Did Jesus go to hell? Ask NT Wright Anything Podcast

Did Jesus descend into hell? There are schools of thought that say He did and others that disagree. When Jesus responds to the beggar on the Cross he assures him that 'this day you will be with me in paradise,' what can we make of this? Listeners ask Tom Wright what we can know from the Gospels on this question.

#thecross #questionsandanswers #theology #hell #hades #theafterlife

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Ask NT Wright Anything Podcast
The show that connects you to NT (Tom) Wright’s thoughts and theology through your questions. Produced by Premier Unbelievable in partnership with SPCK and NTWrightOnline.

About NT (Tom) Wright: Tom Wright is one of the world’s leading New Testament scholars and the author of numerous books including Surprised by Hope, The Day The Revolution Began, Paul: A Biography and most recently Jesus and the Powers. He will be on the Unbelievable show talking about this very soon. Tom Wright is senior research fellow at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford. Wright is ordained in the Church of England and, among other roles, served as Bishop of Durham between 2003 – 2010. He is much in demand as a lecturer around the world and the author for the bestselling For Everyone commentary series and the New Testament For Everyone Bible translation.

[scottyfleming]

He went to Sheol. A place where the spirits of the good and ungodly wait for our beautiful resurrection. Try to think of the story of Lazerous and the rich man. He went to preach to the ungodly that he defeated death and their entire purpose of deceiving Gods beautiful creation was null and void! Thank you Jesus!! Yeshua!! Our eternal
High priest interceding on our behalf to come to the Father!! What a beautiful thing!!!!
Not to hell. The lake of fire is defined for the end of the 1000 years. If you read scripture as it explains
God bless everyone!!!

[trevornunn]

Since god is everywhere, Jesus went to hell. In fact, he's always been there

[alex-qeqn]

The so-called descent into Hell is an historical gaffe. The Old Roman Symbol, the earlier and better Apostles’ Creed, and the later Roman version of the Apostles’ Creed, did not have the clause but had the clauses about Jesus’ suffering under Pontus Pilate etc, and that he died / was dead. Conversely, the form of the Apostles’ Creed at Aqueleia went poetic and, for Jesus’ being dead, had him đescend to the region / the inhabitants below. Inevitably, the two Creeds were merged, and the Aqueleian poetic clause was retained. Inevitably, confusion arose, and the poetic clause had to be given a new meaning. erroneously attached to the passages in Peter’s epistles etc. Lazily, and/or for theological motives, the wrong modern form of the Apostles’ Creed has been allowed to stand - except among some who know the history of the matter. Rufinus of Aquileia wrote a commentary on the Creed, translated etc. by JND Kelly, a noted scholar; and it is worth reading.

[jeredmckenna]

After reading much Greco Roman literature, it seems like the "He descended into hell" would have most strongly been associated with the necessary hero trope of the time: the hero must go down into the depths and do battle with death/hades/rescue his lover/etc.

A few examples of this "Descent" trope: Persephone, Orpheus, Heracles, Theseus, Aeneas,

and of course

Dionysus, Osiris, Ishtar. All can be anthropologically traced back to the general idea of representing the cycle of death and rebirth, darkness into light, pain transmuting into peace, etc.

For example: Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess of love, beauty, sex, desire, fertility, war, justice, and political power, descends into the underworld in the Sumerian myth of "Inanna's Descent to the Underworld." In this myth, Ishtar seeks to confront her sister Ereshkigal, the queen of the underworld, but she is ultimately subjected to various trials and challenges before being allowed to return to the world above.

Dionysus (Bacchus): Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, vegetation, pleasure, and festivity, is associated with several myths involving journeys to the underworld. One of the most notable is his descent to rescue his mother Semele, who was killed by Zeus's lightning bolt while pregnant with Dionysus.

Orpheus (Orphic Mysteries): In addition to the mainstream Greek myth of Orpheus, there is also the Orphic tradition, which involves a more mystical interpretation of his story. In the Orphic tradition, Orpheus's descent into the underworld represents a spiritual journey to attain knowledge and salvation.

This being the milieu of the day, Jesus' "descent into hell" would probably have been seen in this light. Also, this explains the confusion with the poetic version and the more historical version.

[EmilyTodicescu]

These videos seem to attract the ire of atheistic materialists. And they become irrationally angry if you don’t fit their false dichotomy of faith versus reason.

