>Dear Pat (if I may),
>I am no expert on these matters, but I always assumed that the
>earliest reference to the Harrowing of Hell was the remark in the
>first epistle of Peter (1Peter, 3, v.19-20) that after his death Christ
>in the spirit:'went and preached to the spirits in prison. which
>sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited
>in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that
>is, eight souls were saved by water'.
>I am sure that some of the theologians on the list can offer more
>specialist advice, but I hope that this is some help.
>Yours sincerely
>Miriam Gill ([log in to unmask])
See also 1 Peter 4:6, "For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even
to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is
judged, they might live in the spirit as God does" (NRSV).
Both these passages from 1 Peter, are, I think, the basis for the Harrowing
of Hell.
Steve Cartwright
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|