Christ’s Descent into Hades

But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. For David says of Him,

“Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seatone of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. Acts 2:24-31

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? Ephesians 4:8-9

 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. 1 Peter 3:19-20

For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. 1 Pet. 4:6

These apostles and teachers preached the name of the Son of God. After falling asleep in the power and faith of the Son of God, the apostles not only preached it to those who were asleep, but they themselves also gave them the seal of the preaching [i.e., baptism]. Accordingly, the apostles descended with them into the water and ascended again. . . . For such ones slept in righteousness and in great purity. Only, they did not have this seal. Hermas (c. 150, W), 1.49

Christ rose from the place of the dead, and raised up the race of Adam from the grave below. Melito (c. 170, E), 8.757

The Lord was made “the First-Begotten of the dead.” Receiving into His bosom the ancient fathers, He has regenerated them into the life of God. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.455

For their benefit, “He also descended into the lower parts of the earth,” to behold with His eyes the state of those who were resting from their labors. . . . For Christ did not come merely for those who believed on Him in the time of Tiberius Caesar. Nor did the Father exercise His providence only for the men who are presently alive. Rather, He exercised it for all men altogether, who from the beginning . . . have both feared and loved God. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/ W), 1.494

He gathered from the ends of the earth into His Father’s fold the children who were scattered abroad. And He remembered His own dead ones, who had previously fallen asleep. He came down to them so that He might deliver them. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.506

For three days He dwelt in the place where the dead were, as the prophet said concerning Him. “And the Lord remembered His dead saints who slept formerly in the land of the dead. And He descended to them to rescue and save them.” The Lord Himself said, “As Jonah remained three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so will the Son of man be in the heart of the earth.” Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.560

It was for this reason, too, that the Lord descended into the regions beneath the earth, preaching His advent there also, and [declaring] the remission of sins received by those who believe in Him. Now all those believed in Him who had hope towards Him, that is, those who proclaimed His advent, and submitted to His dispensations, the righteous men, the prophets, and the patriarchs, to whom He remitted sins in the same way as He did to us, which sins we should not lay to their charge, if we would not despise the grace of God. For as these men did not impute unto us (the Gentiles) our transgressions, which we wrought before Christ was manifested among us, so also it is not right that we should lay blame upon those who sinned before Christ’s coming. Irenaeus (A.D. 180) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg.499

The Lord preached the Gospel to those in Hades. . . . Do not [the Scriptures] show that the Lord preached the Gospel to those who perished in the flood, or rather had been chained, as to those kept in ward and guard? And it has been shown also . . . that the apostles, following the Lord, preached the Gospel to those in Hades. . . . If, then, the Lord descended to Hades for no other reason but to preach the Gospel (as He did descend), it was either to preach the Gospel to all, or else to the Hebrews only. If, accordingly, He preached to all, then all who believe will be saved on making their profession there—even though they may be Gentiles. For God’s punishments are saving and disciplinary, leading to conversion. He desires the repentance, rather than the death, of a sinner. This is especially so since souls, although darkened by passions, when released from their bodies, are able to perceive more clearly. For they are no longer obstructed by the paltry flesh. . . . Did not the same dispensation obtain in Hades? For even there, all the souls, on hearing the proclamation, could either exhibit repentance, or confess that their punishment was just, because they did not believe. And it was not arbitrary that they could obtain either salvation or punishment. For those who had departed before the coming of the Lord had not had the Gospel preached to them. So they had been given no opportunity to either believe or not believe. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.490, 491

He preached the Gospel to those in the flesh so that they would not be condemned unjustly. So how is it conceivable that He did not for the same reason preach the Gospel to those who had departed this life before His coming? Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.492

The Shepherd, speaking plainly of those who had fallen asleep, recognizes certain righteous ones among Gentiles and Jews, not only before the appearance of Christ, but before the Law. . . . He adds, “They gave them the seal of preaching. Therefore, they [the apostles] descended with them into the water, and again ascended.” Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.357

