CHRIST DESCENDED INTO HELL

In the prayer of the Creed, there is a phrase that causes many some discomfort, and that is when it says: "Christ descended into hell..." Did Jesus go down to the place of punishment? Was he subdued by the evil one? What does this phrase refer to?

The explanation is found in numbers 632-635 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Although we understand the word hell as the place where the devil dwells, the place of eternal punishment for evil men, it also refers to the place of the dead. When it is said that Jesus descended into hell, it speaks of a real death, it means that Jesus knew death like all men and met them in the abode of the dead. But he descended as Saviour, to bring out of death all those who deserved to rise again and to reach the glory of heaven (cf. 1 Pt 3:18-19).

Scripture calls hell, sheol, or hades (cf. Flp 2.10; Acts 2:24; Rev1.18; Eph 4:9) to the dwelling place of the dead where Christ went down after his death, because those who were there were deprived of the vision of God (cf. Ps 6:6; 88:11-13).

Fr. Tarcisio