Descent Into Hell

"Christ's Descent Into Hell"

Albrecht Dürer, 1510

Excerpts from Martin Luther's Torgau Sermon on Christ's Descent into Hell, 1532, from Sources and Contexts of The Book of Concord, edited by Robert Kolb and James A. Nestingen (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001)

"For before he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven -- while  he still in the grave -- he descended into hell so that he might redeem us who lay imprisoned there, just as he came into death and was laid in the grave that he might bring us out of it. I do not want to preach this article with sublime or precise language, describing exactly how it happened or what it means to descend into hell. Instead, I want to stick to the simple meaning of the words as they must be presented to children and simple people... The customary way of depicting how Christ descended into hell on church walls represents him with a cape and with banners in his hand as he makes his descent and stalks and assaults the devil, as he storms hell and rescues his own people from it. The children's play presented at Easter depicts it in a similar way. It seems better to me that you depict, act out, sing, and recite the story in a very simple way and let it remain at that and not concern yourself with sublime and precise ideas about how it actually took place." (pg. 246)

"Without doubt, such a description has come to us from the ancient fathers who spoke and sang in the language of the old hymns as we still read and sing on Easter Day, 'He broke hell and bound the accursed devil' and so forth. When children or simple people hear something like this, they think of nothing else than that Christ has conquered the devil and taken all his power from him. That is the proper, Christian way to think and express the correct truth and meaning of this article..." (pg. 248)

Luther briefly mentions questions that arise regarding Christ's descent into hell, such as 'What did he do in hell, how did he interact with the devil, and so forth.' Luther continues:

"'I believe in the Lord Christ, God's Son, dead, buried, he descended into hell.' That means I believe in the entire person, God and human creature with body and soul inseparable, born of the virgin, suffered, dead and buried. Therefore I am not supposed to divide up his person but instead simply to believe and to say that this very Christ, God and human creature in one person, descended to hell." (pg. 248)

"Therefore, I believe also in this case that Christ personally destroyed hell and bound the devil whether banners, portals, doors, and chains were made of wood or iron or did not exist at all. It doesn't depend on whether I hand on to what is depicted with the image but rather that I believe these things of Christ. Believing in him is the chief thing. It is useful and gives the power that we have from this: that neither hell nor the devil can take us and all others who believe on him captive nor can they do us harm." (pg. 249)

Hymn: Christ Jesus Lay In Death's Strong Bands (YouTube)

Clear Words

Da Vinci's Last Supper

"Therefore, we should hold steadfastly to these clear words of our Lord, The bread he proffers is his Body, and the cup or wine is his Blood, or the New Testament in his Blood. In childlike faith we should partake, without doubting, and believe it to be so. We should give thanks to Christ for such grace, rejoice over it, and strengthen our hearts by it, considering why Christ has done what he did, not disputing whether he is abel to do it. Impertinent are the hearts which question why Christ did it this way and doubt that he is abel to do it."

Maundy Thursday Sermon, Martin Luther, 2 April 1534. Sermons of Martin Luther, House Postils, vol. 1, 456.

He Suffers for All

"It is our comfort (and we are therefore exhorted to take comfort in this) that this High Priest has prayed for you and me and for us all, for his crucifiers. For just as he suffers for us all, so he also prays for us all. Thus his crucifiers are not only the Jews and Gentiles, who at that time laid hands on him and nailed him to the cross, but also we ourselves and the whole world. For it was our sins which crucified him, wounded, and crowned him with thorns. Those crucifiers were simply our sins' servants and lackeys. Had your sins and mine not nailed Christ to the cross, those crucifiers would have had to let him alone. Christ is there the true Priest and Lamb of God paying for the sins and death of the whole world with his offering... For that reason his prayer covers the entire world. When Christ prays for those who crucify him, he is praying for all men, also for us who by our sins were the cause of his cross and death; and he does not pray for our condemnation but for our salvation."

--Martin Luther, "Fourth Holy Week Sermon," 2 April 1534. Luther's House Postils, vol. 1, 424-425.

Most Important Part of the Passion -- Luther

Jesus before Caiaphas

Cappella degli Scrovegni

"Dear friends, you have heard how all of these things happened for our sake. It was for us that our dear Lord Jesus Christ took upon himself this burden of indescribable distress of soul and mind, not for his own sake, but rather for our sake. No one forced him to do that, neither an angel nor a devil, for he said, I could have summoned twelve legions of angels. But he was determined that by his suffering he would save us, just as it was for our benefit that he did everything, including the conquest of hell and death. "

"And that is the most important part of the passion of Christ, which was a spiritual suffering far greater than any kind of physical and temporaal suffering which result in the dying of our five senses. But spiritual suffering, which is experienced by a person's heart and soul, that is a torture immeasurably greater than physical death. That is why Christ, through his agony in the Garden, took upon himself the poison and bitter hatred of the devil. At the same time he also took upon himself the full wrath and condemnation of our Lord God and drained that cup to the dregs, so that we would not have to suffer those things, or, even if we might be asked to bear suffering, being in Christ, we would be able to bear that suffering and overcome it. God wants us to seek our comfort and consolation in that fact, and then, if spiritual terrors and despair do attack us, cling to our baptism in that man who for our sake has overcome all such suffering. This we must firmly believe and not harbor any doubts about it."

