The Descent into Hell
What does the Apostles’ Creed’s "descendit ad inferna" mean?
Settled clearly
Background
The Apostles' Creed includes the clause *descendit ad inferna* — 'He descended into hell' — between the burial and the resurrection. Patristic and medieval interpretation had varied widely: some read it as a local descent to a place of the dead (the *Limbus Patrum*); some as Christ's triumphant proclamation to the damned or to OT saints; some as a continued state of humiliation under death. Calvin's *Institutes* II.16.10-11 had given two readings: the clause may signify the depth of Christ's suffering on the cross (the metaphorical reading), or it may signify the continued state of humiliation between death and resurrection (the realist reading). The 1552 Forty-Two Articles of the Church of England included the local-descent reading; the 1571 Thirty-Nine Articles dropped it. The Reformed needed a confessional handling.
The Assembly’s handling
The Assembly did not include the *descendit* clause in the Confession itself but addressed it in the Larger Catechism Q. 50, where it explained the clause as a way of describing Christ's continued state of humiliation between death and resurrection — the realist reading, not the local-descent or the metaphorical reading. This was a deliberate exegetical choice: the Catechism preserves the Creed's clause but interprets it within the two-state schema (humiliation and exaltation) of Phil. 2.
Parties
Continued-state-of-the-dead reading (adopted)
The 'descent' is Christ's continued state of humiliation between death and resurrection — his being buried, his continuing in the state of the dead, and remaining under the power of death until the third day. No local descent.
- Anthony Tuckney (1599–1670)
- Edmund Calamy the Elder (1600–1666)
- Edward Reynolds (1599–1676)
- Herbert Palmer (1601–1647)
Local-descent readings (rejected)
Christ literally descended into a place called Hades — to liberate OT saints (*Limbus Patrum*), to suffer further, or to triumph over hell. Various forms of this Roman-Catholic and high-Lutheran reading were rejected.
Calvin's metaphorical reading (a possible alternative)
The 'descent' is metaphor for the depth of Christ's suffering on the cross — the moment of *Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani*. This was a live Reformed reading but not adopted by the Catechism.
Confessional language
Larger Catechism Q. 50: 'Christ's humiliation after his death consisted in his being buried, and continuing in the state of the dead, and under the power of death till the third day; which hath been otherwise expressed in these words, He descended into hell.'
Ontology placement
This crux bears on the following attribute of the Westminster ontology. The Westminster baseline value is marked WCF.
IV · Christology · States & Descent
Legacy
The continued-state-of-the-dead reading became standard Reformed teaching. Reformed liturgies that use the Apostles' Creed often handle the clause by retaining it and interpreting it as the Catechism does; some Reformed bodies omit the clause entirely. The Heidelberg Catechism Q. 44 takes the metaphorical reading (depth of suffering) — a different Reformed handling, also live but not Westminster's.