The phrase in the Apostles Creed he descended into Hell has long troubled Christians. Commonweal has a blog on it with some interesting comments.

The general (although not universal) view is that Christ descended into the limbo of the patriarchs to free all the just who had died before the Crucifixion. Dante is in the tradition.

But Augustine somewhere refers to the common belief in the North African church of his time that by His descent and resurrection Christ emptied Hell.

Hans Urs von Balthasar makes the Descent the cornerstone of his theology, because he sees Christ’s descent into the hell of the damned as the uttermost proof of God’s love. Therefore he also sees the possibility of the hope of universal salvation.

Many disagree with von Balthasar, and I get the impression that some people would be disappointed if all were saved – they take the Elder Brother in the story of the Prodigal Son as their model.

Others think that all good people will be saved. But what about the bad? God’s heart reaches out to the worst sinner.

I don’t know the secrets of the universe. But God has said that He loves all that He has made, and He has promised that He will make all things new and wipe away the tears from every eye.

What does this mean? Can we hope that all will be saved, that sin and death will be utterly defeated and God will reign in and through love over every creature? I do not know. All I can do is look at the Cross and hope and trust in Him.

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