The second part of the passion... "in the house of Caiaphas false witnesses were brought forward to level charges against him..."

Second Sermon, Holy Week, Martin Luther, 25 March 1534. Sermons of Martin Luther: House Postils, 387-388.

The Work of Your Synod 1929

One of the historical professors at Concordia Seminary found this document in some of his research and sent it to me. (Thanks Gerry!) The document shows some striking similarities between the Synod of 1929 and of today; as well as some differences -- some perhaps due to the age and some perhaps due to changing priorities and or piety. In any case, take a look at the images below. Some of the images will be captioned with highlights from the page. Enjoy!

FYI: President Fredrick Pfotenhauer, the last German born president and one of my favorites, was Synodical President in 1929.

The Synod was no doubt "missional" with some 902 church workers in the mission field -- 730 were ordained clergy. Also, educating pastors and teachers was considered missions. It is striking how transparent this report is; its honesty is almost shocking -- no one writes reports like this any longer.

For some perspective here, according to Answers.com $100 in 1929 is equivalent to $2300 today, or $100 of today's dollars would by $4 of stuff in 1929.

abc3+

The Work of Your Synod 1929

Summary of Synodical Budget

Synodical Treasury Budget 1929

For me this is one of the most interesting pages. It is of the Synodical Treasury Budget 1929. I haven't extensively studied the structure of 1929, but it seems that this in some ways is akin to the International Center's budget today. Note that of the $625,000 total, about $523,000 or about 84% goes to the Synod's colleges and Seminaries (the largest some to Concordia Seminary St Louis). Also, in 1929 the Synod President was paid $4,000 per year. Of this salary, he paid his own travel expenses and the salary of his secretary.

Home and Negro Missions

Foreign Missions

South American Missions and European Missions

Deaf-Mute and Blind Missions | Immigrant and Seamen's Missions

Indian Missions | Board of Support

Church Extension and Building Funds

Our Deficit 

In 1929, the Synod had a $751,000 deficit. Financial challenges are nothing new for the Missouri Synod. Nonetheless, in 1929, the Synod kept to its goals and borrowed money to support its mission. 

Passion of Christ and Our Suffering

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane - Norma Boeckler

In the House Postils preached in 1534, Martin Luther divides the Passion of Christ into five parts (Monday through Friday). On Monday Luther treated Jesus in Gethesemane. In this section Luther treated the difference between the suffering of the saints and the suffering of Christ. In light of the recent events, Haiti, Chile, etc., it is good to recognize that as great as the suffering is in this world, it is not the same as the suffering of Christ.

Luther writes:

"That is why we must be very careful to distinguish well between the Lord's suffering and that of others. For the devil and his cohorts suffer too; so also the pious and godly. The beloved saints, prophets, apostles, and martyrs suffered in their time, as do pious Christians in our day wherever they have been driven by persecution. The devil -- along with his angels, apostles, disciples, and pupils -- endures the fire of hell, but without becoming better thereby or holier. The beloved saints have suffered, and to some extend they still endure persecution and martyrdom at the hands of the devil and also the hostile world. But none of this suffering has the ultimate meaning and purpose of our Lord Christ's passion... We, however, preach the Lord's suffering in the way Holy Scripture does, emphasizing every aspect of Christ's suffering in the way the Scriptures do. That means that we show that Christ's suffering pertaining to his obedience under the will of his heavenly Father, as St. Paul says (Phil. 2:8), 'He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.' He exalted and praised God by his suffering, as other saints praise and thank God through theirs. However, beyond this there was specific purpose for which Christ suffered, a purpose which distinguishes it from all suffering of the saints, namely, that through his suffering the whole world was to be redeemed, heaven opened, hell closed up, and eternal life won. This underlying significance cannot be ascribed to any other suffering than to Christ's alone. Christ suffered to the praise and glory of God, rendering a well-pleasing service, but it was for you and me, all of us, for the sake of our redemption and salvation that he suffered, in order to free us of our redemption and salvation that he suffered in order to free us from the power of sin and death, and open heaven for us."

-- Martin Luther, House Postils, 1534. Sermons of Martin Luther, Volume 1, 374-375.

Hosanna -- Save Us Now

Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem was no mere ticker tape parade. The crowd shouted out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (John 12:13) The word “Hosanna” is very important. It comes from Psalm 118:25, “Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!” Many of the people in the crowd would have had Psalm 118 in mind when they shouted, “Hosanna.” “Hosanna” means “Save us now.” The crowd was crying out for Jesus to save them. This word goes very well with the name “Jesus” which means, “Yahweh, or the Lord, saves.” The crowd was calling on Jesus to live up to his name and save them. This word Hosanna was also a church or religious word. People did not say “save” in every day, common speech. “Hosanna” was not simply a greeting you would give the passing celebrity, it was a word reserved for calling on the Lord. On Palm Sunday, the people in the crowd thought that Jesus was either an emissary from God or that he was the Messiah himself. The people believed and said that he came in the Name of the Lord. When the people cried out, “Hosanna – save us now,” it is sort of like crying out, “Lord have mercy.” The people wanted to be saved from many things. They had seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, perhaps, some hoped Jesus would raise their loved ones as he had Lazarus. Some cried out, “Hosanna” so that Jesus would heal them. Others cried, “Hosanna” for the deliverance that the promised Messiah would bring. Today we cry out, "Hosanna," Lord save us now.