1 Peter 3:18-22

We read the Apostles’ Creed very casually, especially when it comes to this statement: "He descended into hell." Because we read it so casually, it does not comfort us; it does not move us; it does not strengthen us; and it does not provoke our thinking.

"He descended into hell." Timothy George, the Dean of Beeson Divinity School, lifts up the term "a coincidence of opposites." I think that is what is embodied in this credo statement, "He descended into hell." There’s a paradox here. It begins with the Christ of heaven and ends with hell.

How do you talk about Jesus and hell in the same sentence? It’s easy to talk about Jesus and heaven in the same sentence. It really fits. Jesus said, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am" (John 14:3). Jesus and heaven go together. But Jesus descending into hell seems rather incongruous.

Paul says, "For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race" (Rom. 9:3). Jesus did more than wish; He descended into hell. Jesus, who came from heaven, descended into hell. That’s a "coincidence of opposites." Now this is a statement that we would like to just really circumvent or excise out of the Apostles’ Creed. It doesn’t seem to fit.

The wonderful thing about the Apostles’ Creed is that it has to be treated in an interrelational manner. Every part of it must be treated in light of the whole. Therefore, this statement has to be developed in the dark room of the entire Apostles’ Creed from the negative of 1 Peter 3:19: "He descended into hell."

It’s like expository preaching. The late celebrated expository preaching giant Dr. E.K. Bailey said, "Expository preaching is a message that focuses on a portion of Scripture in order to render the precise meaning of the text. The preacher then poignantly and passionately presents the message to move hearers to actions and attitudes that are dictated by the text." We have to treat this credo statement in light of the entire statement.

This is the most controversial statement in the entire Creed. The Apostles’ Creed was not recognized at Nicaea in 325; it is not expounded at Constantinople in 383; it is not reaffirmed in Ephesus or Chalcedon. In fact, it really doesn’t show up for the first time until it is published along with the other credo statements in A.D. 633 and in the seventh council of Toledo in 693.

It’s controversial. "He descended into hell." This was not written by the apostles. It was not cut in stone as if it had been penned by Peter, James, John and the other apostles. It is a digest, a summary of what the church believes and teaches. The architects of the Apostles’ Creed believed their confessions. We, their successors, often merely confess their beliefs. We give no thought to what they believed; we simply confess what they believed. Therefore, we know the "what" of our faith, but we don’t know the "why" of our faith. And when someone challenges us about why we believe what we believe, we give an untenable, indefensible response.