- You know, there is a long-standing
tradition in the church that goes back to the early church fathers that after Jesus died, He did go to hell for that period of time and as the theory goes, released people from hell, from bondage, that were held captive to Satan because His atoning death
not only dealt with our sin, but it also was a triumphant
blow to Satan's power over us. Sometimes called the
Doctrine of Christus Victor, that Christ had the victory
over the powers of evil and Satan in particular. So God went and delivered people who were under Satan's control and then brought them to heaven. That's in the Apostles' Creed and so there is a long-standing tradition that has held this. One of the places that
this understanding is based is from Ephesians four where Paul speaks really of two things that Jesus does to assist the church. And one is to this, he says
in Ephesians 4:7, "To each one grace is given "according to the
measure of Christ's gift, "therefore," it says
"when He ascended on high, "He led captive a host of captives "and He gave gifts to men." So in that one statement, He
led captive a host of captives. He's saying something defensively and then "and He gave gifts to men," that's something that
Christ does offensively, something that assists the church in functioning the gifts that take place. Well, many have taken
that first statement, "He led captive a host
of captives," to mean that He led a group of people out of hell that He went down and freed
after His atoning death. I'm not convinced that's the correct interpretation of Ephesians four. I have strong respect for
the tradition on this, but I'm not convinced
that the Bible teaches what the tradition has held exactly. I think verse eight is
referring to the fact when he ascended on high, He
led captive a host of captives, He led them captive. And so what He did was took out of play a number of demons is what I
think this is referring to. We read in 2 Peter 2:4 that He holds in captivity
angels who had disobeyed and we're not sure
which angels these were. Perhaps they're the ones in Genesis six that cohabited with men,
honestly we don't know for sure. But I think this is, in other words, taking a group of opponents to the church, opposition to the church,
taking them out of play and holding them captive
until their time of judgment that would come in the future. So that's how I read the
first part of verse seven. So He took out of commission
opponents to the church and then He gave to the church gifts that would help them in accomplishing the work in the body of
Christ to grow us up in Christ as He develops in the following
verses in Ephesians four. The other passage that
is sometimes referred to is 1 Peter 3 where
Peter writes in verse 18, "Christ also died for sins once for all, "the just for the unjust so
that He might bring us to God, "having been put to death in the flesh "but made alive in the spirit." So here's the death of Jesus where He continues to
live in spirit, verse 19, "In which He also went
and made proclamation "to the spirits in prison." So again, the early church, some of the early church
theologians anyway, understood this to mean
that He descended into hell and preached the Gospel to people in hell and brought them out of
that place of their bondage during that time. But again, I don't hold this view, this interpretation of this verse. I think actually the NASB
that I'm reading from, notice in verse 19, this
is the NASB reading, it adds a word up, puts it in italic, so you realize this was not
actually in the Greek text. If you look at the Greek text, it doesn't have the word now there, but they're inserting it as a way to make sense of what it is saying. So it reads this way,
"In which also He went "and made proclamation to
the spirits now in prison." So the point is that
they are now in prison but they were not at the point
when proclamation was made. Proclamation was made to
them, as verse 20 indicates, during the days of Noah. So evidently, Christ
proclaimed truth to them which everyone would've rejected. All of them would've because only Noah and his
family were saved in those days. All the rest perished. But nonetheless, some kind of
Gospel proclamation was given by Christ through Noah to
people that they rejected and they're now in prison. Those people are now in prison but they were alive during that time. So it's not referring to
something that Christ did between His death and resurrection, it's referring to something that happened during the days of Noah. And then His reason for developing that in the verses that follow
is as Noah was saved through water, so we're
saved through water. That is as baptism
symbolizes the cleansing that we have through faith in Christ. So those are the two main
passages that are used. Of course they can be understood in a way that supports the traditional view that between His death and resurrection, Christ descended to hell and was there for that period of time and
set free a host of captives. It can be understood that way, I'm just not convinced that
is the correct understanding. And honestly, one of the main reasons that I think this view at
least is called into question is in Luke's Gospel,
this is the only Gospel where we read this account
of Jesus' discussion with the two men who hung
with Him on the cross. One of those two men was
evidently a believer in Christ. So we have in verse 39,
"One of the criminals "who was hanging there
was hurling abuse at Jesus "saying, 'Are you not the Christ? "'Save yourself and us!'" So mocking Him, in other words, "But the other answered and rebuked Him. "And he said, 'Do you not even fear God "'since you're under the same
sentence of condemnation? "'And we indeed are suffering justly "'for we're receiving what
we deserve for our deeds "'but this man has done nothing wrong.' "And he was saying to Jesus, "'Please remember me when
you come into your Kingdom.'" So then Jesus responded
to this believing criminal who was hanging on the cross next to Him and he said, "Truly I say to you, today, "today you will be with me in paradise." So this does not indicate
that at the death of Jesus, that His soul, His human
soul and His divine nature, which of course are joined
together inseparably, go down to hell but rather
ascend and go to paradise. This place that Paul refers
to in 2 Corinthians 12 where he believes that
he ascended into paradise and experienced these
visions of Christ and so on. So this is a place, I mean,
we're not exactly sure where this is in terms of location, but nonetheless it is a place where Jesus was with this thief who was a believing thief on the cross, believed in Christ, at a
place of joy and happiness, paradise, not a place of suffering and agony as hell would be. So I think that statement
indicates just the opposite that He didn't go to hell,
He rather went to heaven. He went to this place where
He would be with the Father, be with those who were in the intermediates state already there. The Bible teaches that at
the point of physical death for believers absent from the
body, present with the Lord. So we are at this place
where we are bodyless but we continue to live
and we live with Christ for that period of time
awaiting our resurrection. And so that place, paradise, is where Jesus was with a thief and where we will be if the Lord tarries and we die physically in this life, we will be also in that place
before Jesus comes again and we are raised from the dead. - [Narrator] Thanks for
watching "Honest Answers." Don't forget to subscribe. (uplifting music)
