He descended to the dead.

Preface: this has turned out to be a much deeper seminary type post than I wanted it to be, I hate church words but they are all I know any more, so as such I guess I hate me, but that's beside the point, just be warned.

I've been reading the Rite 2 version of the creeds for as long as I can remember. I recall one day when I was just a small lad asking my mom where Jesus went when he descended to the dead, did he go to hell? (I wasn't introduced to the Rite 1 version until I started attending my wife's PCUSA church) She skirted around the answer as best as her Catholic school background allowed her to, but the question remained for me for a long long time.

I have since learned, and have no idea if it is sound orthodox doctrine or not, that Jesus did indeed descend to hell, where he preached the Good News to Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc. who had long since gone before him. While it was the thief hanging on the next cross over that was the first to meet him in paradise, it wasn't long before our OT brothers and sisters were there too, enjoying the paradise (or heaven depending on your eschatological theology) that God had in mind when he created the universe from nothing, the same paradise God had in mind when he sent his only begotten Son to be our redeemer.

So Jesus went to hell for me (my evangelical bend) and all of humanity (my newfound communitarian (is that even a word?) bend), I guess I can put up with seminary for three years for him.


Many apologies for the big church wordiness and theological ilk of this post, I'll try to do better next time.