The Apostles Creed states, in one of its lines, "He was
crucified, dead and buried. He descended
into hell." The proper translation
of that word is Hades, which means "grave." He was put/lowered/descended into the grave,
not he made a pit stop in hell.
However 1 Peter 3 brings up a curious statement that makes people
wonder if Jesus did go to hell. Keep in
mind there is a current "hell" and a future hell. The current hell is a called the grave or
Sheol. There are two sections of Sheol,
one for believers (also called Paradise or Abraham's bosom) and one for
non-believers (a prison where they are awaiting sentence).* It's where the spirits wait for resurrection
and final judgment, then the believers are escorted to eternal heaven and
non-believers to eternal hell.
To understand this statement, we have to read it in context, not
just the verse that we wonder about.
In this chapter, Peter is talking about suffering for doing good
and not evil, stating that Jesus died for all, the righteous and unrighteous. He says that when he died (then his spirit
came alive) he preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed back in the days
of Noah. These "spirits" (Gr. pneuma) are probably demons, a term not
used for souls of the dead. The word for
"preached" also means proclaimed, meaning his death proclaimed his
victory, word of it reaching those in spiritual prisons. These spiritual prisons are not in a
dimension we understand and probably not in the same place as the souls
awaiting final judgment. So during
Jesus' time between death and resurrection, his spirit was somewhere, doing
something, proclaiming his victory.
But not hell. Keep in mind,
if Jesus goes to hell, it's no longer hell.
Hell is the separation of man and God.
If God shows up, the residents experience a slice of heaven.
Why would he preach to the demons? They can't be saved. Would Jesus
be doing a victory dance in front of them like an NFL running back? What would he say? "I told you so!" Not of that seems to fit the character of
Christ.
Peter is talking about salvation and he wants to make clear that
Jesus died for everyone, reaching out a hand of salvation to all. That salvation was like Noah's ark, saving
people from the torrent of sin, while many perished under the surface.
Jesus died for those souls (people) who perished long ago and his
death/resurrection made a proclamation to those spirits (demons) who tried to
disrupt the plans of God (in this case his salvation plan through Noah).
So Jesus’ spirit, during that three day transition before coming
alive in a resurrected body, proclaimed his victory by dying on the cross for
the sins of mankind, both past, present and future. This victory made a point especially to those
demons/spirits from the time of Noah who tried to disrupt God’s plan of
salvation.
* Read
the story of Lazarus and the Rich man in Luke 16 to understand this separation.