“For this cause was the Gospel preached also to the dead”—namely, to us, who were at one time unbelievers. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.572

However, [He saves] with dignity of honor others who voluntarily follow. This is so “that every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth”—that is, angels, men, and souls who had departed from this temporal life before His coming. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.575

Christ in His death spent three days in the heart of the earth, that is, in the secret inner recess which is hidden in the earth, and enclosed by the earth, and superimposed on the abysmal depths which lie still lower down. Now although Christ is God, yet, being also man, “He died according to the Scriptures,” and “according to the same Scriptures was buried.” With the same law of His being He fully complied, by remaining in Hades in the form and condition of a dead man; nor did He ascend into the heights of heaven before descending into the lower parts of the earth, that He might there make the patriarchs and prophets partakers of Himself. Tertullian (A.D. 198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.3 pg. 231

[Christ is Lord of] things under the earth, because He was also reckoned among the dead. For He preached the Gospel to the souls of the saints. Through death, He overcame death. Hippolytus (c. 200, W), 5.209

[John the Baptist] also first preached to those in Hades, becoming a forerunner there when he was put to death by Herod. So even there, too, John revealed that the Savior would descend to ransom the souls of the saints from the hand of death. Hippolytus (c. 200, W), 5.213

Christ delivered the first man of earth from the lowest Hades, when he was lost and bound by the chains of death. . . . This is He who was to become the preacher of the gospel to the dead. Hippolytus (c. 205, W), 5.170

The jailers of Hades trembled when they saw Him. And the gates of brass and the bolts of iron were broken. For, look! The Only-Begotten, God the Word, had entered Hades with a soul—a soul among souls. Hippolytus (c. 205, W), 5.194

Hades is not supposed by us to be a bare cavity, nor some subterranean sewer of the world. Rather it is a vast deep space in the interior of the earth. . . . For we read that Christ in His death spent three days in the heart of the earth. . . . He did not ascend into the heights of heaven before descending into the lower parts of the earth. This was so that He might there [in Hades] make the patriarchs and prophets partakers of Himself. Tertullian (c. 210, W), 3.231

It was the same among the dead. Christ was the only free person there, and His soul was not left in Hades. As a result, then, He is the first and the last. Origen (c. 228, E), 9.315

After this, I think, He descended into Hades to the dead as a “free person among the dead.” Origen (c. 245, E), 9.451

“Put to death,” he says, “in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit; in which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which at one time were disobedient, when the long-suffering of God once waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing.” He, then, who is able worthily to set forth the meaning of these two journeys is able to untie the latchet of the shoes of Jesus; he, bending down in his mind and going with Jesus as He goes down into Hades, and descending from heaven and the mysteries of Christ’s deity to the advent He of necessity made with us when He took on man (as His shoes). Now He who put on man also put on the dead, for “for this end Jesus both died and revived, that He might be Lord both of dead and living.” This is why He put on both living and dead, that is, the inhabitants of the earth and those of Hades, that He might be the Lord of both dead and living. Origen (248 A.D.) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.9 pg. 368

When Christ became a soul, without the covering of the body, He dwelled among those souls who were also without bodily covering. And He converted those of them who were willing. Origen (c. 248, E), 4.448

Now, it had been foretold by the prophets that He would not remain in Hades, but would rise again on the third day. David says in the fifteenth Psalm: “You will not leave my soul in Hades. Neither will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.” Also, in the third Psalm: “I laid me down to sleep, took my rest, and rose again, for the Lord sustained me” [Ps. 3:5]. Lactantius (c. 304–313, W), 7.122

Christ was not in the lower regions more than two days. Lactantius (c. 304–313, W), 7.131

Meanwhile, Hades was resplendent with light. For the Star had descended to there. Actually, the Lord did not descend into Hades in His body, but in His spirit. In short, He is working every where. For while He raised the dead by His body, by His spirit He was liberating souls. . . . For the Lord had conquered Hades, had trodden down death. Alexander of Alexandria (c. 324, E), 6.301