Random Study June 2024

 So while engaging in morning prayer today, I read and recited The Apostles Creed. I stopped after reading this phrase:

"I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit

and born of the Virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the dead."  (emphasis added)

In an earlier version of The Apostle's Creed (1940s Book of Common Prayer uses the 250AD version), the last phrase is translated as, "He descended into hell". 

I wanted to see the possible origin or original thought for framing Jesus' death that way. I "consulted", as I often do, Dr. R.C. Sproul. In his book, "Hard Sayings," in the 27th chapter entitled, "Did Jesus Descend into Hell?", he offers views from various Bible scholars and theologians. He is referencing the context of 1 Peter 3:18-22. Some say He went to hell on a redemption mission to free the OT saints so that they could go to heaven. Others say He went to hell to fully complete His sacrifice by being exposed to the terrors of hell. However, when comparing scripture with scripture, there is no passage that says Jesus went to hell in any localized place. What it does say is that Jesus said at the time of His death on the cross, "It is finished!" using the language of the time to state that He has made full and final payment at the moment of His death. The other difficulty in trying to puzzle out the writing at ! Peter is that the interpretations and explanations are very diverse. Dr. Sproul says it is a struggle to unravel the difficulty of this passage, but for a certainty it does not say that Jesus went to hell, but rather to a place of imprisonment. It also does not say when Jesus went to proclaim to the spirits in prison. 

Also, when looking at the original Greek and Hebrew scriptures and the words used there to describe what happened to Jesus after death, the Hebrew word "kever" is used and the Greek word "mnemeion"  is used (where the "e" between the "n" and the "m" has a stroke above it); both words translate to "grave or tomb" - a place of burial. 

So the phrase, "He descended into hell," may have been understood through a surmised interpretation of 1 Peter 3. 

Also notable: the Hebrew word "Sheol" which sometimes gets transliterated as "grave" is an incorrect translation. That Jewish word has the connotation of "realm of the dead" or "abode of the dead" where the souls of the dead reside. However, in Jewish texts, the word "Gehinnom" refers to a place of eternal punishment or where the wrath of God is executed. Similarly, in Greek, the word "Geenna" refers to such a finality. The Greek also uses the word, "Hades", which is pulled from Greek mythology and likewise refers to "the place of punishment, hell" and may even refer to the "lowest condition or lowest place."

Therefore, when the Book of Common Prayer was updated, the "He descended into hell" was rendered "He descended to the dead." Possibly as a "middle ground" in the debate? As the "to the dead" could carry with it an implication that He went to an "abode" or simply, as scripture states, that His body was placed in the tomb, and His spirit was commended/committed to the Father. (Luke 23:46; Matthew 27:58-60)

I am a Bible student and not a Bible scholar with credentials to qualify me as a Bible expert. I always try, however, to interpret scripture with scripture and listen for the Holy Spirit when I am stumped. He will either say '\'you're not able to understand right now," or "here is what you should know at this point in your journey."

Special Mid-Summer Bible Conversation on Hard Sayings in the Bible (Question 4 - Hell))

 

1.    Why does God send people to hell if He is a God of love? (note the emphasis)

For many years many Christians have been taught either directly or indirectly, that if we sin, God will send us to hell. What is hell? There are two definitions. 

• First, it is the definition of grave or the state of the dead. The Apostles’ Creed says that Jesus descended into hell at His death -see page 53 in the Book of Common Prayer. In this instance, the words “Hades” and “Sheol” are interchangeable with the word “hell”. 
• The second definition of hell is that it is eternal separation from God, an existence in complete darkness. The Bible uses the image of fire to represent complete destruction of any hope of life again in the “light”; in human experience the only persons who, by God’s Divine will, literally lived in a fire without a speck of smoke on them nor any singe of fire on them were Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, as recorded in Daniel chapter 3. Their being cast into the fiery furnace because they refused to worship the king. The king was so enraged (after all, he had conquered the entire nation and now here were 3 upstarts who thought that their wills were unconquerable), that he ordered the fire to be “cranked up” high to the highest heat level possible; the heat of the fire destroyed the very guards who cast them into the fire. Fire destroys completely; no one could reassemble ashes back to their original form. Thus, the Bible speaks of this definition of hell when it describes a permanent separation from God as the “lake of fire” or “eternal fire”. If you have ever been in a house fire where the heat escalates and the electricity fails, so that the black smoke all but eliminates a person’s ability to see their hand before their face, use that picture to understand what this permanent separation could look and feel like. Complete and eternal darkness.

So, the question: why does God send people to hell? The answer: God does not send people to hell.

The fact is, people are already condemned to go to hell because they are sinners, obeying the god of darkness (compare Ephesians 2:1-4). Because of that humanly irreversible sin condition and the rebellion attached to it, God’s wrath is naturally upon them – regardless of what they themselves, or anyone else says otherwise. But God, who in His great love and mercy for those created in His image, gave his only begotten Son as the means to escape the wrath. Let’s see that at Romans 5:6-11, and also the clearly spoken illustrative declaration by Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46. As Jesus indicates, the lake of fire what we call hell, was created for the devil and his angels from before time because of their rebellion to God. Since the fall of man in the garden, we have been obliged to follow the king of all rebellion into the same fate as he and his demons because of our inherited sin and accompanying lifestyle and allegiance to the devil’s world system. Let's say that you are on a cruise ship and something happens that is causing the ship to slowly sink. The ship releases its lifeboats; the Coast Guard rushes to the scene with additional lifeboats. What is the purpose of the lifeboat? To rescue someone from certain death. Between the two rescue options, there are more than enough lifeboats to save everyone on board the cruise ship. What would you do: get into a lifeboat, or take your chances with the sinking ship? After all, all of your possessions that you brought on board are still in the cruise ship and maybe there is still time to run and grab them! Do you pass up a seat in the lifeboat in the hopes that you will be able to retrieve the precious items and get on one of the lifeboats when you reach the deck? That's the same scenario that faces all of us: God has made a provision for deliverance from the sinking ship through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, and accepting Him as Lord and Savior. He is the Lifeboat. Will you choose to accept Him, or will you cling to those things that give you pleasure, wealth, feel-good vibes, etc. and try the Lifeboat later? Or maybe you have already chosen...