Hell

Passage: Q&A 44

Q. Why does the creed add, "He descended to hell"?
A. To assure me in times of personal crisis and temptation that Christ my Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul, especially on the cross but also earlier, has delivered me from the anguish and torment of hell.

This is one of the most difficult passages of the Heidelberg Catechism. It raises a bunch of questions/dilemmas that both confound our logic and challenge our assumptions about Hell itself. Many have responded by simply calling for the removal of this clause from the Apostle’s Creed and Catechism; or perhaps changing the language to say “the grave” rather than “Hell”. There are good reasons for keeping it the way it is.

Problems arise when we think of Hell as a geographical location rather than a state of being. Hell is referred to repeatedly in the New Testament. However, the writers of the New Testament (and Jesus himself) use terms and descriptors that are either familiar to the culture of the day or closest approximations of an indescribable reality. Centuries of literal interpretation and creative license have given us literary and artistic depictions of Hell that are impositions on what the Bible actually says about it.

An illustration is Jesus’ parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Here Jesus tells a story that touches on the destination of those who have ignored God’s Word (or Law and Prophets). In it, the condemned rich man experiences torment; burning; and an unbridgeable chasm between him and Heaven. Jesus’ imagery evokes an actual place. But it could also describe a state of being – the state of being irrevocably removed from the presence of God.

Human beings were created to live in intimate fellowship with God the Creator. Although the fall into sin resulted in a barrier that limits our sense of connectedness with God, all living people live in a world whose every square inch is governed and inhabited by God. In short, while alive all people experience some benefit of God’s presence and God’s grace – even in the midst of suffering and hardship. This means that while alive any person can appeal to God’s grace and know the connection with God for which we were created.

The worst thing any person can experience is the severance of this connection. A person removed from God (the ruler of Creation and the source of life) would experience unparalleled alienation and the disintegration of body and soul - the existential equivalent of being consumed by fire. This is Hell. Can a person experience “Hell on earth”? No, because on this side of the grave every person is, cognizant of it or not, in the presence of God.

There’s one exception: Jesus. When Jesus cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he was experiencing the one thing you and I should never have to: Hell. Utter separation from God the Father. He descended not to a place, but a state – the state of being abandoned by God. If you have embraced Jesus as Savior, then Hell does not exist for you. You will never know what it’s like to be forsaken by God. He is now, and will always be, with you. Jesus went to Hell so you and I would never have to.