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remarks that they contained the idea of the descent in the word “buried.” Later on, however,
the Roman form of the Creed added the statement in question after its mention of the burial.
Calvin correctly argues that for those who added them after the word “buried,” they must have
denoted something additional.[Inst. Bk. II, XVI, 8.; cf. also Pearson, On the Creed.] It should be
borne in mind that these words are not found in Scripture, and are not based on such direct
statements of the Bible as the rest of the articles of the Creed.
b. Scriptural basis for the expression.
There are especially four passages of Scripture that come
into consideration here. (1) Eph. 4:9, “Now this, He ascended, what is it but that He also
descended into the lower parts of the earth?” They who seek support in this passage take the
expression “lower parts of the earth” as the equivalent of “hades.” But this is a doubtful
interpretation. The apostle argues that the ascent of Christ presupposes a descent. Now the
opposite of the ascension is the incarnation, cf. John 3:13. Hence the majority of commentators
take the expression as referring simply to the earth. The expression may be derived from Ps.
139:15 and refer more particularly to the incarnation. (2) I Peter 3:18,19, which speaks of Christ
as “being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which He also went and
preached unto the spirits in prison.” This passage is supposed to refer to the descent into hades
and to state the purpose of it. The Spirit referred to is then understood to be the soul of Christ,
and the preaching mentioned must have taken place between His death and resurrection. But
the one is just as impossible as the other. The Spirit mentioned is not the soul of Christ but the
quickening Spirit, and it was by that same life-giving Spirit that Christ preached. The common
Protestant interpretation of this passage is that in the Spirit Christ preached through Noah to
the disobedient that lived before the flood, who were spirits in prison when Peter wrote, and
could therefore be designated as such. Bavinck considers this untenable and interprets the
passage as referring to the ascension, which he regards as a rich, triumphant, and powerful
preaching to the spirits in prison.[Geref. Dogm. III, p. 547. For still another interpretation, cf.
Brown, Comm. on Peter in loco.] (3) I Pet. 4:4-6, particularly verse 6, which reads as follows:
“For unto this end was the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed
according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” In this connection the
apostle warns the readers that they should not live the rest of their life in the flesh to the lusts
of men, but to the will of God, even if they should give offense to their former companions and
be slandered by them, since they shall have to give an account of their doing to God, who is
ready to judge the living and the dead. The “dead” to whom the gospel was preached were
evidently not yet dead when it was preached unto them, since the purpose of this preaching
was in part “that they might be judged according to men in the flesh.” This could only take
place during their life on earth. In all probability the writer refers to the same spirits in prison of
which he spoke in the preceding chapter. (4) Ps. 16:8-10 (comp. Acts 2:25-27,30,31). It is
especially the 10th verse that comes into consideration here, “For thou wilt not leave my soul