Many apocryphal
writings mention the visit of Christ into the spirit world. In fact, it is
almost a stock theme among the ancients (The visit of the hero in the underworld,
which is his lowest point but also his triumph, is a common tradition
throughout the great literature of Mesopotamia and Egypt, as well as in Homer
and Virgil of the Greek and Roman period. See Hugo Radau, Bel, the Christ of
Ancient Times.). In the Gospel of Peter is related an instance where
someone, who stood under the cross at the crucifixion, heard a voice from
heaven asking Christ:” Hast thou preached unto them who are dead [sleep]?” And
the answer from Christ was: “Yes” (Gospel of Peter, 10). Likewise the Gospel
of Bartholemew cites the Lord’s visit to the spirits. The apostle evidently
saw the spirit of Christ leave the cross after his death. When he met the
resurrected Savior later he pursued this event by asking the Master a question
as to what was happening:
Tell me, Lord, where
you went from the cross. And Jesus answered: “Blessed are you, Bartholemew, my
beloved, because you saw this mystery. And now I tell you everything you ask
me. When I vanished from the cross I went to the spirit world (underworld) to
bring up Adam and all the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Gospel of Bartholemew,
I, 7-9. An ancient text contains a passage which also seems to talk about this
doctrine, because it says that Christ went to the spirit world but not to all: “Those
who are to accept instruction are taught apart, alone . . .” Gospel of Truth,
21:3-6.)
The longest and most
colorful description in apocryphal writings of the Christ’s visit to the spirit
world occurs in the so-called Gospel of Nicodemus, where two resurrected
persons, who were raised together with many other saints at the time of the
death of the Savior” (See Matthew 27:52), give an account of what happened when
Christ appeared among the dead who were waiting for his coming. In this
narrative it appears that Satan is engaged in a conversation with a fellow
worker, Hades by Name. Satan is boasting now he was behind the attempts to have
Jesus crucified:
I sharpened the spear
for his sufferings; I mixed the gall and vinegar and commanded that he should
drink it; I prepared the cross to crucify him, and the nails to pierce through
his hands and his feet, and now his death is near at hand, and I will bring him
here, subject to both you and me. (Gospel of Bartholemew, XV, 10. At
times this gospel is still counted as part of the Acts of Pilate: The
Descent into Hell.)
However, Hades is not
so jubilant. He fears that this Jesus will not be subject to them, but, in
reverse, he will have power over their domain. Therefore, he accuses Satan of
having acted irrationally:
What inclined you to
act thus? For behold, now that Jesus of Nazareth with the brightness of his
glorious divinity puts to flight all the horrid powers of darkness and death.
He has broken down our prison from top to bottom, dismissed all the captives,
released all who were bound, and all who were formerly groaning under the
wright of their torments. . . . Our impious dominions are subdued, and no part
of mankind is now left in our subjection, but, on the other hand, they all
boldly defy us. . . . Why did you attempt this exploit, seeing that our
prisoners were so far always without the least hope of salvation and life? . .
. You have acted against your own interest. . . . You should have first
inquired into the evil deeds of Jesus of Nazareth, and then you would have
found that he was guilty of no fault worthy of death. Why did you undertake,
without reason and justice, to crucify hi, and did bring down to our region a
person innocent and righteous and thereby lost all the sinners, impius and unrighteous
persons in the whole world? (Ibid., IVIII, 1-5, 7, 11, 12, 13.)
And so it was: The
powers of Satan could not keep the King of Glory out of the gloomy domain.
The mighty Lord
appeared in the form of man, and enlightened those places which had ever before
been in darkness. . . . Then the King of Glory trampled upon death, seized the
prince of hell, deprived him of all his power, and took our earthly father Adam
with him in his glory. . . . Then Jesus stretched forth his hand and said: “Come
to me, all you my saints, who were created in my image. . . . And taking hold
of Adam’s right hand, he ascended from hell, and all the saints of God followed
him. (Ibid., XVI, 18; XVII, 13; XIX, 1, 12.) (Marcus Von Wellnitz, Christ
and the Patriarchs: New Light from Apocryphal Literature and Tradition [Bountiful,
Utah: Horizon Publishers and Distributors, 1981], 181-83)