The mystery of death
A later addition… In the hymnary of the Church of Scotland we use at Scots Kirk, the Apostles’ Creed (546) contains the phrase, he descended into hell. In the Book of Common Order of the Church of Scotland which we use for our communion service the Creed says, he descended to the dead. The concept did not appear in the Apostles’ Creed until AD 570 and is not mentioned at all in the Nicene Creed.
Sheol or Gehenna
Theologians have long debated whether Jesus descended to “hell” into Sheol – the realm of the dead – or into Gehenna – the place of the damned. Sheol is simply the resting place of the dead, whereas Gehenna is the place of the punishment of the wicked. Sheol is not hell, but Gehenna is. In the Episcopal Church USA, the phrase the place of departed spirits may be used instead of hell, a practice we could well follow. So, this part of the creed is just really to confirm that Jesus actually died. Calvin went further by saying Jesus went to hell (Gehenna) to bear the pains and the tortures and the punishments in our stead; a view not widely held today.
Meaning for us.
The death of Jesus signals more than the end of a mortal life; an event to be ultimately experienced by all of us. It also guarantees the human capacity to survive failure in God’s own time. Jesus on the cross reminds us that he had not succeeded in either synagogue or state. People deserted him; apostles slept through a rising tide of betrayal and then ran away. When he needed them most, they let him die alone. Initially seen as the Great Failure, Jesus shows us in the end that ultimately nothing fails. To say, “I believe in Jesus Christ …. who died, was buried and descended into death” is to say, “I believe in God’s own time.”
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