Introduction:
As we continue in our series on "1700 Years of the Nicene Creed", we come now to that part of the creed that confesses the suffering and burial of our Lord. In the Apostle's Creed, we find a section that confesses similarly the burial of our Lord, with an additional phrase, though added later in the Apostle's Creed's development, yet served to explain why our Lord's burial is just as important as He being "crucified under Pontus Pilate" and "raised from the dead on the third day". That additional phrase in the Apostle's Creed reads:
"He descended into Hell" or as some more recent versions translate "He descended to the dead" (see The Apostles' Creed | Reformed Standards ).
The family resemblance between the earlier Apostle's Creed and it's larger cousins "The Creed of Nicaea 325" and "The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381) have been compared by earlier scholars such as Phillip Schaff in his work on the early Christian creeds.
The suffering and burial of Jesus Christ was confessed in both editions of the Nicene Creed (325 and 381). Dr. Tom Nettles, Professor of Historical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky, has noted how the early church fathers affirmed the descent of Christ into Hades as part of His overall humiliation and suffering for the sake of His people, so that they would not have to undergo the same as a consequence of their uniting to Him by faith (to read Dr. Nettles full article, click here He Descended Into Hell | Modern Reformation. ).
These brief observations lead me to believe that a case can be made for using the doctrine of Christ's descent into hades as a way of explaining the meaning and significance of the Nicene Creed's statement: "He suffered and was buried".
What I want to do in this post is to use the historic doctrine of the descent of Christ into Hell as a means of expounding this phrase of the Nicene Creed "He Suffered and was buried".
If one were to read church fathers such as Clement of Rome, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen, such early writers expressed the work of Christ's descent into Hell as part of his overall work of suffering and humiliation. More importantly, the Biblical record itself provides enough Scriptural data to construct a picture of what Jesus did in the intervening time between His death and resurrection.
B. The Proclamation of Christ's Accomplished Work - Victory. 1 Peter 3:19-20
A. Purpose of Christ’s Victorious Work – Reconciliation 3:18
i. What did He do? He died
He died for sins. As Dr. Danny Akin of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary once noted: "He lived the life I couldn't live and He died the death I should have died."
Romans 5:6-8 states - "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Jesus' death on behalf of sinners accomplished two necessary effects required for reconciliation with God. The first necessary effect was expiation, that is, the removal of the cause of God's wrath upon us - our sin (Romans 5:10). The second effect had to do with propitiation, that is, the satisfaction of God's wrath (1 John 2:2). Below in the next thought (point "iii"), we see why expiation (taking away of sin) and propitiation (satisfying wrath) are necessary for reconciliation.
Dr. Michael Horton notes:
"The result of God's wrath being satisfied is reconciliation. Just as we are first of all passive subjects of God's wrath when God propitiates, we are passive subjects of God's reconciliation at the cross. We do not reconcile ourselves to God; God reconciles Himself to us and us to Him."1
Christ's death, burial and resurrection are at the heart of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). The New Testament mostly focuses upon Christ's death and resurrection. However, what went on during the three days He was buried is not explained in near as much detail as the two book-ends of the Gospel: namely Christ's death and resurrection.
Death and Resurrection serve to explain how Christ accomplished what he achieved. What He did in His burial (down below) reveals some of the behind (and under) the scenes work He did in insuring our ability to walk as believers in His Victorious work.
B. Proclamation of Christ’s Victorious Work – Victory 3:19-20
i. What did He do between His death & resurrection? Proclaimed victory 3:19
John MacArthur has perhaps explained this text better than just about everyone I've read or heard:
"He was announcing, proclaiming (and) heralding a triumph. About what? It must be pretty obvious, about His triumph over sin, about His triumph over death, about His triumph over hell, about His triumph over demons, about His triumph over Satan." 2
If we were to attempt to offer an outline of what Jesus did between His death and resurrection, we could maybe understand why He went to proclaim His victory to the demonic realm. Much activity was done by Christ in this short-span of time.
First He went immediately into the presence of His Father by way of the Holy Spirit in his human spirit to present His once and for all sacrifice (Hebrew 9:15).
Thirdly, Christ would had released the Old Testament saints from the righteous realm of the dead (i.e. paradise) to lead the captives out to where they could come with Him to where the saints go in this age (Ephesians 4:8-11). Some have connected this particular event to when the saints came out of their tombs in Matthew 27:52-53.
He did this to pave the way for what would be His ascension into Heaven 40 days after His resurrection from the dead (Ephesians 4:7-10).
Revelation 1:4-5 states -
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