[timhaley]

Of "hell", it should interest sincere people who read the Bible that "hell" is NOT a place of fiery torment (and therefore no purgatory or what the Catholic church says where souls remain between "heaven and hell" until their sins are atoned for, a probationary period) and that those there can get out it.


For example, at Revelation 20:13, the King James Bible reads: "And the (symbolic) sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell (Greek hades) delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."


Due to the Catholic Douay Version and King James Bible rendering three different Greek words as "hell", which are (1) Geenna, or Gehenna (that means everlasting destruction) at Matthew 5:22, 29, 30 and 10:28 as well as 18:9 and 23:33, (2) hades, or the Grave at Revelation 20:13, and (3) Tartarus at 2 Peter 2:4, that means to be imprisoned in spiritual darkness for the rebel angels (1 Pet 3:19), it is not surprising at all that so many people have the false belief that "hell" is a place of fiery torment for the wicked, especially at Matthew 5:22, 29, 30 and 23:33.


At Jonah 2:2, the King James Bible reads: "And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell (Hebrew sheol) cried I, and thou heardest my voice." Where was Jonah when he said these words, that he was in "the belly of hell" ? Inside of a large fish and not in a fiery place.


At Acts 2:31, the apostle Peter, quoting from Psalms 16:10, told the Jews according to the King James Bible: "He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell (Greek hades), neither his flesh did see corruption." Where was Jesus when Peter said that he went to "hell" "? In the grave for parts of three days and nights, and not in a place of fiery torment.(see Matt 12:39)


So, when the King James Bible was published in 1611, what did the word "hell" mean ? This: "Old English hel(l) . Ultimately from an Indo-European word meaning “to conceal, ” which is also the ancestor of English conceal, occult, eucalyptus, and apocalypse".(Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2005)


Thus, if sincere Bible readers were to dig deeper, and reason on 1 John 4:8, that "God is love", whereby love does NOT torment people, as well as having an accurate Bible and reasoning on it, then they could see for themselves that "hell" is NOT a place of fiery torment that God established, nor Satan "runs".


Rather, it is either everlasting destruction (Greek gehenna), as at Matthew 10:28 or the grave (Greek hades) at Revelation 20:13 and Acts 2:27, 31, of which it will be emptied of all its "people" by means of a resurrection from the dead, or being in spiritual darkness (Greek tartarus) as at 2 Peter 2:4, being cut off from God, as are the angels who rebelled against him.(Note: God's name is Jehovah, see Isa 12:2, KJV)


To further show this, see Jeremiah 7:31; 19:5 and 32:35, to see how God felt about the apostate Jews burning their sons and daughters in the fire to the Ammonite god Molech while worshiping Baal, calling it an "abomination" and "sin".

[fcastellanos]

No, Jesus did not go anywhere besides the tomb when he died. Did he not say in Matthew 12:40 where he was going to be for three days and three night? In the heart of the earth, in other words dead in the tomb, so he could not have gone anywhere. 1 Peter 3:19 has to be interpreted differently.

[seanc.mcnally]

Yeah, Nah..It must mean that He went down there to 'flip em the bird' LOL!

[onionbelly_]

So did Jesus go to hell or not? "Some say he did and others say he didn't" is not really an answer to the question is it...

[haddow]

Hell is just the english word for Hades, which was the Greek word used for the Hebrew word Sheol. Sheol, as viewed by the Hebrew scriptures, was the place all people went to after they died. In the Hebrew scriptures there was no concept of immortal souls, hellfire, or heaven. The good and the bad ended up in the same state. Sheol is merely a symbolic place of the dead. The scriptures described death as being in a deep sleep where one thought or felt nothing. Bascially, the Hebrew scriptures taught that we cease to exist after death. Its concept of a soul was somethng linked to the body. Not as something that could exist separate from the body. As such, the soul died with the body.

There are a lot of things in the christian Greek scriptures that make it seem to disagree with the Hebrew scriptures.

The secret to understanding that it didn't change its view on death is in Revelations chapter 20. There it clearly speaks of many of the dead being taken out of the sea, death, and Hades. Then death and Hades, both symbolic places commonly thought of as being were the dead go, are destroyed in a lake of fire. Clearly, as they are symbolic places, they aren't really thrown or destroyed. It is conveying the idea that no more will anyone dying go to those places. Without going into a lot, they were signifying the first death, or a death where God keeps each person in his memory, so he can have them brought back to life later. If you were dead and in one of those places, you were going to be brought back to life again. When those places are destroyed, it signifies that anyone dying from that point on will not be remembered by God and will have no chance to be brought back again.

