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The doctrine called "The Harrowing of Hell" is exceptionally important for us to either get right, or to make it clear you are not presently committed to, as it can affect the ultra important definition of "The Gospel by which we are saved" (I Cor 15:1-4 & Luke 24:44-48), as it happens in the time period between the Passion and the resurrection. By this I mean do not get it wrong!

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One reason you must not get this wrong if you commit to the doctrine (and not deny it like Scofield and many Calvinists) is to avoid falling into the heresy of the Eastern Orthodox interpretation, that is that "Jesus earned the resurrection of both the just and unjust" being their idea of "defeating death". If this was true no one would go to Hell except for Jesus "earning their resurrection" and that is everything Jesus did not die and rise again to do! I declare that doctrine heresy, and will stand my ground for the Day of Judgement, in fact it attacks the good news of the gospel, the resurrection is part of the natural justice of God and did not need to be "earned". Jesus did not die and rise from the dead so that billions of people can be resurrected to burn in Hell, who otherwise would have "slept".

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The OED gives the definition "Harrowing of Hell (in medieval Christian theology) the defeat of the powers of evil and the release of its victims by the descent of Christ into hell after his death." Adding the word "medieval" implies huge numbers of modern Christians do not believe it in one form or another, when in fact they do, it is just that definitions vary a lot.

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In Matthew 27:52-53, saints temporarily rose from the dead just after the resurrection, and went to bear witness in Jerusalem, a stunning event, but I do not include the detail in what I say is "The Gospel by which we are saved" and though I believe also that Christ left his body when "he died" I do not add that detail to the Gospel, it complicates the simple message, it is not mentioned in the gospel definitions, this in itself redefines his death as "the death of his body" denying directly his Spirit "slept" (as some believe).

 

Why it's so important in theology:

Cults, sects, atheists, and especially the Muslims, who are ignorant of the nuances of the doctrines of Dyophysitism and Patripassianism, often attack the Faith with comments like "So God died!" but the doctrine of "The Harrowing of Hell" when correctly defined perfectly answers this attack, as the body of Jesus died, and Christ, who was one person of the Trinity, but with two distinct natures, one divine one fully human, immediately spiritually descends into Hades (in 1Peter 3:19-20)  

quote:

1) "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water". 

2) And this adds a new aspect to

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" Hebrews 9:27

3) And also is involved with the definition of the resurrection of souls into the Millennium Kingdom (if your understanding of theology reaches that far).

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"’Tis mystery all! The Immortal dies!
Who can explore His strange design?" wrote Charles Wesley (1707-1788).

But the bible student who believes a correct version of "The Harrowing of Hell" has a very explicit and immediate answer - the "mystery" is solved in that his body died, but that God the Son, fully man and fully God forever, spiritually descended into Hades and preached to people who died before their time in the flood, and some add in the process it is at this time Jesus "bruises the serpents head". If theology is to be discussed for everlasting time in Paradise on Earth and Heaven, you can expect some complex subjects.

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One of the problems studying this subject is that Roman Catholics are usually much more pinpoint in their doctrines that the Eastern Orthodox, but do not forget the doctrine of the "Harrowing of Hell" appears also in the Anglican Book of Prayer. It is in the modern reworded Apostle's Creed "was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven,", and in The Athanasian Creed: "Who suffered for our salvation; descended into hell; rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from whence he will come to judge the living and the dead."

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Googling definitions: (quote)

The Eastern Orthodox doctrine of the Harrowing of Hell asserts that Christ, after his death, descended into Hades (the realm of the dead) to break its power and liberate the souls of the righteous, primarily Adam and Eve, who were awaiting salvation. This event, occurring on Holy Saturday before the Resurrection, is seen as a victory over death, with Christ shattering the gates of Hades and "plundering" it to bring life to those in the tombs

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The Catholic doctrine of the Harrowing of Hell is the belief that after Jesus Christ's crucifixion and burial, he descended into the underworld (specifically, the "limbo of the fathers") to liberate the souls of the righteous who had been awaiting salvation since the beginning of the world. This event, occurring between his death and resurrection, is understood as a triumphant conquest over sin and death, not as a torment for Christ, where he broke the gates of hell to lead figures like Adam, Abraham, and Moses to heaven.

The "limbo of the fathers" is a theological concept, specifically the medieval Christian belief that the righteous people of the Old Testament were held in a temporary state after death until Jesus Christ's death and resurrection freed them to enter heaven. After Jesus' descent into hell (the "Harrowing of Hell"), he liberated these souls, emptying the limbo of the fathers and allowing them to finally enter heaven. 

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The Anglican doctrine of the Harrowing of Hell, though debated, generally refers to the belief that Jesus' soul descended into the realm of the dead (Hades or Sheol) after his crucifixion to liberate the righteous Old Testament figures and bring them to paradise. This event is seen as a triumphant victory over death, a core tenet reflected in the Apostles' Creed and supported by certain biblical passages, though the extent of the doctrine and its theological implications have varied within Anglicanism. 

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The Protestant doctrine of the "harrowing of hell" is the belief that after his crucifixion, Jesus descended into the realm of the dead to conquer death and free the righteous souls (like Adam and Eve) who had been awaiting salvation. Unlike many older traditions, the Protestant view often focuses on this as a victory over death rather than a suffering in hell, with the purpose being to impart his righteousness to the righteous dead and bring them into God's presence. While some streams of Protestantism, such as the Reformed tradition (Calvinists), interpret the "descent into hell" as a metaphor for Christ experiencing the punishment of sin on the cross, denominations like Anglicans and Lutherans largely accept the harrowing of hell.

