"Did Jesus go to hell?" The Apostles' Creed affirms this, which makes "He descended into hell" one of the most contentious lines of the Creed. Some would argue that Jesus is God and therefore could not go to hell. Others would argue that if Jesus did not go to hell, how could he have fully taken on our sin and therefore provide forgiveness from it? But what if this "contention", like so many things in life and scripture, is due to something lost in translation? Maybe more clarity would come if we took some time to ask "what did the writers mean?" If the Apostles' Creed is the basics of what Christians believe, we need to understand why Jesus descended into hell and what we mean by believing that. Peter's first sermon in Jerusalem, and Jesus' prayer in the garden, will help us better understand what is going on here and why it is so important as to be included in the Creed and that we believe it.
