~ A place to find answers to gnawing spiritual questions ~
Question: I would like to know the scriptures that talk about Jesus after he was crucified. I have heard it preached several times that he went to the bowels of the earth or some say hades. I don't believe that Jesus went to hell and preached to the unsaved. 1 Peter 3:18-20 says he went to a prison to preach to the unsaved. When he was on the cross God turned His back on Him because He was covered with our sins. Why would He go to Hades? I don't understand. I was taught that you can always prove it in the Bible if it came from there. Plese help me with this question. "Did Jesus really enter into hell or not?"Answer: Did Jesus really enter into hell or not (1 Peter 3:18-20)?
We had better define "hell" since this English word is used to express three concepts in the Biblical Greek that the New Testament writers used.
1. Tartaroo - deepest part of "Hades" where fallen angels are confined awaiting their punishment.
2. Geheena - a place of everlasting punishment
3. Hades - place of departed spirits (grave) where the dead are confined. This is described by Jesus as having two compartments divided by an uncrossible great gulf. One one side is Abraham's bossom where the righteous dead were confined and on the other side a place of torment for the wicked dead (gehenna).
Understanding 1 Peter 3:18-20 is difficult, especially since there are few other Biblical references to this event. Peter makes one thing clear - Jesus went and preached (proclaimed). To whom and where is hard to pin down from this verse alone. Even Martin Luther claimed not to understand what Peter meant.
My understanding is this: Jesus was crucified and died by which he would have entered "hell" that is "hades" - the place of the dead (Acts 2:27). Death and hell (the grave) had no power over him. He preached (proclaimed) to the righteous souls in "hell - hades" that he had taken the keys of death and the grave away from Satan and in his resurrection transfered the righteous dead from Abraham's bossom to the presence of God (heaven). See Matthew 27:52 and Ephesians 4:8,9. Now, when the righteous die they go to heaven. (2 Corinthians. 5:8)
I do not see any justification for, or find in I Peter 3:18-20, a "purgatory," as some do, where the dead have a second chance of salvation after death
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