The Creed

Part 3 “He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to hell.”

This week’s sentence of the creed firmly locates Jesus in historical space and time. The Roman governor Pontius Pilate is mentioned specifically, as is the method of Jesus’ execution.

Why do you think the writers of the creed did this?

Why is it important to Christians that our faith is based on historical events?

Read Romans 5:6-11

What is Paul saying here about Jesus’ death?

Why do you think it is important that Jesus actually died? (As opposed to some who argued that he just fainted, or that the crucifixion stories were made up.)

In Romans 5, Paul uses key terms such as “justified” and “reconciled” when he talks about what Jesus’ death has achieved. And these can sound very technical and complicated. However, it is helpful to remember that the overall argument here is quite simple: Jesus was willing to do anything, even die an innocent man, in order to make things right between God and people.

What might that mean for how we relate to other people?

How can we work at making things right with others? What boundaries do we need to remove?

Christian thinkers have argued about the sentence “he descended to hell,” and a range of theories about this have been offered.

What do you think of this idea?

Wrapping it all up, what we can say with confidence is that Jesus was willing to do anything to make things right between God and people, and that all the powers of death and evil were subject to him.

What do these things mean for how we live?