Bart Ehrman on St. Augustine's views about the Harrowing of Hell

Bart Ehrman on St. Augustine's views about the Harrowing of Hell

"Many early theologians who wanted to affirm universal salvation that Christ brought at his descent but also the judicial need for eternal damnation simply claimed that Christ made salvation available to everyone in Hades—even the worst of sinners—but that not everyone accepted the offer. Even this idea was often challenged by orthodox thinkers; surely sinners would not be given a second chance after death. And so, we have the polemic of Filaster of Brescia: “There are some heretics who say that the Lord descended to Hades and announced to all who were there after death that if they confessed their faith there they would be saved” (Liber de Haeresibus 125.1). It is somewhat odd that Filaster reacts to this view by insisting that sinners would indeed be condemned, a point that so far as we know his opponents never denied. But he did indeed attack a “universalizing” view (all could be saved) by discounting universalism (all will be saved). Possibly he was simply knocking down a scarecrow.16 Gregory the Great opposes a similar view. Indeed, in his full study, Gounelle maintains that a universalizing view was not just the position of a single group of “heretics” but was almost ubiquitous in parts of the West. Perfectly orthodox theologians also wrestled with the issues connected with the salvific effects of Christ’s descent. The most famous instance involves an exchange of letters between Augustine and his friend and fellow bishop Evodius. Evodius had inquired about the interpretation of 1 Peter 3:18–21, Christ’s descent “to preach to the spirits in prison.” He maintains that the “spirits” were in hell (in inferno) and that “Christ descended and proclaimed his gospel to all of them” (descendens Christus omnibus evangelizavit). Evodius argues that Christ freed “all of them from their darkness and punishments” through his grace, so that at the time of the Lord’s resurrection, “judgment could be anticipated” (= they could wait for judgment, judicium exspectetur, now that “the nether regions had been emptied”). Evodius ends on a humble note: “What your Holiness thinks about this matter I would like to know” (PL 33, 3.709). Is it right? Were all those in Hades set free? Augustine’s response does not attack Evodius’s proposal per se or warn him that he is on the brink of heresy. He responds gently, admitting the many problems of the passage, reflecting on possibilities, showing why some are better than others, and finally coming up with what strikes him as the most plausible solution. In the process he indicates that he can see how some readers might take the passage to mean Christ delivered all people at his descent and admits that it would indeed be an attractive option: “If we could say that altogether everyone who was found there was set free, who should not rejoice—if we could show it?” (PL 33.10). It is hard to know if he is ingenuous, especially in light of his following insistence that he too would prefer that sinners (or at least the pagan literati!) could “be freed from the pains of hell, were not the verdict of human feeling different from that of the justice of the Creator.” For Augustine, of course, God’s judgment demands retribution, and the torments will be eternal, expressed nowhere more forcefully than in City of God. As to his solution to the conundrums posed by the passage, Augustine paints himself into a corner but then manages to get out. On one hand, Christ must have descended to hell—not some other place—because Scripture says in Psalm 16:10, “you will not leave my soul in hell,” and Acts 2:24 indicates that God “loosed the birth-pangs of death.” On the other hand, he did not descend to save the saints, since none of them would have been there. The parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16) shows that the righteous, even before Christ’s death, were not sent down to Hades but up to Abraham’s bosom. So what was Christ doing in hell? He must have been preaching his salvation to others, and surely his efforts would not have been in vain. He must have brought salvation to sinners. But he could not have planned to save simply everyone: if everyone attains salvation after death, there would be no need for the Christian mission to save people while living (Augustine’s argumentum ad absurdum). So whom did Christ deliver? He must have saved only those few “whom he judged worthy” (Augustine, Letter 164.5)." (Bart Ehrman, Journeys to Heaven and Hell, pp. 217-8)

For Augustine's views on the Harrowing of Hell, see: https://ancientafterlifebelifs.blogspot.com/2026/08/ilaria-ramelli-on-alleged-presence.html 

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