Did Jesus Go to Hell After He Died? What the Bible Says

The Bible says Jesus truly died and entered the realm of the dead, but it does not teach that he went to suffer in the place of final punishment. When the King James Version says Christ's soul was "not left in hell," the word is Hades, the place of the dead in general. Jesus told the dying thief, "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." A few passages, especially 1 Peter 3:19, are read in different ways, and the creed's phrase "he descended into hell" has been explained differently by different churches.

Here is what Scripture says and how to read it.

Why the Word "Hell" Confuses Us

The King James Version uses "hell" to translate different words:

• Sheol (Hebrew) and Hades (Greek): the realm of the dead, where all the dead were understood to go.
• Gehenna (Greek): the place of final judgment, which Jesus describes as fire.

So when Peter quotes Psalm 16 about Jesus, the meaning is "the grave" or "the realm of the dead":

Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Acts 2:27 (KJV)

He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

Acts 2:31 (KJV)

The point is not that Jesus suffered in hell, but that he truly died, and that death could not hold him.

What Jesus Said on the Cross

Jesus' own words point away from a time of further suffering after death:

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

John 19:30 (KJV)

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

Luke 23:46 (KJV)

And to the thief: "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). His work of bearing sin was "finished" on the cross. His spirit was in the Father's hands.

"The Heart of the Earth"

Jesus also said:

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matthew 12:40 (KJV)

Most readers take "the heart of the earth" to mean the grave and the realm of the dead. Paul uses similar language:

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

Ephesians 4:8–10 (KJV)

"The lower parts of the earth" is read by some as Hades, and by others as simply the earth itself, contrasted with heaven.

The Spirits in Prison

The most debated passage is in 1 Peter:

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering 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 3:18–20 (KJV)

Christians have read it in three main ways:

1. Christ proclaimed victory to fallen spirits after his death or at his resurrection, announcing their defeat.
2. Christ preached to the dead of Noah's generation, giving a message of judgment or of hope (some connect this with 1 Peter 4:6).
3. Christ preached through Noah in Noah's own day, by the Spirit, to people who are now "in prison."

The text is short and the details are uncertain. What is clear is the context: Christ suffered once for sins, was raised, and is now over "angels and authorities and powers" (1 Peter 3:22).

"He Descended Into Hell"

The Apostles' Creed includes the line "he descended into hell." Churches explain it in different ways:

• Many say it means Jesus truly entered the state of death, and translate it "he descended to the dead."
• Catholic and Orthodox traditions speak of Christ going to the righteous dead to bring them into his victory, sometimes called the "harrowing of hell."
• John Calvin read it as describing the spiritual agony Jesus bore on the cross.

All of these agree on the essentials: Jesus really died, he did not stay dead, and his death defeated death.

The Keys in His Hand

The risen Jesus says:

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Revelation 1:18 (KJV)

Wherever the Bible's language about Christ's descent points, it ends here: the one who went into death came out holding its keys. For what the Bible says awaits believers after death, see what happens when you die?