Christ’s Descent Into Hell
In the Apostles’ Creed the early church confessed that Christ “descended into hell.” There has always been controversy surrounding this particular article.
For one thing, many have taught that Christ actually went to the place called hell after His death and before His resurrection. They appeal to I Peter 3:18-20 as proof. These verses, however, speak of something that took place “through the Spirit” and after the resurrection. Moreover, the idea that Christ was in hell after His death contradicts His own word to the dying thief, “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Others teach that, if the descent into hell means anything, it refers to the time that Christ was in the grave. This explanation corresponds most closely to the one passage of Scripture in which Christ is spoken of as being in hell, Psalm 16:10: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” The second part of the verse, referring to corruption, together with the previous verse, which refers to Christ’s flesh, suggests that Psalm 16:10 speaks of His burial.
Acts 2:31, therefore, quotes Psalm 16:10 in reference to the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Thus the Westminster Larger Catechism says, “Christ’s humiliation after his death consisted in his being buried, and continuing in the state of the dead, and under the power of death till the third day; which hath been otherwise expressed in these words, He descended into hell” (Q. & A. 50).
However, the word “hell” in Acts 2:31 is a term that, in every other instance in the New Testament, refers to the place of eternal punishment. There must be a sense, then, in which Christ was not only in the grave, but also in hell, though not in that place itself. We believe, therefore, that Christ was in hell in this sense: that during His suffering on the cross He experienced what the Heidelberg Catechism calls “the anguish and torments of hell” (Q. & A. 44).
He expressed this in the fourth cross word, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” To be cast out of God’s presence and to be forsaken by Him is what hell is. That is what Christ endured.
Whether, then, Christ’s descent into hell refers to His burial, to what He endured on the cross, or to both, it reminds us of His inexpressible suffering. It also reminds us that by His suffering and death He has delivered our souls from the lowest hell. And not only that, but by those same sufferings He has earned for all His people a place in everlasting glory in the presence of God and of the holy angels. There, not only He, but we with Him, shall enjoy everlasting glory and blessedness. Rev. Ron Hanko
The Salvation of All Israel (2)
“And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins” (Rom. 11:26-27).
In our article in the last News we spoke of two interpretations of this passage: one holds to the idea that at some still-in-the-future time God would save the Jews. The other holds that throughout the entire New Testament dispensation God is saving “Israel.”
We also pointed out that both these interpretations have two variations. The first view is held by some who teach that in the future will come a time when every single Jew, head for head, will be saved. The second view is that, while not every Jew head for head will be saved, the nation of Israel will be saved, some time in the future.
Those who hold to the view that “Israel” is being saved from the time of Pentecost till today are also of two minds. Some, as John Calvin, hold that by the word “Israel” is meant the whole church composed of Jews and Gentiles. Others, however, who hold that this text is being fulfilled throughout the New Testament dispensation, believe that the reference is to the Jews only.
I mentioned last time that in this article I am following the position of Herman Hoeksema in his book God’s Eternal Good Pleasure, because I believe this to be the correct interpretation.
Paul’s point in the whole discussion in Romans 9-11 is to show that God’s word is always fulfilled, also His word with respect to the Jews. They were the people of God and they occupied a special place in God’s plan and purpose (9:4-5). How is God’s purpose with respect to the Jews realized so that His word is kept?
Romans 11 especially explains that the nation of Israel as a nation was rejected by God to make room for the Gentiles (11:7-12). The picture is of an olive tree. The olive tree is the nation of Israel. Many branches of that nation were broken off that tree to make room for the Gentiles (11:17). They lie, so to speak, at the bottom of the tree. The Gentiles, branches from a wild olive tree, are grafted into the cultivated olive tree (11:17-21). These branches, whether broken off the domesticated olive tree or grafted into it from a wild olive tree, are not individuals but generations.
Now, the point of the apostle is that God has not gone back on His word with respect to Israel because, even though throughout the New Testament dispensation wild branches are grafted in, the natural branches, once cut off, are also regrafted (11:23). The result is that “all Israel shall be saved.”
“All Israel” cannot refer to the whole nation head for head because it has never, in all the history of the world, been true that every Jew was saved (9:6). The children of the promise are always counted as the seed of Abraham (7-8).
