A friend of my husband is always trying to get reactions out of believers and see how far he can push them. He had put up a huge thing about how Jesus went to hell after he died. I guess I had never really studied it. I was wondering if you could shed some light for me.

Well, first off, this is the problem when people do not know their bible, or who know very little, try to tell everyone else what the bible teaches. What he is referring to isn't in the bible, it is part of what is known as the apostles creed.

The first thing you need to know about the Apostles Creed is that it wasn't written by the apostles. The Apostles Creed was used as a baptismal creed (in the 4th century). The Creed was changed into what was called "the received form," the version most people know today, by the Roman church in the 7th-8th century. This received form included the phrase, "He descended into hell." The apostles creed wasn't even used universally until the 16th century.

There are 12 changes from the original form to the received form of the creed. The clause "he descended into hell" was believed to have been first reported in the West by Rufus Aquileia (390). In the East, the clause is found in the Arian Creeds (about 360) by Venanitus Fortunatus (590).

But the word for descended is the word DOWN and the word for Hell (in the original Greek) is the word for GRAVE (some Latin scholar decided this should be translated as "inferos" which means "Hell fire" or inferno). In the original creed it was simply meant to be a reference to His physical death.

Wayne Grudem says, “the phrase ‘descended into hell’ was not found in any of the early versions of the Creed...until it appeared in one of two versions from Rufinus in A.D. 390. Then it was not included again in any version of the Creed until A.D. 650.”

In the great reformed Westminster Confession of Faith, they went out of their way to remove any opportunity for confusion on this issue. In the section of their Confession of Faith explaining the Apostle’s Creed, they rendered the phrase as “He was buried, and remained under the power of death for a time.”

Some people like to also point to Ephesians 4:9 where it says Christ "descended," but we are to read the scriptures in context. Ephesians 4:9-10 in context says In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.

What this means is that in the incarnation, Jesus taking on flesh, He descended from the highest heavens (Luke 2:8-14 in the birth narrative) to the lowest regions (to the earth). When Jesus walked the earth he suffered, was crucified, was buried, but He also defeated death and rose again. This is why it says He then ascended and is now seated in the highest heavens at the right hand of the Father (See Acts 1:9 and 2:33).