He Descended into Hell

“Descent into Hell” by Tintoretto, 1568

Joining the one holy catholic and apostolic Church of every age, we confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, in His state of exaltation, descended into hell to proclaim victory over the devil.

Saint Peter writes:

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison.” [1 Peter 3:18-19]

The Apostles’ Creed confesses this truth as follows:

I believe ... in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who ... was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell.

Our Lutheran forefathers add:

“In this Confession Christ’s burial and descent to hell are distinguished as different articles. We simply believe that the entire person (God and man) descended into hell after the burial, conquered the devil, destroyed hell’s power, and took from the devil all his might. We should not, however, trouble ourselves with high and difficult thoughts about how this happened. ... We are simply to believe it and cling to the Word.” [Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, IX]