From there, it says the dead will be judged by the book of life, by their deeds. First, note how those beought back to life aren't the bad of bad of the world, as the wording surrounding being judged shows that there were good amongst the dead. This all agrees with the Hebrew scriptures so far.

Why are thay said to be the dead though, weren't they just brough out of death? This is a tricky part. It takes understanding that this is God's view of humans. Ultimately, in God's eyes, we are not actually alive if we are sinful. The term, the wages sin pays is death, speaks to this. The moment someone sins, they are bonded to death. Death owns them and will collect them. They are still alive, but in God's eyes, they are already dead, because their death is guaranteed.

God told Adam that in the day he ate from the fruit he would die, yet it said he lived for hundreds of years. In God's eyes though, Adam died that day. He was no longer a sinless man. Adam's offspring inherited Adam's defect, so sinful action wasn't even necessary.

Earlier in Revelation 20, it speaks of another group coming to life. It then says that over those the second death has no authority, power, dominion, etc. The bible describes these ones as coming to life, not because they were brought out from death, but because they were changed into sinless beings, of which death has no hold on them.

The distinction here is that the term life used here is not one of the life and death we humans experience, but their status of being alive in God's eyes.

So, later on, when it speaks of the dead being judged, it isn't speaking of some immortal souls pulled out of some place, but actualy living people brought back to life in new bodies, but still with their same sinful bodies as before.

Notice how during this chapter it speaks of Jesus thousand year reign. To reign, one has to reign over people. Also notice, before the book of life is used to judge people, scrolls were opened that are clearly spoken of separately from the book of life.

Adding to this, keep in mind what it means when the bible says the wages sin pays is death. When anyone sins, they earned death. Death was Adam's punishment and is the same punishment we all face. Nothing more, nothing less.

So, when the dead are brought out from the sea, death, and Hades, they've already faced the concequences for their sins during their life. They died. After death, those sins cannot be used against them again. You cannot die twice for the same death. This is why the bible describes sin and death in the context of prices and values. Sin buys death, not two deaths. Adding a second death to the scales would imbalance them and make it unjust.

So, these people are brough back to life, live during the thousand year reign under Jesus, without the devil, and get a real chance to learn about God and how to live the live he claims is the best one for humans. The scrolls being opened will be telling everyone about God and how to live in that era.

Then, once the thousand year reign ended, Satan will be released and everyone will have the choice to choose to live the way of life God recommends or another way. That is when everyone will be judged by the book of life. The actions they are judged by are those they made during the thousand year reign, not the ones in their first life.

Any not making it there will experience the second death. The permanent death. It is claimed to be torturous, but the whole bible claims the dead are not able to think or feel. This torture is easily explained by the modern saying, someone is spinning in their grave. In the bible, it was very significant how one was remembered after they died. It even claimed the day of a person's death was better than the day of their birth, because at their dearh, they had given meaning to their name. They're record for faith and actions was set. For those who die the second death, the only rememberance of them will be that they failed and sided against God. Their names become infamous. Hilter is a name like that. In a way, it can be said that they way most of the world remembers hitler tortures him, because that is how he would have liked to have been remembered.

Just to add a little more biblical evidence to this, look at all fhe resurrections of the dead in the bible. They span from the Hebrew to the Christian greek scriptures. One was a personal friend of Jesus and some others were young children, so few would claim they were brought back from hellfire. Yet, think about what it would mean if things like immortal souls and heaven as the place all good go were teachings in the bible. All the resurrections were spoken of as wonderous miracles and how happy everyone was. Yet, how happy would someone be to be taken out of heaven and put back into a sinful body in a world filled with suffering? How happy would they be, if they had been judged worthy of being in heaven, to have that judgement undone, and be open to failing and losing heaven altogether? It would be like a form of torture.

No, during the Hebrew and christian Greek scriptures, the bible held that death was a state of not existing anymore. So, Jesus, after his death, ceased to exist at all, except in God's memory.

[reesesmith]

Jesus bore our iniquities, became sin who knew no sin, and died.
He went to to the place of the dead with our inquiries, sin, and with death…and He left them there coming out of the grave 3 days later.
If his life is in us and we are in him..when our bodies die..where does those who have LIFE go…to be with the one they are 1 with.

