Topic:  What was Christ doing when He descended into hell?

Source of this posting: Moderator response

Date originally posted: July 13, 2005

Moderator who originally posted this source: Kathy Martyn

Question: In the Apostles Creed we say that Christ descended into Hell, and then rose on the 3rd day. What was Christ doing during His visit to Hell and why did he not go to Purgatory also. I have heard non-denominational ministers give an explanation but I can't recall hearing a Catholic Priest give an explanation.Thank you,In Christ,Charles Vaughn

Answer: 

Interesting question! Thank you. The best way to answer this is through the Catechesism of the Catholic Church, Articles 632 - 635.

"The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was 'raised from the dead' presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection...that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.

Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, 'hell' - sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into' Abraham's bosom'. It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham's hell. Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver he damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.

The gospel was preached even to the dead. The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfillment. This is the last phaase of Jesus' messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but has in its real significance: the spread of Christs' redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.