On the Articles: Article III

The Third Sunday in Lent

WE beseech thee, Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of thy humble servants, and stretch forth the right hand of thy Majesty, to be our defence against all our enemies; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lent

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

III. Of the going down of Christ into Hell
As Christ died for us, and was buried, so also is it to be believed, that he went down into Hell.

 The third Article of Religion recalls the credal proclamation of Christ’s descent to hell following his crucifixion. In the Book of Alternative Services, this line is rendered “descended to the dead” but in the original BCP language, was rendered “he descended into hell.” There has been much theological ink spilled trying to determine which rendering is more accurate. Many proponents of excising the language of hell from the creeds today do so not because of the arguments in favour of the sheol or Hades but simply because they wish to minimize references to hell given its negative connotations and associations.

What this ignores is that when we say Christ descended into hell, it makes a statement on Christ’s suffering. His suffering did not end at his physical death on the cross. He bore humanity’s sins even to hell. Had he not done so he would not have shared in the full human punishment for sin.

There is also a second important reason for this, and that has to do with what is called the harrowing of Hell. This is the term used to describe the meaning of this passage in reference to I St Pt 3. 18-20:

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

It is the, admittedly limited, explanation of how Christ reached out to those who had died before his coming. St Peter writes that he preached to the dead, though it does not make clear what the response to that offering of gospel truth was. It speaks to the fact that Christ’s truth is to be preached to all and for all, those who came before and those who are yet to come. It is an eternal truth, applicable for the salvation of all humanity.

All of this dances around the broader issue of affirming not simply that Christ descended to hell, and implying the reason for it, but also that there is indeed a hell. Most of what the New Testament tells us about hell comes from Christ himself who warned against eternal separation from God several times.

Neither Christ in the Gospels nor any of the other Biblical authors are particularly clear on exactly what hell is. Much like asking the exact way in which God created the universe, that is the wrong question to be asking. Christ makes it clear that separation from God inherent in hell is  undesirable, so the real questions becomes how do we avoid that separation?

Article III affirms, however distasteful to modern sensibilities, that Hell exists, but also that Christ went down into hell. In doing so, he overturned death, as is constantly affirmed in the New Testament. Christ’s sacrifice has paved the way for us all to live a life not of eternal suffering through separation from God, but in oneness with God, just as the Father and the Son are one. The resurrection is true. Christ did not simply recover. He truly died and truly rose.

Many modern Christians affirm a form of gnosticism that seems to suggest that we have it all together. That, “it’s all good,” and nothing needs to change. In the Articles of Religion we affirm the Catholic view—held by all Christians—that it is in fact not all good and that it is only through Christ that we are set aright. It may be easier to believe the former, but it is the truth to believe the latter. No matter how difficult or how unpleasant a reality, this is the universe God has created and the rules he wills it to operate under. Just as Christ preached to the dead, so we have been told the reality in which we live and are left with the freedom of how we are going to respond.