Dr Paul Allen

J. Gresham Machen, in his prescient and potent little book Christianity and Liberalism, argued that Christianity is “an event-centered religion.” Christianity is based on historical events. Something happened in history, and all that man is, believes, and does is based on these events—events that occurred in history.  Chief among these historical events is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Paul so aptly put it, if Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead, we are the world’s most pitiable fools, and rather than following Christ, we ought to “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32). But because Christ has been raised from the dead, Christians frame their entire lives in the light of the resurrection.  In short, we live resurrection lives that reflect our hope in the resurrected Christ. As central as the resurrection is to the Christian life, it is not the end of the work of Christ. After Christ was raised from the dead, He “ascended up into heaven,” as...

I believe. These two words are among the most explosive words any human can utter. They open the door to eternal life and are the foundation of the Christian faith. Belief stands as the very centre of Christian faithfulness and is where Christianity begins for the Christian. We enter the faith and find eternal life in Christ by responding to the truth with trust—that is, with belief. But Christianity is not a belief in belief. It is a belief in a propositional truth: that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and saviour of sinners. We do not believe in a Christ of our imagination but in the Christ of Scripture—the Christ believed in by every generation of true Christians. Furthermore, beyond belief in Christ stands belief in everything Jesus taught his disciples. Matthew recorded that Jesus instructed his disciples to teach others to observe all that he had commanded them (Matt. 28:18–20). Therefore, there is no Christianity without belief, without teaching, and without obedience...

The question has to do with whether or not Jesus went to Hell after the cross and why the Apostle’s Creed reads that Christ “descended into hell” (descendit ad inferna). The problem is confounded in that not only does the phrase appear in the Apostles Creed , but it also is arguably insinuated in Acts 2:25-31, Romans 10:6-7, Ephesians 4:7-10, 1 Peter 3:18-20 and 1 Peter 4:6. (1) The Apostles Creed is unlike the Nicene Creed or the Chalcedonian Definition in that it wasn’t a creed written by a church council but rather a summary statement of belief that evolved from a Roman Baptismal formula in the 2nd century and was expanded and edited for roughly 5 centuries .   The phrase “descended into hell” didn’t become a standard element of the Apostle’s Creed until at least the mid 7th century. [2] The first recorded occurrence of the phrase “descended into hell” appears in the version of the creed used in the church in Aquileia that is commented upon by Rufinus i...

Nicene Creed, P.Oxy.XVII 2067 Русский: Никейский символ, P.Oxy.XVII 2067 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (v. 6)   —  Galatians 4:6–7 When we recite creeds and confessions, we usually read things like the Westminster Confession and the Nicene Creed , statements that have defined the boundaries of Christian orthodoxy in the post-apostolic age. Yet it should be noted that creeds and confessions were also central to worship and discipleship during the time of the apostles, and the New Testament apparently records many creedal statements from the first-century church. Philippians 2:5–11, for example, is probably a confessional hymn that Paul incorporated into his epistle. Galatians 4:4–5 and its succinct presentation of the roles of the Father and the Son in redemption is likely an early Christian creed as well. Appending verse 6 to this confession gives us an expression o...

Gaudenzio Ferrari's Stories of the Life and Passion of Christ, fresco, 1513, Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Varallo Sesia, Italy. Depicting the life of Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Papyrus Bodmer VIII, Original: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Deutsch: Zwei Seiten aus einem Petrusbrief aus dem 3. Jahrhundert nach Christus, Papyrus Bodmer VIII, Original in der Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Italiano: Papiro Bodmer VIII - Papiro 72, originale dalla Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; fine della Prima lettera di Pietro e inizio della Seconda lettera di Pietro (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Illumination of Christ before Pilate Deutsch: Jesus vor Pilatus (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The Apostles’ Creed says, “[He] was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead.” There are many meanings given to this phrase. I simply want to ponder the traditional interpretation that Christ went to th...

Image via Wikipedia For hundreds of years Christians believed that the twelve apostles were the authors of the widely known creed that bears their name. According to an ancient theory, the twelve composed the creed with each apostle adding a clause to form the whole.  Today practically all scholars understand this theory of apostolic composition to be legendary. Nevertheless, many continue to think of the creed as apostolic in nature because its basic teachings are agreeable to the theological formulations of the apostolic age. The full form in which the creed now appears stems from about A.D. 700:   I believe in GOD THE FATHER almighty ; Maker of heaven and earth. And in JESUS CHRIST his only begotten Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary ; suffered under Pontius Pilate , was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven; and sitteth at the right hand of God the...

Image via Wikipedia “I thought Jesus didn't descend into hell! Just that he suffered the death we deserved.” The answer is: yes and no! The question raises complex issues that cannot be easily answered in a short space. So let me take a long space. (And if you are interested, read on, read slowly, and re-read if you need!) There are a couple of complicating factors. The first is how we use the English word, ‘hell’ to translate various Hebrew and Greek words . The second is the history and meaning of the phrase in the Apostles' Creed , “he descended into hell”. Let me now try and unpack these issues in turn. The various uses of ‘hell’ in translating the Bible into English The English word ‘hell’ often does double duty in translating words from the original biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek. The Hebrew word ‘ Sheol ’ is pretty much a close equivalent of the Greek word, ‘ Hades ’. These words (especially ‘Sheol’) can refer simply to the grave, where bodies decay. But mor...