in hand with the more modern approach to 1 Peter 3:19-20, designating the time of Christ�s descent to be during his pre-incarnate state in the days of Noah and his contemporaries. Modern theologians tend to agree more with this interpretation simply because it makes the most sense to them when the context of the Scriptures is taken in hand. Luke 4:18 is sometime misinterpreted as referring to the same spirits that are referred to in 1 Peter 3:19. There lies no reference to Hades, Christ�s death, or the descent in this Scripture. The prisoners spoken of by the prophet Isaiah (and later by Christ) are simply those who are in prison on earth. The purpose of Luke 4:18 is not to give meaning to Christ�s later mission in Hell, but rather only to portray the servant hood of Christ to all of God�s children. An interesting interpretation of Christ�s descent appeared between 675 and 750 A.D. St. John Damascene (or St. John of Damascus) held that Christ�s purpose on earth was paralleled with his purpose for visiting Hell. He came to earth that he might save the lost, then and thenceforth. He descended to Hell that he might save those who had already lived and died. To �give life� to his theory, Damascene quotes Philippians 2:10 which says �that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth� (NIV). It is debated widely whether or not there it any existence of life for humans between their death and the return of Christ. Debated ideas include Purgatory, the �sleeping spirit,� and an �active world of the dead.� By utilizing the Philippians passage, Damascene disagreeing with the �sleeping spirit� theory and concluding that the between Christ�s death and resurrection, there was an experience involving the dead bowing to Christ (Dalton, 31). This view is fairly isolated but is still interesting to note. Another aspect of Damascene�s view takes its root in Isaiah 9:2 which says, �The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned� (NIV). Damascene interprets this as a prophesy of Christ�s descent to hell and the mission he was to accomplish while there. As most would interpret this passage as referring the spiritual life of one who is apart from God, Damascene instead takes it very literally, with Hell being �the land of the shadow of death.� The problem with this is the Hebrew word �yashav� meaning �to live.� Whether or not the spirits of the dead are active in Hell (or Hades), they are still just that, dead. They cannot be �living� there. Interestingly enough, the very Scripture that began this study and was quickly discarded, can now be brought back into discussion. In an article on Christ�s descent to Hell, Millard J. Erickson uses Ephesians 4:8-10 as an integral support passage. The captives spoken of in verse 8 could be referring to the prisoners to which to preached after descending (1 Peter 3:19). If indeed these captives were not the fallen contemporaries of Noah, but rather the fallen Angels of Tartarus (as spoken of in segment two), then the whole of verse 11 here could be referring to Christ filling the who universe again with his angels. Although he uses this scripture as credible evidence, Erickson agrees more readily with the modern view of Christ�s pre-incarnate preaching to Noah�s contemporaries. Each of the theories discussed has had various amounts of influence placed on them throughout the past nineteen hundred years. It is doubtless the debate over Christ�s descent and/or the purpose of Christ�s descent will ever be fully resolved. Christians and theologians often undertake a goal of final understanding on a given subject. Whereas it is in the human nature to do so, it will commonly be likely that a final answer will never become evident. This is because the answers lie in the mind of God alone. Encouragement is given to you, the reader, in hopes that you might continue in your own study of this topic and others. What God chooses to reveal to one person he may withhold from the next. What he has revealed thus far to me, I share with you. |