You ask a frequently asked question. I would encourage you to read my article, “In Defense of the Descendit: A Confessional Response to Contemporary Critics of Christ’s Descent into Hell,” in The Confessional Presbyterian (2007), which is now online for free:

http://www.cpjournal.com/articles/in-defense-of-the-descendit-by/

Rev. Danny Hyde
Oceanside URC
Oceanside/Carlsbad, CA

Thanks for emailing. While the Apostles’ Creed is not on the same level as the Scriptures, in terms of authority, it is a tried and true part of church tradition. That is, the church has approved this creed as an accurate summary of true Christian belief. That includes the phrase, “He descended into hell.”

As you point out, our church does not believe that Jesus literally descended into hell. Rather, as the Heidelberg Catechism question and answer teaches, Jesus figuratively descended into hell by which it means Jesus’ life on earth was marked by intense suffering and then He faced the Father’s wrath on the cross.

The phrase occurs after the Creed states that Jesus was crucified, dead and buried. The phrase, “He descended into Hell,” is a summary statement of Christ’s humiliation in His life and death. The language is figurative and helps to express the extreme nature of Jesus’ suffering on the behalf of Christians. The Scriptures are very comfortable with figurative language. In particular there are several passages (e.g. Isaiah 14) in which Hades (the word in the orginal version of the Creed) or Sheol is used to denote agony.

One more thing - we should not allow false views of this phrase (e.g. that Jesus literally went to hell) to control our usuage of a phrase that the church has held dear.

I hope that helps.

[thanks for your post. I would encourage you to make contact with the URC church plant in Sioux Falls at http://www.siouxcenterurc.org/, I am sure they will be able to help you]