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DOGMATICS 2
LESSON 33
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>> Dr. Scaer, you didn't mention the descent into hell.
>> DR. DAVID SCAER: Eric, thanks for pointing that out.
Because I actually was going to direct most of my answer in your
previous question to the descent into hell. And I got off the
topic. But I don't feel badly about that because St. Paul in
explaining the life of Christ frequently gets off the topic and
speaks about his own Apostleship.
So I guess I can fall under the same century that applies
to him. The descent into hell is one of those articles in the
Creed of which there's not too much agreed opinion on what that
really means. So it's very unusual that even the churches that
use the Creed and even those that don't but recognize it as
authoritative, they are agreed on the other items. But they are
not agreed on the phrase the descent into hell.
I think the typical response about -- the response about
the descent into hell as one good lady said, "How could a good
man like Jesus go to hell?" And then if you're new in the
church and you hear the Creed for the first time he descended
into hell. It almost sounds like it's not the best possible
language to be using in church.
There have been many explanations of what this meant.
That the Roman Catholic Church doesn't just have one opinion
about the descent into hell. But the most popular view -- it's
kind of attractive even though it's probably not right -- is
that the Old Testament saints were not eligible to go into
heaven because Christ had not yet died for sins.
So they went to an intermediate place. You know, the
name for the intermediate place is called limbo. It's called
the ***limbo proctorim, the place were Old Testament fathers
went. And he released them out of that particular condition to
go into heaven. That's what they call the descent into hell.
John Calvin thought that Jesus did not suffer enough on
the cross so to have a little bit more suffering, he went to
hell to suffer. Another opinion is -- and it's very widely held
-- is that he simply went to the dead. If you've -- if you're
acquainted with the hymnal that's used in some churches,
including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America the ELCA,
you will see either in the text of the Creed or in the footnote
he went to the dead. And that's problematic. Because what does
that mean? Does that mean he was buried? But the Creed already
says that.
Does it mean he went to some indeterminate place where
all dead people go, some kind of fuzzy place? I think the best
explanation is the one which is offered by Luther and which is
contained in the Formula of Concord in Article IX. And that is
that -- well, let's deal with the time.
Let's deal with the time factor. The death of Jesus
happens at the ninth hour, which would be 3 p.m. our time. He's
buried before sundown. Being close to the springy equinox, it
would have been close to 6 p.m. And the ancient -- the cities
of the ancient world were not that widespread. He was buried in
the vicinity of Golgotha where he was crucified. Remember they
had to go and ask Pilate if they could take the body down?
You know, today it's a crime to move a body. And it's
always been a crime. And you know that to take a body across
state lines, you have to have a death certificate. You can't
just take a body.
And so they had to take the body down. They had to get
the certificate. Get to Pilate. Get the certificate. Then
move the body and he was buried. And he was buried very
rapidly. He was not given -- the shroud -- he was buried in a
shroud which would be a body bag, a temporary container for a
body before a proper burial. Because we know that the proper
burial was going to happen on Sunday.
He was in the grave for three days and three nights. Now
some people get confused by that phrase and say, "Well, if he
was dead on Friday and he rose on Sunday morning, well, that's
not three days and three nights. Maybe he rose on Monday or
maybe he was put to death on Thursday."
Well, the phrase raised on the third day simply means on
the day after tomorrow. Let me give you an example and that is
when they say that you can have a hotel room for three days and
two nights. That means from 4:00 o'clock on Friday to 10:00
o'clock on Sunday. It's not even 48 hours. It simply means the
day after the next day. You count -- it's a way of counting
days.
The resurrection happened some time according to our
calendar after sundown on Saturday night. The Jewish day begins
at sundown. Not at sunrise. It begins at sundown.
So the resurrection happened during that -- happened some
time before the morning. We don't agree with John Calvin that
the angel had to roll the stone away so that Jesus could get out
of the grave. We reject that belief entirely.
