Why Catholics Say Jesus “Descended Into Hell”

Every Sunday, millions of Catholics recite the Apostles’ Creed, professing that after Jesus died, He "descended into hell."

But what does that actually mean?

Did Jesus literally enter the Hell of the damned? Was He suffering there? Or are we talking about Purgatory?

The answer is none of these.

Christ’s descent was not another moment of suffering. It was a moment of victory: the Savior entered the realm of the dead to announce His triumph and free the righteous who had awaited Him.

The Abode of the Dead: Sheol and Hades

In Scripture and early Christian language, the "hell" into which Christ descended refers to Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek: the abode of the dead.

This must be distinguished from Gehenna, the Hell of eternal damnation.

Before Christ’s saving work was accomplished, even the righteous who died could not yet enjoy the beatific vision of God. The patriarchs, prophets, and other righteous souls awaited the promised Redeemer.

Tradition often speaks of their state as the Limbo of the Fathers or Abraham’s Bosom, recalling Christ’s words in Luke 16:22.

They were deprived of the vision of God, but their condition was not the same as that of the damned. They awaited the One who would open Heaven.

So Was It Hell or Purgatory?

Neither.

Jesus did not descend into the Hell of eternal damnation, and He did not descend into Purgatory.

The word "hell" in the Creed is being used in an older and broader sense: the abode of the dead.

Within this realm, the righteous who died before Christ awaited the coming of the Redeemer. Catholic tradition calls their state the Limbo of the Fathers or Abraham’s Bosom.