The Eastern Orthodox Church has a major emphasis on Good Friday through Easter and the emphasis is on what is sometimes called the "harrowing of hell," the descent of Christ into hell between the Cross and the Resurrection. The idea is that Christ entered into Hades after his death and raided hell to ransom the righteous of the Old Testament.
A little story... Years ago, Dr. David Truemper, my wife's teacher at Valparaiso University, was doing doctoral research for his dissertation on Christ's descent into hell. He learned that, in the wake of the Reformation, city councils in Germany took up theological disputes, so he traveled to Hamburg, to the city archives. He was told a fire had destroyed many of the archived records but that he could look at what had survived. A clerk delivered a single dusty stack, tied together by a ribbon that probably had not been untied since the 16th c. He carefully untied the ribbon and picked up the top page: Agenda for the Hamburg City Council. Today's topic: Christ's Descent into Hell. A researcher's dream come true!
Apr 16, 2022·edited Apr 16, 2022Liked by Scot McKnight
I remember as a child being told Jesus went to hell to take the keys of hell and death from Satan. This is how he has possession of them in Revelation 1:18. Growing up and entering ministry myself, I don’t remember much discussion about it.
However, a few years ago I came across Jesus harrowing hell and Holy Saturday in my study of liturgy in the Anglican tradition during holy week. It is such an intriguing idea, and one I want to believe in. When I learned of this belief, I then questioned why the editors of the Book of Common Prayer 2019 chose to render the phrase in the creed, “He descended to the dead.” (Incidentally this question spurred a blog post on Anglican Compass: http://anglicancompass.com/where-did-christ-descend-to-the-rationale-behind-the-bcp-2019s-translation-of-the-apostles-creed/). I also noted many other traditions keep “hell” within the creed with no misunderstanding, even if hell only means Hades, or the place of the dead.
Curious too, as the BCP 2019 Holy Eucharist Ancient Renewed text as the phrase, “By his resurrection he broke the bonds of death, trampling Hell and Satan under his feet.” It seems some vestige of the harrowing of hell exists in our modern renditions of ancient texts.
Do I believe in Jesus harrowing hell? I want to, as the story sounds so cool.
“Dare We Hope That All Men May Be Saved?” by Hans Urs von Balthasar brought me to a more optimistic or hopeful position on this issue than what I have received from most preachers.
Thanks for this. It's enlightening for me. Is Hades literally translated as Hell? I've always thought of Hades as a place of the dead, but not hell per se? I find it hard to comprehend that those who knew there would be a Messiah who would come and looked to his coming (even although they likely failed to comprehend what he would look like / do and probably saw him more as Isaiah's conquering king than his suffering servant) would be subjected to Hell until the coming of the One? If I had to answer my own question myself I would say: 'We really don't know', since I am happy to rest there. I'd be interested in others views...
I can intellectually understand landing in spots 2, 3, or 4; I can’t understand being joyful about it. Count me in with the Orthodox liturgical emphasis! 🙂 And thanks for posting this - if nothing else, it’s great to see the clear diversity of thought that exists on the subject…helps to counter the “but all true Christians think THIS way and always HAVE” narrative.
Thank you, Scott, for this essay on a very challenging topic. One thing I conclude when reading the texts you cited is that Matthew, Peter, Luke and Paul touch on the subject of Jesus’s descent and some kind of activity with residents under/in the earth, but avoid fleshing out the theme for the sake of keeping the main thing (the Good News) the main thing - the kerygma to be proclaimed to the nations. The texts in view support the doctrine of Christ’s conquest and glorification, without attempting to satisfy our human desire to make sense of the myriad details. We just have to wait until we see face to face.
A little story... Years ago, Dr. David Truemper, my wife's teacher at Valparaiso University, was doing doctoral research for his dissertation on Christ's descent into hell. He learned that, in the wake of the Reformation, city councils in Germany took up theological disputes, so he traveled to Hamburg, to the city archives. He was told a fire had destroyed many of the archived records but that he could look at what had survived. A clerk delivered a single dusty stack, tied together by a ribbon that probably had not been untied since the 16th c. He carefully untied the ribbon and picked up the top page: Agenda for the Hamburg City Council. Today's topic: Christ's Descent into Hell. A researcher's dream come true!
I remember as a child being told Jesus went to hell to take the keys of hell and death from Satan. This is how he has possession of them in Revelation 1:18. Growing up and entering ministry myself, I don’t remember much discussion about it.
However, a few years ago I came across Jesus harrowing hell and Holy Saturday in my study of liturgy in the Anglican tradition during holy week. It is such an intriguing idea, and one I want to believe in. When I learned of this belief, I then questioned why the editors of the Book of Common Prayer 2019 chose to render the phrase in the creed, “He descended to the dead.” (Incidentally this question spurred a blog post on Anglican Compass: http://anglicancompass.com/where-did-christ-descend-to-the-rationale-behind-the-bcp-2019s-translation-of-the-apostles-creed/). I also noted many other traditions keep “hell” within the creed with no misunderstanding, even if hell only means Hades, or the place of the dead.
Curious too, as the BCP 2019 Holy Eucharist Ancient Renewed text as the phrase, “By his resurrection he broke the bonds of death, trampling Hell and Satan under his feet.” It seems some vestige of the harrowing of hell exists in our modern renditions of ancient texts.
Do I believe in Jesus harrowing hell? I want to, as the story sounds so cool.
“Dare We Hope That All Men May Be Saved?” by Hans Urs von Balthasar brought me to a more optimistic or hopeful position on this issue than what I have received from most preachers.
Thanks for this. It's enlightening for me. Is Hades literally translated as Hell? I've always thought of Hades as a place of the dead, but not hell per se? I find it hard to comprehend that those who knew there would be a Messiah who would come and looked to his coming (even although they likely failed to comprehend what he would look like / do and probably saw him more as Isaiah's conquering king than his suffering servant) would be subjected to Hell until the coming of the One? If I had to answer my own question myself I would say: 'We really don't know', since I am happy to rest there. I'd be interested in others views...
I can intellectually understand landing in spots 2, 3, or 4; I can’t understand being joyful about it. Count me in with the Orthodox liturgical emphasis! 🙂 And thanks for posting this - if nothing else, it’s great to see the clear diversity of thought that exists on the subject…helps to counter the “but all true Christians think THIS way and always HAVE” narrative.
Thought provoking. Thanks, Scot!
Would be hard not to believe if you were in hell that Holy Saturday! Who wouldn’t take him up on the offer?
Thank you, Scott, for this essay on a very challenging topic. One thing I conclude when reading the texts you cited is that Matthew, Peter, Luke and Paul touch on the subject of Jesus’s descent and some kind of activity with residents under/in the earth, but avoid fleshing out the theme for the sake of keeping the main thing (the Good News) the main thing - the kerygma to be proclaimed to the nations. The texts in view support the doctrine of Christ’s conquest and glorification, without attempting to satisfy our human desire to make sense of the myriad details. We just have to wait until we see face to face.
I wonder how universalist and exclusivist read these text in view of holy Saturday?