Whether Christ Made Any Stay in Hell?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ did not make any stay in hell.
For Christ went down into hell to deliver men from thence. But He
accomplished this deliverance at once by His descent, for, according
to Ecclus. 11:23: "It is easy in the eyes of God on a sudden to make
the poor man rich." Consequently He does not seem to have tarried in
hell.
Obj. 2: Further, Augustine says in a sermon on the Passion (clx) that
"of a sudden at our Lord and Saviour's bidding all 'the bars of iron
were burst'" (Cf. Isa. 45:2). Hence on behalf of the angels
accompanying Christ it is written (Ps. 23:7, 9): "Lift up your gates,
O ye princes." Now Christ descended thither in order to break the
bolts of hell. Therefore He did not make any stay in hell.
Obj. 3: Further, it is related (Luke 23:43) that our Lord while
hanging on the cross said to the thief: "This day thou shalt be with
Me in paradise": from which it is evident that Christ was in paradise
on that very day. But He was not there with His body, for that was in
the grave. Therefore He was there with the soul which had gone down
into hell: and consequently it appears that He made no stay in hell.
_On the contrary,_ Peter says (Acts 2:24): "Whom God hath raised up,
having loosed the sorrows of hell, as it was impossible that He
should be held by it." Therefore it seems that He remained in hell
until the hour of the Resurrection.
_I answer that,_ As Christ, in order to take our penalties upon
Himself, willed His body to be laid in the tomb, so likewise He
willed His soul to descend into hell. But the body lay in the tomb
for a day and two nights, so as to demonstrate the truth of His
death. Consequently, it is to be believed that His soul was in hell,
in order that it might be brought back out of hell simultaneously
with His body from the tomb.
Reply Obj. 1: When Christ descended into hell He delivered the saints
who were there, not by leading them out at once from the confines of
hell, but by enlightening them with the light of glory in hell
itself. Nevertheless it was fitting that His soul should abide in
hell as long as His body remained in the tomb.
Reply Obj. 2: By the expression "bars of hell" are understood the
obstacles which kept the holy Fathers from quitting hell, through the
guilt of our first parent's sin; and these bars Christ burst asunder
by the power of His Passion on descending into hell: nevertheless He
chose to remain in hell for some time, for the reason stated above.
Reply Obj. 3: Our Lord's expression is not to be understood of the
earthly corporeal paradise, but of a spiritual one, in which all are
said to be who enjoy the Divine glory. Accordingly, the thief
descended locally into hell with Christ, because it was said to him:
"This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise"; still as to reward he
was in paradise, because he enjoyed Christ's Godhead just as the
other saints did.
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