So yes..he went to hell/hades/sheol…but he didnt got to the “lake of fire”..which we try to make the same as Hades sometimes. In the lake of fire there is LIFE..only death

[kameelffarag]

A lot of the writings are man’s inspiration from within, not God’s revelation. Which is faith in unseen God manifested in a man Jesus, as the appearance of the logos, answering all the relevant questions. These answers are summarised in 3 things.
The love of the father to his sinful son in the parable of the prodigal son. 2. The failure of religions, to save us from our spiritual degradation, in the parable of the Good Samaritan . 3. The humility and the sufferings of Jesus to means that God shares in our sufferings and sympathise to us.
The last one needs a lot of explanation, because it may mean that God was not able to make a better world without suffering, but the scientific fact that all material creation is by its nature cannot be but infallible, not because of stupid sin or any such a thing. The answer is in Romans 8:20.

[mr.c]

I can visualize NT as a sixth grader. Plump little kid sitting by himself at lunchtime self consciously munching on his pbj sandwich 🥪 in anticipation of thoroughly enjoying the hostess chocolate pie that his mom knows he loves.

[yvonnegordon]

it is written, I CREATE EVIL and I FORM the good:

this shows us nature creates everything evil and out of the creation it FORMS THE GOOD but what good is it forming?

Jesus for instance is born with the announcement, PEACE on earth, GOOD will to MAN:

Man then is the creature that is being formed INTO MAN (neither male or female, neither Greek or Jew):

Religion is the process of being FORMED out of the creation from a creature to a HIGHER INTELLIGENCE called "MAN" in the Bible: Males and females are animate but no animal on any level is called MAN except for the IMAGE and LIKENESS of God in the Bible:

Going from creature to MAN is the WHOLE LANGUAGE of the Bible: It is a CODE that the MAN must break to overcome being a creature which is why it is written, the WHOLE CREATION is groaning, waiting for the MAN I festation of the sons of God:

So sons of God are FORMED within the creature because this whole process is a STRONG DELUSION (I believe a simulation) to teach us about this transition where in the end, NO CREATURE is actually harmed but it seems so real that we experience it from life to death physically, which is really DEATH to life, spiritually:



as for this video, the Bible simply explains, the body returns to dust (sheol) and the Spirit returns to God from where it comes:

What this shows us is the SPIRIT and BODY are separate but when COMBINED, they FORM THE SOUL (hence the LORD blew the neshama (higher soul) into the nose of Adam and he became a LIVING NESHAMA (breath of God that works as the candle of the LORD searching the inward part:

Adam began as the COMBINATION of SPIRIT and BODY to make a LIVING SOUL (this is the goal of the creator: A LIVING SOUL) not a living body which is the creature already created):

THE LIVING SOUL is able to transcend the body and live without the body in a NEW BODY that no longer dies: If you believe it or not, the point is God SENT HIS SEED (of light, of the neshama) into exile with Adam when Adam lost the neshama, so in the FULLNESS of TIME (when the male and female redeem the time, the creation redeems the time of evil, or nature alone) and RISES BY THE POWER OF THE NESHAMA once again to make the LAST ADAM (the life giving SPIRITUAL MAN) whose BODY we become COLLECTIVELY

Adam was meant to be the Messiah but God took him the long way home by first DIVIDING HIM in nature and then gathering him as the SOUL OF ONE NEW MAN, the LAST ADAM, a many membered body whose head is Christ and God is IN CHRIST, in the ANOINTING, reconciling the world to himself.

SO GOD had to go to hell to redeem us and does so in the ANOINTING that we receive when we reach the END of the vessel of vanity or carnal mind that only sees through the five physical senses:

[jessepelaez]

The answer is that 1Peter, is taking that from Enoch and not original. As Bart ehrman explain in his rebuttal to James whites.

[unripetheberrby]

That seems like a rather good idea to have about it. :)

[mikebrown]

Jesus and the thief on the stake beside him both went to hades when they died. Jesus arose 72 hours later, the thief is still awaiting his resurrection.

[Outspoken.Humanist]

No. He was just a man. He died and he rotted away to nothing. That's merely my opinion of course but it's as valid as any other because there is absolutely no evidence that anything supernatural even exists.
I respect everyone's right to hold whatever beliefs suit them and, for all i know, some of them might be right (not all of them, of course) but i do have a question; what's the point of speculation regarding something for which no-one has any relevant information whatsoever? What are you seeking to gain that cannot be found in your holy book and church?

[garycpriestley]

Cool story bro.... unsure why anyone believes it... but each to their credulous own I suppose.

[Truthseek]

Jesus went on picnic for 3 days to see his real estate(He’ll) which he created