why did Jesus go to hell after he was crucified?

Question

i don't know if i heard this properly but supposedly did Jesus go to Hell after he was crucified and before he was resurrected??? if so why?

Answer 1

This is SUCH a good question! I'm so glad you asked it--I always wondered and you're having asked it made me research the answer:) Seriously, THANKS!
Here's what John Paul II said about this in one of his Wednesday audiences in 1984:

2. To these final words of the article on the passion and death of Christ is linked in a certain way the following article which says: "He descended into hell". This article reflects some texts of the New Testament which we shall see shortly. It is well to mention, however, that, although in the time of the Arian controversies the same formula was found in the writings of those heretics, it was nevertheless introduced also into the so-called Creed of Aquileia, one of the professions of the Catholic faith then in use, which was drawn up at the end of the fourth century (cf. DS 16). It entered definitively into the teaching of the Councils with the Fourth Lateran (1215) and the Second Council of Lyons in the profession of faith of Michael Paleologus (1274).

It should also be mentioned straight-away that the word "hell" does not mean the hell of eternal damnation, but the abode of the dead which is sheol in Hebrew and hades in Greek (cf. Acts 2:311.

3. There are numerous New Testament texts from which the formula is derived. The first is found in the Apostle Peter's discourse of Pentecost. Referring to Psalm 16 to confirm the announcement of Christ's resurrection contained in it, he states that the prophet David "foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption" (Acts 2:31). The Apostle Paul's question in the Letter to the Romans has a similar meaning; "'Who will descend into the abyss?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)" (Rom 10:7).

Also in the Letter to the Ephesians there is a text which, in reference to a verse of Psalm 68: "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men" (Ps 68:18), asks a significant question: "In saying, 'he ascended', what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things" (Eph 4:8-10). In this way Paul seems to link Christ's "descent" into the abyss (among the dead), of which he speaks in the Letter to the Romans, with his ascension to the Father, which begins the eschatological "fulfilment" of all things in God.

In line with this are the words placed in Christ's mouth: "I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades" (Rev 1:17-18).

4. As is evident from the texts quoted, the article of the Apostles' Creed, "he descended into hell", is based on the New Testament statements on the descent of Christ, after his death on the Cross, into the "region of death", into the a abode of the dead", which in Old Testament language was called the "abyss". If the Letter to the Ephesians speaks of "the lower parts of the earth", it is because the earth receives the human body after death, and so it received also the body of Christ who expired on Calvary, as described by the Evangelists (cf. Mt 27:59 f, and parallel passages; In 19:40-42). Christ passed through a real experience of death, including the final moment which is generally a part of the whole process: he was placed in the tomb.

It is a confirmation that this was a real, and not merely an apparent, death. His soul, separated from the body, was glorified in God, but his body lay in the tomb as a corpse.

During the three (incomplete) days between the moment when he "expired" (cf. Mk 15:37) and the resurrection, Jesus experienced the a state of death", that is, the separation of body and soul, as in the case of all people. This is the primary meaning of the words "he descended into hell"; they are linked to what Jesus himself had foretold when, in reference to the story of Jonah. he had said: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Mt 12:40).

The link to the discussion in its entirety is below. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Answer 2

do you have a bunch of know nothing answers from people who do not study their Bible or what. It says Jesus visited Hades not hell. Hades existed prior to the crucifiction as a place where all souls were held the good the bad and the ugly. Jesus went there and gave His message to them and same as us who lived afterwards they recieved the opportunity to enter heaven in eternity.

After that time the catholic chuch saw this hades place as a source of income and called it pergatory. They sold notes of indulgence that insured a priest would pray for that soul in Hades, or as they called it pergatory, and through those prayers that poor soul would eventually cross over. Martin Luther called them on this pointing out that place hades or pergatory no longer exited it's function having disappeared. Still there are places where catholic chuches sell notes of indulgence, cuz people would rather be told by someone how to act rather than search out the truthes by reading their Bible and then there is that added bonus of being filled with the Spirit and actually liking and understanding the scripture you are reading.

I suspect you have not yet experienced that because the question you asked is answered right there in black and white.

Answer 3

The Bible writer Luke recounts: "Neither was [Jesus] forsaken in Hades [hell, King James Version] nor did his flesh see corruption." (Acts 2:31) Where was the hell to which even Jesus went? The apostle Paul wrote: "I handed on to you . . . that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, yes, that he has been raised up the third day according to the Scriptures." (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4) So Jesus was in hell, as in the grave, but he was not abandoned there, for he was raised up, or resurrected. Remember Job who suffered so much. Wishing to escape his plight, he pleaded: "Who will grant me this, that thou mayest protect me in hell [Sheol], and hide me till thy wrath pass?" (Job 14:13) Job never would have asked to go to a fiery-hot place for protection! To Job, "hell" was simply the grave, where his suffering would end. The Bible hell, then, is the common grave of mankind where good people as well as bad ones go.

NO loving God could burn us eternally. Could you put your child's hand on the stove burner as punishment for disobeying you?

Answer 4

The Bible does not say that he went to hell. It says that he descended into hades (an old testament term for the place where the souls of the prophets and faithfull before heaven came to be/Abraham's bussom, even). Jesus descended there to announce his victory and to take all of the faithfull to be with him since before his death on Calvary no one had access to paradise. It is in Jesus that we are counted worthy and sanctified and are able to enter into the presence of God. Those in the old Testament were justified by looking forward to what Jesus would do in the future and we are justified by looking back to what he did.
Mr. M on Jesus in hell.

Answer 5

Jesus did not go to hell...he went to paradise to minister to the souls of the old testiment who were waiting for Him to come and take them to Heaven with Him... which He did before returning to be with his followers for the 40 days before He assended.

Paradise is now closed and all believers who leave this mortal world will sleep untill called up to Heaven at the Rapture of The Church.

Answer 6

The answer is yes, he did go to hell. But the true definition of "hell" is not a burning place where the wicked are tormented forever. The definition of the original Hebrew & Greek words for hell ... Sheol & Hades ... is simply "the grave." Jesus went to hell simply by dying and going to his grave. I hope that helps :)

Answer 7

He didn't go to hell, or what you are thinking of that word as being. His spirit went to the spirit world, which is a combination of Paradise and the spirit prison (two sides). I believe He spent most of His time in Paradise to organize His leaders to help preach the Gospel in a more efficient way.

Answer 8

Jesus went to Sheol (the place of the dead) to preach to those who had died before His death. 1 Peter 3:20. Before Jesus death, there was no salvation. Because God had promised a savior, everyone who died before Jesus' death, had to wait for Jesus' death and resurrection. The place of eternal punishment is referred to as Gehenna.

The person who posted below mine says that God would not send anyone to Hell (Gehenna). The Bible says that there is a place that God has prepaired for Satan, his angels, and all of those who do not accept Jesus. Matthew 25:41- 46

Those who do not accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior are not God's children (except for Jews). Don't get me wrong He still loves them and wants them to come to Jesus. Heaven or Hell is our choice. God would not fource anyone to go to Heaven.

Answer 9

He went 2 hell so that people who believe in Him would not have to

Answer 10

To bring the good news to the captives. Sheol and Paradise.
He brought captivity captive.

Ephesian 4:8 Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men."