| Let
me again briefly summarize the position of the Word of Faith
Movement (WFM) concerning the nature of Christ’s atonement. The
WFM represented by Kenneth Hagin, Sr. and Kenneth Copeland believe
that the nature of Jesus on the cross changed from divine to
demonic. They believe that our redemption is not secured solely by
the physical death of Jesus on the cross, but by the combination of
His physical death on the cross and His spiritual death in hell. The
torture of Jesus by the demons of hell was the ransom God paid for
our sins, and it gained access for God back to the earth from which
He, in a major way, had been banished. Many of the WFM teachers
believe that Jesus was born again the third day by the Spirit of God
in hell and was resurrected physically from the grave.
In my last article I briefly critiqued the Word of
Faith Movement’s understanding of the atonement of Christ from 2
Corinthians 5:21 and John 3:14 (Numbers 21:8-9). In this article I
will critique their understanding of 1 Peter 3:18-20 and Ephesians
4:7-10.
The WFM teachers have contended that 1 Peter
3:18-20 supports their view of the atonement.
For Christ also died for sins once
for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might
bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made
alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to
the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when
the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the
construction of the ark, in which a few, that is eight persons, were
brought safely through the water.
It is possible to interpret verse 19 that Jesus
went to the spirit-world (demonic host) and made a proclamation
after His death on the cross. But even if this is true, 1 Peter
3:18-20 does not support the view that Jesus suffered in hell at the
hands of the demonic. Nowhere in the context of first Peter three
does anyone find that Jesus suffered in hell at the hands of Satan
and his demonic host. This understanding must be imported into the
text for it is foreign to the context.
Dr. Arden C Autry, former professor of the School
of Theology and Mission at Oral Roberts University, explained it
this way.
The most that can be made out
of this passage is that Jesus, after his death and before his
resurrection, went into hell and made a proclamation of some sort.
That is the understanding reflected in the traditional form of the
Apostles’ Creed, when it says, "He descended into hell,"
although many prefer to think of that as simply a reference to
Jesus’ burial and translate the word in the Creed as "the
grave" rather than "hell." At any rate neither the NT
nor the Creed teaches anything about any suffering of Jesus
apart from his body after the crucifixion. The price for sin was
paid on the cross, not after the cross, as indicated
by Jesus’ own words in John 19:30: "It is finished."
(The suggestion that Jesus was declaring that the old covenant was
now finished has nothing in the context of John 19 to support it. In
the context Jesus’ words most naturally mean that he had completed
the suffering on the Cross.).1 (The Spiritual Dimension of
Jesus’ Death, unpublished manuscript, Holy Spirit Research
Center, Oral Roberts University at Tulsa, OK, p. 7)
Matthew 12:40 compared Jonah’s three days and
nights in the "sea monster" with Christ’s time in the
tomb, but said nothing about what happens during that time or that
Jesus was in hell. Even if 1 Peter 3:22 and Colossians 2:14-15 are
understood to teach that Christ proclaimed His victory over the
demonic host during the three days after His death, it says nothing
about Christ suffering in hell.
Ephesians 4:7-10 is used by the WFM to support
Jesus suffering in hell. This passage says:
But to each one of us grace was given
according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says,
‘When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and
He gave gifts to men.’ (Now this expression, ‘He ascended,’
what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower
parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended
far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
Many believe that before the cross Hades had a
bliss side where the Old Testament believers went to
"Abraham’s bosom" (Luke 16:22) when they died and the
wicked would go to the torment side (Luke 16:23). Ephesians 4:9
("...descended into the lower parts of the earth....")
could be interpreted that Jesus descended into Hades after His death
and took those Old Testament believers, in the bliss side of Hades,
to heaven with Him. The proper understanding of Ephesians 4:7-10
depends upon how one understands the Greek genitive phrase
"into the lower parts of the earth." Dr. Harold Hoehner
explained the exegetical options.
(1) "Into the lower parts,
namely, the earth" (a genitive of apposition). This would refer
to Christ’s incarnation, His "descent" to the earth. (2)
"Into the parts lower than the earth (a genitive of
comparison). This would mean that Christ descended into hades
between His death and resurrection. (3) "Into the lower parts
which belong to the earth" (a genitive of possession). This
would refer to Christ’s death and His burial in the grave. The
third view best fits the context because in His death Christ had
victory over sin and redeemed those who would be given as
"gifts" to the church. (Bible Knowledge Commentary,
Vol. II, p. 634)
Even if one agrees with option #2, Ephesians
4:7-10 does not say that Christ suffered in Hades under the hands of
the demonic host. Again, this understanding is foreign to the
context and to the theology of the New Testament. Therefore, this
passage gives little help to the WFM’s doctrine of atonement.
In my next article I will deal with Isaiah 53:9.
If someone wants to review the biblical understanding of the
substitutionary death of Christ, they may read my article on
"Substitution," written in November 1999.
Endnotes
1. Many of the WFM teachers try to
strengthen their support for Jesus Christ entering into hell by
appealing to the Apostles’ Creed and the Athanasian Creed.
However, this phrase did not appear in the Apostles Creed until the
4th century. Philip Schaff helped surface the truth:
Descendit ad inferna
(other Latin copies: ad inferos, to the inhabitants of
the spirit-world; so also in the Athanasian Symbol), katelthonta
eis ta katwtata (other Eastern creeds: eis adouis, viz.,
topon, or eis ton adhn) he descended into Hades.
This clause was unknown in the older creeds, though believed in the
church, and was transferred into the Roman symbol after the fifth
century, probably from that of Aquilcia, A.D. 390, where it first
appears among Latin creeds, as we learn from Rufinus. In the East it
is found before in Arian creeds (about 360). After this we meet it
again in the Creed of Venantus Fortunatus, A.D. 590 who had the
Creed of Rufinus before him. The words katwtata ?and inferna,
taken from Eph. iv.9, correspond here to the Greek Haidhs,
which occurs eleven times in the Greek Testament, viz., Matt. xi.23;
xvi.18; Luke x.15; xvi. 3; Acts ii. 27,31; 1 Cor. xv.55; Rev. i.18;
vi.8; xx.13,14 and is always incorrectly translated hell in
the English Version, except in 1 Cor. xv.55. Hades signifies,
like the Hebrew Sheol, the unseen spirit-word, the abode of
all the departed, both the righteous and wicked; while hell
(probably from the Saxon word helan, to cover, to conceal),
at least in modern usage, is a much narrower conception, and
signifies the state and place of eternal damnation, like the Hebrew gehenna,
which occurs twelve times in the Greek Testament and is translated
in the English Bible, viz.... (Creeds of Christendom, Vol.II,
p. 46) |
