The place named "hell" in this creedal statement was earlier known in the Greek as Gehenna, or the realm of the dead in the Bible. It is understood as a place of eternal punishment for those rejected at the final judgment. The Old Testament description of location uses the Hebrew word Sheol, which refers to the grave — a place far away from the presence of God where the righteous or wicked reside. So, the question must be asked, is this where Jesus went when he died?
An early view of Jesus’ descent into this ‘underworld’ location in one interpretive camp was that he liberated the faithful that had previously experienced death. A later view shares that this place of descent portrays Christ’s victory over the Kingdom of Satan, completed in death. The Creed goes on to state Christ’s victory in rising to new life, ascending to heaven and resting in eternal triumph at the right hand of God, the Father. This second view supports the promise of the coming judgement upon Christ’s return, where final victory over death and evil will be unveiled.
Augustine, one of the early Christian writers, rejected the view that Jesus preached the gospel to those who had died before his coming, making salvation available to them. Yet, a later medieval view stated once again that only believers of the pre-Christian period were indeed recipients and beneficiaries of Christ’s preaching in Hades, implied in Matthew 27:52 and again in Hebrews 12:23.
Still, yet another view comes later from John Calvin, who saw this phrase as a description of Christ’s internal torment, as one who suffered complete and absolute separation from God. In other words, the torment on the cross alone was a vicarious endurance of what hell could be like as one removed from God.