Nor is it possible that the text refers to some future salvation of the nation. This would be entirely out of keeping with the entire context. Paul is saying nothing about any future salvation of the Jewish nation. Further, as Hoeksema points out, those who want this interpretation have to change the little word “so” in the text to “then.” Verse 25 speaks of “the fullness of the Gentiles.” Verse 26, if it referred to a future conversion of the nation, would read: “And then,” i.e. after the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in, “all Israel shall be saved.” But the text does not say “then,” it says “so.”
Calvin’s interpretation is plausible. Calvin holds that the word “Israel” refers to the whole church. That Scripture sometimes speaks of the whole church, both Jews and Gentiles, as “Israel” is simply a fact (see, e.g. Gal. 6:16). The difficulty is that Paul is speaking throughout of the Jews, and it would be a radical change in thought if suddenly in verse 26 he used the word “Israel” to refer to both Jews and Gentiles.
And so the context seems to point clearly to the fact that “Israel” refers to the elect Jews, who throughout the New Testament dispensation are saved along with the Gentiles. The wild olive branches are grafted into the domesticated olive tree, the salvation of the Gentiles, during this period of time (17-21); but the elect remnant of the Jews (11:5 is crucial here) is also being saved because, although they were cut off from their own olive tree, they can be and are grafted back in (23-24). Thus the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in (25) at the same time that the natural branches are being grafted into their own olive tree, and “so all Israel shall be saved” (26).
And so it has happened. Throughout all of this dispensation a remnant from the Jews has been saved and brought into the church. It has been true, it is true today and it will be true until Christ comes back. Prof. Herman Hanko
When Are We Justified?
One of our readers has written suggesting that our teaching concerning justification is not the traditional Reformed teaching. He writes, “The majority of Reformed theologians regard justification as something that takes place in a believer’s life, that is, in time (Eph. 2:3). However, the Protestant Reformed Church seems to deny that justification is a real favour applied to us during our earthly lives.”
The concern is that the PRC and CPRC teach eternal justification and thereby deny the necessity of Christ’s death on the cross and of saving faith. It is evident that if we were actually justified in eternity, the cross would not be necessary and justification by faith would be undermined.
There are passages in Scripture that speak of justification as already accomplished for all God’s people and therefore as something that precedes their believing. Numbers 23:21 is such a passage: “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.” Note the past tense. However, in the light of those passages that teach justification by faith, this verse must be understood as referring to God’s eternal decree to justify His elect.
There are also passages that speak of a justification accomplished in connection with Christ’s death and resurrection (Isa. 53:11; Rom. 4:25). These, however, speak of the legal basis of our justification. In other words, through the death and resurrection of Christ, the gift of justification is secured for us. It does not become ours in actuality until we believe.
Similarly, some of the older Puritan theologians speak of justification as prior to faith. Rutherford, for example, writes, “The elect are always, even before they believe, free from condemnation, in and on account of the death of Christ” (Samuel Rutherford, Exercitationes Apologeticae pro Divina Gratia, c. 2, p. 56; Latin original: “Semper enim electi, etiam antequam credant, sunt in, et propter Christi mortem, immunes a condemnation”). These words should not be understood as denying justification by faith, but as recognising what passages such as Isaiah 53:11 and Romans 4:25 teach.
We have no objection, therefore, to the expression “eternal justification,” if by it is meant that God decreed our justification from eternity. But that is not always what is intended. It is better, therefore, to speak of justification from eternity and to reject the idea of justification in eternity.
In rejecting the notion that we are justified in eternity, we also reject the idea that justification by faith merely refers to receiving the knowledge or assurance of justification. Scripture teaches that in justification faith is counted as righteousness before God (Rom. 4:3, 5). Through faith we are united to Christ and made partakers of His perfect righteousness (Phil. 3:9; I Cor. 1:30). To say that faith is counted as righteousness is to say far more than that we receive assurance. It is by faith that we are justified before God (Rom. 5:1; Gal. 2:16).
We also reject the teaching that justification is made available to all through the death of Christ and depends on man’s decision whether to receive it. Romans 8:30 makes clear that there is an inseparable connection between election and justification, so that only the elect are justified. The same is true of justification and the cross. The gift of justification is not made available to all, but is purchased only for the elect. Only their sins are paid for and blotted out. Only for them is Christ made righteousness (I Cor. 1:30). Only for them is that righteousness available, and only they receive it by faith, which is itself the gift of God (Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29). Rev. Ron Hanko
