1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:When we recite this creed at my church, I do not say 'hell', but replaced the word with 'hades'. The reason why is because I do not believe that Jesus actually went to a place called 'hell' (whatever you may believe that to be). Where he did go was Hades; the grave; the realm of the dead. Why do I believe this? Because the creed says he was crucified, dead and was buried. The next logical step is 'realm of the dead' and as posted before I don't believe anyone goes immediately to hell when they die. Furthermore, the very next line is that he rose again from the dead. The striking thing is that he was not raised from death, but from 'the dead'. This says, quite strongly, that he was among the dead between his death and resurrection whether you take it as a literal grave of the dead or a metaphorical/spiritual underworld/realm. There are clear texts that cite Jesus as being in Hades and none that he was in hell. The most clear ones in my opinion are Acts 2:24-32 as well as Rev 1:16 which says,
2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell:
5. The third day he rose again from the dead:
6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty:
7. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:
8. I believe in the Holy Ghost:
9. I believe in the holy catholic church: the communion of saints:
10. The forgiveness of sins:
1l. The resurrection of the body:
12. And the life everlasting. Amen.
"I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.
And I have the keys of Hades and of Death."
I am not the only one to have questions concerning the claim that Jesus descended into 'hell'. For more information and texts on this position see this post. You can also read JETS articles for and against Jesus descending into hell.
You might look at the official translations of most of the major churches, which have "...He descended to the dead" in that place. The Latin (the Greek is a translation of the Latin) is "he descended to the lowers".
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