Some time according to our calendar on Saturday Jesus
entered into a state of glorification. The state of
glorification for Jesus meant that his soul and his body were
reunited. And in that one moment, he appeared in hell. No
longer as the victim. No longer as the suffering crucified
criminal. But as the victor.
And it was an instantaneous thing. He was seen in all of
the diabolical realms. Because it was not only a question that
by his death he made atonement for sins, but by his death he
satisfied the claims that Satan was leveling against us. And he
basically wanted to show Satan where to go. And some of these
things are picked up on our Easter hymns. The strife is over.
The victory is won. And that is something which is sometimes
lost in our theology that we see -- we see the death of Jesus
simply as payment for sins and suffering rather than seeing this
as being a victory celebration.
I don't think that descent into hell can really be
understood unless a person has been -- has been a fan at a high
school or a college football game. There is something great
about watching a team that's behind and is weak coming in to win
the game. And that's Christ. From his humiliation, he beat
Satan on his own turf. It's like tearing down the goal post.
It's a victory. And throughout hell Christ is proclaimed his
victory. Satan has defamed. His weapons have been taken away
from him.
Let's back up a little bit on this, too. When Christ
died, he committed his soul according to Luke. He said,
"Father, into Thy hands I commit my Spirit."
And he was in his death in the bosom of Abraham. He was
still in the state of humiliation. For as long as he existed in
the soul without his body, he was in the state of humiliation.
His exaltation was in one moment body and soul came together.
God and man. Complete victor. Appearing in hell. Even if it
was only instantaneously. This is something we cannot measure
by time.
And then after that, he went into the state of
exaltation. In the state of exaltation he did not continue his
existence on earth the way he did before.
We know that Mary Magdalene thought that's the way it was
going to be. And she gripped Jesus around his ankles. And
Jesus says, "You can't do that. The old ways have now gone
away." He is in a state of exaltation.
So in the 40 days between his resurrection and his
ascension, he was not living on -- in earth. We know when Jesus
visited Jerusalem, he stayed with his friends, Lazarus. That's
a common and ordinary thing. There were no hotels in those
days. So you stayed with family and friends.
No, he didn't stay with those friends anymore. He was
already in the state of God, in the state of exaltation. And
out of that state of exaltation within those 40 days he appeared
to his disciples. He appeared to the women. He appeared on the
Emmaus road. He appeared to Thomas.
Paul speaks about that in I Corinthians 15. And the
final state of exaltation is that he sat down at the right hand
of the Father, which does not mean that he went to a place. It
means that God would exercise his rule on earth and in his
church in the person of Jesus. I'm glad you brought that point
up about the descent into hell because I think that this is a
point that in your preaching you should address.
So how are you to preach on Maundy Thursday and Good
Friday, you would preach on the death of Jesus. On Good Friday
evening you are to preach on the burial of Jesus. And you could
make reference that very famous piece of marble work by
Michelangelo of the ***piata, the picture, the statue of the
Virgin Mary holding the limp dead body of Christ. I think that
has to be done. We don't do enough of that.
But on Saturday night, this is the celebration -- this is
the celebration of the exaltation of Christ. Many of our
churches are now beginning to have Easter vigils. I think it's
a good idea.
I don't think it's a good idea to have it at midnight. I
know I for one am not going to church after 9:00 o'clock at
night. But it's not a bad idea to have it at 7:00 o'clock. Of
course, you have to think the next morning you have a sunrise
service. But during the vigil service, you can speak about the
exaltation of Jesus. And this is something not new. If you go
to hymnal -- whether it's the Lutheran hymnal or Lutheran
worship -- and you turn to the -- to the pericopes, the -- for
holy Saturday you will see these words "Oh, Lord God who has
made this most holy night to shine with the Lord's
resurrection."
And then of course then on Sunday morning, you can preach
on the discovery of the empty tomb. And then maybe in the
afternoon you can preach on the Amais account. But of course by
that time, you'll be so tired that you'll be looking forward to
everybody -- all of your relatives going home.
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This text is being provided in a rough draft format.
Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in
order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a
totally verbatim record of the proceedings.
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