Jesus descended into hell? Huh?

Dear Mason & Teo,
Maybe you can help me understand something. Each time I pray the Rosary with my family we recite the Apostles Creed. In the Apostle’s Creed we proclaim that Jesus descended into “hell” after he died. What I don’t understand is, if hell is a place of eternal damnation and Jesus did not sin, why did he have to go to hell? I thought hell was for those with grave sins. (Hell If I Know)

Dear “Hell If I Know,”

The English language sometimes does not accurately translate the original Scripture text. The English word used to describe “hell” in the Bible refers to two different places. The first hell is “Gehenna” (Matthew 5:22) which is the place where those who died in mortal or grave sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love remain eternally separated from God. This is the hell, “the unquenchable fire” that you’ve referred to in your question, for those that chose to exclude themselves from communion with God. These are the souls that are eternally damned.

The second hell in Scripture, “Hades” in Greek (Revelations 20:14), or “Sheol” in Hebrew, refers to the “abode of the dead.” This hell is the place where Christ spoke to the spirits in prison after his death (1 Peter 3:18-19; 4:6). The hell in the Apostles Creed refers to this place of the dead in which Jesus went down.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), prior to the death and resurrection of Christ, all souls, whether just or unjust, went to Hades or Sheol and were “deprived of the vision of God” (CCC 633). The gates of heaven were closed to those who died before Jesus since Adam and Eve went to Sheol. All the dead did not share the same lot, as Jesus shows through the parable of Lazarus who waited in “Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22-26). The bosom of Abraham has also been called purgatory. When Jesus died he went into purgatory to free the just souls that died and had gone before him. He did not go to hell to deliver the damned or destroy Gehenna. Jesus’ resurrection and ascension opened the gates of heaven for the righteous.

Jesus conquered death and sin. He has “the keys of death and Hades” (Revelations 1:18) and the power to release all men from the wages of sin, on earth and in purgatory. Those souls who have died in God’s grace but who are still imperfectly purified, go to purgatory to be perfectly purified and achieve the holiness necessary to enter heaven. At the Last Judgment, as Scripture declares, Hades or Purgatory will be ultimately destroyed (Revelations 20:14).

In the Apostles Creed, the expression “He descended into hell” affirms that Christ really did die and he truly entered the abode of the dead. In entering death, Jesus fulfilled his saving mission for all people and for all times, even redeeming those that died before his birth.

Jesus Christ, the faithful high priest had to become like man in every way except sin (Hebrews 2:17). Christ’s experience of death and then descending into hell were necessary for the salvation of all the just and righteous.

Therefore, continue to pray your rosary and profess with confidence that Jesus “descended into hell” and “ascended into heaven,” for truly on the last day Jesus will raise us up. In a certain way, we have already been risen with Christ for, by the Holy Spirit, our Christian life on earth is already a participation in the death and the Resurrection of Christ. We have a taste of heaven here on earth.