Apostle's Creed

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Oct 23 13:33:19 EDT 2002


Forwarded for <Polycarp66 at aol.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 13:15:43 EDT

In a message dated 10/23/2002 11:31:51 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
srbricker at hotmail.com writes:

>I'm curious as to the proper meaning of the following phrase in the
>Apostle's Creed:
>
>KATELQONTA EIS TA KATWTATA
>
>This has been translated traditionally as "descended into hell" and more
>recently as "descended to the dead."  I'm wondering if the intent of the
>phrase is not to specify a location but rather an idiom to say, "dead beyond
>any possibility of resuscitation" or "dead as dead can be."
>


The phrase  

KATEBH EIS TA KATWTERA [MERH[ THS GHS

appears in Eph 4.9 which seems to be a quotation from the Testament of Levi
3.1.  In Ps 62.10 (LXX) it reads

EISELEUSONTAI EIS TA KATWTATA THS GHS.

In the psalm contrasts those who seek the writer's life.  It expresses
confidence in God who will sustain him while those who seek his life will
themselves "go down into the lower parts of the earth."  It thereby is
evident that for the psalmist it was one method of expressing "they shall
die."

In Eph. on the other hand speaks of Christ's both ascending on high and
descending into the lower parts of the earth.  Here it does not seem to
bear the significance of dying -- or at least not SOLELY of dying.  To Paul
the ascending was dependent on a prior descending.  In the ascension he is
said to "lead captive captivity."  'Captivity' has been understood by many
to refer to 'those who are captive' or a 'host of captives'.  I tend to
think that Paul's meaning could be that QANATOS which

KATEBH EIS TA KATWTATA

signifies could itself be the captive (or captivity).  BGAD s.v. KATWTEROS
cites Testament of Levi 3.1 which seems to have the identical wording and
which I'm sure Paul must have been quoting.  Since I don't have the
Testament of Levi, I am unable to comment on what this might have meant in
that context.  Perhaps someone else has this available to them.

gfsomsel



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