That imagery finds similarity in the key English phrase of the Apostles’ Creed, “[Jesus] descended into hell.” That phrase, of course, is one that causes a good deal of confusion among catechumens and long-time Christians alike. The same phrase may be found in the last section of the inappositely named Athanasian Creed, although Evangelicals generally are unfamiliar with this second statement of belief.
Within some Christian traditions, this phrase from the Creed is a reference to Christ’s so-called Harrowing of Hell, where Jesus rescues the Old-Testament righteous from the darkness. The Reformation offered other ways of understanding the phrase. Nonetheless, within the ever-growing umbrella of Protestantism, many Evangelical theologians and leaders reject outright any doctrine of Christ’s Descent (and the creedal clause itself) for lack of scriptural evidence (the “Neo-Deletionists”). Yet as easy as it is to engage in a reactionary, solo-scriptura theology in response to misunderstandings of the creedal clause, an orthodox understanding of the Creed communicates the full salvific benefits of Christ’s redemptive arc and affirms the veracity of the Chalcedonian Formulation.
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