Metaphorical-Only
The *descendit* is merely metaphor for the depth of Christ's suffering on the cross — Calvin's secondary suggestion, not preferred by the LC.
This is a contested or rejected alternative.
The Westminster baseline on States & Descent is Humiliation-And-Exaltation; No-Local-Descent. Personas and schools listed below hold this alternative position instead — either because they argued for it at the Assembly (like the Erastians on polity) or because they represent a receiving tradition that departed from the Standards on this point.
Cruxes on this attribute
The Assembly navigated 1 crux that bear directly on States & Descent.
Other positions on States & Descent
Humiliation-And-Exaltation; No-Local-Descent WCF
Two states (humiliation, exaltation); the *descendit* is interpreted as the continued state of death between cross and resurrection, not a local descent (LC Q. 50).
Local-Descent
Christ literally descended into a place called Hades — variously to liberate OT saints, to suffer further, or to triumph over hell; not the Standards' reading.