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Theology bombshell:

Some Protestants argue that this places the salvation of all those in history before Christ, were saved by Christ on the cross, and (bombshell) therefore if your gospel states otherwise, you are a heretic! The alternative view is that man (it is agreed) has never been saved by works, but it was rather their Faith God was pleased with (see Galatians) - it is just that the outward visible sign of that Faith in action was general (not perfect) obedience to the old draconian laws of Moses, and so they were saved by the grace of God in that God was pleased with their Faith, but that in the new and better covenant we are saved by "grace upon grace" John 1. If we are drawn inevitably to believe that past souls were saved by the grace God was to show in the future through the gospel, would that necessarily be manifested in a triumphant overturning of the powers in Hades between the Passion/crucifixion and the resurrection? Once again I would point to the over complicating of the quote "so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." 2 Cor 11:3. I began this paragraph with "some Protestants" and the Catholics and the Orthodox do not believe in salvation by faith through grace alone in the first instance, so how does a total victory in Hades apply if you are then saved by the heresy of sacramentalism (co Saviour priests) and works, adding also Aerial Toll Houses or Purgatory in Catholicism (apparently the Catholics have done a staggering u-turn on the existence of Purgatory thropough their so called "infallible church")

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What I think is most likely

about "The Harrowing of Hell".

To me the doctrine of the "Harrowing of Hell" is based largely on 1Peter 3:19-20, so I think Jesus did immediately leave his body after his body died, and preached in Hades to those specifically whose lives were cut short by the Flood of Noah, and perhaps by God's grace some others. Here if we properly define Hades it helps. This is a Greek word concept that loosely defines "The Underworld". To me this is clearly described by Jesus in Luke 16:19-31, where we have a realm of torment, that might be termed "The waiting place of the damned" in Hades (the underworld) where there is a "great gulf fixed" between what is called "The Bosom of Abraham" (a title for the realm I am not impressed by,) and is basically to me better titled "The waiting place of the saved" also in the underworld, most likely in the lower regions of this Planet Earth. I think Jesus preached to and delivered souls from "the waiting place of the damned" in Hades, as an act of mercy, mostly those whose lives were cut short by the Flood of Noah. I therefore think Adam, Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob etc were saved already in "The Bosom of Abraham" as God was pleased with their Faith, and that if the power of the future cross and resurrection were applied, it already in their case was (opponents would claim this is an anachronism). This is supported by Luke 16:19-31 itself where Lazarus is in the arms of an already saved and safe Abraham.

An interesting aspect of this is the death of babies and children before the cross of Christ. Are we to assume they were damned in Hades, before Christ "enters Hades Hall" and only then they are rescued, and not already with Abraham in the place that might have been thought of by ancient Greeks as Elysium (via Latin from Greek Elusion (OED = pedion) ‘(plain) of the blessed’.) or "The bosom of Abraham"? The complexity of all of this added to the simplicity of the Gospel itself I think is unbiblical, where you have to know books full of theology to "be saved", whereas I believe the true simple gospel can save a repenting sinner dying in a fox hole in a war. 

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​EVANGELICAL METAPHORES?

Evangelicals use a lot of metaphors, indeed when preaching the gospel that saves it is very common for Evangelicals to refer to the "Four Models of the Gospel" which are not the gospel itself, to lead people into the simplicity of the gospel, one of them being "to pay a debt that isn't his" . A famous book called "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" was full of rather dodgy, iffy and controversial metaphors to create a story to make people think about salvation in Christ, including characters like Aslan the lion representing Christ, a witch to represent evil, children to represent sinners to be saved, a faun, and Turkish delight to represent temptation. One perhaps metaphorical reference to the Harrowing of Hell scenarios is in a song called "The Victor" by Keith Green:

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"Swallowed into earth's dark womb
And death has triumphed
That's what they say
But tried to hold him in the tomb
The son of life
Rose on the third day

 

Just look
The gates of hell
They're falling
Crumbling from the inside out
He's bursting through
The walls with laughter (hah!)
Listen to the angels shout

 

It is finished
He has done it
Life conquered death
Jesus christ
Has won it

 

His plan of battle
You know it
He fooled them all
They led him off to prison to die
But as he entered hades hall
He broke those hellish chains with a cry

Just listen to those demons screaming
See him bruise the serpent's head
The prisoners of hell
He's redeeming (oh!)
All the power of death is dead"

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​This sounds entirely like an analysis of the doctrine of the "Harrowing of Hell" but with certain hard to prove add-ons, that make you think it is a series metaphors, rather than doctrine. The picture is painted of a spiritual Christ who has left his body, who is somehow spiritually chained, but as he is "led" into Hades, as if a conquest, he breaks his chains in front of the captured souls in Hades, in effect beats Satan's head in in front of all trampling him under his feet. vanquishes the demons, and then having proven himself to all in total command and powerful, preaches salvation to the souls who died early in the flood, with those in the realm of "The Bosom of Abraham" astounded and cheering him on. It is an amazing picture, but scripture says we should not "add to his words, lets thou be found a liar" but those who sing these songs might reply it is just a metaphor for the doctrine of the Harrowing of Hell, and not to be taken as word for "theology" .​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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