That was the question I got from a dear brother. I had been recently challenged on that topic by a member of my SS Class.
My response:
“Two passages are cited for proof that Jesus went to Hell:
1. Eph. 4:9-10
2. 1 Pet. 3:18-20
Both seem to confirm that Jesus went to hell. But that raises some serious questions:
1. For whom did Jesus go to hell? Since hell is eternal damnation, and if Jesus went there for sinners, should He not still be there?
2. Since lost sinners go to hell for eternity (Rev. 20:10, 15),why would the Savior go there and cannot release them. My understanding:
1.The Ephesian passage, I believe, is a reference to Jesus’ 1st coming from heaven all the way to “the lower parts of the earth” (his grave) from where He resurrected and later ascended to “fill all things”(Eph. 4:12).
2.The 1 Peter 3 passage, I believe, refers to the time when Christ preached by the Holy Spirit through Noah to the sinners before the flood, but by the time Peter wrote his epistle they were referred to as “the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water” (1 Peter 3:19-20).
My conclusion:
I personally believe Jesus did only what was necessary - die for sinners and resurrect from the dead (1 Cor. 15:1-4). Hell is a mysterious but real place where the sinners’ destination is firm and fixed. There is no recourse nor purgatory. Thus, it was unnecessary for Jesus to go there. I’m willing to be challenged.
Blessings!
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